Portis

I am presently working on breaking in my 3rd Brooks saddle. I'm close to 2,000 miles on it. My most broken in saddle has around 10,000 miles of unpaved miles on it. I think the term "broken in" can be interpreted in many different ways, but i don't classify mine broken in until there is a lot of give in the saddle.

SimiCyclist

I have about 1000 miles on a Brooks B17, my first Brooks saddle.

mlts22 

How long do you need to be on a Brooks saddle until its comfortable under your butt, in general?

Allen

Depends on the saddle. My B67 Champ is made of a thicker leather and took a while, 400 miles or so. My regular B67 took half as long and has more give in general, but is made of a thinner hide. My B33's leather is similar to the regular B67 and took about as long to break.

3 btw


--A

wahoonc

I have had several Brooks, at least one Ideale and couple of Wright leather saddles over the years. I personally have broken in at least 4. My current ride(s) have broken in saddles on them. My trick is to put the saddle I want broken in on the bike I ride the most then transfer it to the one of the other bikes. That works most of the time...Current inventory of rides includes 3 Brooks and 1 Wright saddle at the moment. I am breaking a new Swift on my 9.2.5 at the moment.

Aaron

genec

I am on my second, and have had the last one for over 20 years. No telling how many miles I put on it, although it has seen at least three tours of over 1000 miles each... and lots and lots of commuting. I have worn out numerous chains, freewheels and tires in that same time.

I also just bought another for my other bike... so I'll be breaking in that one too.

Machka 

One so far!

It took approx. 400 kms before I would call it "comfortable" and another 400 kms before it reached the early stages of being broken in.

I've now got nearly 25,000 kms on it ... and it fits me like a glove!

Bekologist

I've broken in five over the years and will hopefully break in a few more. I think that they take a full two years to become fully broken in. my most comfortable one is ten years old. I am also a member of the heavy waterproofing school of Brooks.

LWaB

Five (B17 narrow, standard and champion), plus one (Team Pro) I gave up on and gave away. I figure on 4-5 years on a Brooks before the shape changes too much and it gets retired or given away.

supcom

About as long as it takes to reach the end of the driveway. I've never had a bad ride on a Brooks.

eubi

I agree 110%!

shakeNbake

Could it be the other way around?

Machka 

Could what be the other way around? That your butt breaks in, not the saddle? No ... the saddle literally changes shape. If your saddle is still flat, it is not broken it. It isn't broken in until you've got some very noticable "butt grooves" in it. My Brooks looks nothing like it did when I pulled it out of the box.

mud

Last summer I installed a B-17 on my road bike, had to point the nose up to keep from sliding forward. I applied Proofhide as reccomended. I then proceeded to do a 50 mile ride without the least bit of
discomort. I couldn't understand all the negative reports about Brooks, then after 500 miles the saddle began to bevery uncomfortable. I thought that maybe the nay sayers were right. It dawned on me that my saddle had finally broken in. I readjusted the nose down a little and wow, a perfect fit. I will be getting another Brooks for my hybrid.

Mud

genec

Bek which saddle is that sprung one? I have a Pro right now on my flat bar bike and I was thinking of changing it to a sprung saddle... that saddle on your bike looks almost as narrow as the Pro.

shakeNbake

Cool.

I've always wanted to try one, but I'm pretty comfortable with my current saddle. But I can see a small part of the stiching coming loose, that's good enough to warrant a new saddle.

idcruiserman

My swift hasn't broken my butt in yet, but it's not uncomfortable.

clayface

I think you're right about that. My two B-17's were comfy right out of the box, but the process was not complete until around the 2-year mark. A Team Pro began to be comfortable after that period and only showed real comfort a little longer after that. I suppose that points to the end of the break-in process. My Champion Flyer has only been in use 1'5 year, comfortable but not as the B-17's.
Love those pics BTW, Beko!

noisebeam

None. I have 5900mi and a tin of Proofide on mine and it feels and (almost) looks the same as it did day one, which is comfortable and a bit more polished shiny.

Al

Machka 

I'll just back up what I said here with a few photos. You can see some of the wearing and contouring of the saddle. That saddle is 2 years and 4 months old, and has approx. 26,000 kms (16,000 miles) on it.

Twice since I've had it, I've used a tiny dab of proofide on it (the proofide tin still looks almost new!) ... and I try to cover it at least some of the time when it rains. That's the extent of the "care" I've put into it. Very durable saddle!!

.

a77impala

Two, one is about a year old and the new one I bought in Sep., have 800 miles on it so far, comfortable from day one.

FarHorizon

How many Brooks have I broken in? None. How many Brooks have I broken? Three. Every Brooks I've tried pancaked completely within two to three weeks of riding. Lighter or luckier riders may adore Brooks - I despise every one of the !!$&()%(&^$%! things!

countrydirt

Wow, I have 200 miles on the B-17 (MTB) and about 250 on the Pro (roadie) Both get better each ride. I don't think they are broken in, but...I would not go back to the foam blocks that came on the bikes.

My primary bike is the roadie. I have ridden a long ride of 42 miles on the Pro (about 150 into the breakin process) I will admit that I noticed the saddle at about 30 miles. The next day I rode 20 miles and never thought about my butt.

The comfort is worth whatever breakin process I have gone through.

jcm

Four. Two B67's and two B17's. The 17's took longer - about 500 miles each. The 67's never felt not broken-in.

margoC

I've broken in 3. My first was 25 years ago, I dont' have that bike any more but never noticed any indentions in it even when broken in. My finesse had some big dents in it but was comfy before that, although it did take awhile to break it in. My current one, the B-17 broke in rather quickly, no indentions, just comfort.

I don't think it's a matter of the butt breaking in, although it may play a small part. I could hop on my bike with the finese on it after a long lay off with no butt pain at all. My other bike had a couple of cushinioned ones with cuttouts but my butt never did get used to them. I finally got the b-17 and it was very hard for the first couple of rides but still not as uncomfortable as the stock saddle (with foam and cuttout). My sitbones got a little sore at first but it didnt' take long for that phase to pass.

For some reason my well broken in finese with the dents feels hard when I first ride now. I get used to it and have no residual pain or discomfort but I did not notice this until I got the b17. I think it's because the finese is a short womens design and the b-17 is the longer male model, there is more room to shift and the hard metal brackets on the ends are well away from flesh.

I think the way they make the womens saddles short is stupid!! It serves no purpose except to bring edges closer to pressure points. Some would say a longer nose interferes with skirts but I havn't seen any skirt wearing bicyclists lately (except for that lady in china) and even if I were to don my coolmax riding skirt (insert sarasm face here) I could do it equally as well on the longer nosed saddle, it's not THAT much longer.

The extra widness of the womens saddles make more sense, at least for my wide load.