B
Baka Dasai
Guest
I've been riding a Brooks B17 for 3 weeks now (other than stopping for meals etc . Here's my
mini-review.
Before using it I gave it a good coating of Dubbin on the underside, and a very light coating on the
top. The Dubbin completely soaked into the underside, but stayed sitting on the top surface until I
wiped it off.
Upon riding it, my first impression was "It's hard", but after about 30 seconds I realised that it
actually wasn't uncomfortable. In fact it felt pretty damn comfortable straight away, even though it
was hard. One thing I liked was the slipperiness of it - it made it very easy to adjust position,
especially when sitting back down after unweighting the saddle for bumps.
I soon noticed that the slipperiness was causing me to slide forward, putting extra weight on my
hands. A bit of extra upwards tilt on the saddle fixed that.
After just a couple of days I noticed that I already had caused significant depressions in the
saddle underneath my sit bones. They weren't small depressions - they were quite large. After 3
weeks these are now quite pronounced. The saddle now has two big depressions under the sit bones,
while the centre of the saddle remains as smooth and high as it was originally. I can feel some
pressure under my crotch which never used to be there. So far it doesn't cause pain or numbness, but
it might if the depressions underneath the sit bones get much deeper.
I did a small experiment where I felt the underneath of the saddle with my hand while I was riding.
When my foot was at the top of the pedal stroke, my sit bone was making a very noticable depression
into the leather. The saddle was really taking quite a hammering from my butt, 80-90 times a minute.
It's no wonder that the leather was stretching/softening so quickly.
Overall I have mixed feelings about this saddle. It's more comfortable than I thought it would be,
but the rate at which it is stretching and sagging is very worrying.
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war. But, after all, it is the leaders of a country who
determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along. All you have to do is
tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
- Hermann Goering
mini-review.
Before using it I gave it a good coating of Dubbin on the underside, and a very light coating on the
top. The Dubbin completely soaked into the underside, but stayed sitting on the top surface until I
wiped it off.
Upon riding it, my first impression was "It's hard", but after about 30 seconds I realised that it
actually wasn't uncomfortable. In fact it felt pretty damn comfortable straight away, even though it
was hard. One thing I liked was the slipperiness of it - it made it very easy to adjust position,
especially when sitting back down after unweighting the saddle for bumps.
I soon noticed that the slipperiness was causing me to slide forward, putting extra weight on my
hands. A bit of extra upwards tilt on the saddle fixed that.
After just a couple of days I noticed that I already had caused significant depressions in the
saddle underneath my sit bones. They weren't small depressions - they were quite large. After 3
weeks these are now quite pronounced. The saddle now has two big depressions under the sit bones,
while the centre of the saddle remains as smooth and high as it was originally. I can feel some
pressure under my crotch which never used to be there. So far it doesn't cause pain or numbness, but
it might if the depressions underneath the sit bones get much deeper.
I did a small experiment where I felt the underneath of the saddle with my hand while I was riding.
When my foot was at the top of the pedal stroke, my sit bone was making a very noticable depression
into the leather. The saddle was really taking quite a hammering from my butt, 80-90 times a minute.
It's no wonder that the leather was stretching/softening so quickly.
Overall I have mixed feelings about this saddle. It's more comfortable than I thought it would be,
but the rate at which it is stretching and sagging is very worrying.
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war. But, after all, it is the leaders of a country who
determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along. All you have to do is
tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
- Hermann Goering