+1 B17 narrow here too, with laces ... It's definitely comfortable to me although still hard as a rock after 2000+ km, is it supposed to become softer? when? Ive been applying the proofhide every now and then.

What about a Selle Strike Pro? That's what I am looking at. I've had numbness a few times on tours and it's fairly scary. Now I'm planning a two years trip and I'd rather not risk anthing down there.

It should NEVER get softer! I'm beginning to think that is a popular misconception about the Brooks saddles ... that they soften up at some point.

I've got 35,000 kms on my saddle, and it has not become any softer than the day I got it ... thank goodness!! If it got softer, I might as well be riding gel.

However, what these saddles do is break in. They develop divot and indents ... they reshape to fit your butt. If you've ridden for 2000 miles already, don't you have the start of the divots yet?


Keep riding it, and it will one day look something like mine!!

It took me 800 kms to break my Brooks in ... and when it broke in, it happened rather suddenly, 400 kms into a 1000 km randonnee. So glad it happened then or that could have been a rather uncomfortable ride.

By "broke in", I mean the faint hints of divots forming on the surface of my saddle sank into the very comfy divots I currently sit in. See photo in my post above.

You just have to look at my saddle to see which broke in.

The saddles in the first photo are brand new Brooks. The saddle in the next photo is my Brooks after 35,000 kms. Just a teensy difference.

Machka, didn't you write in here one time that your saddle became very wet on a longer ride and that's when those divots really took shape and depth or am I remembering someone else's story?

That was me! And that was on the 1000 km randonnee I mentioned above. I was riding in a downpour so heavy I couldn't see anymore. When the lightening started hitting the powerlines nearby, the friend I was riding with and I dumped the bicycles in the ditch and went and hid under a bivy in another part of the ditch until the storm blew over.

I was actually a bit worried for the next 12 hours or so of that ride because the saddle had broken in SO much ... but when it dried, it tightened back up again, and has been great ever since.

Oh and one last question, what the hell is a "Machka" ?

It's the Serbo-Croatian word for "female cat".

My bicycle is Machak ... the Serbo-Croatian word for "male cat".

This is my saddle of choice. With an extra long seatpost(carbon fiber of course) and a little chamois cream, I can nestle this little baby right up next to my small intestine. The aero advantages are off the chart!

Oh of course I knew that meaning but I thought there might be another more obscure definition.

Not really.....I have a B-67 on one of my bikes.

Well, I'm Serbian and I love cats ... that's mainly why I chose it.

For... touring..?

Maybe you two should get a room...

Many guys wish they had larger small intestines, but honestly, size make no difference. It's what you do with it. Digesting food, I hope!

I have a Brooks Champion Flyer for my touring bike and its even more comfortable than my B17 on my city bike. You might feel a little goofy bouncing gently on those old springs but your ass will feel great at the end of a long ride.

Yes, I'd rather like the girly man gel saddle if I was one. Still, 'maning' up and waiting for this brick to conform more to my manly cheeks. If not, it'll see hybrid duty in the corner of the garage gathering dust never to be ridden again. I'll pass no brick before it's time...

Hahaha! You ******** mann, making baht chokes, so fahnny! Sounds like a numa seven poopah foah shoo-ah! Yah! Hahaha!

B-17, however it only became the touring saddle I had dreamt about after drilling some side holes and threading through a lateral tightening cord. Previously, after many continuous hours on the saddle I found the skirt flared and caused chafing to my inner thigh. The cord offers strength in a direction that the saddle naturally lacks, and is a simple modification that only requires a drill and some courage. I believe Brooks now offers saddles already 'laced.'

I also use the saddle with a Cane Creek Thudbuster ST seatpost (their most modest suspension seatpost). It's all adjustable and so I can get anything from a rock-hard to a soft experience. It's not particularly light perhaps, but then neither is bicycle touring.

Oh, thank goodness, someone else! I'm still riding my B-17 standard, and it's a fine saddle, but it's too wide for my skinny tuchus. It makes for astounding muscle soreness in the upper hamstrings/lower glutes after hours of pedaling - sometimes minutes if I'm already fatigued.

I don't have a B-17N yet, but it's on my list.

I have the Selle Strike Pro on my racing bike. It is very much a racing saddle. If you ride hard and like your bars low, you'll like it. If you have your bars approximately level with your seat or a bit lower, and do long, slower rides, odds are that you'll hate it. I can just tolerate it for 12-hour ultra events. It's still better than any other racing saddle I tried - no numbness issues - but it's hard on the sit bones. For touring, I'll take my Brooks Team Professional.