paulb55
Über Member
- Location
- Birmingahm
Blazing Saddles
Posted on April 4, 2012
As most of you know by now I love my bicycle and i love going out with a group of friends on my bike but the fun can be spoiled by those niggly aches and pains you tend to get after being in the saddle for long periods of time and on recent rides I was getting a numb backside after about 20 miles into a 40 or 50 mile bike ride, these pains were just spoiling my days out so I had to do something about it.
I contacted my local bike shop and they suggested coming in and looking at another “more comfortable” saddle, yeah right I thought, comfortable means more expensive in bike shop language, which would result in me handing over a sizeable amount of money and having a thinner wallet for the rest of the month, but, once I was in their lair, and there was no escape, I was quite surprised as to what they had on offer.
I eventually chose the best saddle you can buy, a Brooks B67, you know the one that has those nice springs underneath and looks like it should be on one of those traditional Dutch bicycles, but not on my Trek hybrid, so I really was concerned as to how it would look on my bike, with its wide base, and was my backside THAT wide, surely not I thought, or was i just being snobbish, well I soon found out how wrong I was.
My Brooks B67 saddle, isn’t she a thing of beauty………………………………………..
Now when you go to buy a saddle at your local bike shop I do like to test the “goods”, as they say, but when Dan, the bike shop mechanic, gave me a ladies traditional Dutch bicycle, with a wicker basket on the front, that had a Brooks B67 saddle on (the only bike in the shop that had a Brooks saddle on it out of about 45 bikes) and suggested i go around the block in central Birmingham to see how the saddle fits, I looked at him in a way that suggested he should go forth and multiply, he quickly picked up on my expression and came up with a better suggestion of riding it around the car park at the front of the shop, still dodgy, but I thought of my rear end being in pain whilst riding earlier in the week and bit the bullet and agreed with a sort of manly reply of “well ok, if there is no other choice” and as Dan took the bike outside I noticed he had a cheeky look on his face as if he was going to enjoy this more than I was, and I was pretty certain he was going to.
I have to say that it was probably the shortest test ride on a bike to check out how comfortable a saddle was, I got on the bike and rode about 10 feet and proclaimed that it was the best saddle I ever sat on, whilst trying to ignore the rather large wicker basket in between the handlebars, and jumped off giving the bike back to Dan in lightening speed, remembering we were on a car park, which overlooked a busy road in central Birmingham, with 4 bus stops opposite the shop and all 4 buses parked, with every passenger looking at me riding on a ladies bike, with a wicker basket on the front, oh the embarrassment was just unimaginable.
The cost of £70.00 did make me think twice as to whether to part with my hard-earned cash or get another saddle at half the price, but the thought of going on another bike ride and ending up with a sore arse soon made me hand over my hard-earned dosh to Dan and he assured me I had made the right choice.
Well the true test for the famous Brooks B67 saddle was a 37 mile trip around Lichfield about 3 days after buying the saddle and i am extremely happy to say that the it passed the test with flying colours. You have to understand that when you sit on a Brooks saddle, especially a B67, with its springs underneath it feels like you have a pillow beneath you which is filled with goose down which creates an unbelievable level of comfort that I have never had before from a saddle.
On the other hand, as with all good things, there has to be a price to pay for that extra soft comfort and that is that it does tend to squeak a bit and as all us cyclists know is that because we live in the UK we are going to come across some hills on our usual Sunday ride so it was on this particular test ride with my new saddle that I started to ascend this rather steep hill, in granny gear of course, and as is the usual way in granny gear, your legs tend to move at twice the speed of sound whilst your backside tends to move from side to side in a rather quick fashion, all this while you are reaching a maximum of 3 mph, not fast at all, but it gets you up the hill, EVENTUALLY.
It was whilst I was struggling up this hill that I heard this incredibly funny squeak coming from beneath my rear end that was in perfect rhythm to my pedalling and the faster I peddled the faster the squeak became, much to the amusement of my fellow riders who started to crack a few jokes, some quite rude to say the least, which resulted in me laughing whilst trying to get up the hill, and as I pedaled harder, the squeak got louder, which nearly resulted in me falling off my bike in a heap on the side of the road in uncontrollable laughter, but eventually I made it to the top of the hill, wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes.
The next problem with this new saddle is that when you stop at your favourite cake shop after 20 miles and you go to sit on the chair it just doesn’t feel the same as your new saddle, with those nice bouncy springs, so you fidget around and bounce up and down on the hard wooden chair trying to get your rear end comfortable, but you are not going to get that same feeling on a hard wooden chair so you have to accept second best whilst all the other patrons at the Cafe are looking at you with a quizzical look on their faces, wondering what the hell you are doing.
So next time you are out on your bike and you hear a squeak squeak with uncontrollable laughter coming up behind you whilst you are going up a hill then don’t panic, its only me, just be ready to phone the emergency services as I may fall off my bike with laughter.
So folks, go out and buy a Brooks saddle, you will have the most comfortable bike ride of your life and you may end up laughing all the way up the hills of Great Britain, doesn’t that sound like jolly good fun.
P.S, I would like to thank Dan at On Your Bike in Birmingham for the help with my saddle and I hope he never gets to read this
Here is a picture of my Brooks saddle, hope you like
And finally……………..
Saw this picture on the internet the other day, wonder if he had a Brooks B67 fitted on his bike !!!!!!!!!!.
Posted on April 4, 2012
As most of you know by now I love my bicycle and i love going out with a group of friends on my bike but the fun can be spoiled by those niggly aches and pains you tend to get after being in the saddle for long periods of time and on recent rides I was getting a numb backside after about 20 miles into a 40 or 50 mile bike ride, these pains were just spoiling my days out so I had to do something about it.
I contacted my local bike shop and they suggested coming in and looking at another “more comfortable” saddle, yeah right I thought, comfortable means more expensive in bike shop language, which would result in me handing over a sizeable amount of money and having a thinner wallet for the rest of the month, but, once I was in their lair, and there was no escape, I was quite surprised as to what they had on offer.
I eventually chose the best saddle you can buy, a Brooks B67, you know the one that has those nice springs underneath and looks like it should be on one of those traditional Dutch bicycles, but not on my Trek hybrid, so I really was concerned as to how it would look on my bike, with its wide base, and was my backside THAT wide, surely not I thought, or was i just being snobbish, well I soon found out how wrong I was.
My Brooks B67 saddle, isn’t she a thing of beauty………………………………………..
Now when you go to buy a saddle at your local bike shop I do like to test the “goods”, as they say, but when Dan, the bike shop mechanic, gave me a ladies traditional Dutch bicycle, with a wicker basket on the front, that had a Brooks B67 saddle on (the only bike in the shop that had a Brooks saddle on it out of about 45 bikes) and suggested i go around the block in central Birmingham to see how the saddle fits, I looked at him in a way that suggested he should go forth and multiply, he quickly picked up on my expression and came up with a better suggestion of riding it around the car park at the front of the shop, still dodgy, but I thought of my rear end being in pain whilst riding earlier in the week and bit the bullet and agreed with a sort of manly reply of “well ok, if there is no other choice” and as Dan took the bike outside I noticed he had a cheeky look on his face as if he was going to enjoy this more than I was, and I was pretty certain he was going to.
I have to say that it was probably the shortest test ride on a bike to check out how comfortable a saddle was, I got on the bike and rode about 10 feet and proclaimed that it was the best saddle I ever sat on, whilst trying to ignore the rather large wicker basket in between the handlebars, and jumped off giving the bike back to Dan in lightening speed, remembering we were on a car park, which overlooked a busy road in central Birmingham, with 4 bus stops opposite the shop and all 4 buses parked, with every passenger looking at me riding on a ladies bike, with a wicker basket on the front, oh the embarrassment was just unimaginable.
The cost of £70.00 did make me think twice as to whether to part with my hard-earned cash or get another saddle at half the price, but the thought of going on another bike ride and ending up with a sore arse soon made me hand over my hard-earned dosh to Dan and he assured me I had made the right choice.
Well the true test for the famous Brooks B67 saddle was a 37 mile trip around Lichfield about 3 days after buying the saddle and i am extremely happy to say that the it passed the test with flying colours. You have to understand that when you sit on a Brooks saddle, especially a B67, with its springs underneath it feels like you have a pillow beneath you which is filled with goose down which creates an unbelievable level of comfort that I have never had before from a saddle.
On the other hand, as with all good things, there has to be a price to pay for that extra soft comfort and that is that it does tend to squeak a bit and as all us cyclists know is that because we live in the UK we are going to come across some hills on our usual Sunday ride so it was on this particular test ride with my new saddle that I started to ascend this rather steep hill, in granny gear of course, and as is the usual way in granny gear, your legs tend to move at twice the speed of sound whilst your backside tends to move from side to side in a rather quick fashion, all this while you are reaching a maximum of 3 mph, not fast at all, but it gets you up the hill, EVENTUALLY.
It was whilst I was struggling up this hill that I heard this incredibly funny squeak coming from beneath my rear end that was in perfect rhythm to my pedalling and the faster I peddled the faster the squeak became, much to the amusement of my fellow riders who started to crack a few jokes, some quite rude to say the least, which resulted in me laughing whilst trying to get up the hill, and as I pedaled harder, the squeak got louder, which nearly resulted in me falling off my bike in a heap on the side of the road in uncontrollable laughter, but eventually I made it to the top of the hill, wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes.
The next problem with this new saddle is that when you stop at your favourite cake shop after 20 miles and you go to sit on the chair it just doesn’t feel the same as your new saddle, with those nice bouncy springs, so you fidget around and bounce up and down on the hard wooden chair trying to get your rear end comfortable, but you are not going to get that same feeling on a hard wooden chair so you have to accept second best whilst all the other patrons at the Cafe are looking at you with a quizzical look on their faces, wondering what the hell you are doing.
So next time you are out on your bike and you hear a squeak squeak with uncontrollable laughter coming up behind you whilst you are going up a hill then don’t panic, its only me, just be ready to phone the emergency services as I may fall off my bike with laughter.
So folks, go out and buy a Brooks saddle, you will have the most comfortable bike ride of your life and you may end up laughing all the way up the hills of Great Britain, doesn’t that sound like jolly good fun.
P.S, I would like to thank Dan at On Your Bike in Birmingham for the help with my saddle and I hope he never gets to read this
Here is a picture of my Brooks saddle, hope you like
And finally……………..
Saw this picture on the internet the other day, wonder if he had a Brooks B67 fitted on his bike !!!!!!!!!!.
