Retro Ronde Seeking 2013′s Ravissantste Renner.

We're Sending Our Hardest People To Belgium This Weekend.

The sort of thing we expect, and are gratified, to see a Flemish Hardman doing.

Riders on the European continent are spoilt for choice these days when it comes to paying homage to simpler (yet probably more difficult) times.

L’Eroica in Gaiole, Italy has of course long since ceased to be an insider tip, while The Anjou Vélo Vintage in the west of France is gradually snapping at its heels in terms of popularity.

100 CAMBIUM by Royal Mail

First Of Our Cambium Saddles Winging Their Way To Lucky Testers.

We posted the big news here one month ago that Brooks is releasing a new saddle this year.

The Cambium C17‘s top is made of vulcanized natural rubber and a specially treated cotton canvas, and thus represents a rather fresh departure for us.

The Morgan Two Bicycle.

Another Icon Of West Midlands Engineering Has A New Bike Out.

Street geometry allied to off-road sturdiness makes at least two bikes of the Morgan Two.

The Morgan Motor Company is the last of the old band of independent British car makers still in existence. Famous in the earlier part of the 20th century for their distinctive three-wheelers, Morgan are still based in Malvern in the West Midlands, just down the road from our Smethwick works.

The Pelago Pop-Up In Berlin

Helsinki Bike Makers In Berlin Until The End Of May.

One of the Dashing Bicycle Show partners currently with us on our tour of North America is Finnland’s Pelago. And while it’s perhaps lazy to draw inferences from broad national stereotypes, it’s none the less tempting to reflect that countless meditative sauna visits and gallons of black coffee must surely have played a leading role in the conception and execution of these sleek, sturdy, understated steel framed bikes.

Guten Tag! Möchten Sie Cambiumfahrer(in) Werden?

Wir Haben Bald Unseren Neuen Sattel Fertig, Und Suchen Leute, Die Den Testen Wollen.

Im deutschsprachigen Raum sind Brooks Sättel bekanntlich sehr beliebt. In der Schweiz, in Österreich, in Deutschland selbst und natürlich auch in Ecken von Pennsylvania, scheint es nach unseren Zahlen so zu sein, daß kaum ein anderer Sattelhersteller in jenen Territorien überhaupt versucht, Geschäft zu machen.

Das macht uns natürlich sehr froh.

Wir können nicht genau sagen, ob es rein an unserer sättlerischen Exzellenz liegt, oder an dem guten Geschmack von unseren Kund(inn)en. Wahrscheinlich hat’s aber mit beiden zu tun.

Jedenfalls, haben wir einen neuen Sattel in der sogenannten “Pipeline”. Cambium heißt er, und soll ab Mitte Juni zu kaufen sein. Vielleicht haben Sie schon was darüber gehört?

Bis Juni wollen wir aber 100 Leute aus aller Welt finden, die für uns den Cambium vorher probefahren, und ihre Eindrücke und Erfahrungen dann mitteilen.

Wir haben zur Zeit eine kurze Umfrage auf die Brooks Homepage. Und zwar nicht nur “in English“.

Alle, die gern in unsere engere Auswahl kommen möchten, sind herzlich eingeladen, diese komplett auszufüllen und an uns hinzuschicken.

Sie erfahren spätestens irgendwann im Mai, ob Sie von uns einen Cambium bekommen. Wenn nicht, kriegen Sie sowieso als Trost einen Rabattcode, was ihre sämtlichen Brooks Einkäufe in unserem Online Shop 10% billiger macht.

Also viel Spass, viel Glück und einen schönen Tag noch.

Brooks And The Titchmarsh Scorpion Cargo Bike

We Sponsored The Innovator's Prize At This Year's Bespoked Bristol. Your Winner...

Our Titanium Team Pro is a great match for this innovative lightweight steel framed cargo bike.

We are sad to report that our John Boultbee Patented Drool-ometer took its final tour of active duty last weekend in the West Country. It sustained irreparable damage, and succumbed to its injuries shortly after Dan Titchmarsh rolled in to Brunel’s Old Station from York on his Titchmarsh Scorpion Cargo Bike.

The Drool-ometer’s fuses quickly blew and its transistors did duly melt, while the needle repeatedly pounded against the housing wall in an apparent attempt to denote a new upper limit for Drool, ultimately snapping completely from its axis.

This is all by way of saying that Dan and his bike were the unsurprising winners in one of several prize categories that Brooks sponsored at this year’s Bespoked Bristol.

Road Test the New Brooks Cambium Saddle!

This Is Big News For 100 Lucky Cyclists. One Of Them Could Be You.

Stop teasing! A quite unfulfilling glimpse of the new Brooks Cambium.

Readers of the 2013 Brooks Bugle will have had an informational head start on everybody else regarding the imminent release of a new addition to our range of fine bicycle saddles.

The current copy contains an article on our latest model, the Cambium C17. It’s a saddle that represents a fairly unusual departure for us in that its top is not made of leather (cue sharp intake of breath). Rather, it is made from natural rubber and organic cotton, and enhanced by a thin layer of structural textile for added resilience.

It is immediately comfortable and maintenance-free, which might possibly put a dent in our Proofide sales. Even without Proofide, it still offers the longevity for which our products are legendary.

Come on, bit more. I’ll see your two rivets and raise you a bag loop

But a rather interesting piece of extra news began doing the rounds yesterday, which we are happy to officially confirm for our readers today.

Between now and its release date, we are undertaking a worldwide search for 100 lucky people to road test the Brooks Cambium. The group as a whole will naturally consist of cyclists of both sexes, and encompass a full range of cycling activity and body types.

Part of A Return Of The Jedi Speeder Bike? Not quite. All will be revealed…

From the fair-weather, six stone bicycle commuter to the 300 pound daily Centurion, we hope to find our Cambium test pieces bolted to 100 very distinct seatposts.

Those chosen will report back to us with their impressions and experiences, and we’ll publish them in a special section of the Brooks website. Of course, our testers will all get to keep their Cambia in gratitude for their efforts, but would be strongly advised in advance to read our post on saddle theft prevention.

And those who apply unsuccessfully to test our Cambium will have the consolation of receiving a special discount code for our online shop. It will give you 10% off all Brooks purchases you make over the coming twelve months.

At any rate, several notable cycling websites publicized this news yesterday evening, along with a link to the Cambium Tester registration form. If you were one of the applicants who experienced the inconvenience of our server crashing under the weight of subscriptions, please accept our apologies. We are reliably informed that it’s “back up” again.

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has been firing back lots of good pictures from the Red Planet lately.

As we say, we are looking for a diverse pool of riders, not the first hundred who apply, so those who were unable to send their form to us yesterday are at no disadvantage in regard to the decision making process.

That said, we hope to ship out the 100 test pieces as soon as we can, around mid-May. So don’t dally, fill out our questionnaire and cross your fingers.

The Brooks Dashing Bike Show – Washington, D.C.

D.B. Hits D.C. With B.S.N.Y.C. Our S.G.

Friends across the Pond of the World’s Finest Cycling Saddles are abuzz with anticipation. And as Saturday approaches, our colleagues are putting the final transformational touches to Washington’s Bicycle Space as the Dashing Bicycle Show readies itself for a fortnight-long stay in the American capital.

Brooks – All Things To (Almost) All Cyclists.

We're Lending Our Support To Several Fine Events Over The Coming Months.

Strong beer. The Retro Ronde is just one of a host of events Brooks is sponsoring this year.

As a matter of policy, at Brooks we set aside time and money each year in our dedication as enthusiastic and hands-on sponsor of a large number of cycling- and cycling-related events.

Here at the blog recently, we’ve touched on the details of a couple of the celebrations of the two-wheeled and human-powered that we plan to be involved with in 2013. Funding, prizes and publicity tend to be things that organizers need in advance of an event, and we gladly give all three when possible.

When the talking is over and the hammer goes down, however, it’s also often the case that someone from Brooks finds themselves happily manning a race checkpoint, for example, or announcing the Free Bar as officially open.

The Vélo Vintage has prizes for well turned out Monsieurs and Madameoiselles.

In the past, we have helped out where we can with events as diverse as the Bicycle Film Festival, the Intelligence Squared debate series and the inaugural Belgian Single Speed Championships, to name just a few.

We look today at some of the places you can find us in the coming months, in some cases as return visitors and in others as first-timers.

For Throwbacks who prefer their vin rouge to their vino rosso, it can only be the Anjou Vélo Vintage. The smaller cousin of Gaiole’s l’Eroica is on again this year in the west of France with a choice of three riding distances and beaucoup de surprises magnifiques. So get your retro maillot on and point that front wheel in the direction of the Loire Valley.

Pointy, mucky, cobbly, slippery, icy mayhem probably not in store for Retro Ronde riders.

The Retro Ronde is on at the end of May, and we’re as excited about our involvement in this homage to the cult of the Flemish Hard Man as anything else we have in our spring calendar. Its dates this year have been set to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the first ever Tour of Flanders. So in that spirit, it will hopefully be very cold and wet for our Retro Ronders, and there’ll be lots of muddy pile-ups on the Koppenberg. In consolation, there’s as always a prize for the most fittingly attired racer.

Swiss winners have been the rule rather than the exception at European and World cycle courier championships over the past decade. So it’s probably fitting that Lausanne is the 2013 host of CMWC. The city whose rather, um, hilly streets have produced serial winners like Dominique Metz, Raphael Faiss, Raphaël Pfeiffer and Joséphine Reitzel is rumoured to be pulling out all the stops for a very special championships on the last weekend in July. We’re happily on board, and will also be doing something special to commemorate it. Watch this space.

Last year’s WCR Grand Tour champion Mike Hall is coordinating the Transcontinental this summer. An unsupported competitive ride between London and Istanbul will see racers tough it out in the Alps en route to Turkey under a doubtless blazing August sun. We disclosed the details of our likely involvement earlier in the year, and are happy to report that around 40 racers are already confirmed, among them Juliana Buhring, who as a WCR rider last year set the Guinness record for circumnavigation by a female.

Fancy the trip? Transcontinental racers ride London to Istanbul this August.

Rumours are also emanating from the Mill that said WCR Grand Tour will once again also happen in 2013. Our scale of involvement in 2012 went from releasing a Limited Edition commemorative saddle, to providing rolling race news reportage on the blog, to locating nearby beds and bike shops for riders. When they roll over the start line, we’ll be there to let you know how things progress.

The IG Markets Nocturne has continually proven itself to be a fantastic evening out for fans of all sorts of cycling disciplines. Under its auspices, Smithfield Market in London will again be the location for our Brooks Penny Farthing Race. As a spectacle our event is unchallenged, with High Wheelers tearing around the fast and tight Smithfield track, typically against the fine backdrop of a red sun setting slowly over the English capital.

The Brompton World Championships have taken place at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire over the past few years, but in 2013 the event moves to become part of the Orbital Cycling Festival at Goodwood Race Track in July. The ability to “Brompt Promptly” will once be at a premium.

Available spots for the chance to ride l’Eroica have, as per usual, long since filled up. The event in Tuscany has rapidly become a global phenomenon over the past couple of years. And Team Brooks is proud to have been there or thereabouts since the event’s inception.
This time out, we’re delighted to be able already to count such luminaries from the world of cycling journalism as Maurice Tierney (USA – Bicycle Times/ Dirt Rag Chief Editor), Bill Strickland (USA – Bicycling Chief Editor) and Simon Smythe (UK – Cycling Weekly Editor) on our provisional team sheet.

Retro Ronde – May 25-26
Anjou Vélo Vintage – June 19-23
London Nocturne – June 8
Brompton Worlds July 27-28
CMWC Lausanne – July 29-Aug 4
The Transcontinental – August 2
L’Eroica – October 6

The Tweed Run Pashley Auction

Pashley Princess Comes With A Pair Of Tweed Run Tickets.

Back in 2009, few could have predicted that a London group ride based on the idea of foppishly nibbling cucumber sandwiches would find many long-term subscribers. But of course, 2009 was pre-Downton Abbey, and anyway, the Tweed Run is famously about much more than one’s choice of refreshment.