816 miles on my Brooks Finesse........

[Triskeliongirl]

Well now that I have put some serious miles into my Brooks Finesse, let me share what I have learned. I found that unlike gel saddles, you can get a good KOP regardless of how the saddle is positioned on the rails, but you may not be sitting on the best part of the saddle. I had trouble getting enough set back, but since I was a lot more comfy than on my previous saddle I didn't worry about it, until I noticed the sit bone marks were forming at the most rear end of the saddle, on top of the ti frame. So, I marched myself to a bike shop last week, where they found a bianchi seatpost that is super laid back and put it on and now my sit bones are finally being supported on the stretchy leather portion of the saddle. I also found by pushing the leather away from the rails slightly I could get the saddle even further back. I did a 65 mile ride on saturday and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! While before I was not uncomfortable, I did have to move around a bit, stretch out of the saddle, etc., wherease now I really am in saddle nirvana. Furthermore, I learned that for me it was a mistake to try and level the saddle by placing the level across the top, but rather have the nose be level. The bike shop guy explained that is cuz on a brooks you want your sit bones supported higher up than your soft tissues, which is why the saddle has that shape in the first place. AAAAh, that's what I get for buying my saddle online, but I didn't learn until last week that I even had a local Brooks dealer! I had been riding with it tilted like this based on comfort, but was worried it was a bad thing since some books like Pruit's say if your saddle isn't perfectly level it can mean a bad bike fit. I also found that if I drop the saddle too low, so the nose is pointing down even a bit, then I get shoulder pain, and even soft tissue pain from pushing back up, but level or just a tiny bit up on the nose (which looks quite down sloping from the rear) is PERFECT. So, be sure to experiment with both your saddle angle and set back.