Brooks saddles - no more spare parts?

[Tiberius]

These days I buy Berthoud rather than Brooks saddles. The quality seems better and they offer a full range of spare parts, not that I have yet needed any (I have four Berthoud saddles on various bikes)

Having watched the video, I do like those countersunk torx bolts that hold the saddle together - far easier to replace than the Brooks rivets.

I have removed and replaced the rivets on a Brooks saddle when I had to replace the nose section on a B17. It can be done at home but I found it a pain (quite possibly just me) If I need to do it again I'm going to seek out some countersunk bolts similar to those used on the Berthoud saddles. A classic 'Kill or cure'

Somebody MUST have already tried this?

[Gazelles]

Riveting is a fairly good way to assemble things, no play, low demand on precision and strong. It will not be that easy to convert a riveted saddle to screws, especially when one is limited to standard parts.

[interestedcp]

Some posters saying that Selle Royal bought Brooks in 2020. I'm not sure that is correct:

While Selle Royal bought Brooks England in 2002, it wasn't until September 2020 that Brooks was fully absorbed into the Selle Royal Sp.A group. That must have meant new leadership, and apparently also a shift in various business policies..

[interestedcp]

To my knowledge, the only way to repair a broken saddle rail is to send it Brooks England.

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The problem isn't finding third parties that can fix broken Brooks saddle rails, the problem is that nobody can buy these rails as spare parts any more besides the limited amount some dealers has in stock.
I can repair a broken Brooks saddle rail myself, but after I have used the spare rail I managed to grab, that is likely to be the end for me regarding DIY repairs of my Brooks saddles, since I can't buy new spare parts.

[Woodtourer]

Wondering if anyone can point me to the post on how to make a tensioning bolt?

[markjohnobrien]

Hi, here in Germany spare parts for Brooks saddles are less and less available. Bike shops say that they can't order them any more and only sell what they have available. Since the rails only last 1-2 years for some riders this can make a Brooks saddle a fairly expensive purchase.
Does someone know more about the spares policy of Brooks? They have been bought by Selle Royale / Italy in 2020 and this might be the reason for this change.

Brooks were bought by Selle Italia/Royal (sic), a long time ago, at least 10-15 years ago (or even 20 possibly) by memory.

Brooks Cambium have always been made by the parent Italian company in Italy whereas leather Brooks are still made in Birmingham.

I remember dealing with Brooks way before 2020, in having an old titanium saddle re-topped with organic select leather at the Brooks Birmingham factory, and it was an Italian chap who dealt with my order.

[Gazelles]

It would be nice to be able to rely on good spare part availability and repair service independent on who is doing the work. So if they get their processes ordered in Italy or the tradional UK plant this would be ok for me.
Even it they can't offer this for products from the past due to variability in manufacturing but offer it for newly bought saddles from now on it would be at least a half solution of the problem.

The Brooks saddle I repaird for my wife was (I think) a Countess, Trekking bike saddle with copper rivets and back springs. It has two rails, the upper one is riveted to the leather, the lower one is screwed to the upper one and can easily be replaced. The saddle is not in use at the moment but the new rails have lasted for manyfold more km than the original ones and still go strong. So this looks like a case of production problem, wrong steel or wrong heat treatment.

[gaz]

Wondering if anyone can point me to the post on how to make a tensioning bolt?

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