A pain in the bum

On the 13th May this year my new Brooks saddle arrived to replace my
worn out padded Rolls saddle.

Between then and August I probably rode well over 1000 miles, but it
never really felt comfortable. It was with some trepidation that I
took it on tour with me for a 1000 Km ten day trip along the Rhine and
Mosel rivers, and across the hills between Strasbourg and Nancy.

It was a pain in the arse - or, if you want me to be more precise, a
pain in the bit between the arse and scrotum. At least it was for the
first eight days. And then, soon after ascending the steep hill by
'le plan incline' (www.plan-incline.com), I sat back in the saddle and
for the very first time it felt comfortable - not an instrument of
torture.

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.

Tom Crispin wrote:
On the 13th May this year my new Brooks saddle arrived to replace my
worn out padded Rolls saddle.

Between then and August I probably rode well over 1000 miles, but it
never really felt comfortable. It was with some trepidation that I
took it on tour with me for a 1000 Km ten day trip along the Rhine and
Mosel rivers, and across the hills between Strasbourg and Nancy.

It was a pain in the arse - or, if you want me to be more precise, a
pain in the bit between the arse and scrotum. At least it was for the
first eight days. And then, soon after ascending the steep hill by
'le plan incline' (www.plan-incline.com), I sat back in the saddle and
for the very first time it felt comfortable - not an instrument of
torture.

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.
Ouch, I admire your persistence. It always seemed to me that the saddle
beraks the risder in rather than the other way around.
When I was about 18 I had a Dawes Chevron with a solid plastic saddle
that, at first was almost unbearable, but gradually became quite
comfortable. The saddle hadn't changed, but I assume that parts of me did!
I would change it straight away now, but I didn't know any better then.
Roger Thorpe

In article ,
Tom Crispin wrote:

On the 13th May this year my new Brooks saddle arrived to replace my
worn out padded Rolls saddle.

Between then and August I probably rode well over 1000 miles, but it
never really felt comfortable. It was with some trepidation that I
took it on tour with me for a 1000 Km ten day trip along the Rhine and
Mosel rivers, and across the hills between Strasbourg and Nancy.

It was a pain in the arse - or, if you want me to be more precise, a
pain in the bit between the arse and scrotum. At least it was for the
first eight days. And then, soon after ascending the steep hill by
'le plan incline' (www.plan-incline.com), I sat back in the saddle and
for the very first time it felt comfortable - not an instrument of
torture.

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.

This is scary. I've had my B66 on the bike now for maybe 50 km, but am
holding off really using it until I get some Proofide. For the moment,
it's hurting _exactly_ where you said yours was.

I've got another 1400 miles of this ?? :-P


--
aigle_de_la_route
Surly Long Haul Trucker (soon..)
http://2x2wheels.org/

In ,
aigle_de_la_route tweaked the
Babbage-Engine to tell us:

This is scary. I've had my B66 on the bike now for maybe 50 km, but
am holding off really using it until I get some Proofide. For the
moment, it's hurting _exactly_ where you said yours was.

I've got another 1400 miles of this ?? :-P

Possibly. Or not. I've got three B17s. One was comfortable from day one,
another required 500 miles to break in and the third, I fear, is /never/
going to play nicely.

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
Funsize Mars bars? What could possibly be MORE fun about eating
LESS chocolate?

On Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:23:29 +0100
"Dave Larrington" wrote:

Possibly. Or not. I've got three B17s. One was comfortable from
day one, another required 500 miles to break in and the third, I
fear, is /never/ going to play nicely.

Tension adjustment?

aigle_de_la_route wrote:
In article ,
Tom Crispin wrote:

On the 13th May this year my new Brooks saddle arrived to replace my
worn out padded Rolls saddle......

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.

This is scary. I've had my B66 on the bike now for maybe 50 km, but
am holding off really using it until I get some Proofide. For the
moment, it's hurting _exactly_ where you said yours was.

I've got another 1400 miles of this ?? :-P


Its my view that if a saddle is uncomfortable then it is the wrong shape for
your body, wrongly made, or wrongly adjusted. The notion that one should
ride 1000+ miles to get comfortable is silly.

Some people fit Brooks products well, others find them completely unsuited
for their backside. Brooks make a range of saddle sizes and shapes, and use
different materials from the almost rock-hard to very flexible.

Accept that if it doesn't fit and you cannot fix the adjustment, you need
something different.


- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:29:18 +0100, Tom Crispin
said in
:

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.

I find that Brooks saddles are best if tilted forward slightly more
than other saddles. I don't really know why this is, I just write
it off as "works for me".

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Nigel Cliffe wrote:
aigle_de_la_route wrote:

This is scary. I've had my B66 on the bike now for maybe 50 km, but
am holding off really using it until I get some Proofide. For the
moment, it's hurting _exactly_ where you said yours was.

I've got another 1400 miles of this ?? :-P

Its my view that if a saddle is uncomfortable then it is the wrong shape for
your body, wrongly made, or wrongly adjusted. The notion that one should
ride 1000+ miles to get comfortable is silly.

Some people fit Brooks products well, others find them completely unsuited
for their backside. Brooks make a range of saddle sizes and shapes, and use
different materials from the almost rock-hard to very flexible.

Accept that if it doesn't fit and you cannot fix the adjustment, you need
something different.

I think so too. My B66 (and B17) was comfy straight out the box,
because of a good fit. My Bromtpon Brooks took a bit of softening to
get properly comfy, but as always the right basic /shape/ so it never
caused me any pain.

There's nothing magic about a Brooks. Riding them for hundreds of miles
to "break them in" before they're remotely comfy is a long way of making
something wrong a little less wrong. If a Brooks is right the "breaking
in" turns them from comfortable to very comfortable. if they don't work
moderately well straight away they're wrong. Off to eBay with it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:26:39 +0100, Rob Morley
wrote:

On Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:23:29 +0100
"Dave Larrington" wrote:

Possibly. Or not. I've got three B17s. One was comfortable from
day one, another required 500 miles to break in and the third, I
fear, is /never/ going to play nicely.

Tension adjustment?


Yeah, do your nuts up really tight. That pain will distract you fom
that caused by the saddle.

--
Tim

On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:57:39 +0100
"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote:

On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:29:18 +0100, Tom Crispin
said in
:

1500 miles of agony I reckon it took to break in the saddle, and it
seems to continue to improve day by day. But I can pinpoint the very
moment I felt that the saddle had been broken in.

I find that Brooks saddles are best if tilted forward slightly more
than other saddles. I don't really know why this is, I just write
it off as "works for me".

Because they sink in the middle, they effectively end up with the nose
pointing up if you don't set it a bit down to start with.