WALLBLOG

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.

Brooks’ new line of Select saddles has been slow to arrive at the in the U.S.

The North American distributor got a few of the B.15 Swallow Select models and we grabbed a couple of them.

The Select line is made of thicker, organic leather with a natural finish. We measured the leather on one of our Swallows to be 5.6mm. (Brooks leather is usually 4-5mm thick, regardless of model.) These saddles are made with the high-mileage rider in mind.

The Select line includes the B.17 and B.17S, the B.67 and B.67S, and the Champion Flyer and Champion Flyer S, along with this Swallow. Brooks shipments from England have been a little thin lately but we hope that more Select models will arrive soon. They are nice saddles.

Tags: Brooks Select

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

The Lovely Bicycle blog analyzes the Brooks product line and explains the suitability of the different models in “Demystifying the System.”