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Saddle question

Old 01-10-13, 12:29 PM
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Saddle question

I have three bikes, road, touring, and old mountain bike. Each has a different saddle. Wondering if that is the norm, or do most folks put identical saddle on all their bikes. What do YOU do?
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Old 01-10-13, 12:58 PM
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2 road,1 mountain ,different saddles.They all feel good I think they give a uniqueness to each bike.
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Old 01-10-13, 12:58 PM
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Generally, I'd say use whatever saddle happens to be there unless it bothers you in some way- either weight or comfort or appareance. If all you ever do is ride 5 or 10 miles, it may not ever matter. If you're riding 100 miles or trying to save the last gram for racing, or don't like a purple saddle on a green bike, then get to switching.

I've used a couple of completely different saddles on different bikes, and each worked okay. On the newest bike, though, I changed out the saddle to match another one.

Most of the people I ride with are long-distance riders that have their favorite brand and type of saddle.
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Old 01-10-13, 01:06 PM
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Road bikes and I have 3 very similar saddles and they work. Mountain bike has a slightly shorter saddle and the same width but with less padding. Most of the time the saddle is used as a perch and I move around alot more on it. Tandem and a wider saddle. I spend more time sitting on it and as it is an upright position it has to support weight in a different way and different angle.
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Old 01-10-13, 01:32 PM
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I had a look through the showroom and confirmed that there are different saddles on different models at different price points for every manufacturer. Which pretty much tells me there isn't an easy answer.
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Old 01-10-13, 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by dannwilliams
What do YOU do?
Slap a Brooks on it.

B17:
1983 Raleigh Super Course


1994 Nishiki Sport XRS


2009 Schwinn Cutter fixed gear


B66:
1983 Raleigh Marathon, cruiser-fied


B72:

1966 Raleigh DL-1 Tourist, an English 3-speed




My one bike with a non-Brooks saddle:
1973 Schwinn Varsity, townie-fied, with a Schwinn mattress saddle


I like Brooks saddles. I ride all the bikes, so getting Brooks saddles for all of them seems to make sense. The basic Brooks is the B17, and that's the model I use the most. The two non-B17s are sprung and therefore better suited to the upright rides of the bikes they're on. The old Schwinn mattress saddle is reasonably comfy, so I haven't replaced that one. Yet.

It seems like a lot of money, but I only paid full price for one of the saddles: The B72 that replaced the original, ripped B72 on the '66 Raleigh. Wanted to keep it as original as possible. The other Brooks saddles were picked up at swap meets, liquidations or Craigslist.
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Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."

Last edited by Doohickie; 01-10-13 at 02:08 PM.
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Old 01-10-13, 01:48 PM
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All different, none stock.
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Old 01-10-13, 02:46 PM
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Same only if I had several of the same type of Bike .. C&V collectors get several classic road race bikes ,
then they may all get the same saddle ..

i don't have such a collection , so I don't have matching setups.

have a couple Fizik Vitesses an OEM batch they made for Brompton,
The ordered rail bend configuration let me shove the saddle back further.

have a S I / Avocet on the BiFri. S M 'rolls' on the RB1..
Brooks Pro on the Touring bike [Pre S I buyout of Brooks]

Last edited by fietsbob; 01-11-13 at 12:12 PM.
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Old 01-10-13, 02:48 PM
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All different! I have a Sella An-Atomica on my fixed gear bike, a Brooks on my touring bike, a Sella Italia on my road bike and a WTB on my mountain bike.

My daily commute bike is a DaHon folder and it has a Velo (i.e. cheap Taiwanese) saddle. But hey, it's comfortable and works well in that context.

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Old 01-10-13, 02:56 PM
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All different - the '89 Trek 1500 had a Selle Italia Turbo for 20+ years until it got replaced three years ago with a Selle Italia Max Gel-Flite with a cutout; the 2011 C'dale Synapse had its OEM saddle for a year when it was replaced with a cheap generic cut-out similar to the Gel-Flite, but sold way more inexpensively by Neuvation; the 7 or 8 year old Fisher Marlin still has its OEM saddle. The Catrike, of course, has a mesh seat.

I'm one of the few who don't care for Brooks. I had a Team Pro with copper rivets on a Sekai many, many years ago and gave up on it conforming to my butt after about a thousand miles. I've never tried another Brooks of any kind, though I have friends who swear by them.
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Old 01-10-13, 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by CraigB
I'm one of the few who don't care for Brooks. I had a Team Pro with copper rivets on a Sekai many, many years ago and gave up on it conforming to my butt after about a thousand miles. I've never tried another Brooks of any kind, though I have friends who swear by them.
As mentioned above, when I got the '66 Raleigh, it had a Brooks on it. I knew nothing about them at the time. I thought it was comfortable though, and when opportunities to pic other Brooks for (relatively) cheap came up, I bought them. They work good for me.
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Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
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Old 01-10-13, 03:34 PM
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All three different. Two are Brooks, one is a stock Velo something.
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Old 01-10-13, 07:22 PM
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6 bikes and all have a Regal saddle. Why mess with what is perfectly comfortable.
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Old 01-10-13, 08:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Doohickie
Slap a Brooks on it.



I like Brooks saddles. I ride all the bikes, so getting Brooks saddles for all of them seems to make sense. The basic Brooks is the B17, and that's the model I use the most. The two non-B17s are sprung and therefore better suited to the upright rides of the bikes they're on. The old Schwinn mattress saddle is reasonably comfy, so I haven't replaced that one. Yet.

It seems like a lot of money, but I only paid full price for one of the saddles: The B72 that replaced the original, ripped B72 on the '66 Raleigh. Wanted to keep it as original as possible. The other Brooks saddles were picked up at swap meets, liquidations or Craigslist.
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Old 01-11-13, 09:18 AM
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I have an original Selle Italia on my road bike. I put a Ride Out Carbon Comfort on my mountain bike which I use for everything because its so comfortable and fast enough for me.
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Old 01-11-13, 09:49 AM
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I'd put a Brooks saddle on all of my bicycles if I could. Right now, I have two B17s, a sprung B17 (I forget the real name), and am about to put a B67 on my Yuba. Until I put the Brooks on, I ride whatever is there, unless it bothers me a lot, in which case I switch around the saddles hanging on my wall until I find one that works.
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