LDBenjamin

Yep, Brooks is great. The more upright your riding position, the wider they are supposed to be, and the wider ones also have springs. I remember seeing a diagram once, maybe on Sheldon Brown's site showing the correct Brooks for each position.

Also, Proofide must be kept in the house - I kept mine in the garage and it liquified in the heat.

LDBenjamin

It is not difficult to cut the skirts off. Draw the line in pencil, and once you have it, make a cardboard template so you can duplicate it perfectly on the other side.

ldawson

Have ridden on an Ideate 90 leather saddle since the early 80’s. Since then I’ve bought two other bikes and put Brooks Flyers on them. No break in period for my rear on any of the three.

delbiker1 

Over the weekend, Sat. and Sun., I had rides of 37 miles and 40 miles. The Brooks B17 was really good. I believe I now have it positioned properly for me. I also believe that one of my earlier rides with it, the shorts I wore were part of the problem. I got on the saddle with those shorts for quick test ride around the neighborhood and realized the padding is a bit thicker than I usually wear, and also, there is a section of the pad that tends to get bunched up in the center. I do not notice it when riding a saddle with a cutout. I now know not to wear that when getting on the Brooks. Thanks to everyone that offered advice and experience.

one4smoke

I just can’t imagine any saddle being more comfortable than my Selle Anatomica H1.
Did 127 miles a month or so ago, and never thought about my behind. Not once.

That says it all.

tcs

The Selle San Marco saddles on their website seem to list leather covers over 'Techno-polymer' shell. Do they actually offer a true tensioned leather saddle (w/o plastic base)?

tcs

It's listed: look close: it's the one that starts with 'Rivet'.

joesch

My mistake since the list is only for true tensioned leather saddles

MikeyMK

I do understand the aspect of padding pushing into soft areas, yes. This can cause circulation issues. But a brooks just looks like the opposite extreme, where all the pressure is on a small area (sit bones) and that seems hard on the small area of skin/flesh under them, hence the question...

Unca_Sam

Just look at some pictures of older used Brooks saddles. You can usually see the areas where the sit bones spend most of their time as a depression, without necessarily deforming the rest of the saddle. While the saddle is breaking in, the area supporting the rider changes to support more of the rider, until the fibrin network in the leather can balance the forces from the rider's butt without tearing or stretching anymore.

Modern saddles accomplish the same thing with a balanced approach to foam, enough support for pedaling, enough give for comfort to balance rider weight without overly compressing the tissue between the bone and the saddle.

edscott.

Nah! I got a Brooks and it really is quite crappy. The metal base has absolutely no flexibility and it sends the impact from the road directly to your bones. A Selle San Marco (with just about the same saddle building tradition as Brooks) made out of carbon fiber and with titanium rails is much better, at least for a roadie like me. Although my true favorite is the Selle Italia Turbo 1980, maybe because that's the kind of saddle I started out with many years ago.

JohnDThompson 

I'm curious. What model Brooks saddle was this?

The Sella Italia Turbo was my favorite for many years as well, but about 15 years ago my butt decided it liked Brooks Professionals and Idéale mod. 90 saddles better, so I've moved in that direction. I still have a Turbo or two in a box here; do you have a Brooks you'd like to trade?

Korina

Whoops. I saw, but I did not observe.

I didn't know they were made in Taiwan.

oldtrekguy

I bought a Brooks Cambium C13 from Chain Reaction on a whim.

It makes my butt hurt to even think about that saddle!

To its credit, it is a good-looking saddle and well-made.

edscott.

The saddle is quite aged by now, because I did try to use it for at least 2000 kilometers on a flat bar bike and several times under pouring rain. I have it hanging on the wall now.

KC8QVO

I bought a Brooks Flyer Special when I got my Surly Disk Trucker. I thought the same as a few people on here - I just went for the Brooks off the bat. There are somewhere north of 3,000 miles on the bike now. I wanted the Flyer Special because it has springs. I figured it would ride better than a fixed saddle. I don't regret the purchase one bit.

I will second those that have said it takes a while to get it set right. I did a lot of adjusting of mine also. Beyond that, I started riding miles without padded bike shorts. So when I started riding miles that was a limitation. When I made the jump to padded bike shorts (and I didn't skimp there, either - Canari's are all I wear) the combination was really hard to beat.

I have fallen on the saddle quite hard before and have hit some unexpected potholes. The springs certainly help there. However, I have weighed between 140-150lbs for a few years so I am not very heavy and the springs, to me, are way too stiff. Unless I hit hard bumps I can't tell any absorption in bumps. Again, though, with the combination of the padded bike shorts and the saddle - it is a hard to beat set up. I would do the same set up today if I had to do it over again. If the saddle on my folder wasn't already comfy I'd put a Brooks on it also.

JWay

How does the Brooks Flyer Special do if they get wet consistently?

Kabuki12

I have one B17 Champion and one Ideal 87. The rest of my leather saddles are all Brooks Professional. All my bikes are drop bar bikes with the exception of my one mountain bike, so the Professional seems most comfortable , especially on long rides. The older the saddle , the better it feels.

Unca_Sam

Brooks saddles do not like being drenched (does any saddle?) Proofide is a concession to this, as it's a conditioner with water repellent properties. I used the tiny blister pack of proofide that came with the saddle, and followed up with a few applications of Obenauf's leather preservative. Obenauf's has worked for three years on my daily boots as a water repellent. My guess is that the formulas are similar, and include a good deal of beeswax. Don't forget to coat the underside of the saddle Steel rails will rust, given time.

If you're riding in the rain, you are probably going to prevent a lot of water from actually reaching the saddle. If the saddle is soaked, dry without heat to avoid driving the conditioning oils out of the leather (you don't want a crunchy saddle).

If you show the saddle some care at the end of every cycling season, it can last longer than your bike (or you).

jlaw

Got my B17 Narrow Imperial in the mail yesterday - took it for a 19 mile loop this morning.

I really like the fact that the saddle is slippery. I have the nose about 3/4" high from level and perhaps the thing that is most different about a leather saddle from most synthetic saddles is that the rider can move very easily all over the seat to micro-adjust on the fly without really un-weighting from the seat - allows the rider to easily eliminate any 'hot spots' when they first become noticeable.

The leather is hard, but the narrow width fits me well and the cut out helps make this model of Brooks a bit more forgiving out of the box. I found it to be pretty comfy for the short ride that I took - and I didn't have to stand and re-adjust periodically like I normally do after about 15 miles. And during an extended ascent I didn't get the hot spot I normally do on my other seats when pushing hard for a period of time.

So far so good.

livedarklions

He doesn't break his finger when he sits on it.

golftdi

I've been riding the same Brooks Flyer on 3 different bikes over the last dozen or so years. I also have a new Flyer on another bike.

Recently, I rode my wife's bike, on which she has a B67S. I'm now thinking of trying a Flyer S - I liked the shorter nose of the S saddle on my wife's bike.

BikeLite

Where can i buy that saddle device to have saddle loops like the brooks has?

jlaw

https://velo-orange.com/collections/...e-saddle-loops

MikeyMK

Ah, thank you. Now it begins to make sense.

I still think it could do with suspension though, to reduce impacts against even the correct areas. Maybe assist with the leather breaking-in properly, too. But then, I sit quite upright.