Brooks B 17 special for me. Cost only $89 last summer, just before the prices went up. whew. Rode 6 days straight on a 3 week tour in the summer with no discomfort at all, where my Terry liberator would've killed me by the 4th day.

Specialized Avatar 143. Harder on the sit bones than a leather saddle, but no perineal pressure. Once you get some cycling callouses (tough butt), it's a great saddle.

Comfy from day one or me.

Attachment 128798

Brooks Team Professional. I've owned several. Some were destroyed in a fire while I wore one out.

B17 standard works for me. In my case, I found saddles with too much padding cause numbness on long rides.

I have four bikes and right now I have eight saddles. Never found a perfect fit for me so I just ride one until I don't like it anymore and change it out. My last long tour was with a Brooks Pro which did okay after a month with it. That saddle is still on the Burley which I seldom ride around home.

Selle An-Atomica Titanico.

Leather is pliable and waterproof, so it requires no break-in period or treatments, unlike a Brooks. I'd only used plastic and foam seat before I started touring and found that they were good if I was doing less than 50 miles a day. Now I can ride centuries day after day after day on the Selle An-Atomica. Also, I have several inches of saddle to bar drop on my touring bike and find the An-Atomica works well if I have it nose down a smidge.

Had to re-read my post. I am impressed but never expressed "love" for the saddle. I don't now what to say about the negative comments since I don't know what the complaints are. Why were you disappointed? The only somewhat negative thing I have heard about them is from Rivbike. They say it breaks in faster than a Brooks which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. This is probably why it comes pre-laced. Again, the main reason I got it was because of the additional setback (but it does look great).

I have a Brooks B-17 Narrow on my touring bike and on my 'slop' bike (a Stumpjumper hardtail), a Brooks Pro on my commuting bike, a Selle Italia Flite on my Moots and on my Stumpjumper FSR.

I can definately tell a difference between the Brooks saddles with the B-17N being just a little more comfortable than the Pro. And the plastic saddles are definately less comfortable but they work better on a mountain bike then the Brooks...can't get a Brooks back far enough.

I have tried tons of saddles over the years. I had finally settled on Brooks B17 Champion Special until I acquired a Fizik Vitesse in a swap. The Vitesse is a light saddle (250 g w/ ti rails version) but wider than most racing saddles. Anyway, the Vitesse is more comfortable (for me) than the B17, but weighs less than half as much. You can often find them for sale on eBay for good prices, eg less than $30. I've since put Vitesse saddles on my 4 road bikes.

I don't know if I'm really disappointed. It's my first leather saddle and I don't think it's as comfortable as I thought it would be. I've ridden it atleast 150+ miles and it might still be a little longer before it breaks in. Oh well, it's better than the stock saddle my bike came with.

Brooks B-17...took about 1000 miles to really get comfy. Now I don't even know it's there.

Thousands of miles on my Selle An-Atomica. Oh it's black so it's more comfortable. ;)

Avocet Racing One. I like the leather ones the best, but all I can find these days are vinyl. Specifically, I like the ones from the early 90s. I bought my two current ones for five dollars at the local community bike shop.

Brooks B17

The Brooks Champion Flyer which with the springs is perfect for anyone that rides on rail trails or bumpy roads. Mine only too about 200 miles to break in.

If it fits.

Brooks Flyer on my touring bike. Selle An-Atomica on my commuter.

Terry Raptor Y (mens). Everyone's butt is different but this one fits me perfectly. I purchased several extra on sale because you never know when something you like will be discontinued.

Brooks B17 ... 50,000+ km on it, and it is still the most comfortable saddle I've ever owned.

Brooks B17's for me.

I've got a Honey colored one on my touring bike with 1500 miles on it, that is, by far, the most comfortable saddle I've ever had. Certainly much better than the $170 I wasted on a Fizik Arione that, after 2000 miles on it, still feel like a midieval torture device.

I just received another B17, in Black, for Winter Solstice, that I'm going to mount on my racing bike.

I've done about 6000km on my supermarket bicycle including one long, and two short tours. The original saddle felt comfortable from day one. I never bothered to replace it. Now, if the entire bicycle falls to bits, or when I move back to Australia, the saddle will be removed and taken with me to use on my next bike. I think I was just incredibly lucky to find something compatible with my anatomy on such a cheap bicycle.

I'd love to try a Brooks saddle one day; but honestly I have never even seen one aside from pics online!

B17

I've tried so many saddles! I had a Brooks in the 70's. It came on my Raleigh Gran Prix. It was bad. After 25 miles I was starting to hurt. By 30 I was definitely in pain. By 40 I was almost numb.

I bought a Nashbar touring bike in 1992. It had a Vetta Gel saddle. For some reason, that saddle was perfect for me! I never got a sore butt once. Unfortunately, they stopped making them.

It eventually got too torn up and ratty and I tried to find something to replace it. Everyone raved about Brooks saddles, but after my experience with the Raleigh's I resisted the urge to buy one. I tried a Terry, an early Specialized Body Geometry, a Nashbar Century, an Avocet; I even found 2 Vetta Gels on Craigslist. Of them all, most were terrible. The first Vetta wasn't the same model - it was really small (?) The second one was pretty good, though not as good as the original.

When I bought my LHT a couple years ago I decided to bite the bullet and see what all the Brooks hype was about. Maybe they had changed since my experience in the 70's. I bought a Champion Flyer, thinking the springs would help soften the ride on a long tour. It worked out pretty good. On a tour of the Northern Tier I had little problems with sore butt. There were a few times when, after 3 or 4 long days in a row, my butt would start to get uncomfortable in the afternoons. The biggest problem was the annoying squeaking sound coming from the springs.

When I bought my next bike, a Specialized Allez, it was my "fast" bike. I tried to set it up more like a young racer would do (silly me), and make it look good. I started with a sleek Nashbar saddle that was color coordinated and advertised as being comfortable. It wasn't good. 25 miles were okay; by 30 it was starting to hurt. I had some centuries scheduled. The thought of doing 100 miles on that saddle scared me. Next I bought a Specialized - an Avatar, I think. The results were about the same or worse than the Nashbar. I tried a Serfas RX. It was very cushy, but hurt just as bad after 30 miles.

Finally, the week before my first century of the season, I took the Brooks Champion Flyer off the LHT and mounted it on the Allez. Finally, relief! I completed the centuries in comfort!

After that experience, I bought a Brooks for the Allez - a B17 - and put the Champion Flyer back on the LHT. If anything, I think the B17 is more comfortable than the Champion Flyer. It started out comfortable, and has gotten more so with time. Now I'm wondering if I should switch the B17 to the LHT before going on tour this summer. It's certainly lighter, without the springs.

I know not everyone likes Brooks, but so many people swear by them that I'd say anyone who is struggling with finding a comfortable saddle should at least try one. We all know that finding a comfortable saddle makes a huge difference in touring pleasure!

Well, y'all talked me into it. I just got a new (for me) bike with a horrible saddle (WTB must stand for "We Torture Butts"). I was about to pull the trigger on a Terry saddle on sale with good reviews, but then I read the last review. He had rated the saddle a 5 of 5 but said something like "My last one lasted me 4000 miles!" Heck, I put 4000 miles on my bike last year. No way I'm going to buy a new one every year!

So I ordered the B17 instead. I'm on the band wagon (but I haven't drank the kool-aid yet).

By the way, it was on sale at Nashbar for $95 and they have a 20% off any item sale going on as well so I got it for $75!

OK ... brace yourself.

When it arrives you're going to open the box and think that the saddle is the hardest rock of a thing you've ever seen, and you're going to have some doubts about it. It is hard, and it never softens up. It is not supposed to get soft. It will change shape to fit you, and it will give a bit, but it should never become soft.

When you put it on your bicycle, make sure that the nose of the saddle tips up. With any other saddle you're supposed to install them so they are level. Brooks saddles, however, are best installed with the nose up a bit. Go look at the "Your Century Bicycle" thread in the Long Distance forum and you'll see what I mean. Tipping the nose up forces you to sit on your sitbones (and sucking in your abs when you ride will help you with that as well).

When you get on your saddle, one of the first things you'll notice is that it is slippery. You'll feel like you're sliding all over the place. This is normal, and it goes away after a few weeks of use.

Don't go crazy with the proofide or any other sorts of creams etc. Proofide is just there to protect the saddle from the elements ... a little dab of it will do just fine.

And ... don't go crazy with the various break-in techniques you might have heard about. Just ride the saddle a lot, in all sorts of weather conditions. Breaking in will happen naturally.

Thanks for the advice. I am expecting something hard, that takes a while to break in. But I put a lot of miles on my bike so hopefully it won't take too long to reach a comfort level. From what I've read a Brooks saddle can give years of good service which seemed a lot better than buying a new saddle every year!

Good advice about the break-in, I had recently read some questionable advice about how to break it in right away. I'll avoid those techniques. Tipping the nose up sounds a little strange to me (that decidedly did NOT work on my last saddle) but I'll take your advice on that one, you've got more experience with this saddle than I do. Thanks again.

I have B17s on all of my bikes.

Well, have a look through that "Your Century Bicycle" thread and look at the Brooks saddles ... most are tipped up: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...tury-bicycle-s

I was struggling with comfort on mine until Rowan suggested I tip the nose up. I did, and I've been comfortable ever since. I've got mine tipped up slightly, and he's got his tipped way up, so the level of tip is a personal preference. And for whatever reason, tipping the nose up on most other saddles doesn't work at all ... it seems to be a Brooks thing.

As for breaking it in, a lot of people have this idea that if they apply all sorts of oils and creams etc., or if they beat the saddle to death, it will become soft and thus it will have broken in. But that's not the way it works. First you'll notice little scuff marks where your sitbones sit. Then the scuff marks will get a bit deeper and turn into divots. Don't be alarmed if they aren't even ... most of us are lopsided, and the beautiful thing about a Brooks is that it conforms to you. If the divots start to get too deep, you might want to consider tensioning the saddle. I did that after about 40,000 km.

You can see my saddle (after about 50,000 km) in these photos ... and there's a photo of Rowan's bicycle and saddle in there as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7622345234456/