How long did it take you to break in your Brooks?

[mimitabby]

you're not going to offend me.
All this research; not sure if i agree. when you sit on a seat at home, do you need a cutout? If your posture is good, your crotch is NOT pressed into the saddle, your sit bones are. and they are more or less designed to hold the weight. The brooks saddle gives your sit bones a great spot.
If your objective is to get the lightest saddle possible; and i know a lot of folks are there; they're going to carve away that nice spot for your sit bones; so instead you are sitting on... all that delicate tissue; and yeah, then you sure do need a cutout or you can forget the joys of sex!

[chort]

With all the seats I have tried in the past (cut outs and no cutouts) my soft tissue was always smooshed and hurt like h3ll. I'd be soooo sore when I got back from even a short ride - 10 mile ride... and I'm sure my dh was sick of hearing about it. I'm experiencing no pain with my Brooks - just on the sitbones still, but that is waaaaay better than the soft tissue.

[RoadRaven]

Hey Lisa, thanks for that great and detailed response.

The seat I use on both my bikes is a Dolce, it is marketed as "women's specific" and has a good cutout (though the packaging called it a "love channel" hahahaha).

I know alot of the seats sold to women are tooooo soft and "juicy" and "smooshy". I hate those, they feel uncomfy the second I sit on them.

I am thinking of the Brooks saddle in jeannierides new bike thread on her bicycle. It looks so different to mine, and I don't think I could be comfy on it.

My current seat is only marginally wider than my partner's and sons' saddles (wider sit bones of course) and only a tad softer. Not much in it. They have those skinny hard saddles like we just saw so often on le Tour (though my partner is refusing to cut the nose of his Italia (?) like Cancellara has on his!)

But then I read about people wanting to have indents in the leather on their Brooks from their sitbones and it really has me wondering about Brooks and about how others find comfort on a bike.

I mean, its obvious it is the right saddle for many women here, there are lots of Brooks fans. So I am not trying to say i am right or my saddle is better. Far from it. I am just intrigued, thats all...

Thanks for both answering - and Chort, I think the "sitbone" pain happens regardless as you get used to riding the distances. i don't think its so much the sitbones per se hurting, its the muscles in your butt getting used to taking all your weight on two points...

[bikerchick68]

mine never worked for me after 1000 miles and then finally riding it for STP where I ended up with blisters on my butt, I gave up. I desperately wanted one to work for me, but just no go. It's now been replaced with a different saddle and the Brooks is in the back of car waiting to be sold.

I got one because I personally know several people who swear by them too. I envy those of you who they work for...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thanks for both answering - and Chort, I think the "sitbone" pain happens regardless as you get used to riding the distances. i don't think its so much the sitbones per se hurting, its the muscles in your butt getting used to taking all your weight on two points...

I agree completely with that. I see initial sitbone soreness as a GOOD sign- it means your weight is balanced on a good place rather than your weight on your sensitive front parts. Sitbone soreness usually fades away with frequent riding. Mine came back briefly in the Spring when I began riding a lot after a winter slowdown. Then as I rode more it was gone again in a few days.

[KnottedYet]

There are many different styles of Brooks, so when you hear me raving about my Brooks, Lisa talking about hers, Mimi and her 30 year old Brooks, and BikerHen lovin' her new Brooks... well, each of us has a DIFFERENT Brooks! They come in different shapes, different widths, different lengths, different frames.

(B67, B68, B66, B17 for the four mentioned)

You still need to know your sit bone width, your shape preference ("T" or pear), flared cantle or flat, and what sort of nose you like to get the right Brooks for you and your riding style.

Wallingford Bicycle Parts has a great selection of Brooks. www.wallbike.com

Hey, Brooks cult: I saw a B18 on a gorgeous old Schwinn today! Pretty saddle!

[RoadRaven]

you're not going to offend me.
All this research; not sure if i agree. when you sit on a seat at home, do you need a cutout? If your posture is good, your crotch is NOT pressed into the saddle, your sit bones are. and they are more or less designed to hold the weight. The brooks saddle gives your sit bones a great spot.
If your objective is to get the lightest saddle possible; and i know a lot of folks are there; they're going to carve away that nice spot for your sit bones; so instead you are sitting on... all that delicate tissue; and yeah, then you sure do need a cutout or you can forget the joys of sex!

Sorry Mimi, when I was in here this morning I somehow completely missed your response!

I think there is a fundemental difference between sitting on a seat at home, and sitting on a bike. On a bike you don't have a back rest, arm rests or the ability to change where your butt rests. Therefore all weight bearing is centralised onto one area and the only way to alleviate at that is to stand as you cycle or to get off the bike.

I'm trying to think of an analogy, and the best one I can is comparing your slippers, or your favourite old casual shoes... very comfortable for moving round the house or with your mates at a mooching pace... but if you go hiking (in NZ we say tramping) you want firm, tight fitting boots. If you wear your favourite sloppy shoes, you'll be blistered and chaffed before you reach the first hut.

So it is with saddles - you need a bike seat on a bike - not a sofa - you want something that will be comfortable but not allow so much movement you move and get chaffed/blistered.

Now, before anyone gets annoyed with me for saying Brooks are sofas, that is NOT at all what I am saying - I'm just trying to clarify what Mimi was wondering (ie, why we don't need a cutout in our sofas!).

So saddles develop to afford the best comfort for the type of riding and it dawned on me today that perhaps the Brooks saddles go best on bikes where the riders are more upright... would this be a correct assumption?

Perhaps Brooks are best suited to those of who are upright in there position, as opposed to riders like me whose bars are lower than the saddles and who place our weight forward and low...?

Oh, and Mimi, for me its not about weight in the saddle, its comfort.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

So saddles develop to afford the best comfort for the type of riding and it dawned on me today that perhaps the Brooks saddles go best on bikes where the riders are more upright... would this be a correct assumption?

Perhaps Brooks are best suited to those of who are upright in there position, as opposed to riders like me whose bars are lower than the saddles and who place our weight forward and low...?

I think that there is a certain amount of truth in this. However, as in most generalizations, there are MANY exceptions.
I think it is generally more difficult to find ANY saddle that is comfortable for long distance riding in a low down racing posture. We can see ample proof of that from reading TE forums.
The simple fact is that the low-bars racing position is not designed for long distance comfort at all- it's designed for racing, not for doing centuries or for touring.

People want to be fast on their bikes during club rides. They want to commute on their bikes comfortably. They want to do all day centuries on their bikes. They want to do their grocery shopping on their bikes. They want to do fast triathlons or TT's on their bikes.

I believe you really can't have it all on one bike-
Want to avoid back, neck and girly bits pain on a 5 day tour?- use a lower/longer geometry bike that's not a stiff frame, where you are a bit more upright and have wider gear ranges and plusher tires.
Want to keep up with fast club rides?- use a lightweight lively-geometry racing bike where you are aerodynamically hunkered down, with hard skinny tires and lose the granny gear.
Want to ride a century briskly but are not racing against time and don't want to be in terrible pain at the end?- then put together a bike that falls somewhere in between the two.

All the more reason for us to get more than one bike!
Just my own humble opinion.

Lisa "still only one bike" S.H.

[RoadRaven]

Yeah, I agree Lisa
You need the right equipment for the job at hand and that is why we all have so many different bikes, saddles, bars etc etc. You really can't "have it all" in just one bike.

I don't tour (although I want to in the future)
I commute on my race bike, as that is part of my training
So I continue to be interested with no practical knowledge in Brooks saddles. Because there is certainly a BIG fan base here.

Thanks