the bar height is your choice, but this will affect your angle of seating and actually change the way you sit. If you like the bars the way they are then leave them, but if you change them, your saddle isn't broken in yet so it will adjust as well.

Yeah my brooks was pointed up a little on my 'cross bike and flat/down a touch on my roadie.
Break in... comfy at 500km, really comfy at the 1000 mark after a wet 200km ride. I recently did a 420km ride and no saddle issues at all.

I ride my brooks flat, never an issue. My buddy on the other hand who is about 8" shorter had issues with it from day one. I guess leather saddles are faster at fitting to a heavier rider cause my brooks was comfy right out of the box whereas my friend hated his. Not saying they won't work with lighter people, just saying it will take longer to conform to your sit bones than someone heavier than you.

Did you get a chance to read the instructions that came with the saddle? You need to use proofide quite a bit at first.

Yes, like I said, none of my LBS had any Proofide when I got the saddle, I plan to buy some on eBay, just dont have the scratch for it right now coz of X-mas.

when i first got my brooks it was slippy as hell and really hard to get comfortable on.
i then was told by a guy i work with to soak it overnight in warm water, which i did.
this removed alot of the shine off the saddle and also alot of the dye, so that your ass wont turn black/brown in the rain.
the soaking really softened up the saddle and reduced the slippiness greatly.
a few coats of linseed oil to waterproof it and i was out on it again happy as a fly on a poo.

worked a charm, highly reccommend it

looks like your saddle is set back quite a bit, that combined with a long stem like that might be causing you too sit up too far front, causing slippage.

sham i will do that, thanks for the reccomendation.

Dont do that...go on the Brooks site and look up what they tell you. They strictly say dont over soak with water or linseed.

What they made up their solution of proofride and time, so that you would go off and break it using some other theory to get you into a new one sooner???

I'm using a B17 Narrow that my dad used when he was in college (I'm 22) and all that's ever been done to it has been Proofride and time. It probably has 15,000 miles plus (possibly way plus) and many others have done the same thing. What the other solutions do is stretch the leather prematurely and then you're stuck and have to start using the adjustable nut to get the tension back. Just go ride it and enjoy it!

I have a Brooks B-17 on my road bike, I really like the feel of it, very comfortable, but I will say it did take a long time to truly break in. About 6 months or so of near everyday riding, im not sure how many miles that is I don't really keep track I am bad at judging distances and all that, but well over 1000 miles probably. I am a pretty skinny guy so maybe like TheTank said it takes longer for us guys to break it in. I dunno. Hang in there.

yea thanks aaron, I read that after I saw the soaking part, I am not going to do that. I bought proofide for a reason

Just ordered myself a B-17 after getting a bad rub off of a horrible saddle. I don't mind hard saddles at all, so hopefully this one will feel nice out of the box.

From what I reading, plenty of people skip the proofide and go straight to kiwi brand wax mixtures. I'm hearing tons of different things regarding whether to oil it a little then wax it, or soak it in oil and then wax, just wax... jeez.

I don't mind a hard saddle but I do want the most life possible out of this thing, what did you guys do?

Proofide.

No one knows a Brooks saddle better than Brooks. I'd do what the instructions say.

But then again, Proofide is a Brooks product. It wouldn't make sense for them to recommend anything else.

my b17 felt comfortable straight out the box. the smoothness of the leather felt great with jeans.

Try moving the saddle forward slightly. This is what I had to do to get my B17 for fit properly.

Your sit bones tend to fit better further back on the saddle.

I recently got a B17 in trade and it was partially broken in. I had to raise the tip quite a bit to get past that sliding forward feeling. To quote another thread, someone suggested something like this: "raise the tip until you think it's way too high, then raise it again." I agree that puts some pressure on your soft spots, but I found a nice compromise, and I quickly came to like the natural flex of the Brooks leather, more than the padding in a modern saddle.

Another thing about the Brooks is that because of the metal rail in back, there is less saddle to sit on comfortably, less of a sweet-spot, if you will. So I needed a setback setpost seatpost (30mm) to make it work on my road bike. However, it just barely fit (fore/aft) my touring bike with its more upright posture.

I like the B17 so much I bought a new one (in honey) and in comparison, it's hard as a rock. I know I've got some dues to pay breaking in the new one.

Move the saddle forward a bit.

Snoseal is an excellent, more affordable and readily available substitute for Proofide