Anyone else have a problem with their butt sliding on a leather seat?
 

I just put a Brooks saddle on my 89 Ironman. I like the saddle except my butt keeps wanting to slide on it.
My other ironaman has a Fizik saddle which is more comfortable to me.

Slightly tilting the nose up can stop the sliding, but it might put more pressure on your soft bits. I was once able to ride Brooks-type leather as long as the nose was tilted up; now, 30 years later, my Brooks makes me numb.

If it's a B17, it should get indented by your sitz bones in a short while which will help stop that sliding. If it's a pro then I don't think it'll ever change. Also, the saddle tilt suggestion mentioned above should help.

2-bolt seatpost designs really help with getting the angle just right. I personally don't find leather saddle more comfortable than an agreeable foam saddle, but it is more likely I'll find a Brooks agreeable than a random foam saddle.

Tilt and position the saddle so that your butt sits on the part you want it to sit on without it pushing you around.

I've noticed over the ages that certain bike shorts slip different amounts (or slip very little) on specific seats to varying degrees. Sometimes what seems to be the same basic bike shorts fabric doesn't have the same friction factor on a given seat. Along with as mentioned seat tilt, have a look at different bike shorts.

...once you get a good balanced position on the saddle, you can also experiment with different waxes. Carnuba based waxes provide a little bit more of a surface than some of the beeswax based products. But the saddles have a smooth surface in order to minimize friction heat and chafing of the inner thigh, so unless you're willing to go with a different style of saddle, with a Brooks setting the angle for balance is your best solution.

In general, the angle of a leather suspension saddle that works for most of us is with the nose up much higher than you see with other saddles.

Absolutely!

I do not remember it being a thing BITD, I guess except for my track saddle, which was plastic, the others were either buffalo or suede Unicanitor.
I thought I would prefer smooth, after all what's the advantage to thighs rubbing, right? I do want to try one of the saddles with the "no slip" system and smooth sides one of these days. I don't find the flat plates to be a problem, just the old school shape, in shiny polished leather,

My most comfortable saddle is a carbon non-padded perch from China. Precisely because it does not slide much, but when it does, the shorts/bibs slide on it. The grippier saddles I have, once it gets wet down there, grab the short/bib material, and the skin sliding inside that is not a good thing.

+1 on the nose up fix for Brooks. I have several bikes equipped with B17s or Pros, some with cutouts and some without and I don't skid around on them. I only set them a couple of degrees nose-up from horizontal (visually it's hard to detect) but that's all it takes for me. No numbness issues. Saddles are very much a YMMV thing though.

Depends on the shorts material, as mentioned above. My various tighty and baggy shorts vary in slippy or grippy qualities so I tend to choose what to wear to suit the saddle on a particular bike.

Just be careful you do not go overboard and tilt it back too much.....
It could be a painful and numbing experience......

I don't like a saddle that I stick to. I want a saddle that I can easily slide forward and back on for the same reason I like to move my hand position around - you don't want any single part of your body compressed against something for a long time. Hands and behinds get sore easily if you don't.

If you feel like you're always sliding forward in your saddle, it needs to be tilted up more. For most riders I know on a Brooks B17, adjusted properly it looks like it's tilted up, but you're really just sitting in the depressed area in the middle.

Thanks for posting. Just mounted my first Brooks and appreciate the tips. No problem with slipping/sliding, as it’s been used, but it will take some experimentation with the tilt. The best saddle for my hiney and taint has been the Specialized Riva, now obsolete.

To me, the slippery nature of a Brooks is plus. I constantly shift around slightly. IME it's kind of bad to be glued to one spot, and I absolutely hate grippy saddles. Suede Turbos only worked BITD because the suede wore off after a week or so, leaving a smooth leather saddle.

If you slipping off, it's probably because the saddle angle is off. Default starting point should be dead level or close to it. Dialing it in should leave you adjusting at most a few degrees up or down - depending on your riding position. If you must have the saddle tilted down significantly to avoid pain, you are running the wrong saddle for you and your shape, IMO.

sometimes, a brooks needs to look like this to keep you from sliding forward and consequently putting to much weight on your hands. And, maybe I'm kidding when I say, "You never should have put that brooks on your Ironman."

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d7c5b86d2a.jpg

Two Thoughts...
 

...that may sound contrarian, but they're meant to help. First, the top tube length and stem length may be creating an unnatural reach for you. Your body is adjusting by "creeping" to the more natural reach. The sliding may be a clue.

Second, why put a Brooks B-17 on an Ironman? Why not a slimmer, lighter racing saddle?

The goal is to position the saddle fore-aft so your butt bones are where they need to be for best pedaling, and tilting the saddle just a bit up or down so gravity helps you stay there. Tilting up or down also helps focus butt pressure so it is on your sit bones rather than on the perineum or on the creases at the top of the inner thigh, for example. If your sitbones are back so far you are on the metal cantle plate, the saddle is too far forward to suit your body. If the sides of the sit bones are on teh steel cantle plate, your saddle is too narrow - change from a B17N to a Professional or from a Professional to a B17. The widths of all the different versions of B17 except for the B17S, B17S Imperial, B17N and B17N Imperial are the same.

It could also be that your saddle is too high. The hips should not be rocking. Rocking hips indicates that you are stretching your leg down at the bottom of each stroke. The back and forth once each pedal cycle causes abrasion, usually on the perineum or a little behind it - both are bad news!

If you're using chamois cream, the sliding will be significantly reduced if you also wear shorts.

I don't mean GRIP like unable to shift my position on the saddle... I mean it more like: Opposed to what happens when I ride the Turbo Lite in the picture below with current spandex(?) Shorts. My old shorts were wool, or mostly wool, but relatively smooth, as were the Unicanitor saddles after a few hundred miles. It must have been a good combo, because the issue never even came up for me. On this saddle I feel like a puck on an air-hockey table. It also hurt, because I couldn't just "sit". Saddles that look quite similar, to my eye, if not slippery slick, are comfortable enough. It is only this saddle that just... and I've put it on 3 different bikes, without success. I wanted to make it work, I like the way it looks, it's super light, and nicely padded.. Reading this thread, and thinking some more, it's time to take a tape and see what the relevant measurements really are.

Probably another facepalm moment coming. But it looks ok...:rolleyes:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6333f60a8c.jpg


2 shots this Spring showing the glossy surface. The surface has not become less slippery over time, obviously.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e647a15bab.jpg


Light, padded, and looks good. if it looks off, disregard appearances, the top of the saddle was dead level.

Ghlib Response
 

Anyone else have a problem with their butt sliding on a leather seat?

Not when I'm naked.

When I see a saddle tilted up at an anomalously steep angle like this, it tells me that the seat is too far forward relative to the pedals. If you could slide the seat backwards a bit then you wouldn't need such an extreme tilt to keep you from sliding towards the bars. Unfortunately, Brooks saddles have limited fore-aft adjustment (particulary a problem for tall folks with large frames like this one) so you'd probably need to get a different seatpost with a larger setback. Another likely contributing factor to the seat angle is that you have a Brooks Professional, which is a racing saddle designed for a rider who is in the drops cranking hard most of the time. A B-17, designed for more upright riding (i.e. touring) may work better and will likely be much more comfortable (doesn't look as pretty as the Pro though).

I'd have to be a lot faster and a lot better looking for that to work in suburban NJ for more than a few minutes.

IME depends on the brooks saddle. I have a b17 on and upgright postition bike. I need the rear of the saddle parrallel to the ground, which put the nose up a little bit. i slipped before I did that.

I have swift on my de rosa.... (and on my RIP miyata before) that one has the nose down a degree or so from flat. but no sliding