Originally Posted by
noteon
In my experience, the "Brooks break-in period" is entirely fictitious, and has more to do with people not knowing how to position them.
I don't know about that. I agree that part of the process is learning what to expect and knowing how to position the saddle. Once you know what you're doing, you will find a truly new saddle to be comfortable right away. But it is also true that a new leather saddle is harder than one that has been ridden a lot. Furthermore, this may have been more true of Brooks saddles made 30 years ago than of the ones they make today (this is my suspicion, anyway; i have no way of testing the hypothesis).
I have definitely seen this with the saddles i have recovered in the last year: they start out as hard as rock, but they soften a bit during the first few months of riding. After that, they don't seem to soften further. Of course, it remains to be seen how my saddles will hold up over the long term.