Brooks B-68 Imperial Review
I must start with a brief history of my adult cycling career. Almost 30 years ago my husband bought me a 3 speed bike for $15.00 at a yard sale which had only 2 working gears.
I didn't mind the gears, nor the fact that I could not straddle the top tube, but I did mind the slab-saddle on it, so I went to the bike shop where I found a nice Brooks B66 for about $10.00 in their used saddle drawer.
I rode that bike for 2 years before replacing it with a bike that fit me but I kept the Brooks saddle.
It was very difficult to put that old saddle on my next bike because of the old fashioned parts it had, but my husband did it anyway because he knew that was the only way that he was going to get me to ride.
Then Brooks came out with the B67 which ended up being on my first road bike. It was a nice saddle, it broke in easily and carried me to Portland on the Seattle to Portland double century ride. I never had any problems with the pain that people talked about when they went on long rides. But then I joined a bike club, where I got teased for having that big saddle on my bike, so I dutifully tried some saddles that were recommended to me, the only one I remember now is the Terry Butterfly, which just seemed like a torture device to me. I went right back to my B67 and by that time, I noticed that other people were starting to buy Brooks saddles too.
Meanwhile, Brooks came out with the B68, which is a nice looking saddle, they took the springs away and made the whole thing lighter, but it was the same basic saddle that I already had so I just kept riding my B67, which I now had installed on both the tandem and my custom steel bike; I put the old B66 my older Raleigh Mixte 10 speed.
Now I am close to 60 years of age. Being an older woman, I began to have issues with the parts of me that meet the saddle, so even with my well broken in Brooks, I have found that I do have to be careful or I can come out of a ride pretty sore, be it a short or a long ride, there’s no rhyme nor reason for the extreme discomfort that can occur.
Enter the Brooks B-68 Imperial: using the carriage of the B-68, they carved a pound off the B-67 saddle. Then they carved a channel down the middle of the saddle, which is a feature of almost all saddles today. So you get the Brooks luxury coupled with the “central cut out” – a winning combination. Last summer, I got one for my new folding bike to replace the ridiculous thing that came with it… and the Brooks was perfect. I liked it so much that I put one on my Davidson steel bike and happy days, my issues disappeared! It is beautiful and there was absolutely no break-in period. If you continue to have issues with saddles, this is a nice little saddle to try, it is classy, tough and you can sit on it all day!
http://www.brooksengland.com/en/Shop...d=B68+Imperial