Cycles Berthoud

Vegetable-tanned leather, hand-stitched, uncomfortable at first and perfect after a few thousand kilometers. An investment in initial discomfort for definitive comfort. Made in Fleurville, patinated by the road.

Fleurville, Burgundy, year 2000. At a time when everyone's switching to synthetic saddles and cordura bags, someone decides to do the opposite. The Berthoud workshop settles in this Saône-et-Loire village and starts making leather saddles. Not leather glued onto a plastic shell, real vegetable-tanned leather, stretched over a frame, hand-stitched. Same principle as English Brooks. Except Berthoud is French, the leather is sourced in France, and the finishing is a notch above. On touring forums, les passionnés, Randonneurs, long-distance cycling Facebook groups, Berthoud is a name that comes up with metronome regularity. People always compare to Brooks, because that's the century-old reference. And the conclusion is often the same: Berthoud is more expensive, but the leather is better, the stitching finer, the shape more considered. The principle of a leather saddle is simple and counterintuitive: it's hard at first and uncomfortable. Then it breaks in. The leather relaxes, hollows, conforms to the cyclist's exact anatomy. After a few thousand kilometers, it's molded to your bones. No synthetic saddle does that. It's an investment in initial suffering for definitive comfort. Berthoud bags follow the same philosophy. Vegetable-tanned leather and canvas, robust fittings, saddler's stitching. The French alternative to English Carradice. They're made to live outside, in rain, in mud, loaded with 10 kilos of gear for a week of touring. And they develop patina. The leather takes the marks of the journey, scratches, rain. After a few years, a Berthoud bag looks like a map of your travels. The workshop is small. Production is artisanal. Every saddle and bag is cut, stitched and assembled in Fleurville. No outsourcing, no offshoring, no low-cost range. Just leather, thread, and hands.