If you want something worn out or busted, I can get it done.

        For several weeks I was having some newly discovered pain in the nether regions and couldn't figure it out.  The saddle on my Hunq would not seem to stay in adjustment and it was really irritating (in more ways than THE one).  Every couple of days I was tightening the bolts , THINGS got more and more sore.

      I figured it out after the lower plate on the seat post broke.  Oh, we  need that?  So that was a bit of remedial education for me.  It is a Velo Orange Gran Cru seat post and I wrote to see if there were replacement parts available.  I told them when I bought it and sent a photo, unfortunately they no longer have parts lying around for those.  I was stuck with having to replace the whole seat post.  As a consumer I've had experience with this system.  When somebody doesn't support their product, I buy from somebody else.  That gets complicated.  I am an American.  It was an opportunity (spelled "excuse") to spend much more than I needed to fix the problem.  There are a lot of seat posts out there and I could have bought a new one for $55 dollars from VO.   This was the first problem I had had, I am still happy with the one on my Hillborne, but what a great excuse to upgrade.  All this temptation to spend money dangled in the face of an experienced consumer was too much to bear.

     I sprang for the Nitto/Rivendell lugged seat post which is reputedly the strongest on the market and has 40mm of setback as well as the double bolt design which allows true micro adjustment of the angle.  Wait!  There's more! 
     I also thought of getting a black saddle for the Hunq since I had changed the color scheme.  I was tempted to try the new Brooks C series saddles because several tourists I've met really love them.  It is the "latest, greatest and most revolutionary" thing that Brooks has thought of in decades.   I was skeptical since artificial saddles made me unhappy in the past, but here I was with every excuse to spend more money than needed.

      I ordered a C-19 version which is a little wider and modeled after the legendary B-67 saddle which has been making butts happy for generations.  My first impression of the saddle was that it was really hard.  I thought "this can't change, the leather saddles would conform to our bodies and this plastic/fabric thing will not."  Now that I have a few weeks behind me and have compared the ride to the B-17 on my Hillborne, the C-19 is really comparable, it doesn't feel much different than the leather.  The first impression seems to have left and may have been my own defense against change, but I really do like the design, the feel and the fact that it's a weather proof Brooks.  Don't get me wrong, I think the hand wringing worry about getting leather wet is a bunch of nonsense.  Cowboys never came in from the rain and my Brooks saddles have all been sopping wet at one time or another without any ill effects.  I feel good now.
       I made my American heritage proud by spending 6 times what was necessary to effect a repair.