So of course, as soon as they were available to me, I purchased a Brooks Cambium C17. I'd attempted to finagle a demo model when Brooks ran their advertising blitz a while back, but was denied for reasons unknown. I even wrote a regrettably curse word laden email to what I assumed was their robot mail service crying foul (mouth). Regardless, so far as I can tell from an admittedly brief (I'm not getting paid for this, you know) internet search, their chosen "testers" have been goddamned lax in their reviewing.
Knowing all that, you be the judge of my impartiality when I state: that saddle wore through 2 pairs of pants in the 1st 2 rides.
Perhaps that is why the radio silence. You can and will take what I write as you like, but I counsel you to abstain from the throwing of good money after bad in purchasing this saddle. I wore an old pair of wool/nylon dress pants for the 1st ride, which is a usual style for me as they are weather resistant and comfortable. Pilled up and wore through in a single ride of 4 hours. I've had that pair of pants and ridden in them extensively for over a year with no issues on leather B17s. The next pair was a worn-out at the knees pair of Levi's, because I wanted to test the saddle without ruining a good pair of trousers. These now have a super worn crotch with a nickel sized hole at the center seam after the same route/time as the 1st ride.
I have nothing but praise for the B17, and no good to speak of the C17. Talk amongst yourselves.
2 comments:
Hi Dick,
I also applied to be one of the testers and never heard anyhthing from them. I was curious about the saddle but didn't want to spend money, especially if I ended up not liking the saddle.
Thanks for your review.
Hi Justine, you are welcome! I cussed the Brooks PR folks enough for 2, so you're covered there also. (I apologize again, Brooks PR people- I was a jerk.)
As for the saddle, I truly want(ed) to love it as a long time Brooks rider (why I felt I should have been a reviewer as opposed to folks who had never ridden a Brooks at all...), but I can't be losing a pair of pants per ride. I will ride it some more, with some nylon-seated trousers and see how that goes, and perhaps a flashy-trashy saddle cover, but. It IS comfortable, and has a nice, forget-about-it "ass feel". The skirts are not present, and that is OK- noticeable if you are used to the B17's solid presence, but not a bummer. The grippy cotton overlay does grab your pants and hold them, and that's the rub as it were. I had not realized how integral the built in saddle slide which leather affords has become to my riding style.
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