I have 4 Storika saddles. I'd buy more if I could find them at a reasonable price.

I've got a mid 90's Selle Bassano saddle with the wood grain patterned leather that I love to look at, but can't stand riding.
I love riding the old Vetta saddle that came on my 87 Cannondale SM400.

I also acquired an old Fujita Belt saddle (a thrift store find from my dad) that's now on my 83 Cannondale ST500 that's waiting for a decent day to try it out.

Brooks 17 and Avocet Touring are my favorites. I have 2 of each on other bikes various Selle San Marco and Selle Italia.

Gyes GS-16... Shaped the same as the Brooks B-17 only more affordable. Love the springs on the bumpies!!!

Brooks B17 was on my first "real" bike, I exchanged it for a Cool Gear saddle because I was young and impatient. Years went by, and many saddles later, I settled on a Selle San Marco Regal, the one with big fat copper rivets as my favorite saddle. This is still on my Bike Friday, which I tour on occasionally. More recently I purchased a B17 for my Raleigh International, and decided I needed to be patient and go through the break-in period. I purchased a Brooks Imperial for my J.P. Weigle reconstructed Raleigh Competition, less break-in required. All three are fine and comfortable saddles, especially the B17, once I got that broken in.

My commuter bike has a cheap vinyl covered, padded saddle with raised butt-bone areas. It works fine for shorter rides, and I don't have to worry about rain wrecking it. The longest I've ridden on it was a 73 mile SF Rando Populaire ride, mostly in the rain. Wasn't especially sore after that.

Maybe the saddle and your butt compromise and break in to each other.

When I worked in bike shops in the early 80's we sold a lot of Avocet touring saddles, both mens and womens.

Another Brooks foot-dragger here. My first was a Colt, which I fell in love with instantly. Within a year, I had a B-17 and a Cambium. I would put a cambium on every bike I own if I could get a reasonable deal on them.

I'm partial to the Concor and Turbo saddles I've been running lately. But I've always wanted to try out an Avocet Touring.

Three B17s
One B15 Swallow
One Team Professional Classic

I love flatter saddle generally, saggy brooks are terrible. I like the C17, I like San Marco Royals and I actually like Concor Max (not reular!). I think I would like Regals but haven't ridden one for any length of time. I do like a B17 on an upright set-up. I like fizik arione on newer bikes. What needs to be kept in mind is something like and Arione is meant for hard riding. When you push hard on the pedals you relieve pressure on your perineum.

Preference... here we go again. I don't know what it really accomplishes but whatever. The unlimited variables of what works for one, may not for another.

For classic bikes my thing is comfort and aesthetics before saddle weight. Next is what type of riding and the bike. For example, I have to go for a narrower saddle for a deep drop set-up, but a wider type for more higher position bars.

Have many B this, B that model Brooks that are suitable but also some other leather hammock types such as an Ideale and three from RHM. They all weigh far more than any modern type but I don't care about that. One of which by luck is tops in comfort and probably my favorite. Though I don't think you can just have a custom saddle made and expect it to work out for maximum comfort. I have two others from him of which will serve its purpose on particular bikes, happily for me but they won't match comfort like the one depicted.

I'm amazed every time I get on this RRB with Rudi's saddle, old reliable mid 600 stuff and Tufo tubular/clinchers. This is a double century day rider. For someone thinking of a Brooks on a classic ride, its worth first consulting with Rudy. This particular one with the center recess is a major plus. Does two things - it retains stiffness in the saddle shape plus relief in the sensitive zone. And maybe one more thing.... it seems to minimizes side flaring and no need to lace.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...5&d=1397694829

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Padded shorts.

I have liked Avocets for a long time, and I own two Touring models. Last year I bought a B-17. I am still working on the break-in but, so far, I like it. After seeing all the reviews on the C-17, I am wondering if I should have spent the extra money over the B-17. I would like to find someone local who has one that I could try.

Of my bikes that get any serious miles; 5 have SanMarco Rolls, 2 have Fujita Belts.

The Rolls is nice because it's relatively "high" across the center, making it nice to move around on. Yet, it is wide enough in the back to support you when doing a "sitting up" sort of climb. Downside is there's a little extra pressure in the "fun zone" area, so if they made a Rolls with a slight bit of relief, I'd be thrilled.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Belts are almost "sit in" types of saddles. Once they get broken in just right, they fit very nicely. The model I have is a B17 sort of profile, but a little narrower (though not as narrow as a B17 narrow). Works for me, but on really long rides I like being able to move around a little more.

My mountain bikes have all sorts of other saddles, but I can stand just about anything for less than 2 hours.

howdy
picked up my first Brooks late last fall - it's on my MTB drop bar conversion: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9...o/IMG_7329.JPG

- i purchased it lightly used. sure feels like it's not been used.... Really couldn't afford the Cambium.

i also decided to give this Selle Anatomica NSX a try: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-c...o/DSCF7158.JPG

- new, on sale, $100. kind a pricey. the first dozen rides have been good. It arrived "loose" so I tightened it a bit. it loosened up on the last ride. might need to blue-Loc-tite the thing or something.

San Marco Regal and Selle Italia Turbo are my favorites, until recently I owned neither but I have a recovered Regal that migrates to whatever bike I'm riding that day, and the Turbo is waiting for me to finish a secret bike I won't post about till it's finished. All I'll say is a Turbo is the only right saddle for it.

Whenever I see pics of C&V Bikes the ones with Brooks Saddles are the most interesting.

4 x Brooks Pro
6 x Brooks B-17 (two of which are on a tandem)
1 x Brooks B-67 boinger
2 x Selle San Marco Rolls Ti
1 x Wrights W3N (so far pretty stiff)

My '75 Fuji still wears it's original Fujita Belt, and my '84 Univega wears some sort of leather Brooks/Belt Japanese clone... The Belt I like - we've come to a mutual agreement over the past 40 years. The Uni's saddle has some sort of plastic under-reinforcement and is not as 'familiar' as my Fuji's Belt. I probably need to rethink the Uni's saddle.....

I like most any version of a Turbo for older bikes.
The Concor Profil is my favorite as for looks but I just cannot sit for long on a Concor.

The best leather saddles I've used are the Ideale 80 and the Wrights W3ST, which is a B17 with thinner, textured-top leather.

I find the WTB Lazer to be the most versatile saddle, excellent in all ways.

My favorite might be the Serfas TEGU mtb saddle, shown below with a fairly broad, flat top and the best quality padding. It has a dip to it like most mtb saddles, so I found it best to set it up with the front half level and with the rear half giving some lift when I slide back for seated climbing.
I found these hollow-ti railed saddles being sold for just $20 each at Jenson online, so bought another six of them after the first one seemed to meet all requirements.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/...578a384d_c.jpg

I mounted a new Brooks Swift on the 74/75 SuperFrankenCourseMarkEyeEye today and road it about 16 miles before the threat of rain forced me home. Kept me on my toes, it did. Helped me to concentrate on riding light in the saddle. I think I like it.

Vintage Brooks Professional…there is no substitute.
http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/...ps28720a9a.jpg

One each B-17, C-17, and B-67, couple of B-68s (B-67 without the springs), but the one I ride the most is the C-17 with the cutout. If Brooks would make a wide/short version Cambium (C-68?) for upright bikes, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Cambiums are simply outstanding!

3 Brooks Pro
1 Brooks Swallow (too new to judge)
2 Flite TI (black and white)
1 San Marco Corsa (too new to judge - White)
1 San Marco in suede (hate the suede)
1 Specialized (came with the 97 RockHopper)
1 Specialized thing (Junk)
1 San Marco Techo (it works for short rides)

Winner? Brooks Pro from 1972. Don't know how far I can ride on it. All the others have limitations in terms of miles.

I try to put a Brooks on every rider until I run out. The Tandem has the white San Marco Corsa because my stokers saddle is white too and the rides are < 10 miles.

The Pro is twice the weight of the Flite but I don't care. I am overweight by more than several saddles combined, probably more than I own!

Without question, I like Brooks best, but I'm fine on a lot of other saddles, too. Many run of the mill saddles are fine with me.