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Brooks England Resurrects the Standard Professional, the Original Racing Saddle

Brooks England Standard Professional hero(Photos/Brooks England)
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A new Brooks Saddle would not be the saddle of choice for a modern cyclist who is pinching grams. But, the Brooks Standard Professional was the standard for the professional cyclist of yesteryear. And, like it or not, the saddle is beautiful in its details, and that aspect hasn’t changed.

Brooks England Standard Professional flowers and saddle

The Standard Professional has been “reborn for another lifetime” and brought to the masses for a limited time out of the Brooks archive. And Brooks thinks that the discerning cyclist who isn’t concerned about shaving grams will love it.

Brooks England Standard Professional gallery riding

The Standard Professional saddle is frankly, quite beautiful. Like most Brooks saddles, it has a 10-year guarantee, is hand made, the durable leather breathes well, and shapes to your anatomy providing ultimate comfort for decades.

A Lil’ History

The unique design of the Standard Professional came to fruition through evolution. Its origins lie in the “sometimes-obsessive” fixation with the weight-cutting, and gram-pinching of competitive cyclists. Yes, even the cyclists of the 1940’s wanted their equipment to be as light as possible.

Brooks England Standard Professional carrying bike

In an attempt to stop racers from taking hacksaws and knives to Brooks’ finely crafted products, they introduced the B17 Competition in the 1950s. The B17 Competition saddle is a direct ancestor to the Standard Professional saddle. Brooks chamfered the edges and left off the bag loops to keep the weight down. They also used solid steel rivets.

Brooks England Standard Professional guy in the flowers

That saddle eventually evolved into the Standard Professional that Brooks brings back today. The newly re-released saddle features an exclusive hand-chamfered nose, along with copper rivets that first appeared between the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Standard Professional is available in limited quantities through the link below. Grab some cycling history and sit on it, your tush will thank you.

Standard Professional Detail and Retail

Brooks England Standard Professional antique brown packaging

Retail: $240

  • Durable Vegetable Tanned Leather
  • Shapes Over Time
  • Lasting Comfort & Breathability
  • Extended 10-Year Guarantee
  • Handcrafted Since 1866

BrooksEngland.com

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Kool Stop Tyre Lever Sales Dept.
Kool Stop Tyre Lever Sales Dept.
6 months ago

Gilles Berthoud makes the best Brooks saddles.
Sort like the best British roadster is a Miata,
and the best Italian bike parts are made by Nitto.

Eric Moss
Eric Moss
6 months ago

Big Berthoud fan here — I replaced my B17s and Selle Anatomicas with Vars, and am very happy. If you are looking for something else in the French tradition of making great English saddles (hehe), Ideale is back in business with all the original recipes and skills and some of the tools. I can’t wait until they get the Model 92 back, but the Model 90 is available now.

Matt
Matt
5 months ago

As a user of many leather saddles (Brooks, Berthoud, and Ideale too), I agree Berthoud’s are the best.

Tom
Tom
5 months ago

I have sat on many saddles. Brooks are the most comfortable I’ve ever had.

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
5 months ago

I really would like to see someone offer a leather seat with carbon everything else.

WhateverBikes
5 months ago
Reply to  Larry Falk

Would be cool, but I don’t think the structure of a leather saddle lends itself well for that.
A Brooks saddle (and similar leather saddles from other brands) is basically a hammock, tensioned with a screw. Carbon rails would probably not hold up well enough for that. They need the support of a carbon or plastic saddle base to be strong enough as a whole.

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