# Brooks and saddle sores!



## ispoke (Feb 28, 2005)

Both subjects are common on the forum, but how about the two combined? Well after nearly 2 decades of cycling, I've finally learned what saddle sores are. It's my first season on a Brooks saddle (B17-N). I have about 600 miles on it in the last couple months, including 3 centuries. Lately I was thinking that the saddle just wasn't breaking in because it was always uncomfortable - but then I investigated closer and discovered the small, rash type saddle sores exactly where my sit bones contact the saddle.

I'm a skinny guy and don't have much padding on the butt. And being a lightweight, perhaps I simply don't have enough mass to really break in the saddle. I did the basic proofide application once, including the underside.

So I'm wondering - is this saddle just too hard for my skinny, bony butt? Have others gone through this process and eventually found the Brooks to break in and the sores to go away? Seems to me that even when properly treated, the sores might not go away if my cheeks are always getting "pinched" by sit bones each time I get on the saddle.

Luckily my other bike, the commuter, has a Terry Fly. Used to just think it was just OK, but now I appreciate its padding much more...


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## fbagatelleblack (Mar 31, 2005)

ispoke said:


> So I'm wondering - is this saddle just too hard for my skinny, bony butt? Have others gone through this process and eventually found the Brooks to break in and the sores to go away?


I absolutely loved my first Brooks Pro. During my first year of ownership, I rode it through one winter in Boston. It got soaked daily with salty, dirty water from the roads. After that, it was broken in beautifully and was the most comfortable seat on the planet.

I snapped a rail on it when I mounted it on my mountain bike, after ~10 years of road riding. I replaced it with another Brooks Pro. By then I was old, fat, busy and living in Southern California. I did not ride more than 50 miles per week, and I never rode in the rain. I rode the new saddle for several years, but it never broke in comfortably. Eventually, I gave up. Now I run anatomical gel saddles. Maybe the day will come when I have the time and patience to break in Brooks saddles again, but my life will have to change quite a bit (and there is a plan in the works to do just that, but it's a long shot...).

Good Luck!

Forbes


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## bw77 (Sep 29, 2003)

*Try a different saddle*

I'm a skinny guy, too, and when my Terry Fly wore out, I went with a Koobi Silver.
It felt great from day one. Brooks saddles are not for everyone.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

While patiently trying to break a Brooks B17 in, I raised a knot in the muscle between my sit bone and the seat. Everytime I'd go through a pedal stroke, the knot would "click" from one side of my sit bone to the other. Needless to say, I got rid of the B17, post haste. It took about a month for the knot to go away. Now I ride a Fizik Vitesse cp3 on that bicycle. MMMMMuch Better.


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## Dave_Stohler (Jan 22, 2004)

Try this-using the adjustment wrench, turn the adjustment screw a couple turns counter-clockwise. This will release some of the tension on the leather. That may help.

Also remember that Brooks saddles reuire you to keep the nose of the saddle a bit higher than most.


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## spot (Feb 16, 2005)

Dave_Stohler said:


> Try this-using the adjustment wrench, turn the adjustment screw a couple turns counter-clockwise. This will release some of the tension on the leather. That may help.
> 
> Also remember that Brooks saddles reuire you to keep the nose of the saddle a bit higher than most.


Also use profide often in the breakin peroid. I have a B17-N and love it. It took about 300 miles to breakin and i'm about 183 lbs.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Rivets? If I sit too far back on my Regal saddles, I get sores like you describe. Are the sores in the same spot as the rivets on the saddle?


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## ispoke (Feb 28, 2005)

*one more try*

No problems with the rivets - The saddle has small dimples in the appropriate place where the sit bones reside. The nose is slightly tilted up. Not drastic, but not level. Just enough to keep from sliding forward. I already applied proofide to the top and underside, so am hesitant to use any more given the dire warnings about using too much.

Well I guess I'll try backing off the tension nut. It's hard to imagine how these saddle sores would ever go away given how sharp a pinch I feel sitting on the Brooks. Seems there's a point during the day, after perhaps 6 hours on the saddle and 3/4 of the way through a century, when either the sores go numb or my sweat actually softens the leather. But then the next time I get on the bike that acute pressure is immediate.

My LBS let me demo a Serfas Terazzo over the weekend. Gotta admit it was comfortable and familiar...


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## Steve B. (Jun 26, 2004)

I get sores from the seam of the chamois, which is right under my sit bones. Also a B17 user, standard width though.

Haven't found an answer yet, but I know the problem is the chamois as I can wear no-chamois shorts and not get sores.

Still looking for the right shorts. The PI Attacks are OK. 

My sores are not sore when I'm riding though.....

SB


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## Andy M-S (Feb 3, 2004)

*setup*

Where are your bars with respect to your saddle? If you have a B17, you want your bars to be at the same height or a little higher. If you like your bars lower, then a B17N is good. Lower still, you may want a Pro or a Swift. Higher bars with a narrow saddle, or lower with a wide saddle, and I think you're asking for trouble.

FWIW, I weigh close to 200 and ride a Swift with the bar tops about 1.5" below the saddle, and I've found it very comfortable, but YMMV. A lot of it has to do with the individual. But FYI--I did a 500 mile AIDS ride a few years ago on a Flite, and suffered in spite of Bag Balm. I did a similar 500 mile ride last year on my Swift, and never needed the Balm.


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## ispoke (Feb 28, 2005)

Thanks so much for the advice. My bars are between 1 and 2 inches below the saddle, which seems to be a good long term comfort point for me.

Last night I tried the wrench and was able to loosen the nut about 1/4 turn from the factory setting (then it bottomed out). That quarter turn was enough to relieve the tension on the leather and now it's quite easy to push down on the sit area with the fingers and watch the saddle flex. When it flexes, the "side skirts" bow outwards (sideways) under load.

Won't know how it rides until this weekend. During the week I only take the hardened commuter bike through the mean streets of industrial LA...


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## Spinfinity (Feb 3, 2004)

*Germs not friction?*



ispoke said:


> - but then I investigated closer and discovered the small, rash type saddle sores exactly where my sit bones contact the saddle.
> 
> My wife swears that saddle sores result from little things we can't see or feel until it's too late, like fungus or bacteria, that colonize her shorts and saddles. When they start she washes her shorts in hot water and some disinfectant soap she gets from the hospital where she works and them hangs them out in the sun. She cured the last batch by also putting some kind of medical tape (Tegaderm?) on her saddle which looks a little odd, but is way cheaper than her old cure - a new saddle. They haven't come back.
> 
> My saddIes are old and I never intentionally wash my shorts in hot water. I use BodyGlide to prevent friction and chafing which I think of as a different skin irritation from saddle sores. I rarely get saddle sores and treat mine with hydrogen peroxide when I do. When my bride declares war on germs I say "Go, Fight, Win!" and keep my opinions to myself. It seems to work for her.


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## ispoke (Feb 28, 2005)

*brooks for spinning and "riding the rivet"?*



Andy M-S said:


> Where are your bars with respect to your saddle? If you have a B17, you want your bars to be at the same height or a little higher. If you like your bars lower, then a B17N is good. Lower still, you may want a Pro or a Swift. Higher bars with a narrow saddle, or lower with a wide saddle, and I think you're asking for trouble...


I'm reviving this conversation - hoping to get some more advice regarding the Pro and Swift models. As noted above, I've been riding my B17-N "untensioned" and so the leather is a little more forgiving. The bars are about 1 or 2 inches below the saddle.

But now that I'm really in good shape, I'm spinning a lot more and riding aggressively. This means spending some time towards the nose of the saddle. And so now my (slightly inclined) B17-N nose is quite hard when it's supporting my tender areas. I'm wondering if the Pro, Swift, or another model might be more comfortable when riding in this position? And what do I give up by switching from the B17-N to another model?


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## vol245 (Jan 20, 2002)

ispoke said:


> I'm reviving this conversation - hoping to get some more advice regarding the Pro and Swift models. As noted above, I've been riding my B17-N "untensioned" and so the leather is a little more forgiving. The bars are about 1 or 2 inches below the saddle.
> 
> But now that I'm really in good shape, I'm spinning a lot more and riding aggressively. This means spending some time towards the nose of the saddle. And so now my (slightly inclined) B17-N nose is quite hard when it's supporting my tender areas. I'm wondering if the Pro, Swift, or another model might be more comfortable when riding in this position? And what do I give up by switching from the B17-N to another model?


I had a Swift for about a year. I found that the hoods was the only comfortable riding position for me. If I went to the drops, the hard nose of the saddle (which has to be raised slightly to keep you from sliding off) dug into my crotch. If I decided to sit up more while riding the saddle was uncomfortable. I have since changed to a San Marco Rolls and it is way better for me than the Swift. I was able to sell the Swift on ebay fro about the same price I paid for it and I also bought the Rolls there very cheap.


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## Bryan (Sep 19, 2004)

It may just be that a Brooks isn't for you. It's been said a thousand times here, one man's saddle is another's torture device. I have wide sitbones, also known as a big azz, and the Brooks fits me like a glove. Maybe it's too wide for you?


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## Andy M-S (Feb 3, 2004)

*Swift Angle*



vol245 said:


> I had a Swift for about a year. I found that the hoods was the only comfortable riding position for me. If I went to the drops, the hard nose of the saddle (which has to be raised slightly to keep you from sliding off) dug into my crotch. If I decided to sit up more while riding the saddle was uncomfortable. I have since changed to a San Marco Rolls and it is way better for me than the Swift. I was able to sell the Swift on ebay fro about the same price I paid for it and I also bought the Rolls there very cheap.


Seems to me that if you keep sliding off your saddle, something else may be wrong, FWIW, I keep my Swift level and have no problem staying on it while in the drops. But this really is a case where mileage varies.


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## Val_Garou (Apr 30, 2002)

rusa1586 said:


> ispoke said:
> 
> 
> > - but then I investigated closer and discovered the small, rash type saddle sores exactly where my sit bones contact the saddle.
> ...


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