daisy101

I was perusing the velo orange site and saw a few saddles on sale that caught my eye.

The ones that caught my attention appear to be modelled after the brooks b66 or b67.

anyone tried VOs saddles? At $65 each, they are about half the price I'd pay for a similar brooks. I've also been hearing that some people feel the brooks quality is slipping and I have not had much luck finding a vintage saddle that meets my specs...

lostarchitect 

I don't have experience with them, but someone here was recently saying they were made by another company. Anyone have that name? I can't recall it. When I looked up that company they had saddles that were almost exactly the same as the VO ones for much less being sold under their own brand name.

bobbycorno

I've seen the same saddles sold under the Cardiff, Zimbale and Gyes brands. Is it one of those?

SP
Bend, OR

Puget Pounder

There has also been a vehement response against that claim, but you should decide what you want to do. I don't know anyone who has had the saddle long enough to adequately assess it, but so far (a few months) I heard it's comfy.

ColonelJLloyd 

I'm a big fan of VO and the products that they bring to market. I've been satisfied and then some with the great majority of their products and their customer service. The saddles are not in the same league as Brooks, though. That's a fact. I've owned a Model 1 and a Model 8. The Model 8 is a fine saddle for an upright bike, but doesn't hold a candle to any B67 or B72 I've owned. The Model 1 compared to a Team Professional? The Team Pro is just a superior product.

So as much as I like nearly all of their other products, their saddles just aren't in the same league with Brooks.

Lostarchitecht, the VO saddles are manufactured by Gyes somewhere in Asia.

lostarchitect 

That's it, it was Gyes. Thanks.

robatsu

I've seen the wholesaler site for these saddles, they have a blank oval where to stamp your company's name.

All the retailer has to do then is the marketing, coming up with the appropriate J Peterman story for their demographic.

Hmmm, I got an idea. My brother, married to a Bolivian lady, has a little cattle ranch down in Bolivia. Maybe I'll start a line of fine saddles that recall the golden era of Bolivian cattle herding cycles, we can get the boys down there to dress up for a photo shoot, etc.

Anyhow, lots of people have experience with these saddles under the various brands. Few total raves, a little more on the condemnations, but overall, people seem to be meh, about them.

Maybe we can just start calling them the uni-saddle?

mkeller234

Whoa.... I must have one of those.

robatsu

They've earned their battle stripes in the campo.

lostarchitect 

An additional comment: I just got a Brooks Team Pro (purchased new from fellow C&Ver Septacycles) and the quality of the thing is just great. It's really gorgeous and seems like it will be very durable. I haven't broken it in yet, but for me it was comfortable right out of the box.

bbattle

Wait for Sorefeet's review.

strock 

I've got a Model 8, which I believe is modeled after the Brooks B-67. I like it a lot, and the quality seems fine. Don't have a huge number of miles on it, so I can't vouch for durability. But it's very comfortable. Started to break in after 100-150 miles. I previously had a Brooks Champion Flyer that I couldn't have broken in if my life had depended on it. Damn cow must have had hide made of steel.

bobbycorno

And from what some folks have said about new Brookses vs older ones, that's saying quite a bit.

SP
Bend, OR

daisy101

Hmmm...Potentially the same maker as they Gyes? I haven't heard much good news about the Gyes. Maybe I'll have to hold out for the Brooks.

frenchbikefan

I have a 40 year old brooks, and love it. Not a fan of those velo saddles.

wkatastrof

A bit off topic, I bought a Persons #77 saddle from permaco.com, put about 100 miles on it so far with no problems. Its the first leather saddle I bought. Apparently the VO saddles have some kind of mesh on the bottom for support. The Persons saddle has no such thing, looks like one big piece of leather to me.

Supposedly modeled off of a B17 Brooks. Never owned one.

Chris_in_Miami

I had a Persons Apollo that was pretty good for a few months, but it started getting saggy in short order. It was a copy more-or-less, of the Brooks Flyer, which I've heard similar complaints about...