Brooks aren't as good as you think
 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...o/HPIM0621.jpg

How would you like to be 300 miles from nowhere and have this happen and the bolt was never touched.

Blasphemy! I call shenanigans. Brooks are carried on clouds by angels from heaven and none have ever broken or given anyone trouble of any kind. Be gone heretic!

Since this promises to be a roasting of another Touring Forum holy cow, or perhaps holy cowhide in this case, there's a story on Bike Forums about Brooks rejecting a warranty claim - it seems the guy's chamois creme caused the leather to stretch, and Brooks said they weren't replacing the saddle.

Quit complaining - I'd only had mine for a week when THIS happened...

http://www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk/~ad327/pictures/saddle.jpg

Edit: this rear rack is a custom job and not available in the shops.

Well, that sucks. How old is it? Were you able to ride on it, after a fashion?

But in general I'd have to agree with you: Brooks quality is not always as good as you'd expect, based on the price and reputation. I have a Brooks I got a little less than a year ago, and I treated it correctly, a little proofide, no radical or violent attempts to soften it, and I didn't let it get rained on... but by July it had softened up so much that I took it off my bike and put it on my son's. He's half my weight and it holds him okay, and I convinced him it's an upgrade. But for my purposes, it just got too broken in (and I'm not a heavy guy). I think there was something wrong with the leather.

That said, these problems seem to be rare.

Good grief! How much chamois creme were they using! :eek:

I am not a fan of the Brooks saddles, but any saddle can possibly break. I doubt that a lack of reliability is a major problem with Brooks saddles. I just don't ascribe all the magical qualities to them that some do. It is just another saddle in my mind and a heavy one at that.

From the Clydesdale forum in December 2007:
"Update to my originating post: I contacted Brooks who said it appeared I had a warranty claim and to send to their US distributor, Highway Two in Olney, IL, which I did. They responded the saddle failed because I used a treatment other than Brook's Proofide. I fired off an intemperate reply that Proofide is all I'd ever used. After a bit of thought, I realized I long ago used too much chamois cream one hot summer which soaked through into the leather. So the saddle failed solely from my carelessness. ...I promptly remounted a new B17 to my seat post."

One of the funniest commentaries I've ever read on Brooks saddles. From FatCyclist.com:

"Brooks saddles. There’s your solution, Fatty. I think the light one weighs only about a pounds, although for mountain biking you probably want the three pounder that comes with springs. It looks very well engineered, in a ‘34 Shoebox Ford / steel trestle bridge kind of way and it’s kind of wide - maybe not super efficient but one of your skinny friends could probably sit beside you on the seat as you hammer through Leadville. It breaks in within three or four months of heavy use, so that won’t be an issue for you, plus the oozing from the blisters will help soften the leather up faster. Now, you’ll need to get the waxed cotton bag that goes over the seat if it rains or if you are sweating profusely - wouldn’t want to turn that nice leather into mush. And, if it starts to sag in the middle, you just use the wrench to tighten it back up. Don’t overtighten or you wreck the last! And every so often you can put on some proofride, which will help preserve the leather from rot, sweat damage, rain damage, and leather fatigue.

Dang, no doubt about it. A Brooks saddle would definitely be the answer to your troubles. And while we’re at it, let me explain to you why the original Campagnolo Double Parallelogram rear derailer is better than SRAM Red…"

Did it break or did the fastener just come loose?

The tensioning bolt just seared off. I have about 5000 miles on the saddle and never touched the bolt. I called Wallingford and they are going to ship me another bolt for $11+ shipping. If this happened with a Terry or Specialized, they would be sending me a new saddle. I asked Bill from Wallingford if this happens a lot and he said a few times a year. That's just his shop, I wonder how many more.

I know a lot of people tour on these saddles, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to carry an extra bolt or a Terry saddle:D

Having any critical component fail 300miles from nowhere would suck, but I've seen plastic saddles fail as well - not to mention bars, tires, seatposts, rims, etc.. Unless Brooks saddles are failing in large numbers it isn't something I'd worry too much about.

Even if you go to the trouble of building a very robust touring bike with heavy duty parts you can still have an accident [crash, be hit by a car, etc..] that will leave your bike unusable until you get replacements.

Unless you plan on carrying a whole spare bike you just have to accept that on tour sh*t can and does happen.

And only this afternoon I was wondering how many hundreds of miles I would have to ride before my B17 stretched enough to be remotely comfortable.

Brooks saddles are forged by God himself and sold through the middle man, your local bike store.

I refuse to tour on anything that can break. All of my components are completely indestructible.

;)

I had the titanium nose of a Swift break. To make matters complicated, I had purchased it through eBay, a year earlier, and had no recollection of who the seller was. I took the saddle to a LBS, and they sent it in to the distributor. They gave me a choice:

a) Sell me the parts to repair it.
b) Sell me a new saddle at wholesale cost.

Since I had no idea where to find a shop that could do riveting in the tight space of the saddle nose, I opted for "b". So I have a like-new Swift with a broken metal nose in my box of spare parts.

What kind of saddle are you using now?

Option "b" got me a new Swift Ti just like the one that broke, (on my touring bike).
I use a Selle Italia Flite Ti on the road bike.
The mtn bike has a Selle San Marco Concor.

:rolleyes:

I love melodrama.

Bummer George. What model saddle is it and where you able to continue using it?

Andrew

B17 and yes I did ride it home.

There is no excuse for even one tensioning bolt to fail. That's simply a design and manufacturing defect.

The fact that this one shop says they see it a few times a year confirms the point.

Had only one brooks before. The exact same thing happened.

Mmm, I have a B17. Something to watch for, for sure. I am glad you where able to get home okay.

Andrew

Wanna trade?