Breaking In a Brooks B-17
 

So...last night my wife tells me she bought me a new saddle for my touring bike...a Brook B-17. It should be here around July 8!

Here is my question, seeking your opinions. Everything I have heard/read says that you really need to plan on a period of like 500-1,000 miles to break the saddle in. I am scheduled to ride the C&O Canal trail beginning around July 28...so from the time my saddle is supposed to arrive until I leave for my trip is basically 18 days. I figure the best I could do is to get maybe 100 miles in between its arrival and my trip.

Would it be better to simply wait until after my trip to put the saddle on the bike and begin breaking it in for my trip in March? Or if I can get 4-5 rides in for 100 miles or so should I be alright? I would rather not put it on and then have to trade it back out if I can help it.

- PJ

My advice in general is that you should not try new stuff on tour. You should of course try new stuff but only when you can safely verify the functionality of said stuff. On tour is a bad time to have saddle issuea

Try to break it in and if it is still causing bruising on rides, swap it for the old seat. Sometimes they will break in a lot faster for some people, sometimes not at all. Generally 500-800km should do the trick. My last saddle never broke in after this amount of riding but I still took it on tour. And regretted it. Have gone back to my old saddle for touring. Old but comfy.

Put it on.
Give it a try.
Remember to tip the nose of the saddle up.

If it is not comfy a day or two before you go, change it back.

When I had one I also fretted about breaking it in because the standard line was that it was a lengthy process, but I found mine to be reasonably comfortable from the start and required very little adjustment.

But other people say it takes them a while. So everyone's ass is different, I suppose.

I weighed a bit more at that time, which may be a factor.

Yes, I gather that the breaking-in part is to create a sit-bone dimple...I tried a B17 & the sit-bone part was pretty comfy w/o break-in...B17 has some flex so it's not all that hard...B17 didn't work for me but that was due to nose width & skirt & those things wouldn't change with break-in. OTOH, 25 mile rides won't really show how a saddle will work for a long tour day. If the current saddle is OK for long rides I'd stick with that for the C&O esp. Maybe even try a Thudbuster suspension seatpost?

Thanks, everyone! Appreciate the replies. I'll probably throw it on and see how it goes...

A few things to consider...

First, the C&O isn't that long of a tour so the penalty won't be as great as if you were starting a multi-week multi-thousand mile tour.
Second, it may be fine from the start and not require any real breaking in.
Third, consider that most of the breaking in with saddles is really breaking in of your butt.

Definitely do a few rides to see how it feels before you go. If it feels bad at first, persevere a little to see if it improves as you adjust to it. Don't push to the point of getting too sore or getting saddle sores. I find that a lot of times a saddle that doesn't feel good at first winds up fine after a few rides. This is true for saddles other than just leather ones IME. For example I hated the saddle that came on my Windsor touring. I rode it a few hundred miles, decided it was okay and used it on the Trans America. It was fine and I did many long ride on it including other long tours.

Experiment with saddle position. It is pretty critical with leather saddles. A lot of folks find they want the B17 slightly nose up to prevent sliding foreward.

I am not a Brooks fan, but my experience with my one and only B17 was that it was just OK when new and newish and by the time it was really well broken in I hated it. Given that, I'd caution against doing things that speed break in much including letting it get soaked or riding when it is soaked if possible. Using Proofide as directed and nothing else is probably wise.

Give it a few years of local riding time before heading off on it as your favorite long distance touring saddle ..

that was what I did .. , my saddle choice: Brooks Team Pro ...

bought in mid 70's, toured 'across the pond' late 80's ~ late 90's.. a few times..


I have only used lined, but not padded bike shorts , on tours I brought 3,
so as to have a clean pair on every day..






...

all I can offer is my personal experience with my first Brooks

I kept rides not too long, about 1 hr, maybe 1.5hrs--now, I should mention that the padded bike shorts I had at the time were just so so, the padding was not that thick, especially not compared to the nicer ones I have used for the last bunch of years.

So after an hour ride or so, my sit bones were always sore, but this makes sense as it does take time for the leather to take shape and start to have the dimples forming where your sit bones are. I do remember that it was a very humid summer at that time, so I was sweating a lot onto the seat, and this probably helped speed up the process. I put on proofide as recommended, but not too much, and that was it, just rode and rode.

it seems to me that about after 6 or 7 or 8 rides (ish) I realized that I wasnt being conscious of the seat anymore, and it just worked from then on.

but I am certain that it being very hot and sweaty helped it along. Perhaps if your padded bike shorts are better than the thin ones I had, it may be a bit better fro you for the break in period.

I second or third the emphasis on how important seat position is--ride with the allen key to make adjustments, and really listen to what your body is telling you, only you know what angle is good, I generally prefer level, with maybe a slight upward, but Im on dropbars.

proper "fore and aft" position is really important also, I recommend putting some tape on the rails or something as a reference-and again--be very observant and listen to your arse and dangly bits to make adjustments.

other than that, you just have to ride them.
You will find over time if you keep it, that very slight positional changes may be needed as the leather changes shape over time (down the road, in a while)

cover them if riding in rain, and always cover them overnight in case it rains overnight, a couple of plastic bags overnight for sure, and strong winds can whip off bags in a storm, so I put a plastic clip to keep them on.
for riding, I started using a plastic bag, and eventually got a fitted cover , which is nice.

re taking new on a trip--this is generally never a good idea, so I'd ride and ride and ride, and see how your nether regions are, its that simple. But if you only do short rides and then head off riding 4, 5 hours a day, you could be in an uncomfortable position, and that sucks, so only you can make this decision, strangers cant.

I will add that when you install the saddle, remember it may sit higher off the rails than your existing saddle, so you will have to lower it. The B-17 is more sensitive to a too high seat height than a saddle with a cutout, so if you run it too high, you will have perineal pain. I road the GAP and the C&O from Pittsburgh to DC when my B-17 was only about 200 miles old. It would have been fantastic, had I had the weight height dialed in better. That being said, as far as sit bones were concerned, it was great. My first day was 70 miles, and as soon as I got off the bike, I get great, and was ready to ride again the next day with no pain, or soreness. After having the bike a while. I learned better how to get the seat height where it should be, disregarding other people's opinion. As long as you get the seat adjustment dialed in, you should be okay, but ride it a while before you go, and then decide. Use your old seat if you aren't sure.

I was one of the lucky ones where it felt comfy right out of the box