Originally Posted by
elcruxio
Tried them both. Both make the junk go numb. It's likely the narrow nose Brooks saddles have that pushes inside the sitbones/rami and cuts off circulation. It's nice in terms of thigh clearance but I really hate the feeling of feeling nothing down there...
I don't find Brooks saddles to have particularly narrow noses. They are wider than the Selle Italia Flites I use for mountain biking. I find Brooks are too wide and slick for that application and use plastic saddles...but only Flites.
Don't take this the wrong way but is it the saddle or is it you? But I also wonder if you aren't sitting too heavily in the saddle. I thought about this last night as I was riding home. Through years of practice, I've taught myself to sit very lightly in the saddle. To put the kind of pressure you are talking about on my sitbones/rami, I had to lower my weight onto the saddle and felt like I was about 3/4" of an inch shorter. I could feel the weight on my sitbones as I completely relaxed and actually sat heavily in the saddle and didn't find it a pleasant experience.
I could also feel my abdominals relax as I put more weight on the saddle. Until I did my little experiment last night, I hadn't realized how much I tensed my abdominals and my quads during riding. I always ride with my arms, knees, hands and upper body very loose and relaxed but, apparently, not my core muscles. I also hadn't realized how little contact I have with my saddle even when cruising along and "sitting" in the saddle.
Perhaps it's time for a little experimenting.
I will also echo chasm54 comment. If the Brooks doesn't work for you, it doesn't work. No shame in that. I don't really find that
any saddle makes that much of a difference with the exception of highly padded gel saddles and most "junk saver" saddles I've tried. I've had occasion to use a rental bike that was outfitted with one of those and they are the worst thing I've ever seen on a bike.