Never thought I'd say this...

[KnottedYet]

If you got the B17 from Wallingford, you have 6 months to try it with no questions asked. The B68 is only a little bit more expensive, certainly the difference is cheaper than a Terry!

Terrys are not wide enough for me.

And the pear shape (gradual transition from nose to perch) of most saddles is terribly painful for me. I have a Serfas Niva that is nearly wide enough, but it's that gradual pear shape that chafes me and makes the saddle a bad fit for me.

Here is my Serfas Niva next to my Brooks B67:


The Serfas has some goofy painted stripes on the trasition area, but you can see that even this saddle (the most T-shaped I could find at the LBS) has a more gradual transition than my B67.

[RoseC]

Actually, I got the B17 from Nashbar some time ago - it was on sale and they had one of their 15% off sales, and I'd always loved the way the Brooks saddles look and the idea of having a leather saddle...so I went for it! I got a good enough deal that if I end up deciding I definitely don't want it, I could probably recup most of my investment. Any future Brooks will come from Wallingford, though!

This is all good stuff to think about. I'm considering moving the B17 to my mountain bike now that it's softened up a bit...and then I could put a B68 on Edwina. Wish I could find a picture of a B68 in honey...

[KnottedYet]

I've got a B67 in honey on order. The top will be the same as a honey B68, I'll post a pic.

Wouldn't surprise me if Bill or Diane at Wallingford would be willing to email you a pic of a honey B68 if you ask them.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wish I could find a picture of a B68 in honey...

Rose, I took some pix of my honey B68. I will post them here later today- must get back to work right now though!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Rose, here are some pix of my new B68 honey Brooks....
Attachment 3380

Attachment 3381

Attachment 3382

[RoseC]

Ooh...it's gorgeous! I really like the pebbled look with the honey. Thanks for posting pics!

For the moment, I think I'm going to stick with the B17, at least until my initial sitbone soreness goes away. I think a part of the whole Terry saga was just grass-is-greener syndrome.

Heh...I went back to the LBS tonight to return it and talked saddles for awhile with the guy working the counter. After hearing my laundry list of wants (and complaints about the Terry) - not smooth / slick enough, too smooshy, too wide in the nose, etc. - he pulled out a few saddles, one of which was the B17! Made me laugh. I admit, I didn't 'fess up to owning one already. I still feel...unworthy of having such a classic, somehow. Pretentious upstart. So I just thanked him and went on my way, though a part of me actually wanted to buy another for my mountain bike, just to spite the Terry sitting on the counter. It didn't like me, it didn't, it didn't.

I went on a good fifteen mile ride tonight, and I really think my Brooks is starting to feel like home. It's smooth (but no longer slippery), nice and cool, it moves with me without smushing anything, it's springy when the road is bumpy, and after just shy of a hundred and seventy five miles, I think it's finally *starting* to get sitbone dents. Most importantly, no girly bits were harmed in the making of that trip... My sitbones are still a tad bruised feeling, but I know a part of that is just that I've only had the bike for three weeks and I did my first thirty mile ride on Saturday!

Bottom line, I think, is that I'm pretty well sold on the whole leather saddle thing. I *think* the regular ol' B17 is wide enough for me, and it sure looks classy on Edwina. If it doesn't work, I now know my LBS can get Brooks saddles...and their prices were right in line with Wallingford. So I can always order a B68 down the line if I decide I need one.

As for the topic of the thread...I did another scoping out session this evening after my ride, and I think Saturday I'm going to make my first go of riding to work. After last weekend, I know I can go thirty miles at a go, so fifteen twice a day should be doable - and that's at the outside of what this trip will likely be.

[RoseC]

By the way, Lisa - after that I had to go check out your bike page again. What a pretty bike - I highly approve of that blue!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks Rose! I just now put 3 new pix of my blue bike up, about 3 minutes ago! I took them today while photographing the saddle for you.

You can see the difference between the old unfinished "raw" cork tape on the handlebars, and what it looks like after twining and shellacking them. I also have thinner tires now.

[KnottedYet]

Lisa - that is one gorgeous saddle! I can hardly wait for Flossie's B67 in honey leather now!

(Crow Carmelita Crosscheck really likes the black B67 that used to be on Flossie, so I'm just not riding Flossie until the honey one comes in)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

(Crow Carmelita Crosscheck really likes the black B67 that used to be on Flossie, so I'm just not riding Flossie until the honey one comes in)

POOR FLOSSIE!!!! Not only have you "betrayed" and abandoned her, but....you even stripped off her saddle and gave it to the new Usurper??? Poor Flossie......even her golden lugs can't help her now....(sniffle, sniffle, lower lip trembling....)

[mimitabby]

No, Lisa, Flossie now has a better matching honey colored saddle. I wouldn't have it any other way. Black saddle on the surly, Honey on Flossie!

where are the handlebar tape pictures?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

No, Lisa, Flossie now has a better matching honey colored saddle. I wouldn't have it any other way. Black saddle on the surly, Honey on Flossie!

where are the handlebar tape pictures?

I just hope Flossie "knows" she is getting a new saddle! She just has her naked seatpost sticking up in the air right now....so undignified!

The handlebar tape pix are on my main bike page, under the 3 updated 2007 blue bike pictures:
http://harmonias.com/Bikes.html

[KnottedYet]

She knows! I give her lots of love, she knows she is my gazelle and Surly is my utility. And a honey will look much better on her than the black. (I've been planning - and even ordered- the honey before I bought the Surly)

all is well!

(She approves of Crow, after all, Ravens are Odin's messengers and Flosshilde is a Rhinemaiden, and Yggdrasil where Trek took the crow is the Norse world-tree, lots of connections, all good!)

[Geonz]

I have to laugh... my Gazelle is definitely my "ultility" since it weighs about 50 pounds!

I agree with what folks have said about being scared... and that there are lots of things to be scared of. My commute is 7 miles.

I am *not* particularly slow, they tell me... but my commuting average is often under 12.5 (today with construction it was under 11). Commuting is completely different from getting out on the open road. I keep track of how long it takes me but I definitely don't try to up my average. I'm focused on commuting. I wll go fast in stretches for fun, but still, I don't look at anything that is going to shift my motivation to "am I going to beat yesterday's time" when I'm in anything like traffic (and we don't really have a lot of that). However, I know that where I used to live, most people had at least an hour's commute (mine was 1:15) ... that's a lot of commuting time and t hey're not even riding!!

This morning I encountered a genuine grumpy "what are you doing on the road impeding my precious life" driver. Even my winsome smile didn't convert him...

[gnat23]

Rose, here are some pix of my new B68 honey Brooks....

Lisa! I love the look of the leather saddle with the leather accents on the bag. It feels very classy in that J. Peterman kind of way!