Brooks B68 and B68S

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Are you saying that it's too small for you in all directions (width + length)? Are you extra large? Or is it that it just feels too hard? Can you describe the problem in more detail?

[mimitabby]

was the seat far back enough?
if you felt the rivets, your butt was too far back.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yes I would say shove the saddle all the way back to start with. That's how mine is and it's great that way for me.
When you say it's "too short", do you mean the nose or the back of the saddle?

[Nokomis]

I'm not xl - the seat felt too short note to end to give me room to scoot around. It definately felt too hard, but the only thing feeling anything was the sit bones... and no matter if I scooted forward or back I always felt like I was hitting the edge.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sounds to me like you are not used to feeling all your weight on your sitbones. Is that possibly what the issue is?

[Nokomis]

sharp pain? and that being the only part of the body that feels like it is touching the saddle?

[mimitabby]

and do you have padded shorts?
Do your sitting bones hurt when you sit on a wooden chair?

[Nokomis]

padded shorts - yep
wooden chairs - the only one I've had to sit on is my dining set, and those have a nice concave seat that is comfortable to sit on. I've toned up the ol' backside quite a bit over the last few months - not a lot back there to give cush (lol - actually, look a bit like the flying girl in my avatar)

Unless it's raining like mad when I get home, I'll get back out on the bike try to find more intelligent words to use and spend time making adjustments. I think I lost my patience last night ~ yay pms + allergy overload.
Appreciate the questions

[Nokomis]

trying to upload a pic of what i'm feeling where - trying veryhard to give this thing a go. From where my bony rear is hitting the seat, not a lot of forward/aft room for adjustments before I run out of saddle.

[KnottedYet]

I find it very hard to believe your sits are wider than mine, so my guess is that you need to slide the saddle farther back on the rails? (far as I know, I have the widest sits of anyone who has posted on the board) Or maybe your sits just aren't used to the pressure?

Have you planted yourself on the saddle and put your fingers under your sits to get a good idea of where you are hitting?

The B67 was quite hard to start with, but I could definitely feel it under my sits and NO WHERE else. Which was an amazing relief for my softer tissues. Took me a couple rides to get it into the perfect position. You have 6 months from Wallingford to try it out, no harm done.

(really dumb question: is the saddle you recieved really a B68? Is it really a B68 and not a B68S?)

[Nokomis]

I've shoved the seat back as far as it would go. I order the B68, will have to check the packaging to make sure that is is. (The image isn't of a B68, I pulled down probably the 67 in order to have a top image similar to the 68 to use.)

The saddle is 168mm wide - the foam / specialized board measured out my sit bones at 140mm and my home trial came at 150 - so if I take the larger and divide that says I have 9mm between my sit bone & the edge of this saddle. I guess that might be the case based on where I feel like I'm hitting - I have felt back there and all I can find under my sit bones is the edge/rivet area.

/sigh - gonna *try* a group ride today, but feel I need to bring a spare saddle somehow.

[RoseC]

The saddle is 168mm wide

Just curious...what part are you measuring? My B17 is 168-170mm wide at the part where my behind goes, which is about right for me. But the B68 should be considerably wider.

My saddle says the model name on the side, if that helps!

I wasn't sure about mine at first, but after a few weeks of lots of riding, I don't think it's coming off. I don't have dimples, but it *is* changing shape. Funny...my right foot is flatter than my left (both are flat, but...), and the indent on that side looks to be a bit deeper, I suppose because that leg is effectively shorter. Kinda interesting.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The saddle is 168mm wide - the foam / specialized board measured out my sit bones at 140mm and my home trial came at 150 - so if I take the larger and divide that says I have 9mm between my sit bone & the edge of this saddle. I guess that might be the case based on where I feel like I'm hitting - I have felt back there and all I can find under my sit bones is the edge/rivet area.

According to Wallingford's site:
http://www.wallbike.com/brooks/standardsaddles.html

The B68 measures 210mm wide X 260mm long(nose to back).

The B17 measures 170mm wide X 280mm long.

If your measurements are correct it sounds like they sent you a B17, which was too narrow for both Knot and me in the sitbone area.

[Nokomis]

According to Wallingford's site:
The B68 measures 210mm wide X 260mm long(nose to back).

You're correct - I was going from poor memory. The stamp on the side does say B68. That saddle was quite the conversation piece on the ride.

I rode over 40 miles on it, and it felt like I was trying to balance on a pair of baseballs - easily slipping off, perching on a very hard and curved surface. If those are my sit bones, they are hitting on the outside edge where I drew the line, and it's quite hard & sore. Sitting now is a new & different kind of sore - though I am glad not to have the A bone pressure bruise! I did have the numb second toe, and spent plenty of time climbing rolling hills out of the saddle. There isn't any way I can think of to adjust the saddle so I'm hitting it differently - I tried plenty of position changes, pelvic tilts etc. to try to find a less painful spot.

Post ride I was joking that it's time to go in for reconstructive butt surgery. Bleh!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

If it helps to know- When I got my B17, I had never tried a Brooks before. My sitbones were VERY sore the first week or two I started using a Brooks saddle. Nothing else hurt, just my sitbones. I kept applying Proofhide from Brooks, top and bottom, about 6 times during that first month. My DH said the soreness was to be expected and would fade away, so I trusted him and kept riding. After 2 weeks of riding the soreness faded away. I think my bones just got used to it, because the saddle certainly wasn't broken in yet. (it was my BUTT that got broken in!)
Anyway, by the end of the first month I was as comfy as could be and by the second month I saw the saddle was beginning to form to my sitbones, with little dents there.
Then I got a new B68 (wider than my original B17), and though I anticipated a week of soreness with the brand new saddle, I only had one day of sitbone soreness and a few days later did a 70 mile ride on it with no problems (just allover tired!). It is still not broken in yet but apparently my bum was used to the Brooks "way of life" and did not mind the brand new Brooks at all. It's really comfy for me.
But I remember well that very first sore week!