Best post of the thread......

My titanium rail Berthoud just came in today. Now, no disrespect to Brooks, I've been very pleased with all the Brooks saddles I've owned, which is more than I can recall, been riding them pretty regularly since the late 90's. Man, that was painful going into a bike shop in those days w/a leather saddle...

It isn't even fair to compare these to Brooks because they are a substantially different price point and the Brooks' eminently get the job done, uphold cycling tradition, and so on.

So all that being said, I've never seen a leather saddle so nicely done as this. And it appears *very* sturdy, like you could bludgeon someone to death with it. The leather seems like it will give my old Fujita Professional a run for the money in the stout, strong department.

It does seem like you get what you pay for in this instance. The plastic pieces don't give me any impression of cheapness at all in person - I was a little dubious of the pictures but in person the whole vibe is of a really super high end component.

My only negative is that the natural leather color is so close to human, well white human anyhow, flesh tone, it really is more pinkish than it appears in the photos below. So it has a little bit of a creepy Silence of the Lambs vibe, I'm hoping it will darken up a tad with use.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212293http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212294http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212295http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212296

Your comment reminded me of a curious article from the New York Times recently:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/bu.../28borker.html

It's a story about a business called "DecorMyEyes" which used negative publicity to generate top google search results. Interesting read!

the op hasnt posted much at all in the days since starting this thread.

I wonder where he went off to?

Product testing his bike with a hammer.

Looking forward to ride report. I'll try one out if it gets your blessing.

Wow, Robatsu! That saddle is nice looking. Your 620 is gonna be a something special.

Oh, I read that one... pretty crazy.

Crazy all right, crazy like a fox.

One troll post and we have a four page thread containing positive product info.

Robatsu I notice your berthoud saddle has a metal device with an allen key...Mine does not have the piece. Perhaps that is why my saddle is so loose on the rails...Did your Berthoud come factory with that piece? If that piece did not come with the earlier models then perhaps Berthoud tried to correct a design error...

Sorry folks the videos can't be posted just yet...Yes my saddle has crazing. The seller offered a refund but I think I will be more interesting to deal directly with Berthoud and product support..We are talking about one of the most expensive saddles on the market. They ought to be back it up...We'll see. I don't have the videos yet because I don't have the camera. I'll try to get it this week.

No way there are humans with a skin as thick as that. At least not in traffic and on internet discussion boards :)

Yes, it came with the saddle. I noticed this right away, I've been wondering what it is for. It certainly seems to serve the purpose of locking the rails in position.

Thank you Robatsu. You answered a question for me and we were civil. Perhaps I will ebay the seller and ask his model came with that piece you have. My saddle is one of the earlier production runs. So it might be a new design revision. I like simple solutions to problems and it looks you have the piece I need. Or perhaps could you remove the piece with the allen key and confirm that the rails are much loser that way...

I think we got somewhere with this. I've been rather anal lately about my saddles sores :)

Bingo! OP is not delusional, depraved, nor demented. Long RBW thread about twisty Berthoud saddles. Here is the money shot post, describes my clamp piece that is going on the new saddles, some existing owners have been supplied this free by wallbike.

I suppose this means poor ol' SoreFeet doesn't have to do that video after all?

See? I always knew Sorefeet knew what he was talking about....

L. I. B.

League of Illinios Bicyclists?

Lightning in a Bottle?

http://www.google.com/search?q=l.i.b...w=1280&bih=577

Well, I'll be.

Well, my work here is done. Good luck getting that saddle fixed. I hope the missing parts make it usable. Maybe post a video when its working?

I have the same color Berthoud, and yes it will darken with use. Mine's darkened a shade or two since I got it last month. I also applied some Brooks Proofide as well.

Wow! Lots of you guys were really hard on him and then it turns out that it's a valid design error that the company has corrected.

No kidding...can't wait to see the apologies start rolling in.
People around here are usually pretty cordial.

I've been waiting to see this as well. Guy takes 4 pages of snarkily vitriolic abuse, endures it in silence, then when vindicated declines to take a victory lap.

Uhmmmm...."product subject to change without notice"???:rolleyes:

Chombi