Hmmm, Brooks B72 or B68?

[divingbiker]

Occasionally people have problems with the springs squeaking.

I've got both, a B68 on my commuter and a B72 on the Xtracycle. The B72 does squeak a bit, and I haven't noticed a whole lot of difference in comfort because of the springs. It looks cool, but if you want the advantage of a sprung saddle, I'd go with the B67, otherwise stick with the unsprung B68.

[Andrea]

I've got both, a B68 on my commuter and a B72 on the Xtracycle. The B72 does squeak a bit, and I haven't noticed a whole lot of difference in comfort because of the springs. It looks cool, but if you want the advantage of a sprung saddle, I'd go with the B67, otherwise stick with the unsprung B68.

Thanks for all the quick replies! Which one has more rail length? The B17 rails are really short, and I'd probably end up getting a seatpost with more of a setback if I stuck with it.

[Blueberry]

Andrea-

Do you have the regular B-17 or the S? The S rails on the one I have (but no longer ride) are *way* short.... The regular one doesn't seem too bad...

And yeah - depending on the color, I might be interested if it's the regular

CA

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The "S" models (supposedly for women) have much shorter rails because they are shorter saddles. I can't stand them, and won't get any S model ever again.

Is it the B17 S that you have with 'short rails'?

[Andrea]

Nope, I've got the B17 Champion Special. It's the same as a standard B17, except dressed up a little with bigger copper rivets and a chamfered edge. I think it's more of an issue with the geometry of the bike, because I had no problem with the rails being too short when I tried it on my road bike.

[Blueberry]

Yep. PM me if you decide to sell. I'd probably be interested.

[sgtiger]

I love my B72! I do occasionally feel some sproingy-ness with it - like going over BIG tree roots that can sometimes be hard to avoid on the trails 'round here. I'm guessing it doesn't have quite the shock absorbency of the B67, but since that's not what you're looking for it might work for you. I haven't had any problems attaching a saddle bag(when I had one - now I have a cool bike trunk!) to my bike with it. It did also squeak there for a while but the sound isn't from the springs. Knot and BIAK's LBS/mechanic friend, both advised me to oil some part underneath and it hasn't been back. Like Knot mentioned, it does require a seat sandwich for micro-adjust seat posts.