Launched today, the Brooks B17 Utmost is a premium saddle featuring high-quality leather, a new internal rail design, and other small tweaks to one of cycling’s most recognizable saddles. For more on this new B17, check out all the details below…

The storied UK-brand saddle has updated one of their most well-known designs with the Brooks B17 Utmost saddle. According to the company, it’s the highest-quality undyed leather they could obtain from their suppliers and, as a result, is noticeably stiffer and more durable. The new leather used on the Utmost is 5.5mm thick and contains no dye. In my conversations with Joergen Trepp, the marketing manager at Brooks, he stated that the function of dyes is to make the material more visually appealing in leather products. Dyes also hide some of the typical imperfections that are unavoidable even in the highest-quality forms of modern leather, so it’s a challenge to get something this “raw” from a supplier.

Nevertheless, Brooks pulled it off and combined the Utmost with a new tubular stainless steel rail design, which drops the weight into the ballpark of the titanium version of the B17. The redesigned stainless nose and tension pin also bring the Utmost up to date. I spent a year commuting on a test version of the Utmost and can attest to its quality and comfort, though the initial stiffness is harsher than that of other Brooks saddles I’ve used. My only direct comparison is through my used and well-loved Brooks Swift saddle, which has about four years of riding, bikepacking, rain, sweat, and crashes. My Utmost is only a year old but feels noticeably softer after the break-in period, especially in the area where my perineum contacts the saddle.

Part of the reason I had strayed from the B17 before was their width. At times, it gets in the way of my pedal stroke, and I find it too wide for my rear end. That’s still true here, so it was largely relegated to commuter bikes and rides where I wouldn’t be in the saddle for more than a few hours, but that’s a personal preference. I know many cyclists and bikepackers who find the B17 suitable for their big rides; I simply prefer the more svelte profile of the Swift.

Overall, though the $300 is hard to swallow, it’s a design philosophy consistent with Brooks’ longstanding history. These are meant to be purchased once and potentially outlive the bikes they’re mounted to. I’ve never broken a Brooks in my career as a cyclist, and the Utmost shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. Having received the production version of the saddle just a week or so ago, I didn’t get a chance to use the included leather softener on the new saddle, but it worked as intended on the test version and helped soften it even more. For clarity, the small bottle of softener is different than the Proofide balm that typically comes with leather saddles, and is intended to catalyze the break in period of the Utmost’s stiffer leather. The Utmost weighs 453 grams, and comes with a spanner for the tension bolt and a tote bag. It will also only be available in limited quantities, with two rounds of 1,000 saddles released per year.

For more information on the Brooks B17 Utmost, visit BrooksEngland.com.

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