Originally Posted by
tjkoko
Here's my spiel:
Back in '71-2 I rode a Peugeot U08 having an Ideale saddle and it felt comfortable from the get-go. Then, I was 18 years old weighing 170 pounds and now I'm 60 years old weighing 230 pounds. My brooks B17 with a thousand miles has yet to feel comfortable at all, way too wide and not even close to the Ideale saddle. And it feels like the B17 has a dip in the middle that is too deep when compared to the Ideale and therefore fails to provide support in the "midregion".
Did you use any of the various saddle treatments on the B17? People have reported ending up with badly stretched leather saddles as a result of overly enthusiastic application of neatsfoot oil, etc. You might try carefully tightening the tension nut, but you should probably wait to hear from people with more recent experience than mine, since it's been 40 years since I had a bike with a Brooks Professional saddle.