Brooks England

John Boultbee Brooks set up a leather goods business in Birmingham in 1866 and, after an uncomfortable ride on a borrowed bicycle with a wooden seat, filed his first bicycle saddle patent in 1882. The tensioned leather B17, introduced in the 1890s, has stayed in production ever since, and the company, now owned by Italy's Selle Royal, makes saddles, bags and cycling accessories at its works in Smethwick, near Birmingham.