OK, so personal anatomy and prefs are no doubt important.

A Google blitz seems to favour the Brooks B17.

Just wondering what the STW consensus is..

Anyone know of a ‘poor man’s’ Brooks? They’re a little out of my budget range 🙁 I’ve seen that Spa Cycles do a minimal range of their own but out of stock at the mo.

Oh, and am planning to do LEJOG so need to find something I can pretty much live on for two weeks.

on one has some leather saddles recently for around £40, monte grappa or something. I would stick with a second hand brooks then you dont need to break it in! 😉

There you go!

You can not beat a b17… I love mine to bits…. Everything else is just not as good.

i find a charge spoon best for week long rides.
brooks saddles do not slide far enough back on the rails for me, because of the kink in them.

I’m a big fan of Selle Italia Regal saddles for touring. They are a bit broader than a racey road saddle and still have a classic look. You can find them cheaply on ebay.

We met a lot of riders on the TransAm who had specced Brooks saddles and who suffered terrible saddle sores. Most had failed to pack their tension spanner and their saddle had sagged like a hammock or horse saddle.

Having said that I had a B17 back in the ’80s and loved it. I fitted a Pro Select to my dream touring bike and even after a couple of thousand miles I still hadn’t broken it in.

Saddle choice is a bit like a ‘What tyres?’ choice.

SDG Bell Air is still the most comfy saddle I’ve ever used. But every arse is different!

A Flite. An SLR might well be better, but I’ve never tried touring on one.

Get a brooks, shop around, sjs sometimes have them a bit cheap, but think of it as an investment!

Most people I meet touring did seem to have a Brooks, but there at some problems with breaking it in, keeping it dry etc. I couldn’t use one like ton because of the rails.

I used a Selle Italia Gel Flow (woman, obviously) for my recent 9 month tour and never had any problems. I had Sella Italia saddles on my other bikes also so I knew I liked them already.

If it’s your first tour you might like to take some chamois cream with you, even if you never normally use it. On my first tour (on my roadbike) I found the weight made me sit “heavier” in the saddle and gave me some pretty sore blisters!

Can somebody explain to me why you’d use a Brooks for touring, but not for anything else? Or alternatively why you’d not use the same saddle for touring that you’d use for normal riding?

I used a flite for 6 months touring

The only days i got sores were the days i used chamois cream ……

The udderly smooth got the heave ho after i linked the 2

Im fairly sure chamois cream just softens the skin and makes it suceptible to sores !

Now i use a b17 and its the dogs danglies – brief foray into a week on a ti swallow proved to be an expensive mistake but its now on my mtb.

Alpinegirl – you are home!

I’ve had a look at your blog updates on CGOAB, your trip looks amazing. I’ve been reading up on the Pacific coast route and can’t believe how many other blogs you appeared on. It looks a very friendly route to tour on with the chance to meet and ride with lots of different folks. I hope the Cascades route will be as well populated with bike tourists for my return trip. Roll on September.

I’d recommend a Brooks.
I’ve not had mine long, but it was blindingly comfortable out of the box.
I had one problem though. Brooks recommend using Proofhide to assist the breaking in and showerproofing. Well as I didn’t need any assistance with breaking in I skipped the proofhiding bit.
Consequently during a torrential 100km it got rather wet and sagged to buggery.
It did fully recover, and you can see the shape has molded to my butt.

My bike doesn’t have mudguards, but a saddle pack might help prevent it getting soaked from below. Mudguards obviously are the answer.

Brooks Swift. Value wise all good saddles are around the £60+ mark.

aracer, my brooks is on my training bike for comfort and to add weight.

Trailrat – I think chamois cream is a personal thing. I only wear it when I’m touring, but if I don’t use it I find it quite uncomfortable. I’ve got scars (!) from the blisters I got on my first tour so maybe the skin there is just weaker…

mcmoonter – Yup, I decided it was time to return back to real life. Still need to finish up the blog though. It’s a bit strange being back and being inside so much, but I’m having a great time catching up with friends and currently planning an unemployment offroad tour for Scotland once I get some gears working on my bike again. I hope I don’t find a job too sooon!

Oh, and I think the Cascades route looks great. Make sure you get state maps aswell though so you can venture off the “tunnel” if you want!!

My Charge Pan is proving a rather good perch – tad wide at times off the back of the saddle, but comfy for the miles…

Do you have a link for your blog on crazy? I like to read the tales of adventure on there.

Rob B17 – once broken in no need for padded shorts.

Easy enough to pick up cheap if you search around – ebay, or Edinburgh cycles were doing them for £35 ish in their last sale

MSP link http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=8297&v=dG

and currently planning an unemployment offroad tour for Scotland once I get some gears working on my bike again

A group of us have a notion to do a self supported off road Scottish coast to coast tour sometime in late April-May (before the midgies are at their fiercest) You’d be welcome to join us.

I have ridden a bit in the Cascades before and I have some friends in Bend and Sisters so I will certainly venture off piste.

+1 for chamois cream (butter) on longer tours.

SDG bell air is the best saddle I ever sat on followed by the Sella Italia C2.

I have a Brooks Team pro which I use for touring and commuting.
It’s taken a while to break in but is now really comfy.
I got the Brown leather and it now has a nice antique/worn look to it.

I would definitely recommend investing in a Brooks, just not right before a long tour 😉

Thanks to all for replies

I find the San Marco Rolls Saddle ridiculously comfortable and a lot easier to maintain than a Brooks (as in, I don’t do anything to it).
No one else use one?

Rolls, Flite Ti and a B17 are all good choices.

any saddle you currently ride on and find comfortable.

Alpine Girl, just finished reading you tour journal.
fantastic!!
truly inspiring stuff 8)

photo’s are pretty good too.

I have a very satisfactory Brooks that I got second hand and fairly thoroughly broken in. Presumably it’d be possible to have a disaster if someone with a radically different variety of arse had been sitting on it for a decade, but mine was OK.

mcmoonter – about to send you an email..

& ton – thanks. It was a great trip. The scenery there makes it very easy to take good photos!

Brooks saddles don’t break in – you do. I’ve used a Flite Ti for touring but wouldn’t recommend it – they’re fine for day rides but start to get uncomfortable after that. The comfiest saddle I’ve used is a Charge Spoon.

Brooks saddles don’t break in – you do.

+1

Whatever fis your a***.

Charge spoon on all of my bikes. It’s just a Far East factory job with a logo on it. Still comfy though. Same as a Madison Flux.

My opinion on it is that the saddle is dependent on your backside and your riding position, not on what you happen to be doing or how long you’re riding for.

So if you plan on switching to a very upright position you may want something a little different, but if you’re planning riding a bike that you already have then just use what you’ve got. Unless your existing saddle already gives you grief, but then you ought to have sorted that out anyway 🙂

But for riding day after day after day, be sure to use chamois cream, and be sure to use it from the start. I speak from experience…