My ischial tuberosities are complaining after tonights bumpy road ride on a new ti Brooks Swallow.

Not too keen to follow Sheldon's advice – soaking in a bath of neatsfoot oil,or somesuch.Although a selective area application might work.

Have heard tales of hammering the leather.Others who only found comfort after riding a sodden Brooks during a downpour which helped temporarily soften the leather thus allowing anatomical contouring to take,err,shape.

Anyone have any other tips,words of wisdom or painful horror stories.

i found mine comfy from the off. must be lucky i guess 😉 enjoy

Apply neatsfoot oil to the back of the saddle and just ride it more.Dont oil the top of the saddle to avoid messing p your clothes and it soaks in better to the rough underside better

Mine was comfy from the start.

You may have picked the wrong model. The 'race' ones are pretty narrow and extremely sore.

The B17 is utterly delicious. You could ride naked for days an feel like you are being teabagged. Nice. 😛

Equestrian saddle oil may be worth a try.

I once used it on a car i was restoring. The leather seats were horrible, couldn't afford to re-trim straight away so used that after a tip off someone else.
Certainly re-hydrated it to a certain extent and definately returned the supple nature of the leather.
Because its designed for tight jodphur wrapped arses, it doesnt leave a residue on your clothes and is designed for use in all weathers.

I'm a multiple Brooks owner. My oldest is from 1988, my newest from last year (so I've recent breaking in experience).

Don't get me wrong, Sheldon Brown was a genius geek when it came to cycling. But I disagree with his method of breaking a Brooks saddle in. As manufactured, the leather is quite hard and stiff. This is a good thing, once broken in. A soft saddle is less comfortable than a broken in harder one. Too much oil or treatment can make the saddle go soft, so the rule of thumb for me is just enough treatment to repel water and treat the leather. That's every few months application of Brooks Proofride for me.

Breaking in is done with riding. How long that takes depends on the shape of your arse and the particular model you've bought. The B17 I got last year only took maybe 1000 miles to go from normal saddle comfy to leather saddle super comfy.

If you don't manage to break the Ti Swift in to your satisfaction give me an email at Jeffhancox'at'yahoo.co.uk – I want one for my new build Orange R8. I won't be interested though if it's been subjected to either a soaking in rain or an immersion in oil or treatment wax 🙂

So i have 1000 miles of pain to endure…

Was like sitting on a block of wood that doesn't fit me @rse.Saddle position,angle and wotnot is all good but I will tinker a mm/degree or two over the next week or so and Proofide the underside.

A new Brooks mated to a Thomson post isn't a good combo!

Anyone got a suspension seatpost I can borrow?

Failing that I'm tempted to simmer it in a large pot for 20 minutes or so before the next ride.Or eat a few pies to fatten up my bony derriere.

I did have a B66 a decade or three ago and never gave it a second thought.

Anyone tried a B72?

mtfu

That'll be an STW-esque attempt at testosterone fuelled keyboard humour,I guess.So very droll and predictable.

Obvious retort being stfu 😉

Anyway,about my painful botty…

tight jodphur wrapped arses

as it's friday could you provide some pictorial examples of the sort of image this conjures up? 🙂

If it's for a pub bike, keep with it. For a MTB, buy a wtb saddle.

My brooks was reasonably comfy to start with and got better with every ride. Then I got it drenched and it turned solid. The shape was something Picasso would have been proud of.

I prefer to reduce the amount of things I need to oil, treat, tweak on my bike.

It's on a performance road curly bar,without the curls and built on an exotic mtb frame.Like the idea of a pub cruiser though.
Missed the tight jodphur clad arse category.That does conjur up a good image.

Place the saddle in a pan of water with a rock.
Boil until the rock goes soft.

Just joking!

Don't panic yet. If you bruised your bones then nothing will work until they recover. So wait, and then go for another ride to see if further action is required.

I broke in my ti-B17 in an afternoon. The standard B17s took a long (200-mile) weekend to feel OK and all I did was Proofhide them.

On closer inspection it seems the saddle bottoms out when used with a Thomson post [layback] thus not helping with shock absorption capabilities.Combine that with the inherent stiffness of said post and it's not a good marriage.Also the relatively long Thomson clamp bits limit the ability to get the saddle back as the Brooks rail narrows.

I tend to ride in a relatively stretched out roadie position and gravitate towards the back of the saddle.This is where the leather is attached to the saddle frame structure,which is rock hard under the butt.No wonder I am still in pain!

So a post with more layback whose clamp doesn't get in the way of the saddle underside gubbins should help.

I would avoid the Thomson if you are thinking of this partic saddle,although the inline one may have better clearance.Not such an issue if you have a more relaxed/upright position,possibly.

I seem to recall being advised a sound undersaddle rub with neatsfoot oil or similar then 200 miles in the saddle. the first 50 or so were not comfortable, but I stuck with it and did a couple of longer trips which seemed to work. certainly around the 200 mark the difference was noticable.

You don't break in a Brooks, they break you in 😆

Ive just done a 500mile tour on a near new B17. Comfy but yes they do take some breaking in. I had one issue where a hard day saw me sliding forward on the saddle and suffered a bit for it, but after adjusting the position to make sure is was always sat on the back i had no issues. Of course if its bumpy then staying seated on any saddle wont be fun.

Neatsfoot oil has been used since time began for softening leather..served me well when breaking in my hob nailed National Service leather boots.

? 😉

I read this the other day. He was quite polite considering what he wrote about Fixie Freestyle on mtbr, but hey.

Brooks Saddles?