New Brooks saddle like hard wood!

[Chrisc]

hi chris,

may i ask what your overall impression is of the flyer special. i'm thinking of getting a sprung saddle to help deal with the state of the roads in rossendale and manchester. do the springs make a noticeable difference? is it a boing boing ride? is it better having a wider saddle with springs. i currently have a brooks team pro and it had at least 1000 miles of my arse and some more miles when i lent it out. it did eventually break in. it is comfy but i think it may be too narrow as i feel like i'm sitting on the metal frame. i was thinking flyer special or b33 or b190.

Hi there,
It's not that wide but wide enough to sit up on if you want to set it up that way. My bike has a quick release bar adjustment so I can flip from bolt upright Dutch style to weight forward in a second flat and it suits either position.
Not a boing boing ride at all, even on a suspended seat post which I have wound up tight and will replace eventually with a solid one. I can't say I really notice the springs, they are very stiff but they do take care of all the rubbish our Beirut style West Yorkshire roads are currently throwing at then at the moment.
I had a selle royal spongy thing on there before which is comfy for twenty minutes and then gives out. The flyer is great on the road, I never give a thought to my backside at all any more which is great! On my rollers tho it does give me grief after an hour because I'm not moving around on the saddle like you do when you're out on the road and you put more weight on your rear rollering than roading!

Saddle pic on this thread

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I have a B17 on my tourer which I found comfy out of the box. However, a thousand or so miles later, it is so comfy, I don't give it a thought. Other posters have mentioned the importance of set up and that I must underline. If you have your bars just above saddle height and the saddle level, that may be the problem. When new, I found I had to have the saddle nose up by a rather extreme angle which looked odd. However, as the saddle wore in, I could adjust the angle gradually to a more level orientation and it is now almost parallel with the ground.

Also, don't expect the leather to soften. It doesn't to any great degree, but it does eventually take on the shape of your bum. That's when true comfort sets in.

 

[Old timer]

I purchased a flyer with springs(black) I must admit it fely very comfy almost right away. However, after a couple of outings i started to get a pain in my left buttock that caused pain down my left leg and calf. Something like sciatica (is that how it`s spelt) I didn`t put the two together till I sat down and gave it some thought and when the pain had started. Put the old saddle back on and the pain subsided. I think it was just the lack of fat on my bum and the rear stiff part was digging in and crushing a nerve maybe.

Do I sell it on E bay??

 

[Sun Superlight]

Brooks, The Difference in hardness?

I have a total of 5 Brooks saddles on different bikes, 4 of which after variable breaking in periods have reached the stage of being unoticable on a 50 mile ride which I guess is as good as it gets.
The fifth saddle which is a B17 narrow, (a black one) is still as hard as a board despite repeated applications of Proofide and 1600 miles of riding.
The front tension bolt is not overtight either, it's just that the leather still feels (and sounds) like spring steel.
Obviously the moo-cow that this saddle came from was a tough old bugger, but as a confirmed Brooks fan I'm prepared to persevere with it.
Has anyone out there tried neatsfoot oil out on an especially tough saddle yet?

 

[philepo]

Hello all,

My saddle is now much more comfy, but not perfect. I may take the advice from Gerry about tilting the saddle up a bit more as I may be a bit far back on the saddle. It is still comfyer than the standard one it came with. Thnaks.

 

[4F]

3 possiblities:-
1. you have a duff saddle and it'll never be comfy - very likely indeed
.

I gave mine 2000 miles before taking the damn torture device off

Up to about 20 miles fine, over that and it may as well have been made out of concrete

 

[ACS]

B17 confortable out of the box.

B17 (NOS 1979) hard a nails and no sign of the bu*^er let me win either. Our love hate relationship has progressed to 40 miles of accepatable interaction after that the seat bones begin to complain.

 

[ricksavery]

I have had a B17 for a short while now, and although my mileage isn't huge, the shape of my rear can be seen in the leather. I had terrible problems setting it up at first, tilting forwards meant i was sitting on the rear edge a lot (very hard!), tilting backwards was slightly better, but slipped forward a lot and risked my manhood at every bump. I have a long torso for my height and began to despair, but then i bought a lay back stem (I had never heard of one before), which means the saddle is further back from the handlebars. The one i bought was a Velo Orange one from Freshtripebikes. Expensive at £30 and only gave about 2cm of backward adjustment, but it did the trick and looks great (still a lot to pay though). Probably cheaper ones that do the same job, but it worked for me, and now the saddle sits more or less level.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

now a proud owner of a b17 flyer. had it a few weeks but i can already tell its going to get comfy. those big springs really do stop the nasty bumps pummeling my posterior. it isn't much wider than my team pro but i just cannot get the team pro to be comfy.

 

[ASC1951]

My saddle is now much more comfy, but not perfect. I may take the advice from Gerry about tilting the saddle up a bit more as I may be a bit far back on the saddle.

Tilting the saddle nose up will normally move you back on the saddle, not forwards.

All my five Brooks are only comfortable with the saddle absolutely level, although different people are different shapes.

 

[philepo]

A cople of months on and the saddle is still hard and fairly flat - there are the sit bone indents, but only small ones. I only ride 2 miles a day so perhaps this is to be expected....

 

[numbnuts]

Brooks saddles do not "break in" your bottom does

 

[Globalti]

Brooks saddles do not break in, they sag to accommodate your sit bones. To encourage them to sag you could soak them in water or something like saddle soap or dubbin.

Admittedly any leather saddle is comfortable once it has stretched and sagged but I bought a Brook saddle and was massively disappointed with the weight, the discomfort and the medieval look of the thing, so I sold it straight away.

 

[Amanda P]

Here's my solution:

Take your bike with you to Kenya.
Leave it outside overnight in a tropical rainstorm, so the saddle gets saturated.
Ride it 40 miles or so the following day, on lumpy roads in tropical heat.
The following day it will have taken on the shape of your underneath perfectly.

In any case, you'll still feel comfortable when you look at the craggy monstrosities the locals have on their bikes: Chinese copies of Brookses that have clearly been in the family for several generations, and have had the leather replaced two or three times and the rails welded at least once.

 

[philepo]

Here's my solution:

Take your bike with you to Kenya.
Leave it outside overnight in a tropical rainstorm, so the saddle gets saturated.
Ride it 40 miles or so the following day, on lumpy roads in tropical heat.
The following day it will have taken on the shape of your underneath perfectly.

In any case, you'll still feel comfortable when you look at the craggy monstrosities the locals have on their bikes: Chinese copies of Brookses that have clearly been in the family for several generations, and have had the leather replaced two or three times and the rails welded at least once.

Soaking in water sounds promising (or it might ruin it!??)