Tony Oliver makes a good point in his framebuilding book that the weakest rider needs the best bike. Certainly a Brooks saddle has changed a friend's wife from a 'cycling never' to cautiously positive. I tihnk that a lot of the problem is that occasional riders sit more heavily on the saddle, a result of wanting a more upright position, pedalling less hard and riding passively like a sack of spuds.
I ended up solving saddle swaps by keeping them fitted on seatposts - then all you have to do is tighten up the QR clamp. A wrap of insulating tape even keeps height repeatability.
