Never ridden a Swift, but wanted to chime in and reinforce what Patch said; by my eye the Swift is much narrower and closer to a Berthoud Galibier than an Aspin/Avaris. I have a mix of B17's, Brook's Team Pros, and Aspin/Avaris in my stable. I feel like the Team Pro's are closest in fit to the Aspin/Avaris.
As far as leather thickness goes, it's sort of hard to measure, due to the natural variations and stretching during forming, but the Berthoud's do appear to be a bit thicker than the Brook's, something like 5+ mm for the Brooks vs 5.5 mm for the Berthoud's.* I didn't notice much variation between the Brook's models. Personally, I've never had much of an issue with sagging saddles, but maybe that extra 10% thickness might help if you do. I mostly prefer the look of Brook's saddles over Berthoud, but Berthoud has definitely improved upon the Brooks design and created an even more perfect saddle. But I think both are great. Anyways, my suggestion is if you find the Berthoud Aspin to be too pricey, try a Team Pro. *I'd be interested if others can confirm this approximate measurement! It was a rough approximation based upon 3 Berthoud's and 5 or 6 Brooks. On Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 3:35:49 PM UTC-7 Patch T wrote: > Hiya! I have both (a Ti Swift and an Aravis) and really love them both. I > use both with drop bars set one to a few cm below my saddle. > > I tend to reach for my Aravis for longer rides. It just feels like there > is more there to support my tush. The Ti Swift (which is lighter by some > grams FYI) is used for shorter rides with harder efforts. It feels less > chunky, more narrow. Still comfortable. They feel different but I love them > both. > > B17s remain mainly on my sweepy bar-ed bikes. > > Patch in Oakland. > > > > On Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 6:04:27 AM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > > Thanks for the replies, all! Does anyone have experience with the Brook > Swift? And any comparison of the Swift vs Aspin? > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f78e5196-0757-4b85-94e7-6e5cc685e1cdn%40googlegroups.com.
