Brooks B17 - Oh my God

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

It's the shape that matters, not (within reason) the consistency.
Wear some padded shorts and as long as your bum is more or less
Brooks shaped I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by it.

Ever spent most of a a day sat on a wooden chair? I imagine you
have, and that you could walk afterwards...

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 [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

Do it. The first ride I did on mine was 90 miles to Glasgow. It was my
longest ride ever. And not a whimper of pain from the rear end (except
discovering a new meaning for the phrase 'on the rivet' when hitting a
pothole just this side of the Kincardine Bridge).

...d

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

Can you feel flex in the sides of the saddle? If they feel totally
board-like, it needs a good dose of proofide before it will be
comfortable. It seems to work better applied to the underside of the
saddle, even though Brooks seem to say you only need to do that for
waterproofing. My Brooks Colt was new old stock and it took a week of
applying proofide underneath before it was flexible enough to be
comfortable.

JimP

--
Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to
grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after
all. - DNA

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

It's a kind of magic 🙂

Best thing I ever did, putting a B17 on my Audax bike. First few rides I
used padded shorts, then did a fast 100k with regular shorts; no
problems whatsoever. I think you need to be "approximately B17 shaped"
to start with, and it then transforms from "Great" to "Excellent" over
the following months...

My kids walk past it sometimes, knock on it with their knuckles and
mutter "Dad... you are a masochist..." or suchlike. They are heathens
and know not what they do...

--
Chris

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

As others have said, apply Proofide and get out and ride on it. It
should start getting softer after a few rides. I had to buy a new B17
earlier this year and it started to get quite comfy after 200-300 miles.

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

You absolutely have done the wrong thing. Send it to me and I will
dispose of it for you.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

On 16/05/2006 20:40, bob watkinson said,

Quoted message said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

Lovely saddles! I've had mine 9 years, and I reckon it is almost broken
in now!

Seriously, they are meant to be rock hard (at least, mine is), but they
shape themselves to fit you, within reason. It seems that some people
just don't get them to fit right, but I'm pretty sure that after a few
miles you will find it very comfortable.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

in message <[email hidden]>, bob

watkinson (') said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

You've done the right thing. Rock hard they are, but they're also the
most comfortable saddles out there. Provided it fits you - the B17 is a
bit wide for me, I use the Professional which is just a little narrower.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

in message <[email hidden]>, Jim Price

(') said:

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading
going out on it.

Can you feel flex in the sides of the saddle? If they feel totally
board-like, it needs a good dose of proofide before it will be
comfortable. It seems to work better applied to the underside of the
saddle, even though Brooks seem to say you only need to do that for
waterproofing. My Brooks Colt was new old stock and it took a week of
applying proofide underneath before it was flexible enough to be
comfortable.

Proofide is OK, but ignore all the various recipes for softening up
Brooks saddles. All that will happen is you will rapidly ruin the saddle
and need a new one. They /are/ hard. They're /meant/ to be hard.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Wannabe a Web designer?
<URL:http://userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/97dec/19971206.html>

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

I heart my B17. None of this soaking in neatsfoot or whatever, just
put it on the bike and a slight tweak to get the tilt right and away.

Fantastic, but then I've yet to find a saddle I really hated.

Your bum may vary.

Tim

Persevere! After time it will fall in love with your bum and dedicate
its life to you! What more could a man ask for!

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

Quoted message said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

I had mine for over three months before I plucked up the courage to use it.
Surprisingly comfortable. I'll be buying one for my Galaxy too.

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

You'll find that the feel of riding on it is rather different to how it
feels to touch.

d.

Simon Brooke said:

Proofide is OK, but ignore all the various recipes for softening up
Brooks saddles. All that will happen is you will rapidly ruin the saddle
and need a new one. They /are/ hard. They're /meant/ to be hard.

My B67 is..interesting. It feels comfy, very comfy indeed, but I keep
slithering forwards on it. (and, before you all chime in with 'raise
the nose', when I do this, I get numb nuts.) Is this normal? And
no, Tony, you can't. :-)

R.

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

Quoted message said:

Do it. The first ride I did on mine was 90 miles to Glasgow. It was my
longest ride ever. And not a whimper of pain from the rear end (except
discovering a new meaning for the phrase 'on the rivet' when hitting a
pothole just this side of the Kincardine Bridge).

Think i have hit that pothole about a dozen times on my way to work :-)

Ross

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

Quoted message said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading going
out on it.

I got a new Brooks Professional last spring ( i know its not a B17) before i
did Lands End to JoG last year, i thought ill never get used to that but
after a few weeks it was fine . I used proofide and then neatsfoot oil to
soften it up over that few weeks, some say it will ruin it eventually but so
what ill just by a new one. The saddle was the business over the 100O miles
and I am going to Ireland to do an End to End in 3 weeks with it so its
still doing the business for me.

Ross

bob watkinson said:

Just took delivery of a new B17 today. It's absolutely rock and I mean
rock hard. Please tell me I've done the right thing. I'm dreading
going out on it.

You'll be fine. Unless you're not. I love my B17. I'm pretty sure it's the
best saddle for me, even though I will spend a fair amount of my time not
comfortable on /any/ saddle.

--
Ambrose

Richard said:

My B67 is..interesting. It feels comfy, very comfy indeed, but I keep
slithering forwards on it. (and, before you all chime in with 'raise
the nose', when I do this, I get numb nuts.) Is this normal? And
no, Tony, you can't. :-)

My immediate response would be you need to find a slightly more upright
position on the saddle, so you could try levelling the saddle and moving
it forwards or moving the handlebars up or back or both. The aim would
be to get your body in the same orientation to the saddle as the
position where it is comfortable, so arching your back would also
theoretically do it, but probably not be a comfortable solution. If it
was just the sliding forward, I'd suggest moving the saddle to level and
back from where it is (this one seems counter-intuitive to some people).
I measure level from the front to the middle of the saddle if it is
convex, otherwise I don't get consistent results with different saddles.

Another related thing I do to get fore-aft saddle position in the right
ballpark is to put the bike on a trainer, get on and try and
simultaneously lift my rear off the seat and hand off the handlebars
while the pedals are level. If this leads to an obvious tendency to fall
forwards or backwards, I move the seat to compensate. If I end up too
stretched out as a result, it's time to get a shorter stem and vice
versa. It can be done without the trainer, but its a little more awkward.

JimP

--
Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to
grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after
all. - DNA

Ross said:

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

Quoted message said:

Do it. The first ride I did on mine was 90 miles to Glasgow. It was my
longest ride ever. And not a whimper of pain from the rear end (except
discovering a new meaning for the phrase 'on the rivet' when hitting a
pothole just this side of the Kincardine Bridge).

Think i have hit that pothole about a dozen times on my way to work :-)

That is a very long commute from Dundee..
Either that or the pothole extends across Perthshire and Fife.

...d