Got myself a Brooks B17 for my commute and touring bike as it gets so many recommendations – does it ever soften up or get comfortable?

Done about 300+ miles on it now and it’s a bit of a pain – if I angle it so it’s comfortable I tend to slip off the front so have to keep pushing back with my arms and adjusting my position every 20 seconds or so, if I angle it back so I don’t slip off the front I find it very painful as the nose is so hard and tends to put pressure on the bit I don’t want to put pressure on. It still feels like a hard cricket ball when you rap your knuckles on it, is there anything I can do to speed up the breaking in process, I have the proofide stuff but that just seems to make it more slippery – I even thought of taking a hammer to it the other day! I’m not breaking it in, I think it’s breaking me in!?

Any tips, apart from do more miles?

😕

Get it slightly wet then go out for a ride on it*

*Don’t blame me if it goes too soft.

It will break your assos in first. Normally aroung 5000 miles.

What’s your position like? They generally seem to end up comfy with the nose higher than you’d expect.

You need to tilt a Brooks saddle up a bit, relative to normal padded saddles, so that you slide towards the rear.

They take a variable amount of time to break in, being a natural material. I’ve heard that black ones take longer than tan ones. Yes, getting it wet helps. (Do not tighten the nose bolt when the saddle is wet.) Some extra Proofide helps too.

The one’s I’ve broken in are good after about 2500 miles of commuting!

Hint buy em second hand of ebay, let someone else do all the hard work first!

haha, good plan PePPeR

“for sale, bloody uncomfortable saddle.
done 2400 miles, and im fed up with it”

only 100 miles to go!

Have you applied the proofhide to the underside of the saddle, also I use horsey saddle soap – mine has broken in well under 1000 miles.

Yeah that’s why they disapeared off the scene for near on twenty years, only to be brought back to life for the retro (I saw you coming) crowd.
Nothing like a rock hard nose up saddle for comfort when your in the drops.

Put up with them and Swallows through the sixties and seventies, when the finally do soften up they tend to sag.

same as ozzo. I’ve had some success using a combination of horse saddle soap and proofhide. An old touring lag once told me that pee-ing on the underside of the saddle works well – can’t comment personally tho.

Position? Well I’ve tried it nose up a bit and down a bit and back up a bit again. I do have it more nose up than my other saddles but the problem seems to be the pressure it puts on the, what do they call it, is it per… pernium… something like that? Can’t be bothered to look it up at the mo, but y’know the bit where all the other saddles seem to be puttung it extra soft bits or cut outs to relieve the pressure?

Otherwise it’s fine, if I can sit back a bit it’s quite comfortable and hasn’t caused any sores I was getting with other saddles on those long sit-down type rides.

I can see the back of it is starting to break in as you can see a difference in the leather and it’s starting to shape, it’s just the front/nose doesn’t seem to be giving at all?

Buy em second hand 😆 makes sense now!

2500 miles 😯 that’ll take me a while.

I’ve put the proofide all over, might look into horsey soap stuff but don’t think I’ll pee on … not just yet! Suppose I could try to get the nose wet and ride that but these don’t look like they’ll absorb a lot of water?

what do they call it, is it per… pernium… something like that?

A mate of mine said that that particular region, on a lady, is called a ‘Biffon’.

I’m not going to explain why…

Get a used one! I picked mine up from the classifieds and it’s super-comfy. Took a couple of weeks (300 odd miles) to break back in – I applied lots of Gliptone when it arrived mind you…

Not that that’s a great deal of use to your OP but I’d say it’s worth sticking with it.

Rudeboy: “biffon” that’s as good a word as “gunt” – made oi laff.

stick with it, my 5k miles swift is like a slipper, was murder to break in, i reckon about 2k miles but used the proofing stuff, soaked it a few times and now…there is no saddle in the world i would swap it for, did lands end to john o groats in 7 and a half days on it and bum problems not, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic saddle!! worth the work imho

Perineum….
Called the ‘Biffon bridge’ in a lady, because it’s where your testicles biff on when you’re on the job. Known as the ‘taint’ in gentlemen, because it ain’t yer bollocks and it ain’t yer arse….

Brooks saddles are poo IMHO, all that breaking in is just you getting used to the saddle, like you would with every other saddle in the world.

Wimp! 😀

Can’t buy a second hand one cos they mould to fit the individual a**e, like shoes mould to your feet.

Don’t ride it in the wet deliberately, just ride it a bit more – once it starts to break in it will be great, honestly.

‘Bout 500 miles has done it for both of mine. Some good threads on here previously about this.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tell-me-about-brookes-saddles

I would disagree with all the people saying tilt the nose up, that’s a recipe for trouble.
Tilt it slightly nose down, and as the dimples from your arse bones form in the leather, you’ll sit comfortably in them without sliding forward.

I’ve a Team Professional, which was OKish straight out of the box, and now after a few yrs and several thousand kms is without doubt the comfiest saddle ever. It does however weigh more than my frame, forks and wheels combined.

I say persevere, it’ll be worth it.