BROOKS B17 SPECIAL SHORT (HONEY)

Our best-selling model for over 100 years, the B17 is the ideal bicycle saddle for commuting, gravel, road and touring use. A supremely comfortable saddle thanks to its flexible, hammock-like, performance that moves with every pedal stroke, the B17 is a bike seat designed for the 60° angled riding position. Handmade in England from beautiful and durable 100% vegetable tanned leather that will mould and shape individually to each rider, the B17 is finished with premium steel rivets and undercarriage.

It has been on the market for over 100 years, being featured in as early as the 1898 catalogue. The model is available for gents and ladies: the B17 (gents) and B17 S (ladies). The Standard models feature black steel rails, the B17 Special features copper plated steel metalwork, and the B17 Titanium... Both the B17 Special and the Titanium also feature hand hammered copper rivets. Made in England.

Hand-hammered rivets and special finishes characterise the B17 Special Saddle. Like all of our leather saddles, each beautiful B17 Special emerges by hand from our Smethwick, England factory where it has been carefully finished with hand-hammered copper rivets to add life to the saddle by protecting the durable vegetable tanned leather.

Durable Vegetable Tanned Leather

Only the finest premium vegetable tanned leather for strength, beauty and durability.

Extended 10-Year Guarantee

The Brooks extended 10-year guarantee on all our leather saddles is founded on the quality and consistency of materials and the exceptional work of our craftspeople.

Handcrafted Since 1866

Our workshops have been crafting Brooks iconic leather saddles for more than 150 years.

Lasting Comfort & Breathability

Leather is a naturally breathable material that provides a unique type of well-being. The leather top is suspended over the saddle rail to create a suspended moulded seat, similar to a hammock, for tailored lasting comfort.

Shapes Over Time

Journey after journey, our leather naturally moulds to the unique shape of the rider for a more comfortable ride.

Features

- Hand-Hammered Cooper Rivets

- Shorter nose for women and small riders

- Durable, 5 mm thick, Vegetable Tanned Leather

- Hand skived lower flaps

- Chromed rails and frame assembly

- Distinctive side stamp

- Iconic Brooks backplate

Materials

- Vegetable tanned leather top

- Hand-hammered cooper rivets

- Steel rail / cooper plated

- Length: 242 mm

- Width: 176 mm

- Height: 48 mm

- Weight: +- 460 g

Ideal for

- Cycling in the city

- Travelling the glove

- Gravel and bikepacking

- Road cycling

About Brooks

In 1865 John Boultbee Brooks set out from his place of birth, Hinckley in Leicestershire, with little more to his name than ambition and £20 in his pocket. He made his way to Birmingham, where just one year later he established a business under his own name, producing harness and sundry leather goods for horses. Twelve years later, after the unfortunate death of his own horse, JB Brooks borrowed a bicycle for his commute to work. He was excited by the possibilities of this ingenious new mode of transportation, but pained to be seated upon its hard wooden saddle, and vowed to do something about it.

By the Autumn of 1882 he had filed the first of many patents for a leather bicycle saddle. The company expanded rapidly after the success of these revolutionary designs, producing many other new products for cycling, including outerwear and robust luggage. And on the way, becoming a byword in quality handcrafted goods. Brooks England Ltd. is one of the few survivors of the once-glorious British bicycle industry. In 2002 the company was acquired by Selle Royal S.p.A., an international cycling group headquartered in Italy, and has since been under new management whilst maintaining its production facilities in England.

Rather than follow the route of other former British manufacturers, Brooks instead has flourished, doubling its workforce and raising its annual turnover. Our factory in Smethwick, only a few miles removed from JB Brooks’ original premises, houses our skilled workforce who continue to use the same traditional machinery, some of which itself dates as far back as the 1940s and 1950s.