Brooks Spring B73 Saddle in use: out of sight, out of mind

I've reported here recently that I chose the Brooks B73 partly for
nostalgic reasons belonging more to the late Sheldon Brown than to me,
and partly because a fellow on the net said that it was the most
comfortable of his several Brooks saddles, right from the beginning,
and partly because I like the concept of the three coil springs and
don't care if the front helix costs a little sideways location.

The springs are too stiff for me to notice any lack of sideways
location; perhaps a racer might be more attuned to this factor.

The Brooks B73 has indeed been comfortable right from the beginning.
I've ridden less than ten yards on some distinguished modern saddles
before finding them crippling and rejecting them. On the Brooks from
the beginning I found a good position and didn't think about the seat
after a few minutes.

My longest ride is about two hours, maybe sometimes twenty minutes
over if we take a detour or go exploring on foot, with several stops
including a ten minute break at the halfway point; about eighty or
ninety minutes on the bike. This was enough, with a bike I had some
years ago on which a plastic saddle was fitted, to cause me to walk
funny the next day. With the Brooks I don't think about the saddle
until I'm almost home again, and then it is just a slightly tired bum,
not numb nuts.

In short, I've found my seat on the Brooks B73 or, more precisely,
since this is the only fore and aft position possible (there is very
little horizontal adjustment on those rails), since the seat was set
horizontal from the beginning, and since I lucked into the right
height on the first try, the B73 found my seat for me.

There's already, after about 60 klicks, some give in the saddle under
my sitbones. Whether soaking in neatsfoot oil for 25 minutes a la
Sheldon Brown is responsible or whether it would have happened anyway
or whether I'm just imagining it (the leather is still very stiff) I
cannot tell. But the leather on the biggest road bumps doesn't come
nearer than about the thickness of a gloved finger from the rails so I
don't suppose the neatsfoot ruined the saddle yet. I certainly hope it
doesn't; I don't want to have to break in another saddle that, even if
it carries the same number, may in the nature of leather from a
different animal not adapt to me that quickly.

The 622-60 Big Apples on my Kranich, the springs on the B73, and the
give in the leather together give me a ride that is more supple and
better damped than the suspended seatposts on my other Dutch city
bikes. It is possible that the Kranich being steel as compared to the
aluminium of the other bikes has something to do with it too.

It's a big deal not thinking about your saddle all the time -- it
means the thing has become a commodity rather than an instrument of
torture. I really can't imagine why I never got a Brooks before.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Bicycles at
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20CYCLING.html

On Mar 21, 4:59*pm, Andre Jute wrote:
I've reported here recently that I chose the Brooks B73 partly for
nostalgic reasons belonging more to the late Sheldon Brown than to me,
and partly because a fellow on the net said that it was the most
comfortable of his several Brooks saddles, right from the beginning,
and partly because I like the concept of the three coil springs and
don't care if the front helix costs a little sideways location.

The springs are too stiff for me to notice any lack of sideways
location; perhaps a racer might be more attuned to this factor.

The Brooks B73 has indeed been comfortable right from the beginning.
I've ridden less than ten yards on some distinguished modern saddles
before finding them crippling and rejecting them. On the Brooks from
the beginning I found a good position and didn't think about the seat
after a few minutes.

My longest ride is about two hours, maybe sometimes twenty minutes
over if we take a detour or go exploring on foot, with several stops
including a ten minute break at the halfway point; about eighty or
ninety minutes on the bike. This was enough, with a bike I had some
years ago on which a plastic saddle was fitted, to cause me to walk
funny the next day. With the Brooks I don't think about the saddle
until I'm almost home again, and then it is just a slightly tired bum,
not numb nuts.

In short, I've found my seat on the Brooks B73 or, more precisely,
since this is the only fore and aft position possible (there is very
little horizontal adjustment on those rails), since the seat was set
horizontal from the beginning, and since I lucked into the right
height on the first try, the B73 found my seat for me.

There's already, after about 60 klicks, some give in the saddle under
my sitbones. Whether soaking in neatsfoot oil for 25 minutes a la
Sheldon Brown is responsible or whether it would have happened anyway
or whether I'm just imagining it (the leather is still very stiff) I
cannot tell. But the leather on the biggest road bumps doesn't come
nearer than about the thickness of a gloved finger from the rails so I
don't suppose the neatsfoot ruined the saddle yet. I certainly hope it
doesn't; I don't want to have to break in another saddle that, even if
it carries the same number, may in the nature of leather from a
different animal not adapt to me that quickly.

The 622-60 Big Apples on my Kranich, the springs on the B73, and the
give in the leather together give me a ride that is more supple and
better damped than the suspended seatposts on my other Dutch city
bikes. It is possible that the Kranich being steel as compared to the
aluminium of the other bikes has something to do with it too.

It's a big deal not thinking about your saddle all the time -- it
means the thing has become a commodity rather than an instrument of
torture. I really can't imagine why I never got a Brooks before.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Bicycles at
*http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20CYCLING.html

Glad to hear you like it. That Kranich is a really lovely bike.