Jered Gruber came to New Orleans with low expectations for quality riding. He succumbed to the spell of the city pretty quickly, though, and writes about it in “New Orleans – An Unlikely Top Ride” The pictures are terrific.

We have most of the Brooks Select line of saddles in stock at the moment. We haven’t been able to get the Champion Flyer yet and the Swallow’s are all sold, but we do have the B.17, B.17S, Flyer S, B.67, and B.67S.

These new saddles are beauties. Thick leather in an un-dyed, natural shade, with big copper rivets and skived skirts look very appealing to me.

Brooks’ Andrea Menghelli does a nice job of explaining the Select models so I will refer you to his piece on the Brooks Blog.

Berthoud - B.17 - Swift

Blogger ‘Rob’ , on Ocean Air Cycles,  shares his experience with the Berthoud Aspin touring saddle, the Brooks B.17, and the Brooks Swift. The comparison pictures are very interesting as is his impression of the saddles.

I have come across two blogs that have good reviews of Berthoud saddles. Lovely Bicycles rides the Marie Blanque ladies saddle and there is a good discussion after the post. Bike Touring News has an article about the Aspin touring saddle.

Lovely Bicycle

Bike Touring News

Great Allegheny Trail - Photo by George Smith

Bicycle Touring on Car Free Paths is a new website “by cyclists for cyclists” dedicated to long-distance bike touring paths that are car free. Routes listed have information about lodging, food, and other conditions. If you’re looking for a great tour this could be your starting place.

Tags: routes

Phillip, at Bike Tinker, replaced the frame on an old B.72. He writes about his experience and posts a few pictures here. The chromed-steel rivets are not from Brooks and I asked him about them:

I got them at the hardware store (True Value), which is inside a farm store (Wilco). I had the old saddle, so I could gauge the length I needed, and I got some good advice from a young guy there who seemed like he’d riveted a time or two. “The copper ones just go over like butter.” He also recommended splitting the rivet with a chisel to make it easier to peen the parts over.

Tags: frame, repair, rivet