Brooks Saddles

Brooks Colt saddle

Brooks Colt saddle - on card

Brooks Colt saddle - covered

The Brooks Swallow racers' favourite will now come with large copper, hand-beaten rivets on the new natural-coloured 'Select' option shown here. Price £159.99 with the 'Select' versions of the B17, Flyer and B67 in mens and womans versions £119.99
 

At the Brooks factory - Eric Murray hand beats copper rivets surrounded by journalists

For flat-bar riders, we love the new slimline, lightweight aluminium grips with replaceable padded leather tape in colours to match the saddles. A circlip-secured blanking disc is removable to facilitate fitting bar-ends and the grip is secured with a secret Torx fitting. Tidy. You're going to want a pair. Stand by for prices.

A Brooks Swallow saddle has its edges skilfuly chamfered at lightning speed

John Boultbee Oxford Rain Cape has magnetic handlebar attachments and a reflective band that is only discrete until you shine a light on it

We had been more than prepared to give Brooks the benefit of the doubt when they'd said over the years that skilled artisans hammered copper rivets to secure fussily-selected cowhide to a luxuriously sprung chassis - we'd even seen the pictures - but it came as a surprise that not only are leather workers' skills bought to bear but a whole array of noisy cutting, stamping and metal-bashing machines are directed at raw steel sheets and rods to produce all those important chassis parts.