Brooks Saddle Review: B17 vs. Swift.

I suppose this blog is starting to read like a Brooks adoration site. Well to be honest they manufacture pretty good products, and I have been using their saddles for around five years now and I have found them to be outstanding in terms of comfort and durability.

B17 - And the U.K's pitiful snow.

My first Brooks saddle was a standard B17 model, which was purchased in advance of our John o’ Groats to Lands End trip in 2009. It served me well but is starting to look pretty beat up after a few crashes and my general disinclination to maintain anything properly. It’s seen a lot of abuse, and has been used for many miles in the rain, which is apparently isn’t recommended for Brooks saddles due to their leather construction (it came supplied with a rain cover but it looks stoopid). Anyway the B17 was starting to resemble something dredged up from the seabed so I decided to purchase a Swift before embarking on our tour last summer.

Everybody knows that you have to break in a Brooks saddle and that it can take some time before it contours to your backside like an armchair you haven’t left for three days. With my B17 this was a doddle however the Swift (15cm) proved to be a bit of an arse wrecker, this is because it’s a lot more slender in terms of width than the B17 (17.5cm) and the leather is therefore more taught, it also feels thicker. In comparison it took around three months to get the Swift broken in and it still wasn’t that comfortable at the beginning of the trip, which wasn’t ideal, however since then my backside has triumphed (with the help of proofide) and the Swift is as comfortable as it will ever be.

As I mentioned before the Swift is considerably thinner than the B17 which suits me as I generally prefer thinner race saddles, however riding a century on a Sunday is somewhat different to doing them everyday for a month and a few days into the trip I began to realize that I had made a mistake leaving my trusty old B17 at home, I’m not saying that the Swift isn’t comfortable, its better than 75% of the saddles I have ever tried, I would have just preferred the extra support offered by the B17 which is more suitable for touring, however I knew that before we left but decided to take a risk.

Swift.

In terms of fit and finish the Swift is far superior with its hand hammered copper rivets and chamfered sides. The rails on the B17 are looking rusty these days but I doubt that the same will happen to the swift, as the rails seem to be of better quality. Having said that the swift did cost twice as much so that’s to be expected.  The colours have aged nicely and the once honey coloured B17 is now a darker brown while the swift hasn’t changed much apart from a joker at work spilling some kind of chemical on it which has resulted in a strange effect on the leather.

I would recommend a Brooks to anybody looking for a comfortable saddle and not just for travelling long distances on. They are extremely durable and if you treat it better than I treat mine they could easily outlast you. For touring purposes the B17 is a must buy, It’s an absolute classic and is the standard choice for touring for a good reason, they are also one of Brook’s least expensive saddles which is always a bonus. While the Swift served me well on tour it would probably be more suitable for a vintage road bike or for riding shorter distances.