Brooks Saddle for Comfort
 

I notice in most of the super nice, refurbished bikes pictures I look at, they are fitted with a Brooks saddle. I have read posts in the C&V forums praising them to the skies, so wondering what is the best model to buy? I find them fairly expensive, but you can't put a value on great comfort if it gets you on the bike more often and for longer rides.

I get that bike seat comfort is a very personal thing and everyone is different, but the Brooks saddle seems to be the seat of choice for a lot of us older people. Should I shell out the money and buy one?

Everybody should have at least one. The B17 is most popular and will look fantastic on your Apache--more so after a few thousand miles.

The basic rule of thumb is that the more upright your riding position, the wider the saddle should be, and vice versa. I'd say a B17 for bikes with the handlebars at saddle level. Handlebars lower than saddle: something narrower than a B17. Handlebars higher than saddle: something wider than a B17.

Leather hammock saddles (like Brooks) aren't for everyone. The only way to know if it's for you is to try one. Maybe buy a used one and resell it if it doesn't work for you.

Yes you should shell out lots of money for one or two.. I’m 67, raced in my 20’s and had a small bike shop then. Did a lot of riding from age 16 to 30. My partner in the shop rode on one. No racers used them. I tried three times over thirty years to break in a leather saddle and everytime it was a pain and not worth it. Got a vasectomy in my early 50’s and my original Concor racing saddle was no longer comfortable and discovered various modern saddles with perineum cut outs were fantastic.
Brooks, Ideale and whatever else is out there is the pinnacle of 19th century saddle technology where leather is suspended between metal supports. To say it’s the seat of choice is like saying a hammock is the bed of choice. If you gave me $100,000 I’d buy a $50 modern saddle over a $200 Brooks.

For a comfortable saddle this summer, first get into a time machine and go back to last summer, when you need to have bought a B-17. Then you should have ridden it 500-1,000 miles, and if it was as great for you as many of us claim, you'd be set. If not, you should have sold the B-17 and bought something else, and repeated the process until either you were comfortable on a saddle or you got back from your time machine excursion to today, when you could post your rankings from least uncomfortable to most uncomfortable and then ask for further suggestions.

Only half kidding. Like your mileage, YAMV.

Some people love them, some people (cf post 4) hate them. My B17 is the least uncomfortable saddle I have owned (after break-in). I've tried more expensive leather saddles (Berthoud, Sella Anatomica) and even a 3-D printed carbon fiber saddle, and none of those were nearly as comfortable. OTOH I have what is supposedly an identical B17 on another bike and it is much less comfortable.

No one can predict whether you will like it. It is completely idiosyncratic.

I've just bought a B17 for my old/backup tourer. It will probably never be that comfortable, simply because i doubt i will put enough miles into it.

However, the 20 year old B17 that was on it, i have transferred to my new tourer, because after all the miles I've ridden it, it has now conformed to my posterior and become suitably polished. It is now perfectly comfortable.

I've tried modern anatomically marvellous saddles and they feel like fence posts.

The B17 is like a horse saddle, and if you're going to spend all day in a saddle, it's got to be that comfortable.

But that's just the touring perspective.

PS I have a worn-in Brooks on my old mountain bike too, but it is the sprung version of the B17.

The best saddle I have ever owned is the Brooks Pro I bought used and put on my mountain bike. Your mileage may vary.

If your butt fits it nicely, sure. (Not helpful, but there it is.) It's so very subjective. But if you find that one or more models of Brooks saddles fit you well, they can be quite comfortable.

Myself, I've got both a Cambium and a B67 (aged) sprung saddle. At least for my own backside, I can heartily recommend them. Of course, everybody's different.

The one consolation is: if you acquire one (or some) and find out it's not for you, the resale market is fairly strong and it should be easy to unload it to the next person.

I might suggest getting your sit bones measured. And perhaps measure the dimensions of your current favorite saddle. Then head to the Brooks website to find which of their saddles might be the most appropriate for your shape. Being as common as they are, you might be able to find some people in your area who'd tolerate your riding around for a few minutes, as a test of the saddle's feel.

Some models of Brooks saddles have an "aged" or "softened" version. It'll help reduce the amount of mileage for break-in that most people experience.

Post #3 gives good guidance as to which. The more important question is whether. I'd say try one if you feel compelled but don't be surprised if it doesn't suit you. They do look the part on a retro bike, especially the ones with big copper rivets.:thumb:

Well, I am not getting an overwhelming sensation I should purchase one ha ha. I guess my basis for considering one is mostly on the fact that I see one on every vintage mountain bike rebuild or touring bike but maybe that's more for photo opp. cause they look good?

I don't really have too many problems with the current Cannondale saddles I have or a Giant saddle I have on my Peugeot but just thought I would go with the majority on this choice which clearly is not sound thinking.

I have a buddy that bought one for his Masi commuter bike because I'm sure the store recommended it, but I don't think he's put a lot of miles on it. I'll see what his opinion is and I'm sure he'll let me have a spin on it.

I tried Brooks twice for several years, and both times ended up selling them and going back to conventional saddles. Other people I know are very happy with using Brooks / Ideale / other leather saddles. It is a financial and time commitment - purchase, break-in, adjustment. And given the plethora of different saddle designs and materials in the current market, a rider could find their preferred comfort without having to sit on carved-up packing material for moos. But it could be that a leather saddle is their optimum option.

At least it's not 45 years ago when seemingly the only choices were padded metal, hard plastic (padded or unpadded), maybe the occasional flexible plastic one if you knew where to look, big ol' mattress, or cowhide.

Most Brooks aficionados swear by the B-17 or its variants. I liked the Professional,which had several variants, too, which are all narrower and better suited to a more "assertive" posture. My all-time favorite, though, is the Selle Italia Flite 1990 reissue.

I have a couple Brooks B17 with Ti rails, a Berhoud, and just got a carbon railed Brooks C13. Despite only 20 miles on the C13, it is going on a 600 km ride this weekend. The Brooks saddles were all in the $130-200 range. I have many high end modern saddles but none of them are as comfortable as the leather saddles at least on rides over 100 miles.

So, is it worth the money to you? Nobody can answer that. It is that individual.

For many years, the Selle Italia "Turbo" was my preferred saddle. But as I aged into my 50s, and then 60s, my butt decided it liked the Brooks Professional better, so I have several of them now. I also have an Idéale 90 and a 92D that are quite comfortable. Oh, and a Brooks B66 on my Raleigh Superbe 3-speed.

I ride a Brooks Flyer. I used it to replace a 45 year old original equipment B17 that was neglected by previous owners. I ride upright, so the wider Flyer with springs suits me. I also got the carved version. If I were riding with drop-bars, the B17 is fine. I also like the Berthoud saddles, especially the "natural" (unstained) leather, but they wouldn't suit my Pommy Dawes. I would use one or a Lamplugh if I ever had a bike on 650B's.

I had a B-17 that I hated. I really wanted to like it, gave it a good amount of time and miles. I never got to where I could ride it for more than an hour without extreme discomfort. I bought it used at a good price, then sold it for the same cost. Only you can decide if you wish to chance it.

A lot of people I see who have a Brooks also wear padded shorts. This makes no sense to me as I want to have a saddle that works without padded shorts. Once you put on padded shorts, you have now modified the saddle.

+2 (Yeah. Both posts.) I started on a Peugeot with its all-leather seat. Putting an Avocet III on a next bike was a revelation. Years later put a nice Fuji copy of the Brooks on my commuter. My butt considered that bike being stolen a blessing. Yesterday I killed myself on a 50 mile fix gear ride in real wind on my current seat for almost all my bikes - the Terry Fly. (Basically the Avocet II with a cutout.) My butt was probably the only part of me that was happy the entire ride. (Post ride requited multiple aspirin: legs, knees, arms, shoulders. back but my butt was good to do it all over again.)

The leather hammock saddles are not padded with urethane foam. I don't use padded bike shorts or a chamois for short rides of an hour or under 30 miles. If I were anticipating riding for many hours or all day, even if I were only covering 30 miles but sitting in the saddle for 5 hours or more, then cycling shorts are an asset with any saddle. It's not just the padding, but also the protection from bunched trousers chaffing. Now I suppose if a person were just wearing lycra shorts or bibs then chaffing wouldn't be a concern, but then why not padded ones? Personally, I don't wear lycra cycling outfits. I wear canvas dungarees or twill chinos when I ride. If I were to plan to ride 90 miles on a given day, I'm going to wear padded/chamois cycling shorts underneath because no saddle by itself would make it advisable to wear only chinos for that kind of riding. But I've ridden many 30-mile routes in only chinos on a Brooks and never had an issue.

My sons have done some touring with me and they rode urethane foam padded saddles with no padded bike shorts. They wore tricot track pants. I've ridden the bikes they were on but not for more than a few miles, so I can only tell you what they reported after riding hundreds of miles. They both disliked the narrow saddle. It was a Selle Royale, but what they disliked was only that it was narrow, like a typical road bike saddle. They preferred the Sunlite Cloud-9 saddle -- a super wide, thick padded suspension saddle (it was on my wife's Cannondale). They alternated bikes during the tour, so they each rode both. My wife also prefers the big wide suspension saddle with thick padding. That Cloud-9 didn't hold up, as I suspect none of the foam saddles will be very durable -- certainly not the 45+ years one of my Brooks has been going. The Cloud-9 has been replaced with a similar foam item. That bike doesn't typically get ridden more than a few miles at a time.

It isn't a slam dunk that you will like a leather saddle, at least the hammock type like a brooks. I didn't like the one and only one I owned. For me it was just okay when new and I liked it less and less as it broke in. I am not particularly picky about saddles and am generally okay with the saddles that came with my bikes. I even rode the Trans America on the cheap saddle that came on my Bikes Direct Windsor Touring and found it okay.

That said I do have a favorite. I personally like the WTB Volt series saddles about as well as anything else I have tried. Your preference will likely be different. My advice is to give any saddle a good chance at working out since we break in to the saddle as much as it to us. Then if you find one that works for you, stick with it.

On the other hand, if you want to give a Brooks a try. Buy one that suits your riding posture and see how it goes.

Cycling shorts/bibs are at least as much about eliminating skin abrasion as they are about padding. Not wearing them on anything other than a casual short ride makes zero sense to me.

IF I were to ride a Brooks, it would have to be something with a cutout in the middle (58 years old, a request from my urologist). But I have had various leather saddles and none worked for me.

I have had a few Brooks and a couple Ideale over the years and while fine saddles not "the one". I started searching in my late sixties when saddles became more important. Now in my 70s it is the 4 bikes with a Selle Anatomica with the cutout that is all I ride. Tuning to keep the narrowest section of the cutout to just pass a 6mm hex wrench keeps me happy.

I did my best to like the B17 but just couldn’t, after 200+ miles it was not going to break in. Beautiful saddles but not comfortable to me in the least. I went to the Selle Anatomica as I wanted a “vintage looking” leather saddle and found it to be much more comfortable than the B17.