Brooks

Brooks, a handcrafted brand for life

A pioneer of urban cycling

The history of JB Brooks & Co goes back to 1866, when John Boultbee-Brooks founded his own company. His original idea was to focus exclusively on leather goods and horse harnesses, which he made in Birmingham, England, where the company still operates under that name today.

John always got around the city on horseback, but when his horse died a few years later, in 1878, he decided to make those journeys by bicycle. Something rather unusual for the time.

An uncomfortable saddle as a source of inspiration

The bike Brooks used to get around was fitted with a wooden saddle that was a little uncomfortable, not to say downright annoying. Thanks to his experience working with materials such as hide, he adapted his bike's saddle and covered it with leather to gain comfort and elegance too.

Brooks patented his first bicycle saddle in October 1882. In his words: “I was dissatisfied with the saddles available, which offered little protection against the vibrations caused by roads in poor condition”.

Handcrafted saddles, a huge success

By the early 1900s Brooks already had a wide catalogue of saddles and bike accessories such as tool bags, accessories and inner tubes, with the same quality and recognition as its saddle-making.

Half a century later, Brooks had become a world-renowned brand, an industry leader and a mass producer with 3,000 employees and a weekly output of 80,000 saddles, which amounts to no less than around 3,000,000 saddles a year.

A brand that has never lost its ownership

The Brooks family has passed down, from generation to generation, all the traditional techniques for handcrafting every product.

In 1962, Brooks as a company became part of the Raleigh Bicycle Company, one of the oldest and most prestigious bicycle manufacturers of the time. With this change the company moved to Birmingham, just 5 kilometres north of its current location.

Since 2002 Brooks has belonged to Selle Italia, although its production remains in the United Kingdom, keeping tradition and quality alive under the roof of the same factory.

Its essence lives on today

Quality has always come first for Brooks, and you can see this in some of its saddles, such as the B66 and C17 models, whose design has changed only very subtly, proving that what is good from the start doesn't need to evolve.

At Santafixie we have the best of the handcrafted Brooks brand

We love the idea of everyone having the best products within reach to make their bike rides around the city even better. On our website you'll find the best bike components from the magnificent Brooks brand.

If what you need is to kit yourself out properly, don't worry: we also have bike accessories and Brooks cycling gear available so you won't be missing a thing.