Best Brompton Saddle?

[rogerzilla]

Since you have to carry the thing sometimes, a Brooks is probably the worst option. Any light saddle is better.

 

[Ian H]

If it's for normal Brompton use – say, less than 30 miles at a time – I wouldn't have thought the saddle was that critical.

 

[Tenkaykev]

If it's for normal Brompton use – say, less than 30 miles at a time – I wouldn't have thought the saddle was that critical.

And there's the rub.
As well as being relatively new to cycling I'm sort of commited to a 70 mile trip towards the end of May.
I'm getting out as often as I can and perhaps a more comfortable saddle might help although I can see that it would be difficult to know what is the discomfort caused by my body adapting to a new discipline and that caused by a saddle that might not be optimal.

 

[Ian H]

Three things to consider together: arse, shorts, and saddle. Softer is not better for any of those. The first is cured (or at least alleviated) by miles; the other two are very much personal choice. But what ever you get will take getting used to.

 

[mitchibob]

The best saddle is the one that's most comfortable for you.

I'm actually relatively happy with the standard saddle, although a part of me longs for a Brooks (I really wanted to get a colt in my youth, but a B17 would do me now). Another part of me is wondering about something with more of a groove down the middle, or even something like one of those ISM saddles.

Thing is, none of them let you easily attach the cool Cateye rear light that goes into the 2016+ Brompton saddles and I've done some reasonably long rides on them. The brompton saddle does make a better handle to carry the bike, but I always grab from the tube now anyway. Titanium seatpost might've affected centre of gravity.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Any rail type saddle will fit. Unless you have an aftermarket seat post with an integral clamp you wil need a pentaclip. This is an aluminum version of the steel clamps found on old bikes and cheap ones. The steel ones are heavy but stout and they do fit the Brompton seat post. Brooks does make ladies' saddles (B 17 Imperial, B18) and so does Terry, the Terrys being a much lighter conventional saddle. The problem is that what looks and sounds good on paper may feel uncomfortable in practice. If you can find an LBS that will allow you to try them before purchase that would be great. Or , try your friends' saddles. For myself, nothing beats the right leather saddle even if they are twice as heavy.

Just to update on the Selle SMP TRK to fit on my wifes Brompton.
It arrived earlier today so I set about switching it for the Brompton saddle.
There's a " gotcha " the Selle saddle is deeper so unless you are really lucky with the required position the extra saddle depth prevents access to the pentaclip bolt for tightening in all but the furthest back position on the rails.

 

[u_i]

Just to update on the Selle SMP TRK to fit on my wifes Brompton.
There's a " gotcha " the Selle saddle is deeper so unless you are really lucky with the required position the extra saddle depth prevents access to the pentaclip bolt for tightening in all but the furthest back position on the rails.

Yes, I encountered that too, but you have the option of putting the rails through the upper pentaclip grooves, at the cost of increasing the height of the folded bike.

 

[cougie uk]

I quite like the standard saddle . comfortable for me but I do get on with most saddles.

 

[yoho oy]

Old post, but let me pitch in here... Obviously saddle is personal choice. Your bottom part might go on strike despite you bought the latest and greatest tech from the most respected saddle maker. I have some issues with Brooks C17. It is fine for very short slow ride, but anything longer and faster and my bottom part hurts like hell for days.

I also tend to ride almost at 90 degrees, and most of the time I push the seat post a little bit lower than ideal for my height. It is not great- since after longer ride my knees are hurting too. On other hand when seat post is pulled all way up till my ideal setting I find Brompton is quite unstable, especially on higher speeds. Perhaps this will get better with time as I will ride bike more. It is not about Brompton being more twitchy than other normal bikes, it has to do with how light Brompton is and has smaller wheels. Riding down hill while pedalling was really exciting, but I felt the limits of the bike... It is like attaching Ferrari engine to the original Mini... Perhaps it is OK in closed circuit, but really not safe with narrow streets, frequent traffic lights and a lot of other action going on...

So I went to Decathlon to mock try some saddles and get some ideas. This one is like a sofa. Price was £24.99. I cannot comment on ride quality, since I did not mounted the saddle on a bike, but gel feels quite responsive and probably would soften encountered road imperfections. Also you will not feel as if you are sitting on razor blade. But this saddle is just massive. At 21cm width it is not made for a folder. It would be much harder to handle the bike when it is folded with this saddle.

Much better option was this:

You can see Brooks C17 peeking underneath. Made by DDK, branded as Decathlon. £12.99 and the width is 19.5cm. I think it is about the maximum size that does not look ridiculous for a folder and is quite comfortable for big bottoms. Again, I did not tested so no comment on actual ride quality. It felt firmer than city 900, yet responsive to the touch.

I am getting DDK one, branded as DDK shipped. It is a bit more expensive and narrower than Decathlon. Will see how it goes. Was debating between DDK, Decathlon and Selle SMP TRK Large one. Selle had good reviews, but then it had this weird design with a hole in the centre, was most narrow from the 3 of them and most expensive. Plus good reviews might just end up good reviews for someone else but me...

Like I said before. Saddles are personal. I specifically went for Brooks saddle when I purchased my bike since reviews were positive. On other hand I cannot wait to take it off from my bike. Only the fact that it is winter and I haven't done much longer distance riding slowed me down. I suspect regular or wide Brompton saddle is more comfortable than Brooks C17. Overall the trend for many bicycle manufacturers is to put razor blade wide saddles. Many saddles sold these days are very narrow too. I really hate this trend. I don't think it is very good for general public on so many levels. The bottom part is sore in so many places on such saddles.

 

[u_i]

From my personal experience, the saddles can be too wide as far as comfort is concerned. I.e., after going down in the width for the same seat model, I found the riding to get more pleasant. In spite of the criticism of the rigid determination of an optimal saddle width from sit bone spacing, it is a reasonable starting point for tweaking. The spacing can be found by sitting on a cardboard.

 

[berlinonaut]

my bottom part hurts like hell for days (...) I also tend to ride almost at 90 degrees, and most of the time I push the seat post a little bit lower than ideal for my height. It is not great- since after longer ride my knees are hurting too. (...) trend for many bicycle manufacturers is to put razor blade wide saddles. Many saddles sold these days are very narrow too. I really hate this trend. I don't think it is very good for general public on so many levels. The bottom part is sore in so many places on such saddles.

Saddles and other settings on the bike are clearly personal preference in the end. On the other hand one should be aware about biomechanics - being the "motor" of the bike (the most efficient machine mankind has invented until now) has some consequences regarding ergonomics and most efficient use of human power. Some of them are counterintuitive and, as the whole bike is a system, one component/setting on the bike influences each other. What is counterintuitive is that wide and plush saddles are in fact not only less ergonomical but also less efficient than slimmer ones (that typically are formally harder, too). But if you have your handlebars to high and your saddle too low (which seems to be the case to a massive extent judging from your description) your butt will hurt on a slimmer saddle as forces are distributed in an unergonomic manner. If you knees hurt this is also a sure sign that something is badly wrong. Maybe this pdf is a good general entry point to get an understanding about the basic ergonomic and biomechanical aspects of bike riding: https://junik-hpv.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bike_Ergonomics_for_All_People.pdf

 

[ExBrit]

Even though saddles are very personal, I would suggest a Brooks B17 if you weigh > 160lbs or a Sella Anatomica if you weigh less. They are both leather saddles so they need to be treated with saddle wax periodically (twice a year or if it gets soaked) and should be protected from rain. It's like polishing shoes. The Brooks takes some breaking in, the Sella less so. Note: The Brooks saddle wax is no better than regular horse saddle wax, just 10x more expensive. Hope this helps.

 

[yoho oy]

Thanks, but no thanks on Brooks. I think a sample of one was enough. Yesterday went on longer ride and my bottom will be hurting for a week. There is a lot of philosophies on bike sadle with sitbones, etc. Back in a day all bike saddles were wide. Most people were OK with that. Now even mainstream bikes are super slim. As if everyone is race driver on track going 35 km per hour. Ridiculous. Also I don't really want to spend that much money on a saddle. £40 is about max I would want to pay.

My discomfort with C17 has nothing to do with seat being too low. I tried many seat-post positions using this saddle, but the problem is that it is very hard, too narrow and curves to the sides, so there is even less contact surface with bottom part. I have pain in my tail bone, sitbones, lower back and even my front part is hurting. I lower seatpost a little bit more that I should because I like more upright sitting position and if I don't and lean forward it feels as if I have less control with a bike. The feeling is as if my body is tipping over the handrail. Might be I could mount saddle a little bit back... I tried tilting it a little bit back and forward, but haven't tried pushing it a little bit back on rails. Anyway I will soon replace this saddle and let you know how things are.

 

[Kell]

Thanks, but no thanks on Brooks. I think a sample of one was enough. Yesterday went on longer ride and my bottom will be hurting for a week. There is a lot of philosophies on bike sadle with sitbones, etc. Back in a day all bike saddles were wide. Most people were OK with that. Now even mainstream bikes are super slim. As if everyone is race driver on track going 35 km per hour. Ridiculous. Also I don't really want to spend that much money on a saddle. £40 is about max I would want to pay.

My discomfort with C17 has nothing to do with seat being too low. I tried many seat-post positions using this saddle, but the problem is that it is very hard, too narrow and curves to the sides, so there is even less contact surface with bottom part. I have pain in my tail bone, sitbones, lower back and even my front part is hurting. I lower seatpost a little bit more that I should because I like more upright sitting position and if I don't and lean forward it feels as if I have less control with a bike. The feeling is as if my body is tipping over the handrail. Might be I could mount saddle a little bit back... I tried tilting it a little bit back and forward, but haven't tried pushing it a little bit back on rails. Anyway I will soon replace this saddle and let you know how things are.

The problem is, you're compounding the problem. Sitting more upright is loading even more weight on to your arse and will, ultimately make it more uncomfortable.

You're also unloading the front end of the Brompton, which most people say is skittish at the best of times and most people say handling is improved when carrying loads on the front block.

So you're making the bike more unstable and giving your back more problems.

 

[berlinonaut]

Honestly said the C17 is nor a very slim saddle - it is a touring saddle after all. It fits many people averagly well though not necessarily very good And some do not like it at all. You should not draw general conclusions from one saddle to all saddles because this would be an oversimplification that cannot hold true. Not even to other Brooks saddles. The leather saddles feel and behave totally different and even within the range of the slimmer Brooks leather saddles there are huge differences to the point where one model is unrideable for a certain person whereas another one that looks pretty similar works perfectly. Even worse: Even the same model can be different. I do i.e. own two Brooks professional, one feels like a piece of wood , the other one like a sofa. But Brooks are special anyway with their wear-in period. The Selle Anatomica saddles that @ExBrit mentioned are very comfy from day one, though a bit on the heavy side. Off the non leather saddles my personal favorite is a predecessor of the Terry Arteria Fly model. Others like SQLab saddles and others something different. BTW: You can claim that the seating position would have nothing to with pain on the lower back - still ergonomics proof you wrong. Same with the bar height. It is counterintuitive. On a bike you need to have body tension, a good weight distribution between lower back and hands and for the legs the correct angle to make use of your body power. You do have to build up the necessary muscles to maintain body tension and to care a bit to avoid a round back. If all that is a given you will have no pain. If only one factor lacks you will have pain. With your seating position you do have far too much weight on the saddle and due to the upright position it is on the wrong contact points as well. Even worse on a saddle that is intended for a different seating position. Completely logical that you do have pain.

Imagine you would start freshly out with a new sport, let's say rowing or skiing. Would you then also insist on your first gutt feel for comfort or follow the advice of people how found out what positon and behavior works best for the sport in question?