I just received my first brooks, a B17, and i'm assuming i'll really like it once it's broken in. But, what do ya do if you have a 2nd or 3rd bike? I'm used to just hopping on one of my bikes without having to swap or adjust saddles, but if the brooks turns out to be great, i'm guessing that i won't want to ride the other saddles any more. But i also don't feel like having to break in 3 B17s.
What do you brooks fans do?

In my experience: once My Butt got used to my first Brooks (B17 Champion Narrow, after about five hundred miles back in 1970), every other Brooks I've had since (Conquest, two Team Pros, B17 Special) have not taken anywhere near the time to break in - which leads me to the conclusion that it was My Butt that got broken in, not necessarily The Brooks.

FWIW -

- Wil

My opinion is that you don't want to be changing your saddles around all the time because its hard to get them in just the right spot without a bit of fine tuning. Just when you get it right you don't want to be removing it and going through the proccess all over again trying to get it just right on another bike.

Regards, Anthony

My experience exactly. Now I have three Brooks saddles. A B-73 on the old 3-speed, and a B-67 each on the T520 and T830. The fine adjustment differences can make for too many short stops, and I hate to stop once I get going. I finally broke the clamp-nut on the 830 by switching so much. It was a cheapo, but still, it cost me another one.

Well, the morning's getting on and I must be away with the wind...

switching saddles between your rides because you don't want to 'break in' another Brooks?

The adjustments alone would cut into your riding big time. You'd ride a few miles, and decide you want to tweak it a little, then get another little ways down the road, and decide you overcompensated, and have to stop to tweak it again...don't you remember how delicate a metter it is to get the saddle adjusted just right on your bikes?

It's not that tough to get a Brooks extremely comfortable (DISCLAIMER: all methods and ways of breaking in and conditioning a Brooks are suspect, even the factory recommended method as far as i can tell)

Brooks B17s are 55 bucks at AEbike.

You buy a second or third saddle. The "break in" requirements for a B17 are way overstated.

thanks, it looks like I got carried away with the negative hype of brooksbreakin syndrome.

It's very doable, more so than spme others have posted, no adjustment necessary:

I have a B17 on my flatbar, and a 27.2 seatpost on both it and the MTB. If I want to go for a jaunt on the MTB lasting more than say an hour I just whip out the seatpost on the flatbar and pop it in the MTB. A quick setting for height (easy if you have a mark for both bikes) and you're off.

You could even do same if the seatposts were different by using a shim.

If you could afford 3 bikes, you can afford 3 saddles....

I'd imagine Jur's method is good, but truly accurate only if the two bikes had identical reach, etc, or else the fore-aft position might become an issue. but what do i know, i'm just a Caveman.

3 bikes, 3 Brooks B-17's.

Look at it this way. If you have three bikes, do you use one set of pedals? One set of wheels? Tires? One chain?

Same saddle on its third bike now. The bikes wear out first.