C200

I rode today 38 miles on my new brooks saddle. 32 miles was on a hard gravel rail trail and 6 miles was on the road. I averaged 13.1 mph for the trip. The seat was not treated with any type of coating. My 1st impression was that it felt good on my sit bones. However I had a hard time staying in that postion. The leather is really slippery and I slid forward towards the nose of the saddle. I adjusted the saddle all of the way forward thinking that would help with the sliding and it did somewhat. I still experienced pressure on the soft tissue area of my body. I adjusted the saddle with the nose up, nose down and with the nose level. The pressure was still there. After completing the last 18 miles of the ride I started to get numb in the groin area. Not a good feeling. I was wearing good quality bike shorts during the ride. I must say that other saddles really created a problem with my becoming numb, much more that the Brooks. I believe the saddle is starting to show ever so slightly a hint of dimples.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might do to help with the problem of becoming numb during the ride? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

biker7

The only way I can avoid perineal numbness with my Brooks B.17 on rides longer than 25 miles or so is by angling the saddle down slightly. This perches the rear portion of the seat to elevate the sit bones to create clearance to the perineum. The downside is what you describe...you end up sliding forward unless you exert a counter force through your arms which contributes to fatigue. I can ride the B.17 for great distances however with no pain if I keep the nose down. In the other related thread, I tried to expand to learn more about the Swift and Team Pro. On a drop bar bike with much time spent in the drops, one's pelvis is rotated forward and perineal comfort is tested. Based upon positive reviews from Skydiver whom I respect and others...I just ordered a Specialized Alias 143 and after a fair amount of research a Thomson Elite setback alloy seatpost which can be adjusted in very fine angle increments to dial in just the right seat angle. The single bolt offset seatpost that came on my Bianchi by contrast is quite crude in adjustment...one notch difference goes from nose down to...too far nose up. I will provide a brief review when I get some miles in. I do a lot of riding in the drops on my bike which is not set up with a big drop from the seat to the handlebars...but can't really tolerate perineal pressure or at least prefer not to if I can find a saddle that I can make level to keep me back on my sit bones and not pressure my perineum.
Good Luck,
George

phinney

Tilt the nose up slightly as it will help you to sit further back on the saddle, especially while it's new and slippery. If you're getting numbness and not sitting too far forward you probably are letting your hips roll forward and have to rotate them back more to shift the the pressure onto your sit bones. If you can't get enough hip rotation comfortably your handlebars are probably too low.

Pain in the sitbones is normal while you get used to the Brooks. Numbness means something is wrong.

JPW

Do you stand up and pedal every few minutes? It helps. And put your weight on pedals when coasting. John

late

Hi,
between breaking a Special in, and finding the right position for the saddle if it's your first Brooks, you can be in from some tender moments. And not the chick flick kind of tender.

Ok,
start with the post clamping the middle of the saddle rails. Tilt the nose up just one notch. Some guys use more tilt, but I use just one notch, mayb a 1/16" tilt up. Yeah, sounds crazy, but it works. You can move it back from the middle, but do it in small increments.

If you have proofide, take a hair dryer and melt it. Then rub the melted Proofide on the saddle, playing the dryer over the saddle just enough to keep the stuff liquid. Do that for 30 sec to a
min at most. If you are not using fenders put some on the bottom.

There are some great leather products for breaking in horse sadles, but they void your warranty. Next, before you ride put some chamois grease on, or some really soothing skin scream.
You want enough during the break in that the tender area is thoroughly greased.

The Special IS harder to break in, but keep at it.

chipcom 

You might have come too far forward. Try sliding the saddle back some and tilting the nose slightly upward - you will probably dink with the seat angle a bit before you get it where you want it, up-down-up-down - some seat clamps don't have the best 'micro' adjustment capability,. You might also want to throw tweaking your saddle height into the mix, as well as handlebar position. Sometimes it takes a lot of 'a little tweak here, ride a few dozen miles, another tweak there', etc. to get the bike dialed in just right for you. It's not always the saddle that's the problem. In my own experience, any saddle can seem to be the cause of problems when the root cause is really the fit of the bike to the rider. It could also be that the Brooks isn't for you...everybody is unique, what is a dream for me might be a nightmare for you. Take the time to 'dial-in' your bike before you write off the saddle, it's worth the effort.

C200

Sunday I am going out for another ride. I will raise the handle bars some although they are approximately 2" above the seat at this time. I will also raise the front of the seat. The Brooks is on a Raleigh C40 hybrid. I don't experience any pain in the sit bones. The numbness is the problem. I really don't feel the seat being too hard at all. I just have to find some way to keep my self back on the sit bones.

biker7

The B.17 is very well suited to a bike such as yours and frankly am surprised now that I learn your handlebars are 2" above the seat that you suffer from perineal numbness. I would experient therefore with seat height and fore/aft position and tilt as mentioned above.
Unless you have too long a top tube which rotates your pelvis forward even with high handlebars, hopefully you can make the celebrated B.17 work.
Good Luck,
George

C200

I rode today on the gravel rail trail for 18 miles. I adjusted the handle bars as high as they will go. I tried the seat in many postions with the new bar adjustment. I still got numb but not as severe. The numbness went away after an hour. I am still going to try more adjustments although I am running out of combinations. All of the above is on an unconditioned saddle. I did wear a a pair of cheaper shorts today with a pair of sweat pants over top of them.

linux_author

- interesting, because this is my 'position,' but other posters say there is no difference between the Special's leather and the B-17s (i posit the Special is *harder* at least in my experience)...

- love my Brooks!

C200

The saddle that I have is the only Brooks saddle that I have ever seen. I don't know about the thickness of the leather compared to other Brooks saddles. I don't know if treating the leather would help my problem or not. I do like the stiffness of the saddle and it feels real nice when I can stay on my "sit" bones. I just can't seem to keep that position.

cheeseflavor

Same problem I had with my Brooks b.17. After over 500 miles, I finally had to ditch it for a Specialized Alias. No more numbness.

Steve

GrannyGear

Gotta agree with Cheeseflavor. I ride a Rivendell (well, a Romulus) and like their philosophy (mostly) which includes leather saddles, but no matter how much I tried to fit myself to that B-17,i t just didn't work. Any upwards tilt angered my nards. Any downward tilt and I slid forward. Absolutely level and I still slid forward. Tried moving it fore and aft...same probs. And until it got sweaty, it seemed slippery to me. Was pretty to look at.

My conclusion....some butts are Brooks certified, mine isn't. Some people worship their Brooks...but in cycling we just can't make a fetish of anything. What's cool for one isn't for another. Aren'tcha glad!!

Back to my good ol' Regal....but I'm experimenting with an Alias...so far, so good.

GrannyGear

Glad to update later....it seems a very promising saddle for many people here-- with a good rap from most of its users. As for me, I just have to figure out if I think its the right width size.