From the land of copycats and rampant copyright infringement, I was searching a Taiwan online shopping site this morning to see if I could find a Brooks saddle, and found these Brooks copycats. They even use deceptively similar packaging. Some have no stamp on the side of the saddle, and one has a Taiwan stamp that is similar in design to Brooks.
https://search.ruten.com.tw/search/s0...6%E6%A8%AE&t=0

And this is surprising, how? Been going on for centuries. We have a shotgun from the late 1800's that was made in Belguim that is a knockoff of an American manufacturer from that era. Not a high quality product at all, just an interesting conversation piece.

Aaron

for some reason I don't see a picture or link.

My impression is that Brooks is making saddles the way a lot of people did 50 or 100 years ago. If a product is not patented or trademark protected, it's fair game to copy it.

Brooks certainly patented designs like the B17, but since they've been making it since 1898, the patent would have long expired. Certainly the knockoffs can't use the name, and I'm certain don't match the quality.

They have been amongst many saddle manufacturers, over the century, plus..
Form follows function ...
Making a hammock piece of leather shaped and stretched across a gap,
is hardly a idea Brook's came up with on their own...

now, as then, there are still other players in the saddle market place..
leather and Not.

However using the Brooks name and packaging is an infringement...

There are flea markets and some stores full of illegal knockoffs in the US, it is reportedly a $600 billion a year problem world wide. With some things like shoes, pocket books or saddles it isn't a big deal except possibly to the manufacturer or consumer. Start talking aircraft parts, crane parts or medical supplies and equipment and you have a real problem.

Aaron

The product itself does not say Brooks, but the seller is saying it is.
For some reason the link didn't show up the first time. I edited the OP and reinserted the link.
Taiwan is known for it's knockoff products and copyright infringements. Once every 6-12 months you see an article in the newspaper or TV news about a bust of a small time vendor of knockoff goods. But for the most part it's ignored here.
But I did find a seller with actual Brooks saddles at expected prices. I see a new Flyer in my near future.

so this a e bay vendor problem .. grey area .. not the item..
if it smells bad , let it go..

PRC is huge, in comparison to ROC.

even Texas is sketchy in ethics..

Not e-bay, but similar. No intention of buying one, especially since the genuine article is available.

You lost me here on relevance.

Just Texas? Every state in the USA (and just about every country) has people selling bootleg stuff. Even Oregon is sketchy in ethics.

The bikes you would put such a saddle on are most likely made just down the street from the bootleg Brooks saddle company. The difference is the Bikes paid someone to buy there once prestigious name and logo. And if the saddle maker is using the Brooks name without permission then there should be a problem with someone reselling them as the real deal in this country. Chances are they brand them Brook’s or something and get around it.

Here is my example of good made in China, American quality. I looked to about 30 of these tapered cup holders without finding one that was right. I left it this way as a reminder of what Schwinn Quality is exactly now as compared to 50 years ago when I got my first bike as a kid.



The funny part is besides the quality badge being upside down it’s a nice made cup holder. More than I can say for the bikes at wally world called Schwinn.

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The side stamps don't look like a Brooks stamp to me, and the "sobdeall" name isn't even a close copy of "Brooks" -- I'd think Ideale would have more to complain about than Brooks.

But then, I commute on a non-Brooks leather saddle, a Persons Majestic, whose side stamp looks closer to Brooks than the Sobdeall ones


20080906_IMG_3981 by joshua_putnam, on Flickr

Persons has been in the saddle business for generations, can't really call them a Brooks knockoff -- as a matter of fact, they have a better tension adjuster than Brooks, accessed through the saddle nose with a standard hex key rather than a special single-purpose wrench.

In what parallel universe does a Brooks Professional saddle merit a $210 cost? I mean, the swallow is $210 (always it was priced above the team pro), the B17 special is $180, I feel like Brooks is trying to bleed-dry the people attempting to restore racing bikes, and now there is a very hot market on ebay for used Brooks Professional & Team Professional saddles because Brooks is being so greedy ....

let the zombie threads sleep

10 year zombie thread

not bad...

It's ovbious a Brocks saddle.

Completely different, altogether!

It wasn't even a good resurrection just a complaint

Night night Zombie thread.

/closed