Touring - Lacing a brooks?

I put a Brooks B-17 on my bike a couple of months ago. I've put about 500 miles on the bike since. I've found the saddle to be extremely comfortable, with one exception. I get some minor friction along the sides on the seam area of some of my shorts. I don't notice so much on short rides, but as I get into the 50 mile+ range, I notice a little rubbing. I've read both on here and on Sheldon Brown's site that lacing under the rails can be done to pull the sides in. Can someone who has done this post pics of their method? I'd like to try it, but don't want to randomly poke holes in my new saddle. I've considered putting brass gromets in the saddle and lacing through those, but don't want to creat another potential source of friction. Thanks!

I used a drill to make the holes and used a shoelace. It works well to keep the sides from flaring out.

I used a drill and, currently, coated wire. Here is a site (http://www.wallbike.com/content/butchering.html) showing what the result can look like.

Thanks! The pic on the link shows it pretty clearly. Looks like it's what I need to do.

Generally lacing doesn't need to be done until the saddle is fairly old and the sides are FLARING out. Besides... the laces will likely cause their own friction issues. Maybe you should look into a B17N (for Narrow)?

Generally lacing doesn't need to be done until the saddle is fairly old and the sides are FLARING out. Besides... the laces will likely cause their own friction issues. Maybe you should look into a B17N (for Narrow)?


The sides flare out on mine now. I weigh 195ish. I can see the sides flare just by pushing down on the saddle with my hands. I've considered the B-17n, but just bought this one & hate to lay out another $90 unless I have to.

I'd suggest that if you lace the skirts of your B17 you not pull the skirts closer together than they are now. Just enough tension that they don't flare out any further should be plenty. The reason is that with the skirts pulled together to any degree, the top of the saddle becomes squared off, with definite edges being formed at the juncture of each skirt and the top. These edges can become pretty uncomfortable. You can always increase the tension later if this doesn't work for you.

Regards,
Bob P.