Billy k

I have a Fuji Sportif and the seat was not great so I bought a Konfit and used it a year and it was good but I was looking for more comfort,being a 200 lb rider. So tonight I got a Brooke's B17. I will be taking it out in the morning for a 20 to 30 mile ride. I do not see many on roads bikes. So being a complete new rider I know very little. Is there a reason for the B 17 not being used on road bikes? I have one on my Hybred and love it. But with the hybred the posture is more upright. Well I will find out in time if I did good or not. But the question is do any road bike people use the B17??

bikemig 

If you read the description of the B17, it is designed more for a more upright position. The team pro is designed more for road bike riding. Bottom line is if you like the B17, who cares?

BROOKS ENGLAND LTD. | TOURING+&+TREKKING | B17+STANDARD

tyrion

You can't (comfortably) have too forward a lean with a B17, and you can't move fore and aft on it. I like riding upright on a B17 but wouldn't want it on bike with the handlebars lower than the seat.

f4rrest

They're kinda heavy and don't match the style of most carbon / aluminum road bikes -- like wearing dress shoes with athletic shorts.

That said, I've used something similar (Selle Anatomica) on my Supersix Evo for a year.

rms13

+1

Heavy and look better on a steel bike , particularly vintage. That's not to say don't use it. People that love them, swear by them. They can take a long time to break in and there is some work on your part to properly break it in. I had one on one of my bikes once and it felt like a torture chamber when i rode it. I didn't have patience for the break in period

Rowan

I have Brooks B17s of one sort or another on six or seven bikes. I have a Ti one on a Ti road bike, and another Ti one on a Bike Friday. There is one exception amongst the group -- a Ti Swallow on my CF bike.

To some extent, the preference for a Pro on a road bike is true. But I can ride on the drops of my Ti bike with its B17 for reasonable periods. If I was going to do so for extended periods, I would likely adjust the upward tilt of the nose so the saddle was flatter.

The interesting thing is... when a rider is sitting on a saddle, no-one really would know what it was unless they were riding right behind. It's only when a bike is leaning up against a wall that a saddle might look, to the onlooker, to be odd or not. But then, functionality was never that important in the 41.

People also whine about the cost of a Brooks. But I figure that with only scant regard for protecting it from water, it will outlast two or three saddles with foam padding under the cover, and certainly vinyl and fabric covers are prone to tearing... with leather, they become patina marks. They also might take a little time to break in, but there are short cuts using nothing more than water and face cloths, or riding in rain.

a77impala

I have Brooks on all my bikes, I prefer the B17N, it's 20mm narrower than a B17. Once broken in the most comfortable saddle, imho.
Just picked up a Professional, harder than B17 but it's starting to feel good.

Machka 

Um ...

Good luck with that.

I have B17s on all my bicycles and I love them. They are, in my opinion and in my experience, the best saddles I've ever tried. I can ride hundreds of kilometres in one ride with them ... over Easter, for example, we rode a 300 km randonnee and my Brooks B17 was lovely.

However ...

They are hard saddles and will remain hard for the duration of their lives. If they ever get soft, they are ruined. Your saddle will eventually conform to your shape and become comfortable, but it will take time. It won't happen right away.

So the first thing you will discover as you roll out the driveway is ... the saddle is hard! By about 5 miles you may very well be wondering what on earth you were thinking.

One thing that might help is tipping the nose of the saddle up. Yes ... up. I know it may seem like the wrong thing to do, but it helps.
(Have a look at the Century Bicycles thread in the Long Distance forum ... check out the positioning of the Brooks saddles on many of the bicycles shown in that thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...bicycle-s.html )

You might also consider doing a loop route so that if it gets too much, you can return home and change bicycles. Then try again tomorrow.

When I got my first Brooks back in 2004, I just commuted with mine for the first week ... 6.7 km to work, then a break, then 6.7 km home. The next weekend, I did something in the neighbourhood of 20 km, and then changed bicycles. I gradually increased the distance over the first three weeks ... and then I went out and rode a 1000K randonnee with it. It broke in about halfway through that ride, and was comfortable after that.



And then again, a few people like them right out of the box, so who knows, you could be one of them.

FullGas

with an almost infinite variety of attractive, comfortable, and light-weight saddles available, it's somewhat mystifying why anyone would ever choose an expensive, fugly, heavy-as-a-brick Brooks.

of the dozens of riders I know, none use them.

brianmcg123

I only ride Brooks.

My first Brooks was a Champion Special on my touting bike. It's a B17 with springs. Awesome saddle for my more upright ride of my touring bike.

I put a Brooks pro on my Trek Madone, Trek makes good bikes, and it was great for the more aggressive position. I have recently switched to a Brooks C17 for the Madone as the Pro was beginning to show its age. The C17 is basically the same shape as the Pro but lighter and a non-leather waterproof version.

JohnJ80

Agree.

It's no problem to find a saddle, you'd spend less time experimenting and trying saddles than waiting for one of the Brooks to break in. And it would be half the weight (or less) too.

I ride the Selle Italia SLR Pro with it's large cut out. I'm a Clyde and it works great with thousands of miles on it. Weighs 200g vs the 525g of the B17 and required zero break-in. Not saying that's the perfect saddle for the OP, but it isn't that hard to find one that fits especially if you work with an LBS that lets you try them. You can have this figured out in a day.

J.

bikemig 

The fact that dozens of riders you know don't use brooks doesn't prove anything other than dozens of riders you know don't use them.

1/2 the RUSA riders in 2007 PBP used leather saddles: https://www.bikequarterly.com/BQPBPEquipsurvey.pdf

There were 296 RUSA members surveyed; as a collective group, these folks know something about long distance riding.

That's a reasonably significant datum in that is one heck of a tough long distance ride (1200 klicks which have to be finished in 90 hours).

I don't think this proves that Brooks are "better" than the alternatives. There is way too much variation in butts and riding styles to make a generalization like that. But it is not mystifying why some people buy them; there is a lot of positive data that they work well and on certain bikes they clearly look right.

twodownzero

By the same logic, I'm not sure why anyone would ever wear a suit when he could just wear basketball shorts and a t shirt every day.

Machka 

Yep ... lots of long distance cyclists ride Brooks saddles.


Go to the PBP and the bike check-in area is a sea of Brooks saddles ... other saddles too, of course, but there are a lot of Brooks saddles there.

wvridgerider

I have been using one for a long time. Kinda ride with the nose upward.

JohnJ80

Interesting if they are so great that you don't see a single stage race rider on them. That's a collective group that knows a whole lot about distance riding.

I've had them - back 30 years ago. Yes, they could be comfortable. But you have to invest in the break-in, the weight and the care. You can get the same or better comfort out of a saddle that doesn't require the break-in, weighs much much less, and less to no real care. So if someone wants to go to all that trouble, then I guess what is there to say?

J.

dim

Brooks saddles are like Ray Ban sunglasses.... some people buy them because other's say that are are good.

Old Brooks saddles were good, but there are many complaints about the new ones (poor craftsmanship, thin/uneven leather, breaking rails etc)

There are some cheaper leather saddles that are much better than a Brooks, and there are leather saddles that cost much more than Brooks and that are a lot better

I do own a Brooks (B15 Professional) on my daily commuter and will most probably replace it with Gilles Berthoud Aravis when it needs replacing

I still like the looks of a B17 narrow in honey colour though

IMHO, a good comfortable saddle is very important and I don't mind paying top dollar for one

surgeonstone

I used to be a Brooks owner exclusively and sang the praises of Brooks for all, until I got a Fiziik Arione. No more Brooks, they rest in a closet.

FullGas

me neither...

suits are probably the least practical attire ever invented.

bikemig 

First off, I didn't say that Brooks were that great. I was responding to a post that said they were garbage. There's good evidence that they're not.

I take it that the fact that racers don't use them means that there are really great saddles out there for serious riding that aren't leather. I know I didn't use a leather saddle when I raced.

It may be that you are talking about apples and oranges. It may be that randonneurs tend to use leather saddles because they're better for endurance events. They spend longer times in the saddles on continuous days than do pro racers and probably "sit" more since they typically do not go as fast as pro racers (which effectively helps move some of the weight off the saddle) and do not spend as long in the saddle.

Never said they were better. I just said they're not garbage. People who ride a lot of miles like them. That was my point.

f4rrest

My Ariones are all in a drawer. I can't make it over 30 miles on any of them without significant pain on the left ischial tuberosity.

I'd try a Brooks if I thought it would let me do a century without pain. Even my Selle Anatomica hurts after 60 miles.

yashinon

How is the Selle Anatomica on a road bike?

dim

if you can get a Gilles Berthoud Aravis on demo, try it ... I have one on my Surly LHT, and it was comfy straight out of the box .... not cheap though but very well constructed .... keep it level (no need to tilt the nose up)... I took a chance and bought it on recomendations from this forum, then spent days reading other forums and blogs before deciding/buying ... i adjusted the position twice (had to move the saddle a bit forward, then a bit forward again, but after that, it was dialed in)

when I ride, I don't even think about saddle.... thats why I will get another for my daily commuter when I need to replace my Brooks

f4rrest

It looks ugly on my Supersix Evo, but I don't really care. The big problem is that it has very limited adjustment range on its rails. I'm all the way forward on a zero offset stem.

f4rrest

This will probably be my next saddle. Do these work well with a decent saddle-bar drop around 4 inches?
Most of the Brooks I've seen, including in the photo earlier in this thread are set up with bars almost at saddle height.