Brooks Saddle? Yes! But I need help!

[mudmucker]

Am I missing something on the Brooks website. I see that the Team Professional S is only in 170 mm, not 177 mm, as well as the Finesse.

[Veronica]

From Wallingford (wallbike.com)

Titanium rail saddle designed specifically for women. Shorter and wider than the Swift.
This is essentially the ti-railed version of the Professional S.
Size: 177 X 245mm

My Finesse measures what Wallingford says.

V.

[Jewell]

There does seem to be a discrepancy somewhere along the way.

Wallingford:
Team Professional S
177x245
Fitness
177x245

Brooks England:
Team Professional S
170x245
Fitness
170x245

But just out of curiosity, I'm gonna line up all the saddles discussed so our eyes can do the judging. Measurements off www.brooksengland.com

B17 Special:
Width: 170mm
Length: 280mm


B 17 S:
Width: 177mm
Length: 245mm


Team Professional:
Width: 160mm
Length: 260mm


Team Professional S:
Width: 170mm
Length: 245mm


Fitness:
Width: 170mm
Length: 245mm



Who knows how they decide to measure the width saddles, but there's definately a difference in shape.

Speculations...

[Jewell]

Ok, that whole post had pictures of the brooks saddles.... it worked just fine on the preview, and had to be "approved", which took two days. How frustrating.

[malkin]

I can see the pics when I swipe the URL from properties and then paste it in the browser address line.

[malkin]

Curiouser and curiouser, now the ones I looked at in a new window are showing up in your post.

[TrekTheKaty]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for starting this thread, Jewell. My B68 is on the way..........

[kenyonchris]

Just my 2 cents...I have a brooks thanks to everyone here and I LOVE it. It actually looks great on my Specialized Ruby Ex....the tan with the black and gold of the bike look great. More importantly, my butt doesn't hurt even after a century. I have the regular B-17, and I got my LBS to put it on for me (it was a little tricky with the seatpost).
After the first ride I found that my howsyourfathers (an Irishism for unmentionable parts) were rubbed...not terribly, but I thought a really long ride would get sticky. I suffered through quite a few rides, and finally had my LBS look at it again, only to find that the nose WAS, in fact, a milimeter too high. A small tweak, and the howsyourfathers are safe and comfy, and I wouldn't trade it for the world...and I don't feel nose-low (it is a bit slippery and if it were nose low I would feel like I was having to push back all the time).

[Jewell]

Well Ladies,

I'm still trying to find a saddle that's just right. As I told you earlier, I tried the B.17. The metal rails that held the saddle were long enough, the saddle just wasn't wide enough.
Tried the Team Pro S, it still wasn't wide enough and the metal rails weren't long enough for me to get my body weight balanced. I went on a 4 day bike tour with this one... my boody didn't approve.
Wallingford was fresh out of saddles, so I had to wait for what seemed like forever to get the B.68. I have it on now, and it seems to be the right width. Only problem is the metal rails aren't long enough for me to be comfortable in my handle bars. Oh blast it all!

Any of you ladies know of any solutions to this frustrating problem?

[Jewell]

Well I found this site and I'm going to go looking for a shorter head stem to begin with. We'll see how that pans out.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wallingford was fresh out of saddles, so I had to wait for what seemed like forever to get the B.68. I have it on now, and it seems to be the right width. Only problem is the metal rails aren't long enough for me to be comfortable in my handle bars. Oh blast it all!

Any of you ladies know of any solutions to this frustrating problem?

You didn't get the B68S did you? The "men's" B68 (no S) has longer rails.
Why do you feel the rails are not long enough for you to be comfy in your handlebars?- can you describe it in more detail?

[Jewell]

Indeed,

My B68 (not B68S) is as far forward on the rails as it can go. The tilt of the saddle is just right, but I can't seem to rest comfortably in the brake rests. Making my balance uneasy and braking difficult.

Now when I had the B17, this wasn't a problem, but now with the B68 I'm stretched out and I'm having some back pains. Its so frustrating, I love biking but the past few days I don't wana cause of the discomfort.

I think one thing to do is to get a smaller stem. If that doesn't work... I may have to forfeit this lovely saddle. Any other ideas would be great.

[Cataboo]

You can get a shorter stem, having a higher angle on it might help. You can also get handlebars that are more shallow and don't stick out as far forward

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Indeed,

My B68 (not B68S) is as far forward on the rails as it can go. The tilt of the saddle is just right, but I can't seem to rest comfortably in the brake rests. Making my balance uneasy and braking difficult.

Now when I had the B17, this wasn't a problem, but now with the B68 I'm stretched out and I'm having some back pains. Its so frustrating, I love biking but the past few days I don't wana cause of the discomfort.

I think one thing to do is to get a smaller stem. If that doesn't work... I may have to forfeit this lovely saddle. Any other ideas would be great.

Ok, here's another idea: Shove your B68 all the way BACK instead of forward.
I know, sounds nuts....but it can work to your advantage.
First, your stem looks pretty short already, don't change it for now or you may get wobbly steering as a result. A 7mm stem should be the minimum for good steering.
If your saddle is this far forward, your center of gravity will be further forward as well, resulting in a feeling of too much weight forward onto your hands. This can also feel like you are too stretched out and you feel like you want to bring the bars back towards you. From the photo, it looks like your butt is hovering almost directly over the crank, like on a unicycle. I know that feeling, and it's no fun.

This is an extreme example but it gives you the basic concept-
Try this:
get on your hands and knees on the floor in a normal straight "horsey ride" position with your arms and legs at 90degree angles to the floor. Now without moving, just pretend your hands are on the handlebars.
Now without moving your butt or anything else, raise your hands off the floor 6 inches. What's that you say?- can't do it without falling on your face?- that's because your center of gravity is forward, onto your hands.

Now- keeping your hands in the same spot on the imaginary bars, and keeping your knees in the same place, pretend you push your saddle back and move your butt back about 8-10". Now raise your hands off the floor. Now you can do it. ...because even though you actually lengthened the distance between your saddle and your handlebars, you pulled your center of gravity back off your hands and thus no longer feel like you are falling forward and needing to pull the bars back closer to you. You feel more balanced.

If you push your saddle all the way BACK it will feel quite different at first. It may feel totally wrong at first.Give it a chance....a few rides to see how your weight balance changes and how it effects you. This helped me to some degree and I had the same problems as you on my Rivendell. Also, as you ride more on that bike your core/stomach muscles will strengthen and that will help too.

Another thing that might help is to get some shims put in your brifters so you can reach your fingers around the brake levers better- I don't know if you have problems with that, but the levers look kind of way out there and it might be difficult to brake if you have small hands, especially if you have reach issues already. Just a hunch.

Hope some of this is helpful.

[Jewell]

As soon as i saw you posted I brought the saddle closer.... and goodness what a difference it made! Thanks so much! I'll be tweaking it over the next couples days to get it just right.

And I do need to look into shortening the brakes, when I'm in the drops I can hardly reach.