What do you guys think of Brooks saddles? Are they goofy or what?

In article ,
(Cliff Weisgerber) wrote:

Buy it and ride it, you'll like it.

Or maybe he won't, on aesthetic, weight or comfort grounds.

In article ,
(Chalo) wrote:

Brooks, Lepper, and other well-made leather saddles are generally
much heavier,

A Lepper Voyageur weighs a trifling amount more than most plastique
saddles. A B.17 or Pro weighs about 1 1/2 to 2x most plastic racing
saddles, and about the same as many gel saddles.

much more expensive, and

Not so, in fact they are cheaper than many plastic saddles. At least
in the US. $50 or so for a B.17, compared to over $100 for many
plastic saddles.

more difficult to maintain than most quality plastic saddles.

That's compared to "no maintenance" compared to plastic saddles.
Twice a years I spend about 10 minutes rubbing some Proofhide or
Obeneuf's into my Brooks saddles.

Richard Ney wrote:

I use an Avocet O2 which is light, comfortable for 5+ hours, and holds
up with no maintenance even though I ride it in the rain.

I use a Brooks B17, which is plenty light enough for my use, comfortable
for 35+ hours, and holds up with about 30 seconds of maintenance every six
months even though I ride it in the rain. :P

--
Benjamin Lewis

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips
over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come."
--Matt Groening

That's compared to "no maintenance" compared to plastic saddles.
Twice a years I spend about 10 minutes rubbing some Proofhide or
Obeneuf's into my Brooks saddles.

Why so long?

--
Benjamin Lewis

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips
over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come."
--Matt Groening

RE/
I'm just wondering what the popular consensus is. What about leather in
general?

To me, the upside of leather is that the entire width of the saddle is usable.
Other saddles have a stiffened "rail" around the edges that eats into usable
width big-time - and I need all I can get. Look at the underside of a WTB
Speed-V sometime.

The downsides I see are weight, limited fore-aft adjustment, and that if they
get really soaked they're toast.

Weight's not an issue with me and I deal with the water issue by carrying a
coated nylon bag in my tool bag - I just pull it over the saddle when it's
really raining - keeps the mud off the under-saddle tool bag too...
-----------------------
PeteCresswell

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 23:48:09 +0000, Steve wrote:

Anyone - try everyone...

Not everyone

They are the most comfortable saddle I've used, probably the reason I can
ride +5000 miles this year and 4,000 last year after 2 years of prostate
inflammations that was certainly cycling related.

?? This is a recommendation for saddles like yours? Thanks, but no
thanks.

That said, I did find that my sit bones press down onto the saddle right
at the edge of the seam of the chamois, causing blisters to form,
resulting in a move to XL padded shorts (from L). I also invested in the
Carradace covers for riding on hot/humid days and/or in the rain. A
shower cap comes along with me as well, as the Carradace is not totally
water proof. I treat every 2 mos. or so with Proofide to keep the saddles
in shape.

You go through a lot of pain, and a lot of futzing, for such a wonderful
saddle. Mine, I put on the bike and forget about. No blisters, no
prostate problems.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | It is a scientifically proven fact that a mid life crisis can
_`\(,_ | only be cured by something racy and Italian. Bianchis and
(_)/ (_) | Colnagos are a lot cheaper than Maserattis and Ferraris. --
Glenn Davies

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 13:50:15 -0500, "Stan Shankman"
may have said:

Would anyone seriously consider using a Brooks saddle when building up a new
road bike?

I'm just wondering what the popular consensus is. What about leather in
general?

Anyone?

Leather can be a good material for a lot of things, but it's not
something that I'd personally want on a bike seat; in this climate, it
would rot. Other than that, however, I find their designs to be
stodgy but logical in most respects. I've always preferred a sprung
saddle over an unsprung, but ones that are designed to be mountable in
the correct fore/aft location relative to the top of the seat post
are, in my experience, rare. I can get a narrow, unsprung saddle that
can be mounted far enough aft for me with trivial ease, but a *sprung*
unit seems to be too much to ask for. Goofy 1890s look or not, I'd
buy one of these if it was available with a molded, padded plastic
plate with no qualms, as long as I could afford it.


--
My email address is antispammed;
pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something,
it's also possible that I'm busy.

Would anyone seriously consider using a Brooks saddle when building up a new
road bike?

I'm just wondering what the popular consensus is. What about leather in
general?

I have Brooks saddles on two of my bikes (one saddle is a Swift and the other
is a Team Pro). The rail design makes it tough to get them far enough back on
the seatpost. I've had to "modify" the clamps on both posts. The Team Pro is
comfortable, but a boat anchor. The Swift is lighter, but not nearly as
comfortable (not after a few hundred miles, at least). If Brooks came out with
a Ti railed Pro, I'd buy it in an instant. I also have a B-17 (now sitting on
a shelf). It got way too soft way too fast. The older used Pro models that
I've seen on older bikes seem to have harder and thicker leather than the new
ones, but that's just my opinion. If I was building another "modern" road
bike, I'd just get a Flite (hopefully without the big Selle Italia embroidered
logos) or an old Turbo Matic II (NOT the III). I have both on other bikes and
like them. The Turbo Matic does a great job of filtering some of the harshness
of a CAAD3 Cannondale. I can understand why this saddle was a mainstay of the
peleton for years. As noted earlier, this is just one person's opinion.

In article m, "Stan
Shankman" writes:

Would anyone seriously consider using a Brooks saddle when building up a new
road bike?

Yes. They conform to my sitting apparatus with time and become very
comfortable. You do need to keep them dry (shower cap will do).

Tom Gibb

Tim McNamara wrote:

(Chalo) wrote:

Brooks, Lepper, and other well-made leather saddles are generally
much heavier,

A Lepper Voyageur weighs a trifling amount more than most plastique
saddles. A B.17 or Pro weighs about 1 1/2 to 2x most plastic racing
saddles, and about the same as many gel saddles.

The Lepper Voyager is the lightest leather saddle made AFAIK. At
340g, it weighs more than 3 1/2 times as much as the lightest plastic
saddles.

Brooks Professional and B17 are very much on the light end of the
offerings by that maker, having none of the springs or sub-frames that
characterize Brooks saddles.

The Brooks B90/3 weighs four pounds (1.7kg), more than many bike
frames. It is my favorite saddle; I have two.

much more expensive, and

Not so, in fact they are cheaper than many plastic saddles. At least
in the US. $50 or so for a B.17, compared to over $100 for many
plastic saddles.

Again, let's compare apples with apples. The Brooks B17 is the least
expensive leather saddle generally available in the USA. It costs at
least $62 (incl. shipping) wherever I have found it. Compare to a
retail price of about $20 for a broad selection of decent quality
plastic saddles from established makers.

The Brooks Swift at $160 is the most expensive leather saddle I know
of. Very few plastic saddles cost that much, e.g. Selle Italia SLR
Carbon which weighs not much more than 1/4 what the Swift does.

more difficult to maintain than most quality plastic saddles.

That's compared to "no maintenance" compared to plastic saddles.
Twice a years I spend about 10 minutes rubbing some Proofhide or
Obeneuf's into my Brooks saddles.

That's about how often I "feed" my Brookses and Leppers, too.
Meanwhile I have to lube them at the points of contact to keep them
reasonably quiet, each application lasting only a couple of outings.
Every so often I must tension them too, to keep my giblets off of the
saddle rails. And once in a while I must add tension to the
through-bolt of the saddle clamp lest it develop enough slack to slip
and strip the teeth from its interlocking discs.

The larger Brooks and Lepper saddles are mechanical beasts, bristling
with coil and hairpin springs and double or triple rails. I wouldn't
mind the comparative simplicity of the B17, but I need a larger saddle
top than that model provides. Along with a suitably large saddle top
I get a bunch of other, mostly benign to helpful paraphernalia.

I love my big ol' leather seats and I'll never go back to plastic
saddles for my best bikes. But I'll stand by my earlier assertion
that leather saddles are generally much heavier, much more expensive,
and more maintenance than plastic ones. We love them in spite of
these things.

Chalo Colina