I have 2 and have never been disappointed

If you decide to cut back the skirts as I've done on my Pros and B17, you need to drill 4-5 holes on both sides of the bottom edge and lace it together with a shoe lace, leather strapping or whatever. Cutting the skirts significantly alters the flexibility of the saddle but can make it even more comfortable if you know what you're doing.

I have been riding my brooks B17 in the rain.. I have one of those screw on fenders to keep the water of the bottom side..

I have used generous amounts of proofide on the top and bottom.. No problems with stretching.. I make sure to wipe it down if it gets wet.. The proofide works very well in beading the water..

What do you mean, Brooks-like saddle? Is it a Brooks, or not? That's the topic of discussion.

Brooks of England. Not exactly a dry, warm climate. You just have to think of it like leather hiking boots. You can take them everywhere, they will last longer than anything else, but you have to care for them. Conditioning them annually, maybe more, and when it's rainy use a plastic bag cinched and tied at the seatpost or use a saddle cover.

They would be fine for your intended purposes.

hmmm i slightly butchered the skirts on my team pro similar to a swift, not sure if i should be worried about stretch or not. seems fine so far. where's the fixer when you need to talk brooks butchering?

I rode a Brooks Pro for a couple weeks and found it to be very uncomfortable, for what it's worth. I sit pretty far forward on my saddle and the Brooks was cutting off circulation to my, uh, "stuff." The one I was riding had been broken in for about 3yrs of riding so it wasn't a problem with it being too stiff. I am very skinny though (5'9", 118) and I think that that might have affected it for me - too wide or something. I ride a selle italia flite now.

As for the water issue, a Brooks is fine to ride in the rain but not okay to leave out in the rain. The ones that you see on old bikes that are collapsed lost all of their ability to hold tension because they were left out in rain. So if you plan on leaving your bike outside in the rain then you need some hardcore Brooks coverage.

Do not buy Brooks before you try out Titec Ithys Amore. Why? Because, in my experience Titec is atleast as comfortable as B17 (both are quite similar in hardness) and it does not crap out if you expose it to rain (the way Brooke does). To be more specific about the comfort part, I found that Titec has a flatter surface on the top and so provides a better perch than Brooks. I bought brooks based on tons of positive reviews on roadbikereview.com, but I was quite disappointed. It was not all that great. I suspect the love affair with Brooks has to do with either Brook's old world charm or the fact that white people go gaga over products handmade by other white people (more points if it is from england) or both. My main complaints are that it was not as comfortable as I was led to beleive (even after breaking it in, and after numerous adjustments), and it did softened up once (really scary) when I left the bike outside and it rained. How can people wax on a product that cannot take rain? I was asked to put a 'carradice' cover on top, which I did, but then it was even less comfortable.

Lollerskates.

I have a brooks b17 that was lightly used when i bought it and i'm sure i'm still breaking it in but it is not uncomofrtable in any way. Here's an idea, put a really uncomfortable saddle on for a few days, then change it to the brooks and i'm sure you will be happy with the brooks.

I will have to second this as one of the funniest comments I have read here in a while.

i put a plastic bag over my brooks when it rains. not only does it stay dry but it also hides from potential thieves.

My thoughts exactly. I am considering buying one, but I am a bit concerned with its durability in winter. I would imagine with proper care it would do well... just need to find out what that "proper care" is.

I am also moving this thread to General discussion.

--J

I got my 17 last week and it is comfy right out the starting gate.Got my first 100 on it so far as with breakin well it will be the **** when that happened because it is nice right now.

My Brooks was comfortable right out of the box and it's still comfortable today.
I use a product called Sno-Seal on it when I remember to try to keep it water resistant. On days when I'm riding in the rain I use a cover or a plastic bag to try to keep it dry.
A couple of years ago it got seriously soaked by 4 days worth of rain on a 5 day tour. It was so wet I think I could have rung water out of it. When I got back home I left it to dry out in the garage without forcing the issue with hair driers or heat guns or things like that. It was fine after it dried. I had to retension it a bit to take up some of the slack from stretching but getting it wet did not seriously damage it at all.
In my opinion pro riders don't ride them because thy're heavy.
If anything happens to this saddle I'll replace it with another Brooks.

I am not a hard core rider. I got it because it looked awesome on my bike. I had never used a hard saddle before. It took a little bit of break in, but I was an ocassionally rider when I got it. After a couple of weeks (maybe 50 mikes for me) it was comfy. I had a b17 first. On my city bike I have a b67. I am sort of on the fence. But I think it is my cover. It doesn't seem to like pants much. Dresses are fine. I put the cover in immediately. I am getting a new cover so I'll start riding bare.

I think I like the b17 best. It seems more comfy. I may or may not change my mind. The b17 is now in my fast bike.

There have been loads of threads about Brooks over the years, many on the C&V and the Touring Forums. Try the search function.

I just keep a plastic grocery bag stuffed under the saddle. If I have to leave the bike outside when it might rain, I cover it with the bag. I don't ride with the saddle covered, though; there's no real need. My body keeps the top covered, and fenders keep the bottom from getting wet.

I had a brooks on a bike I bought and I didn't see what was so great about it. It wasn't all that comfortable and of course it's a boat anchor. Looks are subjective but I think they're ugly. It seems they became hip when the vintage scene popped up this century. Why, I just don't know. When I started cycling in '87 nobody used them, everyone was on Turbo's, Rolls, ect. Nobody was riding a Brooks. Nothing wrong with it if you want a just period correct saddle, but that would be for pre-80's bikes.

I got a B17 about a month ago. First ride, it was like sitting on a 6 inch steel pipe. Round and hard. By the third ride, it was like sitting on a bench. More widespread support and hard. 300 mi. since I bought it and it just is. No pressure points, no chafe, it just is there. You don't think about it...

Today we are expecting my wife's Flyer S.

I have Brooks on all my bikes and had a few more that go sold off with bikes, never regretted the purchases. Comfortable out of the box and more so as they age.

A Brooks Saddle is a real pleasure to ride after a good rub down with Proofide and for a 200 lb. man about 200 miles and it really starts to fit your ars.
If you are a 110 pound person it will take much longer to brake in be patient and if it is just to hard during brake in you can back off the tension just a wee bit till you have put some miles on it then retention. This will help you to make it through the brake in process.
Do NOT over dress it, and never use neatsfoot oil, you know for baseball gloves as it will ruin your saddle making it to soft,spongy.
Just treat it with proofide 1 time both top and bottom then ride, before each winter profide again. Once a year is plenty.

LOL, well I rode them in total comfort for a couple of years on a couple of my bikes. But I moved on to more aggressive frames here I just could not get the setback I needed to continue to use them due to the short rails on the Brooks. And now several years later and a couple of dozen saddles latter I'm ready to go back. And with my current bikes it won't be an issue for some of them. So count me as "informed anachronistic retro rider"!

Why? I ran one on my winter bike in Utah for two years with no problem. I just used plastic grocery bags over it when wet. Not a big deal to me at all....

LOL, and no racism screams from anyone??? If "white" was replaced with any other race people would be calling for blood!