I got thus unused fake "Brooks" style saddle in a bike deal (read as: guy cleaning out garage giving away free stuff) years ago; including a real B.17 which was barely used.
This saddle unfortunately had/has a couple issues (why I do not buy them) both from the factory and made by the previous owner.
Factory issues with these is usually with the saddle not being properly aligned; leather cover not evenly cut/shaped, mounted or inconsistent thickness; rails not straight or spacing consistent; etc. On this one the spacing is fairly decent only being 1mm (Brooks ~.75mm) difference front to back, but the rails are not straight which can stress clamp pieces/channels, and make it noisy when riding. I can fix that without much effort, but you should not have to do that with any quality built saddle. The cover is 1mm thicker on one side than the other, was cut unevenly at the cantle, and was also shaped over the plate partially covering bag loop access. Saddle alignment is 9 out 10, not really noticeable and will not affect actual ride.
The last owner had already cut back the side skirts (I assume in an attempt to make a "Swallow" style) leaving one tab per side. Neither side was cut particularly well and mismatched to the point where the front section of the rails were partially exposed on one side and completely obscurred on the other.
I evened out the poor lines, fully exposed the rails and bag loops (dropped ~25g not inclding whatever was dropped after initial modification).
I still have some final trimming left to clean up the lines and curves (being anal!), round off & punch aux. holes in tabs, chamfer (or "hand-skive" as Brooks likes to say) and buff the edges, enlarge and add grommets to bag loops, and add proper tab binder; but essentially it will look as seen here and is a prime candidate for present project (Vianelli built Gandolfi) to give it a classic, but sleek look befitting an early to mid '80s racer. Weight ~530g, 16.5cm x 28.25cm x 7cm
This saddle unfortunately had/has a couple issues (why I do not buy them) both from the factory and made by the previous owner.
Factory issues with these is usually with the saddle not being properly aligned; leather cover not evenly cut/shaped, mounted or inconsistent thickness; rails not straight or spacing consistent; etc. On this one the spacing is fairly decent only being 1mm (Brooks ~.75mm) difference front to back, but the rails are not straight which can stress clamp pieces/channels, and make it noisy when riding. I can fix that without much effort, but you should not have to do that with any quality built saddle. The cover is 1mm thicker on one side than the other, was cut unevenly at the cantle, and was also shaped over the plate partially covering bag loop access. Saddle alignment is 9 out 10, not really noticeable and will not affect actual ride.
The last owner had already cut back the side skirts (I assume in an attempt to make a "Swallow" style) leaving one tab per side. Neither side was cut particularly well and mismatched to the point where the front section of the rails were partially exposed on one side and completely obscurred on the other.
I evened out the poor lines, fully exposed the rails and bag loops (dropped ~25g not inclding whatever was dropped after initial modification).
I still have some final trimming left to clean up the lines and curves (being anal!), round off & punch aux. holes in tabs, chamfer (or "hand-skive" as Brooks likes to say) and buff the edges, enlarge and add grommets to bag loops, and add proper tab binder; but essentially it will look as seen here and is a prime candidate for present project (Vianelli built Gandolfi) to give it a classic, but sleek look befitting an early to mid '80s racer. Weight ~530g, 16.5cm x 28.25cm x 7cm
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