Road Cycling - Brooks B17 Arrived and First Impressions

My Brooks B17 came today and it was nice and hot today so I coated it with 2 coates top and bottom of Proofide and let it bake in the sun for a hour.. After I wiped off the excess it provided a nice smooth surface.. Should I recoat the saddle in a weeks time to help the break in process??

1st impression is that this saddle is hard as a rock... Keep an open mind.. I ended up lowering my saddle a little and I may have to move my saddle back a hair, it looks like this saddle is a little shorter than my San Marco Rolls saddle.. I'm a trial by fire kind of person, so I rode it tonight for a good 20 miles..

I get on the bike and again 1st impression is that this thing is hard but it's not uncomfortable, it just feels so different than anything I have ever ridden before.. The surface area on top of the saddle is so smooth it just glides across your shorts, very nice feeling..

20 miles later I'm not sore but a little perplexed.. I'm trying to wrap my brain around the idea that a saddle this hard shouldn't be comfortable but it is. By no means is this saddle broken in but tomorrow I'm riding 40 miles and a beach ride this weekend so we will see if my first impressions are right, that I have found a great saddle..

Updates will follow..

My Brooks B17 came today and it was nice and hot today so I coated it with 2 coates top and bottom of Proofide and let it bake in the sun for a hour.. After I wiped off the excess it provided a nice smooth surface.. Should I recoat the saddle in a weeks time to help the break in process??


Great. I'm hoping to get one for my B-Day, I've dropped enough hints with the wife and parents.

My only problem is deciding which bike to put it on.

Go easy on the Proofide. No need to overdo it. Just get out and ride the saddle and it will break in nicely.

Welcome to Club Brooks.

i recently installed a b-17 too. iv'e got about 150 miles on it now with the longest rides being 30 miles. i keep widening the circle. but the thing that is really suprising me is that i can ride this saddle 30 miles without padded cycling shorts! i keep waiting for my ass to scream ENOUGH! but nothing of the sort has happened. this is not a testimonial as to how tough my posterior is, but it does say something about just how nice a brooks can be.

I think for the first month or so a weekly application
of Proofide is appropriate, singe application not 2.
After that once a month or two just to keep it supple.
I do reapply to the bottom of the saddle and leave it
once a year just for the waterproofing.
Very hard to get ones head around the hard as a rock
saddle is comfortable.
I'm still working on my Pro, which is considerably more
difficult to break in than a B17 (thicker leather).

Welcome to the club.
Marty

Right, that's it, I've had enough. Would everyone stop going on about how great Brooks are. I'm fed up of having to sit on a rubberized piece of crap with my backside threatening to go on stike, I want leather godamit!

I'm eyeing a Honey-colored Brooks Swift, Ti rails, minimal side skirts. VERY pretty. Some reports are that it breaks in pretty easily. Anyone else have any info? Thanks.

so where's the best deal online to get a brooks?

I'm eyeing a Honey-colored Brooks Swift, Ti rails, minimal side skirts. VERY pretty. Some reports are that it breaks in pretty easily. Anyone else have any info? Thanks.I've been riding my Swift close to a year now and for me, it's taken just as short a period to break in as my other Brooks models.

George

so where's the best deal online to get a brooks?

www.wallbike.com has good prices & selection & a 6 month return option. If you know what you want and can distinguish the various versions of B-17, you can get good prices on ebay. Other sites (like airbomb.com) have slightly better prices on high-end Brooks saddles like the Swift.

I bought mine from:
http://www.permaco.com/

I was interested in a particular model and color (B17 Champion Special in Honey) and permaco had the best price on it at the time. There are some good prices on e-bay at times. One place out there (www.wallbike.com) will let you return a saddle up to six months if you decide you don't like it. I had my last Brooks for over 20 years, so that wasn't an issue for me.

As always, your mileage may vary...

This place gives you an unconditional six-month money back guarantee

http://www.wallbike.com/

That way, if it's not right for your rear, you can get your money back. If it works out well, then it's really worth it, right?

I got my Brooks Swift Ti there, and I like it fine.

Bought mine at Nashbar, they are 49.95 right now... Don't forget to use the extra 10% off.. Put W189 in the comments box and it will take 10% off everything you buy.. I bought the saddle, proofide and Brooks tensioner.. I most likely will be ordering another one, I am looking at one on ebay that has copper rails and is just beautiful, so we'll see if I get that one..

My first impressions were that it was the Saddle from Hell. The first couple rides were horrible; seemed like a cruel trick. Then on ride 3 it didn't hurt. Each time it was better till it was great. So I dicided it was a keeper and cut the skirt off with a saw so it would look more like the race ones more common today. Easy to do and looked as though made that way. It's still not as in vogue as the ones in the stack of stuff I don't use anymore; I even use to retry some from that collection because they look so good on the bike, but quickly put the Brooks B-17 right back on. It's there to stay now. :)

Day 2 of riding this saddle and it's still comfortable, looks like I found a winner.. 80 miles Saturday will be the true test.. If still comfortable I'm ordering another for my road bike and will get a Sprung Brooks for my Mountain bike..

QUESTION??

Do most of you find that you have to move the saddle back a little due to it being shorter than normal saddles??

Ok I'm sold.. Rode over 100 miles this last weekend and an 70 miler on Sunday was the clincher.. Totally comfortable all day.. One of my friends who was riding a tandem was having a bad saddle day and he had the same feeling as me initially, how can a saddle that hard be comfortable?? After his long day in the saddle he told me to order him one to try out.. I will be getting the Flyer for my mountain bike next. Here is a nice pic of my Brooks B17 on my Eddy Merckx..

http://www.geocities.com/e_pipins/merckx.jpg