Originally Posted by ShannonM

On Thursday the 10th, I rode BART from here in downtown Bekeley to the Milpitas station to pick up a black B17 I'd found on the List of Bay Area Craigs for 80 bones, almost new. When I got it home, (OK, when I was fondling examining it,) I discovered that I had not bought exactly what I thought I had bought.

What I thought I had bought was a B17 Champion Standard.

What I had bought was a B17 Champion Narrow.

Well, no worries... There's a beat-up old (non-Team) Pro on there now, and I'm liking that fine, and I'll swap them out when I get a round tuitt, and...

And then I decide to spend Friday night in ER, and Sunday afternoon and evening suffering through gastric pain at the pit of my stomach. Not indigestion or gas... I was concerned that I might be having another G/I bleed. (The last one almost ended me.) By Monday afternoon I was gazing north up towards UC Berkeley from the window of my 6th-floor room at Alta Bates. Where I remained until Thursday, one week after buying the Brooks that this thread is ostensibly about.

Yesterday, I decided to install the B17 on the PPPKN-10. (You remember the B17 Narrow? This is a thread about the B17 Narrow...). Off comes the Pro, on goes the B17. Those who know, know that this process is considerably more of a pain in the same parts of your anatomy that your Brooks shouldn't be causing you pain in than the preceding sentence would suggest.

The preceding sentence makes sense.

Back to our story.

I was wondering how the two saddles would feel different, despite their being dimensionally so close. In fact, the B17 is 9 mm narrower than the Pro, although it's flatter across the rear. The Pro's leather is considerably softer, although this would normally be the opposite. (Maybe not on the non-Team Pros? I don't know, having never seen one before.)

Got it mounted up last night, roughed in the height based on where the Pro had been. (No two saddles ever fit exactly the same, so your old measurements are just starting points.)

Then today, out for the first ride.

Wait, what?

How is "a narrow racing saddle originally introduced in 1910. Built for mile- and half-mile events," "the choice of track riders through to the 1960s" instantly the right saddle for me on this relaxed-fit, sport-touring road bike with its bars well above the (narrow, track-racing) saddle?

All I can say is that bike fitting is really, really weird.

Has anyone else got any tails to tell about the B17 Narrow, or its cheaper twin B15 Narrow? And was there ever a Special version? (Although I suspect the thicker hide on the Specials might not be a win on this narrower saddle.)

--Shannon