Tired of saddle breaking in...
 

Ow! I am giving up on this saddle, I wonder if anyone has a suggestion other than more of the same - pain -and I think I have endured enough!

I have had four Brooks saddles. The first one I retired four or five years back, it was 30 odd years old and had really become too floppy. The screw at the front had been adjusted to its limit and I think just too many years of riding, rain, sitting in the garage and what-not did it in. It was a wonderful saddle - it had some springs!

The second one was an old Team Pro or Swift, not sure, but fairly skinny with large copper rivets, a nice saddle. When I sold the bike it sat on, it went along for the ride.

The third sits on my second bike even now, a nice heavy duty saddle with springs, a B6x maybe. Very comfortable.

And my new one, a B17, nor unlike the Team Pro or Swift but wider and with more sit-upon leather. It is killing me!

I have had no problem with any of these saddles except for the last one, the break-in period was non-existent on the other three or of such ease that I never really suffered at all.

Then early this year I bought a new bike, a road bike as against a touring bike, and I put a Brooks B17 on it. I rode the B17 for a few hundred odd miles, I was commuting on it twice a week and the second ride was pretty darn painful - but we are stoic and this too shall pass, well, so we thought. I have ridden this 28 mile round trip commute for four years now and have thousands of miles under my belt, all on my other bike with the sprung Brooks.

Then I got sick and had to have surgery and became really ticked off and fed up and obnoxious, but this Sunday, for the first time in four months, I mounted my newish beloved steed with the B17 and headed off up the hill into the wilds of Maryland...

Good grief. I gave up after four miles. Man did it ever hurt. I shall not be able to ride comfortably for a few more days yet - and after a paltry FOUR miles. I have adjusted the saddle position earlier this year and I am pretty sure it is perfect, no numbness - it is actually comfortable when I sit on it - but then I get raw and red and pained pretty quickly. I could use my other bike but that is out of commission waiting for a replacement part. Riding comfortably on this newish one is out of the question.

Any thoughts? I am afraid I am most unwilling to continue with this break-in and pain, it is getting no better and I want to RIDE. I suspect that in four months of non-bike use my rear-end support system may have got loose and wishy-washy, although I have been continuing at the gym to keep some form. The medication, which I am now forced to continue for the long-term, has screwed up my metabolism and I am gaining weight - so I REALLY want to get back on the bike.

Is there any way to get this lovely saddle comfortable - like quickly, right now? I have done the Proofide thing since I bought it - which I have done on all my Brooks saddles - but that seems to have no effect, again I guess, a long-term thing. Or I need to get a new saddle, but what saddle? I have always ridden Brooks and I confess I never paid much never-mind to the saddle as it was always a forgone conclusion. I want to head out again this weekend as I am - supposedly - forbidden to ride the 28 mile commute (don't ask! - bitter story), but I really want to get back into the saddle and damn the torpedoes!

My first reaction is that the problem is with you, rather than your saddle. But, that said, it is clear to me that opinions on saddles vary considerably. The only problems I've ever had with "breaking in" a Brooks saddle were that it got too soft. It had been comfortable when it was new, but within a year it had gotten soft and uncomfortable. So what you're suggesting, that your saddle has remained hard, sounds good to me. But that's me.

My advice would be to put a different saddle on the bike, but don't get rid of the Brooks until you are sure you have something more comfortable.

No argument here - I have had four Brooks and never a problem though, until this one. Could it be just harder than the others? Not that I can see. I went from my older bike to the new one, both with Brooks, and instantly had pain. But I thought that time and effort would break it in and it would pass, and now I have been out of the saddle for all this time I am not surprised to find a new saddle hurts - but I was horrified how MUCH it hurt.

Yes - and keep the Brooks and go back to it when I have hardened up the rear-end and hopefully I have got back to regular riding. So I guess I need to do saddle research - which I do not recall ever having done...

Might be a dumb question but are you wearing bike shorts?

No amount of "breaking-in" will make the wrong saddle work for you.

Not at all and, no, I don't. Well, I wear shorts of a regular kind that I have been wearing for years when I bike, but not bike-specific shorts. I simply do not like those padded shorts! But having had no problems with my regular bike clothing, and I do have specific cold-weather and hot-weather bike clothes (shirts, underwear, etc., like my gym clothes that get rid of sweat and so on), I do not have the specific padded bike shorts.

Should I? Suppose I should try again...

Yes - but at what point does one realize this?

Get a new saddle. Maybe the B17 shape just isn't for you.

It's hard to believe that your B17 is harder to break in that your B6X saddle. The B6X saddles are generally much harder to break in, as they are made from much stouter leather. I've had a B68 for a couple of years now, with about 1,000 miles on it, and it hasn't even started to break in yet. The B17 that I bought this year was nicely broken in after just a couple months.

I'm of the mind that the saddle should at least be comfortable once you've got it adjusted right, and then it should get "perfect" once you've put a hundred miles or so on it.

My B17s were a joy to ride from the get-go -- the Pro felt weird (but not bad) at first, as my sit-bones couldn't find the right spot to rest. Then it came together after about a hundred miles.

"Could it be just harder than the others?"



Possibly. From my experience, which is similar to yours-less the discomfort, my B17 Imperial is almost as hard today as the day I put it on. That is after over 1,000 miles. I have used the Profide exactly as suggested too. The saddle is comfortable, but still very hard.

lawrencehare,

Were the previous saddles that were comfortable wide and use specifically on more upright seating positions and is the B17 too wide for your biking position on your new bike? Where specifically is the pain?

a bike bought came with a standard B17, but the lack of setback adjustment-range
and a zero set-back seatpost had me get rid of it, in a trade..

Its replacement, a Fizik Brompton-Vitesse that offered the set back adjustment range..

I have a 30 and a 20 year old brooks Pro they are just fine..
I took care of them well over the years, even rode long tours on them ,
under plastic bags, in foul weather .

Brooks don't need to be broken in. Yes, they get better over time, but they should feel good when new, or something is wrong.

Every spring I have to ride enough to condition my rear to take the chaffing of riding. If your problem is chaffing, then I would look at clothing rather than saddle (unless the saddle is literally rubbing you wrong). Try some padded bike shorts, make sure they are clean and dry, and use a little chami butter to help break in your rear.

Just to throw out an option, Terry Fly saddles get great reviews.

I agree. The B17 may be too wide for your new road bike. Try a B17 narrow and purchase from a vendor with a decent return policy. Check out wallbike.com.

Not really, the swift or pro was used on a Campagnolo Mondia as was the original Brooks sprung version I retired, that saddle was also used on an old Raleigh I rebuilt and was inordinately fond of and sold for $10 - but kept the saddle. Both these bikes were road bikes with drops, I found that the narrow and wide saddles worked fine on these bikes even though the sprung saddle is not the best for the riding position, I found I could adjust it so that it was.

The Brooks B6x which was the replacement for the sprung saddle that I had for such a long time was mounted on my Moulton TSR8 which is a touring bike and had an upright riding position, this was my commute bike for four years and carried me 28 miles back and forth to work, it was a delightful saddle and I was not really aware of any break-in period.

Then at the beginning of this year I bought myself a bike I have lusted after for years - a Moulton TSR 30 and this is what the B17 went on. It really has been hard to be so uncomfortable on such a lovely machine. Then I got sick and have not been riding as much, I am only now beginning to get back in the saddle and I really do not want to be so uncomfortable any more. Getting old...

The pain is a grand great raw area in the mid naughty-bit section, the skin is rubbed raw in a most delicate place. Sitting still is fine, there is no numbness and I am convinced the saddle is adjusted properly, it is as if I am rubbing excessively in some way. I used to ride horses out in Texas - we would go on long pretty wild rides - and at the beginning of the season I would get just such a problem, which would pass and I would be okay. The horse rashes were also more extensive. This is confined but bloody painful. I am riding the bike over the same tracks and roads and the riding position seems fine. Bah - I dunno - I have tried everything except another saddle! I suppose I must think along those lines...

Thanks for your help - this place is so great!

Sounds like you had a good experience with the team pro. I have a team pro on my touring bike and love it.

You said your pain is coming from the middle of the saddle. Does your B17 have 3 holes along the middle?

Maybe those are the source of your problem.

Yes it does - and I wonder, you may well be right. It is exactly at that location where the rawness is generated. I shall check tonight to see if I run a hand over them I can feel any raised edges or roughness, then perhaps a sharp knife? How does one smooth out a rough spot on leather? First need to check though, and perhaps you can only feel the roughness when one's weight is applied. We'll see...

Thanks - good idea...

rubbing with a smooth bone, from dinner's creature, has been used for a few millennia.

On a side note........ Am I crazy, or did the B68 just disappear from Brooks website?

The B-what? :p





I'm not seeing it either. Weird.

I ordered my wife a B68 on Sunday. I know it was there!!!

Just pulling your chain. That was the unsprung version of the B66, right?

Yep. My favorite model saddle. :-(

Perhaps the time off the bike is the main issue and it will be better with time.

Also, don't sell a broken in saddle :P