i guess what we really need is an official Brooks saddle thread.

There's an article in the Bicycle Quarterly that talks about the kinds of saddles and bikes that people road in the 1200 kilometer Paris Brest Paris ride. Fully 50% of the people that responded had Brooks or the selle an-atomica saddles on their bikes. Further, a majority of the faster and more experienced riders had leather saddles.
And most of the riders rode STEEL BIKES!