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igenlodeI've been unhappy with my new saddle more or less since the day I bought it about a year ago to replace the worn-out one that came with the bike — not least because the bike shop had to make some fairly drastic adjustments in order to get the top of the very thick padded gel saddle down to a height where I could even mount the bike, which had a severe detriment on my riding position!
Today I was very kindly made a gift of an old saddle from a machine that had been broken up for scrap — the 'iconic' Brooks B66 leather saddle, first featured in the Brooks catalogue in 1927 and designed for "city use in an upright posture" with the handlebar set higher than the saddle (and currently costing a hundred pounds new). In order to fit it correctly we ended up raising the seat-post a good two inches, sliding the saddle back on its rails as far as it could go with the clip reversed, and tilting the nose up by what looked like a preposterous amount, in other words creating a vast amount of extra space between my body and the handlebars — and I still had no problems mounting or coming to a stand, both of which were procedures to be carried out only with strain and on tip-toes when using the other saddle (set two inches lower...)
The riding position is totally different; my hip-bones are now lying flat along the saddle instead of digging into the deep gel padding -- this saddle has no padding, only a stiff moulded top and springs!
And I'm no longer constantly pushing myself backwards to hang over the rear of the saddle in a vain attempt to get enough leg-room to put in an efficient pedal stroke; of course, since the seat-post isn't vertical, reducing the height by so much had had the unwanted side-effect of moving the saddle right forward in the process, and the modern saddle doesn't have the option of flipping the clip in order to get it right up to the end of the adjustment rails on the underside, so there was only a limited amount of adjustment available to compensate.
I know I'm short. I'm not that short :-p
The leather saddle definitely doesn't iron out so many of the bumps as the gel one does, but since I try to avoid cycling off-road and on rutted surfaces for the sake of my delicate hub dynamo mechanism that isn't too much of an issue. The great thing is that I can now cycle efficiently again, instead of being all cramped up without ever being able to push properly; I deliberately sought out hills on the way back in order to be able to practise, with very satisfactory results ;-D
The saddle is hard, and I can feel where it's going to rub until I get used to it (and it to me) — despite being a salvage item it had actually been used very little, so it isn't really 'moulded' to a previous rider. It hasn't had any of the recommended leather treatment for years either, so I have been provided with the accompanying tin of extremely sticky 'Proofide' and have duly rubbed a dose in overnight so as to make the leather more supple. (Ingredients: tallow, cod oil, beeswax... definitely a pure animal product for real hide!)
The main problem I've enountered so far is that the saddle springs creak amusingly when pedalling hard, presumably as the rider's body rocks from side to side ("The sides of the Saddle yield alternatively[sic] to the pressure of the thighs, giving greater freedom to the legs, and at the same time, reducing the possibility of friction or chafing", as the catalogue puts it!)
Today I was very kindly made a gift of an old saddle from a machine that had been broken up for scrap — the 'iconic' Brooks B66 leather saddle, first featured in the Brooks catalogue in 1927 and designed for "city use in an upright posture" with the handlebar set higher than the saddle (and currently costing a hundred pounds new). In order to fit it correctly we ended up raising the seat-post a good two inches, sliding the saddle back on its rails as far as it could go with the clip reversed, and tilting the nose up by what looked like a preposterous amount, in other words creating a vast amount of extra space between my body and the handlebars — and I still had no problems mounting or coming to a stand, both of which were procedures to be carried out only with strain and on tip-toes when using the other saddle (set two inches lower...)
The riding position is totally different; my hip-bones are now lying flat along the saddle instead of digging into the deep gel padding -- this saddle has no padding, only a stiff moulded top and springs!
And I'm no longer constantly pushing myself backwards to hang over the rear of the saddle in a vain attempt to get enough leg-room to put in an efficient pedal stroke; of course, since the seat-post isn't vertical, reducing the height by so much had had the unwanted side-effect of moving the saddle right forward in the process, and the modern saddle doesn't have the option of flipping the clip in order to get it right up to the end of the adjustment rails on the underside, so there was only a limited amount of adjustment available to compensate.
I know I'm short. I'm not that short :-p
The leather saddle definitely doesn't iron out so many of the bumps as the gel one does, but since I try to avoid cycling off-road and on rutted surfaces for the sake of my delicate hub dynamo mechanism that isn't too much of an issue. The great thing is that I can now cycle efficiently again, instead of being all cramped up without ever being able to push properly; I deliberately sought out hills on the way back in order to be able to practise, with very satisfactory results ;-D
The saddle is hard, and I can feel where it's going to rub until I get used to it (and it to me) — despite being a salvage item it had actually been used very little, so it isn't really 'moulded' to a previous rider. It hasn't had any of the recommended leather treatment for years either, so I have been provided with the accompanying tin of extremely sticky 'Proofide' and have duly rubbed a dose in overnight so as to make the leather more supple. (Ingredients: tallow, cod oil, beeswax... definitely a pure animal product for real hide!)
The main problem I've enountered so far is that the saddle springs creak amusingly when pedalling hard, presumably as the rider's body rocks from side to side ("The sides of the Saddle yield alternatively[sic] to the pressure of the thighs, giving greater freedom to the legs, and at the same time, reducing the possibility of friction or chafing", as the catalogue puts it!)
no subject
Date: 2017-12-27 06:58 pm (UTC)I have very long legs and I'm tall for a woman, so my saddle post has to be extremely high even on the largest ladies frame bike. (I do occasionally cycle in a skirt, so I prefer a lady's frame)
no subject
Date: 2017-12-27 08:48 pm (UTC)On the other hand, I'm small (five foot four-ish and an eight-stone weakling), so I'm used to having to reduce the sizes of things to make them fit...