The best way to buy a Brooks bicycle seat
By TODD OPPENHEIMER
This sidebar is a supplement to The best bicycle seats on the planet: A factory tour
If you’re the least bit uncertain about committing to a Brooks bicycle seat, there is one vendor out there made for you. It’s the Wallingford Bike Parts Company, in New Orleans. Unlike virtually every other Brooks vendor, Wallingford offers you a six-month unconditional guarantee of satisfaction. In other words, if you find that a Brooks and your butt are not a good marriage after a few months (plenty of time to evaluate any new relationship), Wallingford will take your spurned lover back.
Wallingford offers Brooks’ full line of saddles: 16 leather models and the 4 ultra-light, synthetic Cambiums. Wallingford’s proprietor, Bill Laine, became one of the country’s biggest Brooks dealers because he is a huge fan of the Brooks saddle himself. Sensing there were other Brooks fanatics out there, he set up shop in 1995 and, as he says on his website, “response has been beyond expectations.” I couldn’t help asking how many returns he has to put up with. “Almost never,” he said.
Check out Wallingford’s inventory of Brooks products.
Then again, if you are more sure of your desires, and you absolutely must have your saddle in 24 hours, you can buy a B17 from Amazon for $120 as of this writing.
Todd Oppenheimer is the editor and publisher of Craftsmanship Magazine, and the executive director of its nonprofit umbrella organization, The Craftsmanship Initiative.
© 2023 Todd Oppenheimer. All rights reserved. Under exclusive license to Craftsmanship, LLC. Unauthorized copying or republication of any part of this article is prohibited by law.
