I'm about the size of the original poster (6'2", 170 pounds). I have put thousands of miles on a B17 Champion Flyer Special on my commuter bike. The 170 mm width of the B17 is just enough to put my sit bones comfortably on the leather hammock region of the saddle. In contrast I bought a Craig's List bike this spring that came with the narrower Brooks Professional. Tried to ride it for months but I found I could never get comfortable. My sit bones measure about 123 mm apart, which sounds much narrower than the width of the Brooks Professional (160mm) or B17 narrow (150mm). However, while my sit bones sit entirely on leather on the B17 models (very comfortable), I found my ischial tuberosities were located over the substantial steel frame/rivet border sides/back of either the Brooks Professional (not comfortable). I replaced the Brooks Professional with a new B17 special, and was instantly happy again with the saddle. I think the B17 model has been in production so long because it is wide enough to fit most male riders, even those that are taller or wider than the average bicycle racer. The narrower racing models look great, but don't forget that the rivets and steel rail take up substantial width, and will never break in if your sit bones happen to rest above that region, instead of the leather surface between the frame/rivets.

I really didn't want to derail this into a VO vs Brooks thing.....

There is more hand finishing to the B17 special over the B17 std. That's why I make the comparison with our Mod 3. Skivved (chamfered) edges, hand peened rivets and hand lacing.

VO saddles also have 10-20mm additional saddle rail length, which is often overlooked.

But this is not about the VO saddle. Buy a brooks. You can't go wrong.

+1 on all but the last points above. The VO model 6 saddle is probably the sweetest hide leather saddle on a road bike (mainly because of the size of the rails). Too bad that VO does not offer it in the natural color any more (Tom V.O.: hint hint )

I'm sorry but I just couldn't help it...

This is the best Books saddle your'e gonna find...Annotated Riverside Shakespeare, the complete works

I had the same problem - I used my card there, next thing I knew, I was getting herbal remedies and gadgets piled outside my door. Nashbar was the only new charge I had used my card for...that was three or four months ago at least.

I don't the prices on the various B17 Brooks knock-off saddles are very attractive now, when the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound is good enough to get an excellent deal on the time-tested original Brooks saddles themselves. Most American Brooks dealers have kept their Brooks prices high. However, I recently bought a Brooks B17 Special from wiggle.co.uk for a listed price of $93. That price was for the model with skived sides, real copper rivets, and also included both the Brooks spanner wrench and Brooks saddle cover. You can get a further ~ $8 discount at checkout by signing up for the wiggle newsletter. And shipping to the US was free for orders above $83. Compare the $85 price of a delivered Brooks B17 Special, with wrench and cover, to the current price of the comparable Cardiff or VO models. Brooks is a bargain right now, and comes with a 100 years of history and product testing that is not yet there for the imitators.

I'm sorry but I just couldn't help it...


The best Books saddle you're going to find...

Annotated Riverside Shakespeare, The Complete Works...

I'm sorry but I just couldnt help it...

The best Books saddle on the market...Annotated Riverside Shakespeare, Second Edition:The complete Works

Thats fair enough. You guys should consider posting pictures that shows off those chamfered edges, I didn't read closely enough on your site and probably wouldn't have noticed the difference if you hadn't pointed that out.

Forgive me if I came off as "anti' V-O saddles, I'm not. I prefer my Model 8 to my Brooks B66...but I do prefer the B17 to the Model 6 (even though that is admittedly hardly an apples to apples comparison)

No umbrage taken. I'm only filling in some info that was left out. I don't think anyone here has trashtalked our VO saddles at all.
We do need to take better photos, and provide more photos from different angles. We are working on it. There's hundreds of items in our catalogue at this point, and we are a little pre-occupied with next tuesdays first Polyvalent shipment.

It will be done though.

I have a B-17 and a Swift Titanium. The Swift is on the bike I ride the most. In some ways it's more comfortable... I guess because it's narrower. Much purdier than them fancy new super light thingys.

BTW, a closer comparo to the B17 would be our Mod 3 (unsprung) and Mod 5 saddles (sprung).

The Dollar to the british lb completely sucks right about now. At least for those holding US dollars.

US dealers are not over charging; on the contrary, they are generally not making the margin they should be making on an item like that. Hwy2 and QBP, the Brooks US distributors, are in the middle taking their bit too.

i vote professional variation.