Tomm Willians

Can anyone offer any real experience with both the R and X/S Series ? My main concern is that I’m repeatedly tightening the tension bolt to keep the saddle from over sagging and I’m not sure how many more times I can do it until it’s maxed out.
Love these saddles but perhaps the R Series is more durable? Are they as comfortable as the originals ?

Steamer

I had this problem with both the X and the H series saddles and lacing the saddle has helped a lot.

Jeff Neese

How much do you weigh and how long have you had the saddle? I have three of the X series, and one H. They stretch a lot in the beginning but it will become less necessary over time as it stretches to fit you. All part of the process. If I were doing it all over again, I'd just buy all H series, even though I'm a little under the weight limit for the X (190 lbs). I never considered the R series because that's rubber which isn't going to break in like a leather saddle will.

Those bolts are pretty long, so you'd have to be stretching that saddle out quite a bit in order to reach the limit. How much bolt do you have still available for adjustment?

Tomm Willians

I weigh 180-183 (any given day) and I’ve had this saddle about a year. It still has about 1/3 of the adjustment length left, perhaps a touch more. I estimate I probably have 1000 miles on it.

Jeff Neese

I think you'll find that the need to adjust it will become less frequent. With 1/3 of the bolt left, you still have a long way to go. My advice is to just ride it and see what happens over the next year or so. I doubt you'll reach the limit for a very long time, if ever. I rarely need to tighten mine any more. Most comfortable saddle I've ridden, hands down.

IcySwan1 

I weigh 195 and have had an X for a year. I agree with Jeff that it will eventually settle down and not require constant adjustment.

Mike

Road Fan

I have perhaps 5 of the leather ones, a few bought new or on their discounts, and about 10-15# heavier than you. All have to have sag compensated with tension - I think it's just that the leather top has elasticity. Using the screw in the nose will not destroy the leather, as we have learned to fear with Brooksies. Having 30% of the screw left is not a sign that you are near needing to trash the saddle. Having none of the screw left is that point. As well, the number of adjustments you have to make slows down as the saddle stretches more.

I don't do anywhere near rando miles. I use a 6 mm Allen wrench (there's one on my multitool) to check the gap between the two halves of the saddle to make sure it is not less than 6 mm and not much more - that does seem to improve comfort once I have the seat in the correct position. One adjustment per short ride, if I did a lot of metric centuries I think I'd get irritated over making several adjustments per day. But I don't consider those problems where I have to replace the saddle.

I'm pretty sure the stretching mainly happens in the front half of the leather skin, and is greater as you go closer to the front bracket, or horn. The reason I think this is that the total tensile force front to back at the front of the saddle is the same as at the widest part of the saddle. But at the front the width of the leather is much less than at the widest portion. Lower cross-sectional area with the same total force is equal to higher tensile stress (force per unit cross-sectional area), so the leather at the front is most likely to show stretch. Should be possible to hack a S-A for more load carrying by adding thickness with a second laminate layer under the saddle. Have to have a non-elastic glue to make sure the tension shares in all three layers ...

I haven't tried this hack. I have tried lacing and trimming the slot to be wider, and I don't think they affected comfort or stretch, though I'm not sure how to describe the effect of lacing. I didn't like it very much.

Tomm Willians

In partial answer to my own thread I put a pair of the R series on a tandem I enjoy with the wife. Immediately noticed they are not as comfortable as the X. Not terrible but not as comfortable. I would not imagine rubber really breaks in?.