Bicycle saddle for bike touring
03-15-20, 07:04 PM
#26
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Indiana
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Bikes: 1984 Fuji Club, Suntour ARX; 2013 Lynskey Peloton, mostly 105 with Ultegra rear derailleur, Enve 2.0 fork; 2020 Masi Giramondo 700c, full Deore with TRP dual piston mech disk brakes
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I use a Brooks B17 on my old touring bike and will be transferring it to my new one when I get it. I have not done any lacing to it since I got it about 15 years ago.
If you do get a Brooks B17 remember this saddle is intended for a more upright riding style which is what a touring bike has, it won't be comfortable in a racing position. Also do not listen to anyone on how to break in a saddle or how to treat it, ONLY follow the manufactures recommendations IF you want to maintain the warranty and the saddle life. The only thing I do to my saddle outside of what the instructions say is that I only Proofide the top of the saddle once a year (Brooks no longer recommends using Proofide on the underside of the saddle), then once a month I apply neutral colored Kiwi paste wax (neutral so as not to stain my shorts some odd color); I think the Kiwi holds up better to moisture without softening the leather too much like overuse of Proofide can do. Also the spanner nut should not be tensioned much, the first 3 months of use I tension it twice, since then I only tension it maybe 4 times in those 15 years, and then I only turn the nut about 1/4th of turn; over tensioning the saddle will cause it to rip away from the rivets over time as well as the base plate that holds the saddle onto the rails. I think those people that keep tensioning their saddles is partly due to over using the Proofide which softens up the saddle to much and allows it to sag to much, some sag is good because it is suppose to be a hammock type of saddle.
If you do get a Brooks B17 remember this saddle is intended for a more upright riding style which is what a touring bike has, it won't be comfortable in a racing position. Also do not listen to anyone on how to break in a saddle or how to treat it, ONLY follow the manufactures recommendations IF you want to maintain the warranty and the saddle life. The only thing I do to my saddle outside of what the instructions say is that I only Proofide the top of the saddle once a year (Brooks no longer recommends using Proofide on the underside of the saddle), then once a month I apply neutral colored Kiwi paste wax (neutral so as not to stain my shorts some odd color); I think the Kiwi holds up better to moisture without softening the leather too much like overuse of Proofide can do. Also the spanner nut should not be tensioned much, the first 3 months of use I tension it twice, since then I only tension it maybe 4 times in those 15 years, and then I only turn the nut about 1/4th of turn; over tensioning the saddle will cause it to rip away from the rivets over time as well as the base plate that holds the saddle onto the rails. I think those people that keep tensioning their saddles is partly due to over using the Proofide which softens up the saddle to much and allows it to sag to much, some sag is good because it is suppose to be a hammock type of saddle.
