Quote Originally Posted by recycle613 View Post
My best hybrid (less than bolt upright, but not bent 45 degrees forward, either) saddle is Brooks B17. I like their regular model because I feel the longer nose makes for a little more give in the soft tissue region. The width is perfect for me. YMMV. I got the 2 x 4 feeling from my Terry Liberator until I rode it in a more aggressive position forward (go figure that). I love it on my fixie with bull horns, but not on a hybrid.

Saddles are really hard to get right. Try to find somewhere to work with that has a nice return policy. 30 days, no questions asked, or something like that. That way you can really ride the saddle a bunch of times if necessary to decide. Also, take rides with your Allen wrench in your pocket so you can tweak, tweak, tweak the set-up ... the perfect saddle might be just 1/16" from absolute misery. Or, so I've found.

Best of luck!

I hope you re-visit this thread because I want to pick your brain as to why you chose the regular b-17, not the women's model.

Understanding that this is a highly individualized and subjective choice, BUT, can you tell me why you prefer the standard B-17, as opposed to the woman's version? I know the woman's is wider, and shorter. But in my limited experience, it seems like biking items that are specific to women are made w/smaller women in mind. And I definitely don't fit that description, I am 5'8" and a hundred and plenty pounds.

But OTOH, realizing the benefit of a wider saddle to accomodate my womanly anatomical differences in that "region", I feel inclined to choose the woman's saddle.

So, I am in a quandry, and I've read the Brooks thread here, and several at bikeforum.net.

One thing that is nudging me to the standard B-17 is that wallbikes has that one in stock in black, and has only the honey colored in the woman's model. They don't know when they will get more black woman's B-17s saddles, either.


Colleen