Thread: Brooks help
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Old 12-09-12 | 02:02 AM
  #3  
DropBarFan
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Joined: Mar 2011
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Bikes: 2013 Surly Disc Trucker, 2004 Novara Randonee , old fixie , etc

Originally Posted by 10 Wheels
Brooks ain't all That.

Try some other saddles.
I agree somewhat. Brooks saddles have their merits but in general have the pattern of narrow nose with sharply-flaring sitting part. Ze_zaskar seems to like that overall style but OTOH perhaps it makes it harder to get an ideal fit compared to most plastic saddles that usually have a more gradual transition between fore-aft widths. Tried a used Brooks Pro a long time ago on a racing bike: it was already a bit swayed so the narrow nose was pretty uncomfortable. Had a Campy saddle tool but the tension nut was right next to the stiff skirt, adjusting the tension would seem to risk damaging the nose so I bought a Unicanitor racing saddle which was fairly comfy. On current touring bike I tried a B17 Select (so pretty) & it was comfy except for the skirt causing thigh chafing. Replaced it with a Fizik saddle which is comfy up to about 40 miles & after that causes some general but not terrible soreness. More than once the cheapo stock saddles have worked fine even for riding 100's of miles per week. Width & roundness are important but it seems that surface slickness is important too. Brooks surface is usually very smooth as opposed to many plastic saddles with a textured finish and/or thin padding that helps prevent fore-aft sliding.

Brooks has such a wide array of models which is nice but buying various ones can run into serious $$.
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