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brooks weatherproof cambium c17 carve saddle

whatever else the annual rouleur classic might achieve, for folks like me, it's the ideal place to network, as i believe is the preferred industry term. folks that i've been e-mailing or contacting on twitter all year can now be witnessed and spoken to in three-dimensions, when they can ask why on earth i said that about their product or perhaps why i didn't say anything about their product at all.

last november's edition was the very point in time where a conversation with ace mechanic and campagnolo service whizz, graeme freestone king, led to my being loaned a campagnolo neutral service bicycle for this year's hot chillee london-paris ride. though travelling with bike is undoubtedly a tad less iniquitous than was once the case, there's still the possibility that the citylink coach driver at kennacraig will inform me that the bicycle i have carefully packaged and taken from islay by ferry is not going on his bus.

while this is a relatively unlikely scenario, the fact that it could happen (and i have seen it transpire), means that my journey to paris could have been undermined at the first hurdle. add virgin trains into the equation followed by a stilted rail journey from waterloo to hampton court and you will recognise why the 500km to paris would likely have turned out to be the easiest part of the equation. being able to borrow a top quality machine for the trip made the whole enchilada far simpler than it might have become.

the only two items i was asked to bring along, were a pair of pedals to match the cleats on my shoes and my preferred saddle. the latter, adding but a few measly grams to my luggage, was a brooks c13 cambium carbon railed edition which, disappointingly, did not fit the clamp atop the record carbon seatpost. fortunately, the bicycle was already equipped with an alternative and quite comfortable saddle from a manufacturer that wasn't brooks. the cambium went back into my luggage and my bottom managed just fine, thank you for asking.

as coincidence would have it, the review bicycle currently residing in thewashingmachinepost bikeshed arrived with that selfsame saddle bolted to an fsa seatpost and though a highly respected make, it contrived, as it turned out, to make a fairly stiff carbon frame appear even stiffer. and that's where brooks re-enters the fray.

the cambium range, currently encompassing the c19, c17, c15 and c13 saddles, either with our without the cutout in the middle (the carve option) originated as an alternative to their substantial range of leather saddles. the original cambiums (cambia?) consisted of a cotton canvas upper, married to a gum rubber base, all formed around a metal frame and though the canvas upper was less affected by water than their trusty leather saddles, it would still absorb both precipitation as well as perspiration. unfortunately, neither leather nor canvas respond immediately to a wipe with a dry cloth when coffee time is over and done with.

brooks leather saddles frequently arrived with waterproof covers to keep them warm and dry when leaving them to their own devices in the great outdoors, but these never quite seemed to stay in place, or even be designed to fit the saddle on the bike. i figure that there are at least two of these brooks monogrammed edifices currently floating across the atlantic to newfoundland, having escaped in the wind while left sleepless in bruichladdich.

keen to address both potential problems in one fell swoop, brooks have introduced the weatherproof cambium in both standard c19, c17 and c15 fare, as well as the carved options. though i am possessed of a narrow bottom, i opted for the slightly wider c17 carved version which, albeit temporarily, replaced the stock saddle on my review bike.

there can surely be little doubt that a cutout in the middle of the saddle alleviates pressure where pressure is less than welcome, but overall, i have no scientific means of determining whether this is entirely favourable or not. after all, since the rider weight doesn't alter, that pressure conceivably has to move elsewhere. however, my posterior seems rather taken with the hole-in-the-middle arrangement and i can but report that the c17 in this case, made a stiff frame seem decidedly less so.

perhaps the next time i ride a bicycle that appears overtly rigid, i'll fit a cambium to determine if it's the frame or the saddle.

the waterproofing of this latest cambium variation has been achieved by replacing the cotton canvas with its verisimilitude crafted from nylon. this will doubtless raise the hackles of those who revere brooks as the curators of naturally-sourced bicycle seatery, hackles that will probably be further strained by noting the absence of the shiny metal frame featured on the original cambium models. it appears that brooks have replaced this with fibreglass reinforced material; less stylish, i'll admit, but in practice i noticed no real difference. and to those who find this to be the harbinger of the world's end, might i be the first to point out that most of you are to be found riding carbon fibre.

and that doesn't grow in fields. however, the purists might also wish to note that the saddle is manufactured in italy and not smethwick.

over the review period, the c17 weatherproof has had the luxury of sitting out in the rain, as well as being punished by perspiring buttocks, neither situation seeming to have had the cambium pause for distraught thought. if weather features large in your velocipedinal life, it would behove you well to outfit at least one of those n+1 bicycles with just such a saddle. the c17 offers a smidgeon more leibensraum than the c15, but less than the c19. however, if unadulterated speed in the search of strava sectors is your jam, a few less millimetres on the width may well aid those ambitions.

the brooks cambium c17 weatherproof edition retails at a most amenable £95 | brooksengland.com

tuesday 17 october 2017