RaleighDrew

Got a new Brooks Flyer installed on my 1978 Raleigh Record Ace. This is my first Brooks saddle, so I'm new to the "breaking in" period. I put 19 miles on it today, and although my butt is sore, it wasn't bad enough to where I had to stop. I was wearing just regular khaki shorts with no padding. I love the way the saddle looks. If you're looking for that extra addition to your vintage bike, this is definitely it. I'm excited to see how long it takes to mold to my anatomy. Either way, I love the quality and the look. Will update as the break in period continues. If you have any suggestions or tips on how to break in a saddle, let me know. I bought the Brooks Proofide and have applied it once already. Comments, questions, or suggestions are welcome!

RaleighDrew

I wanted to mention that I spent nearly two weeks deciding between the Flyer and the B17. Sprung saddles benefit riders who have saddle heights level or lower than handlebar height. As you can see from the previous picture, the heights are about even. I tend to ride in a semi-upright position to a semi-aggressive position (when riding the lower part of the drops). I use my bike for recreational rides and commuting. These factors landed me on the Flyer. I don't notice any bounce when pedaling at high cadence because the springs are very stiff (the leather gives much more than the springs do, and that leather is stiff as hell). I do however notice a TREMENDOUS decrease in general road vibration. Whether it be potholes on the road or cement sidewalks with big cracks every three feet, you can stay seated on the saddle and not worry about possible damage to any area that is truly important to us.

hairnet

Don't over think it. Just ride that good looking bike.

wahoonc

My Brooks saddles have always been comfortable right out of the box and only get better with age

From what others have told me the average break in time is around 500 miles depending on the saddle, your weight and riding style. Mine get Proofide once every couple of years if I remember to.

Biggest thing is to avoid riding it wet.

Aaron

Velognome 

Saddle comfort is more a matter of proper positioning than anything else. With the proper attitude of the nose, comfort should be right out of the box, it just becomes better as it breaks in, kinda like a pair of loafers.

Avoid break-ins that have you adding oil, wet towels, soaking the saddle etc. All that will just speed its demise. If anything ride it with some padded shorts for the first week and you'll be fine.

randyjawa 

I have owned quite a few Brooks saddles, both brand new, used and well used. Of all the Brooks I have owned, only one came out of the box offering a perfectly comfortable fit. All the others needed a break in. But what is break in?

Brake in is different for every saddle and corresponding butt. Some saddles will break in in a day or so, depending on how your butt fits the saddle. Some will take many hours in the saddle to reshape the saddle. And all you have to do is ride. Forget smearing fancy this that and the other thing all over the saddle. A bit of saddle preservative, be it Brooks Proofhide or what ever, is only to protect the leather, not accelerate the break in period, even though some people would not agree. And...

Butts need break in, also. Each Spring, after a cold season of not riding, my butt has to break in to the saddles I use. Put another way, your butt has to toughen up a bit to offer any degree of comfort. This is usually something that takes about a week's riding each Spring.

So, bear with the saddle and keep an eye on your butt depressions. Yes, as a saddle breaks in, you will see it change shape ever so slightly over time and through use.

Of course, the above is just my opinion and keep one more thing in mind - not every Brooks saddle is for everyone. I once owned a B15 that was, for me, the saddle from Hades. It just never did break in enough for me to feel comfortable using it.

rootboy 

soak it in boiling oil
beat it with a baseball bat
zap it in the microwave
do some Voodoo incantations

oops, that's another thread.

Just ride it. A light coating of Proofide now and again.

AZORCH

This is excellent advice, and mirrors anything I might have added. (The Brooks Professional can be another kettle of fish entirely: I have one from 1973 that is as hard as the day it arrived in America.)

rhm

+1.

rootboy 

Me too. Hard is good, eh?
They invented padded cycling shorts for a reason.

noglider 

I disagree. Padded shorts were invented because people mistook the chamois for padding. I think it's misguided. Padding solves one problem and creates worse problems in its place. If the saddle fits right, it's not unusual for you to be sore in the tiny muscles around your sit bones. That goes away after about three days.

On my not-quite-broken-in B17, my sit bones are hitting the seat hard, but not to the point of real pain. The butt has as much breaking in to do as the seat.

rootboy 

Good points, Noglider. However, back in the day I never mistook the Chamois for padding. It was meant to help prevent chafing. And I found it worked quite well.
When shorts with good padding became available, I adopted them as I think they help prevent problems with soreness, and, more important,
pressures on sensitive areas that weren't meant to have the full weight of the body pressing on them. Although that is admittedly a different issue than saddle soreness at the sit bones area. But too, I have a scrawny butt so
padded shorts are a no-brainer, at least for me. You're right though. A well-broken-in butt is also important.

I would like to know what "worse problems" they create, however.

RaleighDrew

Thanks for all the awesome info. I did notice tiny depressions where my sitbones land on the seat, so I'm guessing it's fore-aft position is pretty good. After reading all of the posts, I did point the nose up about 4 or 5 degrees and I would be lying if I said it didn't make a huge difference. My perinea pressure has now been minimalised and the soreness of my butt was minimized as well. Yesterday, I was concerned I wasn't sitting on it exactly right, but just that slight nose adjustment seems to have made the difference. Is it normal for the nose to be higher than the back?

Lascauxcaveman 

Although I've never bothered to try padded shorts, I find I'm just fine on my Brooks' and plain plastic Unicanitors. In my case, I'm guessing it's just conditioning, since I've ridden unpadded saddles pretty much exclusively since I was teen.

OP, if you went 20 miles on your new Brooks and came back just a little sore, maybe it's a matter of conditioning yourself to the new feel, rather than breaking in the saddle? Against my better judgement, I recently did a 20 miler on a padded (suede) saddle, and my arse was just aching after that. YMMV.

noglider 

I got a private message asking what's wrong with padding.

It can cause genital numbness which can later lead to nerve damage.

I had pain in my testicles a day after riding one of my bikes, and it took a long time to see the correlation. In this case, it was a padded saddle rather than shorts.

I also had padded shorts that severely chafed my scrotum. It was very painful.

All this to solve something that isn't actually a problem.

wahoonc

Yes.

Aaron

rootboy 

Quite a declaration. I would think it would be more of a personal thing than that.
First I've ever heard of this complaint, and I've never experienced any such problem.

We might need to take a scrotum poll on this one.

noglider 

OK, I made it sound too dramatic. I'm not saying it happens a lot. I want to stress that there was no problem that padded shorts needed to solve until they were invented. I haven't heard of numbness coming from padding in shorts, but problems such as numbness do arise from too much padding in the saddle, so it seems possible that it happens from padding in shorts. Why risk it, given that you don't need padding in shorts?

Sorry if this isn't clear. I'm still drinking my first coffee of the morning. And I have a job interview this morning. Wish me luck.

Gasbag

Other than the money thing, having a job is grossly overrated and cuts into time better spent doing "stuff". I think you will be sorry if you get a job but if that's what you want to do, good luck!

markk900

Good luck Tom!

On topic: I have put nothing on my B67 except my butt, and it just recently went from OK to "Hmmm, this feels good".....I probably have 300mi on it, and I spent quite a bit of time adjusting it initially (its mounted on an SR Laprade microadjust post), but I took the bike out one day for a short ride and immediately noticed how comfy it was (as opposed to not noticing anything). I still experience a bit of soreness by the end of an hour's ride at the front but it is amazing how much better it feels once it does "form".

noglider 

And that kind of soreness goes away very soon after you get off the bike, which is a good sign.

Gasbag (great name), thank you. I think I'm going to try the earning money thing, which I am out of the swing of. I may regret it, but I have to try it again.

Maxturbo

I've got a new Flyer as well w/250 miles on it. I'm now of the firm belief that saddles don't "break in", butts do.

rootboy 

Speak for yerself! You haven't seen my no-natural-padding scrawny ass. (be thankful )

Good luck Tom. Finding a good gig in the Big City can't be too easy. Best of luck for your interview. Just don't mention your scrotum....

Velognome 

Incontinence ?

Good luck on the interview.......nervous?....try some bicycle shorts

Gasbag

I have a B17 on my Cannondale that makes me feel like this

That saddle is harder than Chinese arithmetic.