Posted on March 25, 2022 by Sam Anderson
Brooks England just announced their most sustainable saddle yet in the Cambium series. The new C17 Special Recycled Nylon saddle uses sustainably-harvested natural rubber in pursuit of a comfortable ride. From there, it layers on rewoven “industrial remainders” to create a semi-coarse nylon surface.
Brooks England also makes the C17’s nosepiece and backplate from an intriguingly-named substance called Liquid Wood. The innovative biopolymer comes from by-products of industrial paper production and, Brooks says, it is 100% biodegradable.
Stainless steel tubular rails and distinctive aluminum rivets finish off the dapper saddle. It weighs 392 grams (claimed).
Liquid Wood’s parent company, Aesop Technologies, says the substance has similar thermal and mechanical properties as wood because it shares the same main ingredients. Lignin, cellulose, and sugars are among its key components. The proprietary material, Aesop says, can be processed on conventional plastic manufacturing systems.
“Natural rubber from trees,” as Brooks England puts it, is simple enough. The nylon recycling process is somewhat less obvious — the brand sources nylon, such as from a cutting room floor, as raw material, then weaves it into a fabric that it can vulcanize to the C17’s rubber base.
We’ve asked for further clarification from Brooks on the process and will report back once we have more information.
The C17 Special Recycled Nylon comes in two colors: cream, and a debonair black.
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If it’s 100% biodegradable, what’s it’s expected lifespan under a hot sweaty ass?
Yeah, just because a product is made from biodegradable raw materials, doesn’t mean the finished product readily degrades without significant processing. It’s good that their attempting to use different materials, and they already use little to no plastic in their packaging, but let’s not pretend it’s anything more than that. There’s a great difference between “degrades in common industrial composting conditions” and “can be processed mostly into materials that could degrade in less than 10 years”.
If Brooks has done testing to determine the time required to process them, and the conditions are typical of a processing center, then I’d like to see it. Otherwise, this is a bit of greenwashing.
Leather and metal are biodegradable and recyclable. The original saddles are green too.
like butt-er on hot popcorn melt
Curious to learn how closely related this bio plastic is to celluloid, cellophane, or linoleum, the original bio plastics?
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