clayton c

I tried the Brooks C-17 on my drop bar touring bike but decided it isn't for me, it just felt like it was too hard and I couldn't imagine dealing with it on multiday rides.

I put the Brooks Flyer on, which is broken in and does have that spring to ease those deep cracks better. It really belongs on my touring bike. I believe the sprung action made break-in easier for me.

I have since, put the C-17 on my MTB. It actually felt great there so I guess it found a home.

My perfect saddle is the Flyer and have never found anything as nice in the way my tourer is set up, you might consider one if you're having difficulties trying to get these things to break in comfortably.

StephenH

In the local club, Brooks, Rivet, Selle Anatomica, I assume some others. The highest-mileage guy I know changed from Selle Anatomica to Rivet a couple of years ago due to what he thought were negative changes in the SA line.

WNCGoater

I rode the Selle Italia SLR Gel saddle the last two years, probably average ride 30-40 miles but 60+ no problem on that saddle.
This year, my butt just didn't like it for any distance. Just dang sore if I went 40-60 miles on it, can't get comfortable.
The only difference was in 2015-2016 I weighed 195. This year Iv'e been 210-215 and struggling to get back below 200. Currently at 205.
Is that the difference between comfort and uncomfortable? I don't know, but that is the only thing that has changed.

In September I bought a Selle Anatomica leather saddle. Oh wow, what a game changer! I've ridden a couple 65+ miles and multiple 40-50 mile rides with NO pain. However, these are known for stretching and are rated up to around 245lbs (I think). Heavy Clydes can bend the rails or prematurely stretch the leather.

RidingRev

6’3”, 240 lbs., 65 years old, Giant Defy Advanced, 1500 miles/year. I’ve been through a LOT of saddles trying to find the one that disappeared. The closest was the Selle Anatomica, until the sides splayed and the rails bent in less than 500 miles. That seems to be pretty common for riders over 200 pounds. I’ve finally settled on a Brooks Team Pro, which was not uncomfortable from the beginning but after several hundred miles has become more and more comfortable. (My suggestion for accelerating the breaking in: use a rubber mallet, sparingly.). My conversion to Brooks came, other than actually riding one, from two realizations. First, there’s something inherently wrong with a saddle that requires you to wear special clothing to be bearable. Don’t get me wrong: I wear Pearl Izumi bibs when I ride farther than around the neighborhood. But I can ride the Brooks without chamois and be perfectly comfortable: chamois just makes it more so and helps with long rides. Try that with a Fizik or Selle Italia or Specialized saddle (I have). Second, pretty much every other saddle manufacturer keeps tweaking their design every few years, trying to get it right. Brooks saddles have been around for decades, if not lifetimes. They must be doing something right, namely, their saddles conform to you, not the other way around. I know my Team Pro will continue to shape itself to me for many years to come, and will not need to be replaced for a long, long time (unlike plastic/carbon/fiberglass saddles which break down. If you don’t believe that, do some research.).

I tried a Brooks Cambium C17, and didn’t like it at all. I read there are people who love it, and that’s great for them. But if you don’t like the Cambium at first ride, it’s never going to change, unlike a leather Brooks saddle.

Everyone’s anatomy is different, which is why there are so many different saddle designs. Brooks goes at that in a completely different way. It works for me, as it has for many, many cyclists for a very long time.

Jarrett2

Had to scrap the C17 last night. For whatever reason, on the 7th ride, it became unride-able for me.

Back on the hunt...

tcaraway1

I have not put a lot of miles on it yet, but I'm about 280 pounds, and I have really enjoyed the Selle Anatomica Titanico X saddle. It is actually more comfortable than my Brooks, and it looks a bit sportier.

jonpear6

Gilles Berthoud Aspin here. 285# and I love the thing. It took a while to break in, but when it finally had I was blown away by the feel. It was mid commute and all of the sudden I just felt like something changed to perfection with the saddle. (Took about 800 miles of riding). Well worth the price in my opinion.

JohnJ80

Saddles wear out. If it worked well for you, say, in the first 10,000 miles. Just replace it with the same thing.

Failing that, I've found the Reprieve saddles to be pretty awesome. For me, the term that has described the Brooks was "a$$ hatchet."

J.

sirkaos

+1 on the Selle Anatomica. I have the new X2 model


https://selleanatomica.com/collectio...es/products/x2


This was saddle number 8 for me. Now I have one century and 3 metric on this saddle and average about 80mi./ week on this saddle. I ride decently aggressive and have a lot of hills in our area. I did put some dry graphite on the rail inserts in the back of the saddle and that solved a small squeak. Great saddle and super comfortable along with no break in and easily adjustable on the leather tension.

pesty

At 5'10" 212, I'm a "light" clyde. I've been running a C15 carved pretty much exclusively for the last year or so. I tried the C17, but it felt a bit wide and the non-carved felt a bit stiff after a few hours. I'm probably one of the few people you'll see with a Brooks on a slammed stem race bike (Allez Sprint). I also had it on my Giant Propel prior to it's demise. Previous to the C15 I was bouncing back and forth between Specialized's Romin and Toupé and Fizik's Arione.

SethAZ 

I'm beginning to believe that this last bit is at least partially true. I bought a Brooks saddle in August to put on my new bike (which I'm still waiting for, grrrr). I now have over 1000 miles on it. The first couple of rides on the Brooks (B17) felt like I was sitting on formed granite. It feels much better now, though I certainly still feel the steel frame at the back if I push back too far. When I sit on it and find the comfortable spot it's definitely way, way more comfortable than the saddle it replaced. It's still not perfect, but it is much better.

As for the Brooks breaking in, it still feels hard to the touch if I push on it with my fingers, but now if I push down on it I can actually get it to flex down a certain distance, whereas when it was brand new it didn't budge much if at all. I can also see some little wrinkles in the surface if I look from the right angle that reveal that it is flexing and bending a little.

Since I've got over 1000 miles on this thing I have to assume that it's more or less broken in, though I won't be surprised to see it continue to soften up and improve slowly over time as I rack up more thousands of miles on it.

I can't promise that I'm done looking at saddles, but the B17 has been pretty decent. My new bike should finally arrive by the end of this week. It'll have the typical narrow, lightweight saddle on it from the factory. I'll ride that once or twice just to see what it's like, then swap over the Brooks.

I am wondering what one of the narrower Brooks would feel like, or some other narrower leather brand like the Berthoud.

Sullalto

I had a brooks b17 imperial that I remember being comfortable from day one and it just got better. Before the bike it was on got stolen, it was almost like a hammock in the right spot.

Needed a saddle and the shop only had a normal b17. It might work for me? I've been off the bike for 8 months so my ass isn't very tough anymore. I'll stick it out for a little bit, but I'm not sure the basic b17 works for me.

When I was riding a ton(1000 mile months), towards the end I felt like I might want something a bit narrower than the b-17 imperial.

I have a couple of inches of saddle drop.

SethAZ 

Yeah, I've got like 3 inches or so of drop, and I often wonder if the B17 is right, or whether I should have gone with one a little narrower. My new bike will have a little less drop, however, so for now I'm just riding the B17, and will see how it feels on the new bike in a slightly more relaxed geo. Everything I've read suggested B17 was for more upright postures, and narrower (like Team Pro) was better for an aggressive drop. I'm really anxious to see how this feels on the new bike. If I finally decide to try something else on the new bike it'll probably be the Berthoud Aspin or Aravis.

Sullalto

Not sure what you mean with that statement about brooks but whatever.

Anyway, people who are going to ride for 5+ hours are a small minority. For most people, a saddle that works for 2-3 hours is absolutely perfect.

DrIsotope

So... what happens if that person should decide to ride more than 50 or so miles? Just suffer through it?

king salmon

What about the Selle Antomica? It does have a 250# limit however....

Sullalto

I suspect they'll figure out if their saddle works for that long at the end of the ride.

How would they even figure that out in advance?

Jarrett2

I lucked out. Found a $22 saddle that works. Just got back from a 143 mile/3 day, self-supported tour with 4-5+ hours in the saddle each day. I did a dumb thing and put a brand new, never ridden saddle on my bike just before I left. I packed my old saddle in my bags just in case I had to switch out, but I didn't have to.

It was this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Nashbar-GCS1-...Comfort+Saddle

JReade

I have a Cambium C17 and I like it, but I can't ride it for long periods. I have a decent amount of saddle to bar drop, and I didn't like it after a few hours. I got fitted for a different saddle and the new one is much better. Sit bones and whatnot. I put the brooks on my commuter since I'm only riding that one for 10 miles at a time, and you could probably ride any ol saddle for that time.

InTheRain

10 years on a B17... still works for me.

JohnJ80

The reality is that cyclists asses are about as unique as fingerprints. Go find a saddle that works for you and use it. What works for someone else likely won't. That's why there are about a million different kinds and models of saddles.

J.

TGT1

Brooks Imperial with 10K + miles on it,

This last year my schedule has forced me into really only riding one day a week, so that's ended up producing one 60+ mile ride a week.

The Brooks do have ridiculously short rails so a setback seatpost may be required to get the fit right. Velo Orange makes a nice one at a relatively reasonable price. If you are siting on the back rail, the position of the saddle and not the break-in may be the problem

SethAZ 

My new bike (Lynskey R260) has around 70mm or so of drop from saddle to the top of the bars, and the B17 is feeling better on that bike than it felt on my previous bike that had more drop than this.

It's now common for me to do a 32-mile ride and not even think about the saddle at all during the ride. I did a 62-mile ride last Saturday with the B17 on it, and my butt felt just fine. Once or twice I at least thought of the saddle, but it wasn't uncomfortable or anything. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the old saddle I had on my previous bike, which was already bothering my bum on a 32-mile ride. I would have been squirming around, standing on the pedals, etc. trying to relieve the discomfort to my bum of the previous saddle. It seems with the B17 on my new bike with less drop that's pretty much solved. The saddle has around 1300 miles on it now, so it's probably about as broken in as it's going to be.

Bill in VA

+++1.

This summer I bit the bullet and went with a Brooks C-17 on my Bianchi Volpe. I have been pleased so far. I am 230lbs and ~5'9" on a 55cm frame. I returned to cycling after a long hiatus when I retired and decided to lose weight and after a year of my vintage Fuji, decided to get a new steel framed bike fitted traditionally (larger frame with longer top tube and shorter seatpost).

I have the Volpe setup with the drop bars even with the saddle center. Unlike my prior bikes and saddles, I have the nose tipped a degree or two down. I ride more on the bar flats or the brake hoods than the drops, but do the drops about 33% of the time.

I also do not currently use padded shorts, so that is a consideration. I used to ride with wool shorts and real chamois (my favorites for comfort), and I actually found some newer shorts that fit from this forum, but I really grew to like the 4 pockets in my Rivendell MUSA touring shorts.

I used the stock ATB Bianchi saddle for 18 months and found that at 15 miles or 2 hours if stop and go, it was noticeable and at 30+ was truly hateful. I tried my old leather topped Avocet (circa 1980) and it was better, but eventually became uncomfortable at the 40 mile point. I tried an old French Ideale 39 from my vintage Peugeot, but that was hard when new on my young butt and is better for display on the classic Peugeot.

I kept looking at Brooks and tried out the honey Brooks B17 and liked it but was apprehensive of the longer break-in. I was considering the pre-broken in version, but decided to try the C-17 for its weather resistance and was sold. I bought it in Rust color.

My personal take on this search: I believe that the padding on many saddles is the main culprit of discomfort. It feels great at first, but as it compresses is loses its advantages and comfort is then dependent on the flex of the under shell. The Avocet was a great saddle in its day as the shell is thinner at the sit bone points and has a gel padding that is not cushiony but supportive, but it no longer aligned with my body after many years of being off the bike. Trying different bikes of colleagues and at shops I found the newer saddles were too hit or miss. The C-17 has the hammock effect of the B-17 with the weather resistance and the fact it will not noticeably change (claimed by C series owners) over its life. We will see if that is true. It is however for me the right amount of support versus flex and agrees with the unpadded shorts. I will try a pair of padded shorts this spring.

JohnJ80

I think your point about the padding - especially with Clyde’s - is dead on. Clyde’s pretty much flatten the padding after about 30 minutes or so according to one saddle mfg I talked to. So the underlying shell has to be compatible with you undercarriage or it’s going to start hurting about 30 minutes into your ride.

I’ve found that to be true for me as well, while I hover just over the line into Clyde-dom, I find I’m much happier with saddles with firm padding and I think the above is the reason.