Pete Geurds wrote:
>
(snip)
> It seems he (Coppi) rode a Brooks saddle. A Brooks Professional?
> Was this his normal saddle through his career?
> That he rode a Bianchi was a no brainer but I'm not sure I'd heard what
> saddle he used.
As the owner of seven Bianchi (1939 to 1992) I thought I might try to answer your question.
From what I've been able to find out, pro racers from let's say the 1960s and before rode leather saddles and the most popular saddle of choice was the Brooks B.17 irrespective of the rider's nationality. Typically you would ride one saddle your entire carrer and transfer it from bike to bike. This saddle would be a heavily "butchered" (English term) B.17 with softening, trimed and chamfered flaps, maybe with holes punched in the lower edge, leather trimed from the nose, bag loops cut off with the leather in the back trimed flush with the cantel plate, large polished rivets, maybe an extra rivet at the nose top where the leather tends to stretch under the pressure, and maybe eveb extra holes punched in the top surface.
The Brooks Pro didn't come out until the 1960s and was supposed to replicate these butchered B.17s that pro racers used.
I have even seen a picture of Eddy Merckx racing with a Brooks in the early 1970s, when he switched from a Unicanitor/Cinelli for a short time because he was suffering from a boil.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, California
http://www.velo-retro.com (vint. Brooks catalogs)