When buying a saddle keep in mind the geometry of the bike and your sit bone width. A Brooks B17 is a touring bike saddle, this is a bike designed for more of an up right setting position, it has a wide rear end to allow for this type of position. Brooks makes different type of saddles with different type of widths to accommodate everyone from touring to racing, so pick a saddle carefully. Also the B17 is thick leather saddle that can take several months or about 500 to 900 miles to break in, for some this may be to long of a period, but once it's broken in it will last a very long time especially if taken care of. There are fast methods of breaking in those saddles but if you follow any of those recommendations Brooks will void their warranty and with good reason, the saddles life will be shortened.

I have a couple of Brooks and one is a B17 and they're quite nice, but there is a lower cost alternative, the Gyes GS19BH, see: http://www.amazon.com/Gyes-Leather-G.../dp/B013T3WF0M I never tried one of these but reviews have been favorable. Here is a forum discussion concerning these saddles: http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...xperience.html Like any saddle there will be those that like a particular saddle and those that don't, there is no perfect saddle that 100% of all riders will like.

Whichever saddle you get follow the manufactures instructions on how to care for it. The only deviation I took from the manufacture was that I don't turn the spanner bolt as much or as often as the manufacture suggests, in fact I haven't turned my bolts in over 3 years but the manufacturer wants you to it every 6 months which at that pace you would run out the bolt in about 3 to 4 years! All I do is check the bolt for looseness, if any I turn it about 1/8th of a turn and not a 1/2 as recommended. I also use Kiwi neutral colored (get neutral or any color you buy will turn your shorts that color!) paste (not cream) shoe wax and apply it like you would to a shoe. I find the Kiwi wax to hold up way better then Proofide and Kiwi won't soften the leather as much like Proofide will do which means you can apply it many times without slowly weakening the leather which is maybe why I don't have to adjust the spanner bolt as much? It does make the saddle a bit slippery but if the saddle is tilted correctly it's not an issue. Also if you know you'll be riding in the rain with a leather saddle invest in a saddle cover, no leather likes water. The saddle will take on a darker patina after you had it for awhile, this is due to sweat, but most people like the way the saddle looks after this occurs.