Brooks saddle: How much should it flex?
 

After many years of holding out, I have finally come into possession of a Brooks saddle. It's a B5N that came on a used bike that I bought yesterday. As I understand it, this saddle may be nearly as old as I am but it appears to be in fantastic shape. I say "appears" because of one thing that I wasn't expecting -- it's pretty flexy. That is, it starts to flex under even moderate pressure from my thumb.

Is this normal? Should I consider tightening it? I've only done a very short test ride to this point, but it felt pretty comfortable in that short stint. I'm a little nervous about tightening because of the age of this particular saddle.

Is there any other preventive maintenance you would do on this?

Here's a pic, though it will be obvious that I didn't take this picture with the idea of offering a look at the saddle. I'll update later with a detail view.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7144/2...397ecf1f_b.jpg

It will be sort of "hammocky". But its shouldn't be soft like a catchers mit. If its got the retention screw up front give it a turn and that will tighten it up a bit. 1/2 a turn should be plenty.

My B5N is somewhat flexy, too. It's the thinner leather.

Other thoughts: mine was apparently NOS and a little dry, so I used @fietbob's method of coating the saddle inside and out with a thin layer of Proofide, wrapping it in tinfoil, and heating it upside-down in the oven at 100 degrees or so for a little bit to melt the waxes and encourage them to soak in. I dabbed a little extra around the nose and cantle plates so that it could run down in-between, where it's impossible to apply Proofide otherwise. So far so good after almost 5,000 miles.

Also, you might try tilting the nose up by one click. You've no doubt read about this aspect of Brookses already, but you really do get best balance and prevention of scooting forward by angling the nose up slightly. Enjoy. :thumb:

Before touching the screw I'd ride some more and see if it stays comfy for you. Some degree of flex is normal.

I agree with waiting to see. There's some Sheldon brown quote saying something about the only ruined brooks he has seen were from over tightening.

With no weight on the saddle, knock it around a little. Does the nose hardware rattle audibly? If so, yes, tighten the nut a little. Repeat until it doesn't rattle.

If it doesn't rattle, don't tighten the nut.

When you sit on a saddle of this kind, it sags. The top goes down, and the sides come out. When you're riding on this type of saddle, the sides press against the muscles of your thighs as far as they can, which is not nearly as far as you'd think if you're pressing down with your hand. The effect is to distribute the weight of your body over a much larger area than a saddle that doesn't spread out like this (such as a hard plastic shell with padding over it).

My B17 will flex slightly when I press it with my thumb, and I can feel it matching my sit bones when I sit on it. I use proofide on mine once or twice a year and keep it out of the wet, otherwise there isn't anything special I've done to it. Enjoy it, I think you're going to like it like the rest of us satisfied Brooks users.

OK, thanks. It sounds like the only thing that needs to be adjusted here is my expectation. :thumb:

BTW, here are some pics of the saddle.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7393/2...4e65244c_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7746/2...0bf0b483_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7285/2...2cd7b767_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7531/2...4a0e55e4_c.jpg

I know, it's a fairly standard Brooks (possibly apart from the brindled underside). The thing I found remarkable about this one is that the date code indicates it was made in January 1979. I think the bike is also a '79. It may be that they haven't been together long, but the bike shows a lot more signs of use than the saddle.

1979?? (cue Smashing Pumpkins) holy cow that's well preserved! Where was it stored? In a wine cellar??

Why not email Brooks ..? I agree with you on that, it so well preserved I'd be really, really careful. It's a piece of history! And it looks awesome.

Andy, if you want to experiment, I would do as other have said and tilt the nose up a little. The other thing that you can experiment with is lacing the sides. That will stiffen up the saddle in general, and that is what the holes are for.

Phantom shifters, eh? I would ride with someone and start shifting (ya know, make sure they have noticed you have a single speed first) and go faster/slower as appropriate. That'll mess with their heads. Awesome bike and saddle.

That's a good-looking B5N. Mine's a 1979/1980 as well. Maybe they made them all in one year? :lol:

I read that on this particular saddle you shouldn't even look at the holes too intensely. Apparently it's not made of the same quality leather that B17's are and the holes tear quite easily.

I might give the tilt up a try. I need to get more miles on it. Right now I'm still dialing in the fore/aft adjustment. On the way in to work this morning I found myself sitting on the rear edge a good bit and unlike with my plastic saddles I could feel when I was doing that (the metal rail supporting the rear doesn't flex at all ;)).

Overall, I'm pretty favorably disposed toward it right now. It's been comfortable since the first time I sat on it. The biggest negative was when I got to work and the dark clouds convinced me to park it in the covered area rather than on the exposed rack that is much closer to my desk.

That would be fun, but I'm planning to put the gears back on it as soon as I have some free time.

The big question for me is how did you avoid getting a Brooks saddle for so long?

There's a plastic saddle (Specialized Phenom) that I find to be extremely comfortable even for long distances. Add that to the amount of rain we get here and a Brooks loses a lot of its appeal. Factor in weight weenie tendencies and you end up with someone who only gets a Brooks by accident. I probably won't even leave the saddle on this bike because I have a tan Phenom that will look great with the cork bar tape which in turn looks fantastic with this frame. The Brooks will find a home on one of my bikes --probably the Long Haul Trucker -- so that I can give it an extended try out.

I would have thought that if the saddle was manufactured with those holes, it was meant to be laced to provide sufficient stiffness and not flay out.

If by some chance the leather is too delicate to lace it up, then I would consider that a serious design flaw and assume the saddle would never be right.

The information I found suggests that it was an OEM saddle on several bikes in the 70's. By OEM saddle standards it's amazing. I would guess that when it was new the lacing holes worked as intended. Given the condition of this saddle, they might work for me. I'm just not going to try it unless I have a problem that needs fixing.

New Cambium series being Manufactured materials will be consistant , leather, a natural material will be variable ..
thats just how it works..

[QUOTE=Andy_ I would guess that when it was new the lacing holes worked as intended.[/QUOTE]

I'm quite sure that, when these perforations were 'added' to these saddles in the 1970s, they were not intended for lacing.