Brooks Saddles

[mimitabby]

I finally got my flat fixed and got on my bike yesterday for 7 miles. Feels pretty good -- I still find myself with my sitbones almost hanging off the back edge of the seat, as that is most comfortable..

After the ride I ended up raising the seat higher and pushing it back farther. I'm beginning to think I'm trying to turn my hybrid into a road bike. I'll see how it feels today.

One thing of note -- the very helpful guy at the LBS did his best to convince me that the Brooks wasn't going to be as good as one of their serfas or other softer saddles. A definite bias against Brooks, at least at that store!

oh yes, of course, I've seen that too. They want to sell the inventory they have in their stores!

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. keep us posted!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Pooks, remember it is normal for some sitbone soreness the first week or two on the Brooks. Keep Proofhiding and riding, and it will form to your personal shape slowly. My sitbone soreness went away after a week of getting used to the Brooks. Now I'm comfy as can be, even after a 40 mile ride the other day.

[Triskeliongirl]

My finesse just arrived. She is the prettiest thing I have ever seen. Better shaped than I expected, wide in the back but narrow in the nose, just like I need. But I notice she is higher in the back than front, so when I level her, do I put my level all the way across the top from front to back, or just across the nose?

[mimitabby]

Level it all the way across the saddle. When it is horizontal, that is a good place to start. I actually had to tip my saddle up 1/2" in the end.

[Triskeliongirl]

Well, I still haven't figured out my postion with her yet. I started level across the entire top, and felt too much pressure on my girly bits, so leveled just the nose half, which makes the whole saddle tilt down. It felt a tad better (but still pressure on my girly bits) but to test my stablity if I take my hands off the bars I slide foward (they are slippery suckers aren't they). I'd like to see how moving it further back feels, my butt seems to want to scoot further back, but the rails are relatively short. My carbon seatpost is pretty laid back, but I do have an aluminum one that is even more laid back I could try with. The distance from the back of the saddle to the bars is definitely shorter with the brooks than my butterfly. My KOPS looks OK, but it doesn't mean that I am sitting on the saddle correctly so the set back could still be wrong. I am also doing all this on my trainer cuz its raining outside, and getting late. At this point I am going to take a break and pick DH up at the airport. ANy ideas what to try next when I get back. What's weird is while it is hard it doesn't bother my sit bones at all (at least just sitting on it on the trainer) but it does bother my soft tissues, which is a bad sign I think PLEASE HELP!! I SO WANT THIS TO WORK!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL, and her shape looks like she should work.

[pooks]

Dumb question: How do I raise the nose?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You can't tell much from just a few minutes in one position or another. You really have to ride for a couple of hours between adjustments. And EXPECT to be sore the first few days. When I first tilted my nose up, my girly bits felt sort of squashed. After a few hours they were fine and have stayed fine. Odd but true. Having the nose tipped down was much more unpleasant, feeling I was sliding off forward onto my hands.

Set the saddle in the middle of the brackets, forward/back wise. Tilt the saddle somewhere between nose-up/squashed girly bits, and nose-down/sliding forward feeling. Then ride for a day or two and make more tiny adjustments. There IS no magic position to make a hard new Brooks will feel wonderful for the first week. Unless you are just weird and lucky.

In fact, the first few rides will leave your sit bones sore. They will adapt and feel better after a few more rides. Just have faith that every 2 or 3 rides will feel a little more comfortable, and by a month (with weekly HideProofing) it will start to feel like riding on nothing much at all, like sitting in a nice carved Winsor chair, you don't think about it when it doesn't hurt!
Plastic, gel, and foam saddles stay the same as when you buy them. But leather slowly changes shape and forms to you like a good pair of fine leather shoes, or a favorite belt. So you can't tell what it will feel like as it shapes to you. This just won't happen in a couple of hours on a trainer.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Dumb question: How do I raise the nose?

The allan wrench nut in the back of the bracket that holds the saddle on the post. Loosen it with a correct size wrench. This enables you to change TWO settings: the tipping up and down of the nose, and the sliding forward and back of the saddle. (It does not make the saddle taller or lower on the seat post.)

[pooks]

Having the nose tipped down was much more unpleasant, feeling I was sliding off forward onto my hands.

Yep -- and I don't have to ride for two hours that way to know it!

Thanks!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Pooks, this webpage might help visualize adjusting saddles:
http://bikes.jump-gate.com/maintenan...ntenance.shtml

[Triskeliongirl]

Well I kept it on the carbon seatpost and made it level again. I noticed that when I put it as far back as it will go, the distance from the front of the saddle to the bars is the same as on my butterfly, but the back is closer since the saddle is shorter. My KOPs looks good, so the plan was to try this out this morning, but its raining and our group ride was cancelled. I also applied profride overnite. I am worried if I feel pressure on the nose just sitting in the trainer, this is gonna hurt riding, but it seems you guys want me to just try it like this on a ride. Bill Laine enclosed a note with the saddle (very nice personal touch) in which he said if it felt too hard to loosen the tension 1/2 a turn for the first 100-200 miles and then tension it back up. I also read somewhere to not mess with the tension. What do you guys think I should do for my first real ride? Can I learn anything on the trainer, or do I just need to see how I feel on a real ride (i.e. should I see how the more laid back seatpost feels). Maybe pressure will not be as bad as the chafing I got from my butterfly. If the weather clears I'll try a short ride this afternoon.

[KnottedYet]

Don't change anything until after you ride it a bit.

Don't even loosen the tension to soften the leather until after you've ridden outside. (I never did loosen my tension)

Pressure from the nose while riding will most likely be from the angle of the seat, not from the tension of the leather. But you need to go on a decent length ride outside to really feel what the seat is doing. My first couple rides with my B67 I took a wrench with me so i could adjust the obvious fore-aft/tilt/height things I felt right away. The slipperiness of the saddle the first couple weeks really did help me to figure out when the seat was level.

Once I got the seat right, I drew marks on the rails and seat post. The lowest point of the saddle skirt lines up beautifully with my seat tube. When I took the saddle off to oil the nose shackle it was pretty easy to put it back just the way I had it. Had to fuss with tilt a little because my seat-post has a personality of it's own. If I have it tilted even a tiny bit to high or too low I can feel it right away.

It's a lot like breaking in a brand new pair of Levi 501's. You fuss around a lot at first but soon it feels like it was made just for you.

My B67 felt great from day one. It was such a relief to have a seat that actually supported my entire sit bones that I truly didn't feel that the leather was too hard!

[xeney]

Yeah, I agree, mine felt fine from day one, as well. I've never adjusted it or done anything to do it at all. My first ride on it was about 10-15 miles, and I actually forgot I was riding a new saddle. I didn't even have sore sit bones at the end of that. My 'girly bits' (using that term makes me feel like I'm 12) don't come into any contact with the seat at all, though, and I have the seat completely level, not tilted.

I have never conditioned it, either, because it never sits in the rain, and at just about a year old it has the butt dimples and is by far the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden. I'm a little shy of trying a Brooks on one of my road bikes, for some reason, but the B67 is the most painless saddle I own. I wish all my saddles felt like that.

[Triskeliongirl]

All I can say is WOW, you guys were right. I just put it back to completely level using a leveler across the top, and made the KOP measurements the same as with my old saddle. In the trainer I still felt pressure on the nose, pressure mind you, not pain, but decided to follow your advice and take her out since it had stopped raining. The plan was to see if I could make it to the gym, only 8 miles away. At first I didn't even take a water bottle, thinking I'll be back inside for an adjustment in no time. She felt like a dream on the road, much better than my butterfly. I liked that I could tell my weight was being supported by my sitbones and not soft tissues. The shape suits me better than the butterfly, wide in back with a sharp transition to a narrow nose, and not too deep either (the finesse). I had no sit bone discomfort at all, and while I still felt some pressure on my soft tissues under the nose, I felt pressure, not pain or abrasions like with the butterfly. I think its just the feeling of support under me, which I am not used to since I have ridden with a cut-out for so long, more of a squishing sensation as Lisa put it, which I think will go away as the leather comforms to my body down there. OK, the ride was only 8 miles, but I was so excited I had to come to my office and write this email, before doing my workout and ride home (I came in to use the gym at work). THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR ADVICE AND HELP THROUGHOUT MY SADDLE CRISIS!!!!!!!!! As I was riding, all I could think about is that there is no way I am getting on that butterfly on my commuter. Now I just have to decide when to order the next one. I should probably wait until I do a longer ride, and I have to decide if I should move her to Athena (my commuter) for the week, or throw a rack on Isis (my go fast bike) for the work week and keep it all as is she feels so perfect. I am inclined to do the latter.

[Triskeliongirl]

Well, I get home from the gym, no problems. Again, still pressure but not pain on the soft tissues hitting the nose (and no after ride pain). I took 2 pictures which I am going to try and post. In one see you can see her on the entire bike, and the other is a close up. The only 2 positions I tried was completely level (as in pix) by placing a carpenters level across the entire top of the saddle, and the other was placing the level on the nose. When I leveled it on the nose I was sliding off, so that wasn't good, but do you guys think I should try tilting her down just a tad for my next ride, or leaving her alone until she adjusts to my body? The other thiing I love about her is that I can slide around more easily, back when hunkered down in the drops, instead of meeting resistnance from the gel in the butterfly. I never sent pix before. I put them as attachments so I hope this worked. If not, tell me what to do!