![]() ![]() Do you have to do a lot of in-house training since the skills required are quite specific? There’s not so many places like this left in the UK, so we all know we’re part of something that has a long history and is somewhat unique.Īs you mentioned, many of the roles in the factory are very specialized. The atmosphere is kind of different the staff take a lot of pride in what they are making. It’s a very traditional factory model in a lot of respects. We have some very unique and specialized operations here to build the saddle up most workers are trained to cover several jobs, and some may switch jobs several times during the day/week. Steve: We have 30 permanent employees on staff. How many employees are there, and what kinds of roles are they in? ![]() Tell us a little about the folks who work at the factory in Smethwick. There are a lot of faithful customers on that model. It’s perhaps the most versatile and most famous model as it works well for almost all types of riding. It’s also probably the least changed and still our best seller. On that note, what’s the oldest model in the line-up that’s been produced continuously? Why do you think that one is still around today? He enjoyed the bicycle but couldn’t stand the wooden saddle, which led him to invent the leather bicycle saddle and found the company. The story goes that his horse died, and he had to ride a bicycle to his workshop. John Boultbee Brooks, the founder, was a horse-saddler. Jim: The company was officially registered in 1866 here in Birmingham. Can you tell us when and how it came to be? I started at Brooks 10 years ago as a graphic designer, and I crossed over into a marketing role last year.īrooks has a storied history in the world of cycling. The bike was my passport to greenery and escape out of the industrial landscapes of the West Midlands. My father also worked here, so I’m second-generation Brooks, as it were. I’ve been here in various roles all my career. Steve: I started with Brooks nearly 45 years ago as a trainee accountant. To begin, please introduce yourself and your work at Brooks. If you ride a Brooks leather saddle, it was made here by the hands of the people we met at the factory in Smethwick. You’ll also find an extensive photo tour of what I hope you’ll agree is an endlessly fascinating workspace that’s rich in detail and where old machines and time-tested techniques combine to create new saddles built to carry riders around the world. You can read our post-visit interview with our tour guides Jim Holland and Steve Green below, who have a combined 55 years of experience with the company. We closed the loop on our chance meeting in the Republic of Georgia when the team at Brooks fixed a couple of rivets and chamfered the edges of his well-worn old saddle during the visit, breathing new life into it for future trips. ![]() That opportunity presented itself when I was passing through his hometown of Bristol, England, over the summer, and I invited him to join me on a tour of the Brooks factory after a couple of nights of camping. He’d just finished our Caucasus Crossing route and needed a place to stay “for the night.” When Jack finally left my spare room three weeks later, bound for Azerbaijan, we said we’d see each other again for a trip someday. The Smethwick, UK-based maker needs little introduction, as they’re surely one of the most revered brands among traveling cyclists, and they’ve produced an almost unfathomable number of saddles in the 150+ years they’ve been in business.īritish photographer Jack Boffy was riding his bike from London to Hong Kong in 2018 (atop a Brooks B17 saddle), and our paths crossed when he stopped in Tbilisi, Georgia, where I was living at the time. Nearly all of my bikes sport a Brooks these days-whether Cambium or leather-and the company’s products are an inextricable part of my experiences on the bike. Co-written and co-photographed by Jack Boffy ( the recommendation of far more well-traveled cyclists at the time, I’ve been riding a Brooks saddle since my very first loaded tour. ![]()
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