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IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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Does anyone have any experience of these?
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html
I have seen those Brooks saddles which feel very hard and uncomfortable, despite what those who have forked out a small fortune to buy one and feel they must extoll their virtues about how great they are, feelling slightly stupid about paying a small fortune for a saddle so hard it turns out to be an embarressment.
Dave C :-)
Haven't tried one of those, looks too uch like one of those Silly Royle "sports" saddles for my tastes ;-)
I'll stick to my old fashioned wide comfy B-17 with springs* thanks :-D only feels hard in the shops, saddle broken in now and I'm feeling smug but not silly B-)
S
(off to light his pipe and put on his slippers and drone on about "when I wer't lad" etc etc)
* a strange old fashioned concept now replaced by squidgy "gel" which is apparently much more sporting and modern.
I have "real woman" saddles fitted to all my bikes which are made out of iron with little spikes fitted. I wouldn't be without my saddle-o-nails, especially for longer rides.
Brooks may "feel" hard to the hand, but you don't sit on your hands! I've picked up both my Brookses for under £50. As I spend more time sitting on my saddle than any other part of the bike, I don't consider this to have been a small fortune in the grand scheme of things. Of course it would have been if they weren't comfy, but then I would never have bought the second one if the first one hadn't been. At the end of the day I'm happy to pay that amount of money for a saddle, if it is comfortable and if I am very unlikely to need to replace it in 10, 15 or even 20 years time.
The ultimate lazy-man saddle can be found fitted to thebikechain's delivery bike.
The Brooks is a strange phenomenon. despite selling them in the shop and hearing all about how wonderful they are, I just couldn't bring myself to buy one. They are just so hard, unwielding, heavy and downright old-fashioned.
Eventually, I decided that I really had to try it out, so opted for a black B17. My first ride was for three hours or so around East Lothian and I got off the bike with nary a rear-end twitch. It just seemed comfy from the get-go.
However, I am now considering getting rid of it to replace it with another saddle. Brooks have just launched the B17s in Mandarin, Apple Green and......Electric Blue!
outrageous!
"downright old-fashioned"
It has long been a bubear of mine that advertising has successfully convinced the majority of people that new=good and old(fashioned)=bad.
The recent(ish) research on Mallory's clothing proved that it stood alongside modern gear, with some advantage and some disadvantages ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5076634.stm ) Brooks are "old fashioned" but loved by many despite that, many new things are amazing progress, witness LED lights to name but one, however our predeccesors were not fools and we can often learn from them by stepping back from what is fashionable and attempting to look at old kit with open eyes and a questioning mind. My motorcycle gear has some kit which is very modern and some which was designed in the thirties, take the best and worry not (too much) about what is "in" imho :-)
"It has long been a bubear of mine that advertising has successfully convinced the majority of people that new=good and old(fashioned)=bad."
Indeed
In the case of things like Brooks there are elements of retro/fashion/cool.
In the case of Brooks saddles, for many people they 'work', which some will see as a 'bonus' - function on top of fashion!
The (excellent) function of Reynolds tubing (particularly 531) was sidelined by the 'fashion' for CroMo (various spellings are available) - not because it was better but because far eastern factories were (predominantly) welding not brazing.
Sturmey Archer three speed hubs were deeply unfashionable in the face of multi-geared mountain bikes.
The manufacturing of them left England after some dubious ownership/financial dealings. Without that the name/product may have died.
Now they're available in fashionable(?) coloured options!
Hmm, I'm Brooks curious now. I may have to have a look online at the saddles. The B17 Speed? has been mentioned as a good one to start with?
(I should point out that this was not started as a bash brooks saddles/owners thread) but as a laugh about a (granite) rock hard saddle.)
"good one to start with"
Does it lead to an expensive habit?
(Just asking...)
The regular B17 is slightly wider. I think the speed / narrows / specials are stiffer as they are narrower. I defeinitely noticed that the B17 narrow took a while to get used to but the regular B17 was great from the off. It's also cheaper than its variations.
Along the lines of what smudge and chdot were saying, with a few exceptions (and they're not really "bikes" anyway :D), we're mostly all still riding round on rubber-treaded bikes with spoked wheels and a frame composed of 2 triangles. If it works - it works.
Hmm I might have to have a wonder to my LBS.
Is it worth attempting to measure the distance between the ischial tuberosities in order to compare it to the distance between saddle cheek-pads prior to examining these things in shops seeing as they're generally hung on a rack where they're difficult to be test-sat-upon?
I'd have thought a coffe morning and a sit on various Brookses (tm kaputnik) might be the most useful maybe? Subject to Brooks owners being available and content to let others perch on their bikes of course!
Good idea. Friday is out as its a Holiday, but some point in the future would be useful. The lady who comes out of PY to serve the coffees might be a little perplexed though, exp as on the second round we've all changed places.
Tomorrow...!? It's virtually a Friday ;-)
I saw a Brooks on a New Dahon lastnight and spoke to the owner (and had a wee feel of the leather). Also got to have a wee sit on one ths morning as a friend has an Orange Brompton with one on. May have to get one.
I can measure arses.
Fully trained in the art of the SQ Lab.
What i don't know about perineal pressure mapping is not worth mentioning.
My b17 is in the building for trial if required.
See you in 10 mins.....
I can measure arses
how long is your ruler? :D
how long is your ruler?
it was micro-calipers last night, to measure the height of my stack.
Ooh er!
New saddle was great. Only one minor patch of discomfort, 35 miles in on a 42 mile rde round Loch Rannoch today. Its wider so more supportive than my old saddle.
One of the guys on the ride was on a borrowed folding bike, without low gears so when we hit the hill up to Schiehallion we swapped about me lending him mine and me on the owner of the folder's Dawes Audax with new Schimano 105 gears. Nice bike but the saddle was a razor! Back on my new saddle was great. I'm a convert!
I was stopped at some lights between Seafield and Leith and standing forward off the saddle. Local punter, the worse for sun and wife beater, crosses road behind me, slaps the saddle and jovially shouts "all right my man? Is that not sore on your King Creole?" Made me laugh.
Kaputnik Local punter, the worse for sun and wife beater[quote] is wife beater a kind of drink? Also I don't get the King Creole bit...
Kid Creole has the Coconuts...and Elvis sang King Creole, is it slang for pelvis therefore?
I do, BTW, own a Brooks ladies saddle, and it is just great. The first outing I did on it was a real test and I was rather saddle sore, but it was a very hot day, and I did do over 80 miles. However, it is now broken in and I would not trade it in for anything else.
@Liz - wife beater = Stella. King Creole = Leithney rhyming slang for something ending in "-hole", I presumed!
Ah...I am so naive sometimes! Thank you, very enlightening.
and 'wife beater' is stella artois, another good name is 'cookin larger' for any cheap tap lager
@Liz - first time I had heard it too!
@Ruggtomcat - How was your post-beltane "cookin' larger"?
Picked up a Team Pro Classic in Honey from the post office this morning, the third addition to my Brooks family after the B17 and B17 narrow.
Quite similar to the B17 narrow, but without the holes on the top, seems thicker and harder leather overall but with less in the sides and generally a bit narrow and stiffer.
Undecided yet if the new one will go on the singlespeed bike or the audax bike, the B17 narrow on the latter is well broken in and outstandlingly comfortable.
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