recommended saddle for hybrid?

[momof4greatkids]

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

[recycle613]

I PM'd you a longer response but the short version:

I initially chose the B-17 because of a good price at Nashbar. It was love-at-first-ride and even better as time went one. Subsequent, I've ridden a Champion Flyer S (same top as a B-17 S) and feel the midsection and nose are much stiffer. I recommend the regular because I think it's the length that lets the leather give more in the pereneal area where hammock is a nice feeling. Also, I'd say get a regular for your first b/c it breaks in easier than, say, a Champion Special (thicker leather).

Good Luck!

Tzivia

[KnottedYet]

I'm 5'8" and 145-150 lbs. I have springs because that's the only way I could get a saddle wide enough for my sit bones. My outside sitbone measurement is wider than any of the unsprung saddles. (my sprung B67 is 210mm wide. )

However: sometime next spring Brooks will begin selling the B68 - which is my saddle WITHOUT SPRINGS!!! Whoopee!

Springs are good in that they do absorb a lot of the road buzz. They won't absorb big bumps, these are stiff non-bouncy springs. If you are lopsided, the springs let you even out a bit. On long rides the springs are great.

My saddle has black springs, and truly they are hardly noticable, especially when my saddlebag is hanging there.

The major downside I've experienced with springs is the noise. Not from the springs themselves, but from the seat frame. The springs allow the frame to twist a little, and that twist can get noisy. Wallbike has helped me work on the noise. With a lot of grease and care I've got the noise down to a faint ping every once in a while. That is a huge improvement over the creaking groaning snapping I had going for a while.

But, as one LBS guy said, the noise is the price you pay for supreme comfort. And it is supremely comfortable!

However, if I ever replace my B67 (Mimi has had one of hers for 30 years) I will replace it with a B68. See how I like no springs.

This is my road bike with a black sprung B67 Brooks saddle:


And this is my hybrid with the same saddle:

[KnottedYet]

MO4GK - what is your outside sitbone measurement?

[momof4greatkids]

MO4GK - what is your outside sitbone measurement?

Thanks Knotted and Tzivia very much for the info, and again, Tzivia, for the pm, that was nice of you.

My outside sitbone measures about 18cm, about 15 cm from center to center. Is the saddle supposed to cradle from the outside of the sitbones? If so, I might need the B67, also.

I now realize that the saddle I'm now using essentially snugs up in my butt crack (lol, forgive the graphic language!) and no wonder it hurts! It's quite narrow, about 12 cm

I would put up with a little noise in trade for supreme comfort anyday!

Both your bikes are beauties!

Colleen

[mimitabby]

Hey, momof 4, what's with the metric measurements ?

It sounds like you might not have a good saddle yet, but you probably already know more about them than the guys at your LBS!!

Any saddle will work on your hybrid. (quit worrying abuot what it looks like, it will LOOK fine)
The real question is; is that Selle going to feel good after 30 miles? 20? 10?

The cool things about the brooks is that they have been around for about 100 years. I think they have been proven with the test of time. And my tender underparts agrees.

[KnottedYet]

Your measurements and my measurements sound very similar. If you are interested in a Brooks, I would try a B67 or B68 first. I can't tell you what a huge relief it was to get a seat wide enough to completely support both sitbones! Even fresh out of the box, that B67 was the most comfortable thing I'd ever ridden on.

Now that it is breaking in to my unique tushie, it's even more comfortable.

Yeah, they are slippery and hard for the first 100 miles or so. Yeah, they make some noise (which can be minimized), but oh it is soooo worth it!

And it is just as comfy on my road bike as on my hybrid.

Wallingford has a 6 month return policy, so you get the chance to really try out (and break in) the Brooks saddles. www.wallbike.com

[recycle613]

I think this might depend on how upright one rides. If I sit on my hand ( ) and lean slowly forward I can feel the change in area of sit bones that need support. I don't think the issue is just width. The saddles are shaped differently. The wider ones are sort of flatter and the B-17 begins to give a graceful curve to the nose and a Team Pro has an even greater downward sort of curve for the cheekbones aside the mid-section. I'm not sure I have the words right, but the saddle shapes account for riding angle as much as width.