On Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 6:01:48 AM UTC, pH wrote:
On Monday, December 9, 2019 at 4:35:08 AM UTC-8, Andre Jute wrote:
In another thread some people are bashing Brooks saddles.

This is the space for them to claim they weren't bashing Brooks saddles..

I can't join them. Though it is true that for a long time I drank their koolaid and assumed a Brooks saddle is one of those tools, like drop bars, that cyclists choose as agents of self-mortification, when I did buy a Brooks (B73, thick leather hammock, triple stiff helical springs, double rail mounting springs, fifty quid on sale at SJS, makers of the much-admired Thorn bikes -- Sheldon had one), I found it so comfortable that now, ten years later, you will have to pry it from my cold dead bum. I don't remember breaking it in either. It is now, allowing for a few scrapes and scuffs, exactly the same shape as it was 10K+ back.

The way I ride on the downhills a firm, positively locating saddle is imperative. There's no point to expensively developing a fast, secure bike and then buying from a bike-fashion boutique some narrow saddle that you need to clench onto. I call those "jaillhouse saddles" for the obvious reason.

Ande Jute
The herd ran the other way

Very pleased w/ my Rivendell issue Brooks B17.

The Easy Racer recumbent seat can only be likened to a comfy lawn chair (as we used to call them) rolling down the street.

To each his own, of course. I remember threads where some people could use practically anything w/o complaint and the opposite as well. A comfy seat is a joy.
Luckily I don't have to worry much about rain riding. I daresay that's a lot more of an issue in the Emerald Isle.

pH

I have a Brooks waxed canvas saddle-cover which works well for a single stop when you'll leave the bike for a fair while, but it gets to be a nuisance if you're making several short-duration stops because you're to supposed to ride on it. So I hardly use the cover, but it has done my saddle no harm at all. I sweep the beads of water off with my hand -- I cycle in fine leather dress gloves -- and my trousers don't get wet through. I suspect that my saddle's immunity to wet is because to get a custom colour (I wanted a mid-tan Brooks doesn't supply, so bought a honey saddle and grips and browned them up with the neatsfoot) and to break it in quickly, I soaked the whole thing top and bottom in a bath of neatsfoot oil for about 20 minutes before I ever sat on it, and the neatsfoot worked into the leather to a depth of about a millimetre, which basically immunises the leather to anything from a soft day (a persistent drizzle) to bucketing rain.

BTW, ladies' shower caps make perfectly good saddle covers, and are less likely to attract a bike thief than a cover loudly proclaiming Brooks' expensive elite status.

Andre Jute
Small things that together make a great bike