Saddle upgrade

Walter Mitty <[email hidden]> wrote in news:3cpnl4F6r99tlU2@uni-
berlin.de:

Quoted message said:

Sources for this?

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

Google this NG for lots

Quoted message said:

Expensive? All relative : but not for me considering the materials,
longevity and craftsmanship & history of a Brookes Saddle.

Man the Brooks fanatics are worse than benters

[email hidden] wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Walter Mitty said:

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

I regret three of them.

To give more detail, I was sorry two of my bikes came with Brooks
saddles - a Brooks B-17 Narrow and a Brooks Professional which
claimed to be pre-softened. And I was more sorry the wider B-17
Standard I bought as a replacement for the Narrow was was also
uncomfortable.

I tried valiantly to make those saddles work, for years. For me,
they just didn't do the job.

- Frank Krygowski

All your fault Frank, you were obviously issued with a defective ass.

Mountain Bike Review <www.mtbr.com> (I think is the url) has hundreds of
reviews and opinions on most saddles.

Peter Cole said:

[email hidden] wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Get a Brooks B17 and all saddle discomfort will disappear. They are
THE most important piece of equipment to add to a bike

Quoted message said:

Lots of people have had lots of bad experiences with lots of Brooks
saddles. They're expensive, hard to buy, and by no means a panacea.

I wouldn't say I've had a bad experience but I prefer a modern saddle. A Brooks
can be very comfortable indeed. Once it wears in it feels like it's not even
there -- if you're in the sweet spot. But if you're not, it's definately
substandard. Personally I tend to vary my position a bit. I'm in the sweet
spot just part of the time, so the Brooks doesn't work well for me. Plus there
are maintenance and care issues not present with modern saddles -- breaking it
in, keeping it sealed, dry, adjusted, etc. What a pain.

So for some people they're great, but they're definately no panacea. Give me a
Flite or clone any day instead. (I'm now riding a Flite-like Terry.)

BTW, I can't think of a saddle more universally loved than a Turbomatic.
Unfortunately they're hard to find these days, especially without obnoxious
logos and embroidery.

Matt O.

Walter Mitty said:

Peter Cole said:

Quoted message said:

Get a Brooks B17 and all saddle discomfort will disappear. They are
THE most important piece of equipment to add to a bike

Lots of people have had lots of bad experiences with lots of Brooks
saddles. They're expensive, hard to buy, and by no means a panacea.

Sources for this?

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

Expensive? All relative : but not for me considering the materials,
longevity and craftsmanship & history of a Brookes Saddle.

A couple of people in this newsgroup had complaints with their
purchase of Brooks saddled (I'm not one of those). One managed to get
it exchanged but I don't know about the other(s). It was on this
newsgroup within the last year. I remember it because one person who
couldn't use the Brooks used a Selle instead and I couldn't stand the
Selle (painfully too narrow for me). I didn't argue the point because
they were happy with their saddle and I happy with mine. :-)

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

Walter Mitty said:

Peter Cole said:

Quoted message said:

Get a Brooks B17 and all saddle discomfort will disappear. They

are

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

THE most important piece of equipment to add to a bike

Lots of people have had lots of bad experiences with lots of Brooks
saddles. They're expensive, hard to buy, and by no means a panacea.

Sources for this?

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

Expensive? All relative : but not for me considering the materials,
longevity and craftsmanship & history of a Brookes Saddle.

Google it. It's been thrashed to death on these forums. A substantial
number of people find the Brooks saddles to be the worst things they've
ever tried. Count me as one of them. I tried a "Professional" for 1,000
miles of summer riding, in every conceivable tilt angle, it nearly
crippled me. Then I swapped it for a B17, same thing, not as bad. The
Professional gave me the worst case of numnutz -- scary bad -- and
saddle sores. The B17 was almost tolerable, but not nearly as
comfortable as a any $10 OEM saddle I've tried.

Brooks saddles are like hammocks, they are a leather sling. I need a
flat saddle. Brooks are just all wrong for me. I couldn't ride 50 miles
comfortably with my B17, swapped with my sister for her Selle Italia
Tri-matic. She loved it, I did a 250 mile brevet a week later with no
soreness, numbness or break in. I know lots of people who love Brooks
and lots who hate them, there seems to be no middle ground.

wafflycat said:

I swear by a Terry's Liberator, but as I'm a girly, my sit bones are

likely

Quoted message said:

to be totally different to yours ;-)

I was fixing up a beater, and the only saddle in the parts bin was a
fem-specific mountain bike racing saddle that I had bought my wife
years earlier. That thing was *tiny*. I thought "no way", my wife
*hated* it, it'll never work for me (I'm 6'10", she's 5'7"😉. I put it
on my bike. It's not bad, not bad at all. Go figure.

I didn't have too much luck with a Liberator, too cushy, not flat
enough, & without fenders you get splashed in a rather startling place.

"Edward" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I too am going through the same problem, and have done a little
research. Apparently Specialized has a 30 day return policy for their
saddles. Has anyone tried the Avatar or Alias saddles yet ? I also here
the Terry Fly is good.

I am a Brooks saddle guy myself.
Once I went Brooks, I could never go back.
Nothing else works as good as a Brooks for me.

Quoted message said:

Walter Mitty said:

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

I regret three of them.

To give more detail, I was sorry two of my bikes came with Brooks
saddles - a Brooks B-17 Narrow and a Brooks Professional which claimed
to be pre-softened. And I was more sorry the wider B-17 Standard I
bought as a replacement for the Narrow was was also uncomfortable.

I tried valiantly to make those saddles work, for years. For me, they
just didn't do the job.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you still have them?

Life is Good!
Jeff

"Peter Cole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Get a Brooks B17 and all saddle discomfort will disappear. They are
THE most important piece of equipment to add to a bike

Lots of people have had lots of bad experiences with lots of Brooks
saddles. They're expensive, hard to buy, and by no means a panacea.

They are by no means hard to buy. Nashbar sells the complete line, including
the Sparrow. If one of the largest mail order houses has them they're not
exactly rare... :-)

Walter Mitty said:

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

Let me introduce myself. I had a Brooks pro. I tried for months to
"break it in", to no avail. Worst saddle I ever had.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but
_`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox.
(_)/ (_) |

Walter Mitty said:

Which is why leather saddles like brookes are generally so good : they
mould to your fit.

Sure they do. I believed this BS for 6 months, then finally gave up. No
saddle sores since.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "Business!" cried the Ghost. "Mankind was my business. The
_`\(,_ | common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance,
(_)/ (_) | and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my
trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my
business!" --Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"

David L. Johnson said:

Walter Mitty said:

Which is why leather saddles like brookes are generally so good : they
mould to your fit.

Sure they do. I believed this BS for 6 months, then finally gave up. No
saddle sores since.

It has to be approximately the right shape to begin with, but aside from
that it's no BS. They don't work for everybody, but they work extremely
well for many.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Evelyn the dog, having undergone further modification, pondered the
significance of short-person behavior in pedal-depressed panchromatic
resonance and other highly ambient domains... "Arf", she said.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 15:20:48 +0200, Walter Mitty <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Peter Cole said:

Quoted message said:

Get a Brooks B17 and all saddle discomfort will disappear. They are
THE most important piece of equipment to add to a bike

Lots of people have had lots of bad experiences with lots of Brooks
saddles. They're expensive, hard to buy, and by no means a panacea.

Sources for this?

I've never known a purchaser of a Brookes regret it.

Now you've done it. Every person who's participated in this group in
the last five years and whose butt doesn't fit a Brooks will chime in
to tell you you're wrong. Several of them multiple times.

Quoted message said:

Expensive? All relative : but not for me considering the materials,
longevity and craftsmanship & history of a Brookes Saddle.

I am happy with my B17. To those interested, may I suggest ordering
one from wallbike.com? You can try it for 6 months, IIRC, and send it
back if you don't like it for a refund. If it works for you, you can
join the chorus of Brooks advocates. If it doesn't, you're out
shipping and handling.

(I'd say this is an alternative that would make everyone happy, except
it's likely somebody would find a reason to be offended.)

Pat

Email address works as is.

"Peter Cole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wafflycat wrote:

Quoted message said:

I didn't have too much luck with a Liberator, too cushy, not flat
enough, & without fenders you get splashed in a rather startling place.

I don't have that problem on my race bike - no mudguards (fenders) and I use
a Terry's RaceLight on that one, it too has a fart hole ;-)

Cheers, helen s

<snip>

Quoted message said:

I am a Brooks saddle guy myself.
Once I went Brooks, I could never go back.
Nothing else works as good as a Brooks for me.

Exactly! I bought a Brooks B.17. I just love
it. No way would I ever switch back to synthetic.

Gregg [email protected] said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I am a Brooks saddle guy myself.
Once I went Brooks, I could never go back.
Nothing else works as good as a Brooks for me.

Exactly! I bought a Brooks B.17. I just love
it. No way would I ever switch back to synthetic.

My two favorite saddles are the Brooks Team Pro and the Bernard Hinault
"Turbo" of yore. But I got a plastic "Unicanitor" shell to put on my
commuter bike so as not to ruin one of these more comfortable models in
the weather.

--

John ([email hidden])