My Brooks Saddle. Peace at last...

When I ordered the Raven Nomad, I thought I'd buy a nice Brooks saddle as well. I'd never owned one before.

To the cycling fraternity, a "Brooks" is a classic and covetous item. My saddle, the B17, has been around in one form or another for over 100 years and is still made by hand in England. It oozes craftsmanship and has a near legendary reputation as a long lasting, supremely comfortable perch for your bottom, allowing mile after mile of carefree bicycle riding...

There is one further aspect to a Brooks saddle that is also legendary - the break-in period.

Although some people find the saddle comfortable from the off, a lot of people do not and emotive words such as 'torture', 'suffering', 'pain' and 'murder' have all been used to describe the aforementioned period. I too have had a fraught time with my new Brooks and was, for a while, damaged. This is my story...

When the bike arrived, the first thing I did was rap the Brooks saddle with my knuckles. It sounded like knocking a wooden door. Undeterred, I set the saddle up, as I usually do, dead level with the nose 60mm behind the bottom bracket axle. It was then that I noticed that the B17 has very short saddle rails. I had to push the saddle right back to it's limit to set my position.

After a few rides, I had very sore sit bones (bare in mind I've been cycling long distances for 25+ years). It was probably down to the combination of the Nomad's more upright seating position and the new Brooks. I also felt like I was sitting on the metal rivets at the back of the saddle. After checking my measurements, I noticed the saddle has a shorter nose than modern racing saddles and needed to go back a bit further, but because of the short rails, I was out of aft adjustment...

Before and After the break-in period. Notice the depressions my sit-bones have made on the saddle in the picture to the right. There's still a way to go though...

I needed another seatpost with more setback. This was easier said than found. It was difficult to source a non-carbon seatpost with a lot of setback. I finally tracked down a Velo Orange Grand Cru 27.2mm Alloy Post with 30mm of setback and installed it. (It's actually a very nice post, polished aluminium with a two bolt design to precisely set the seat angle and with a generous setback, ideal for Brooks users struggling with the short saddle rails).

After a few more rides, the right sit bone was 'rescued' but the left one still hurt and seemed to be getting worse. I took a break from riding and took stock. After a bit of forum surfing, people recommended tilting the saddle, most saying nose up. I tried this, but it didn't help much. Then I tried nose down...

This helped the left sit bone a lot and things were improving, until the right sit bone got very painful again! (I must sit funny on a saddle). I'd now had the saddle for nearly 3 months and ridden 1500 kilometres. Ouch! I was thinking about throwing in the towel. It's relatively well known that not all people have a "Brooks Arse", as it's known in the UK, perhaps I'm one of them?

In a final attempt to salvage the situation, I set the bike up statically in the kitchen. Without shorts on (to sense everything), I repeatedly sat on the bike after tilting the saddle up and down, up and down, hunting for the most comfortable position.

It was definitely better when tilted nose up, I decided, but that had previously hurt my left sit bone, hadn't it? I thought I'd try it again anyway, because at least I'd get relief on my hurting right one for a while! Low and behold, the next ride wasn't too bad. It wasn't comfortable but at least it was bearable.

Over the last few rides, things have been getting better! I think it's now safe to declare that my Brooks saddle and I are at peace and looking forward to a long and happy relationship and that I'm just the latest in a long line of Brooks owners who've had to go through this painful initiation process to move a step nearer to cycling nirvana!