Contemporary out of the field, a Brooks England B-17 is an imposing factor. A single piece of thick cowhide stretched over metal rails, it’s heavy, stiff and lined in rivets that don’t look bottom pleasant. It seems to be like one thing from one other period, and that’s as a result of it’s. First launched in 1898, the B-17 arrived just a few years after the comically enormous entrance wheel of the Penny-Farthing bicycles went out of fashion. On my first trip, I slid off the onerous leather-based seat with each pedal stroke.
I purchased my B-17 saddle earlier than I had any enterprise proudly owning one. The seat is designed for grizzled adventurers and their epic rides throughout the nation. As a 17-year-old, I largely rode it to my part-time job at a diner, the place I earned the cash to purchase it within the first place. However I didn’t let that deter me. The saddle was an announcement. It was an emblem of the particular person I wished to turn out to be. I dreamed of using down the backbone of the Americas, from Alaska to Patagonia—or at the least throughout Europe. In the intervening time, I settled for the one a part of that image my dishwashing wages would afford me: my honey brown Brooks saddle. That it clashed horribly with the svelte pink and white aluminum LeMond bike that I pedaled round city was only a momentary setback.
The great thing about the B-17 is what occurs when you break it in. Because the leather-based stretches and softens, it transforms right into a hammock to your bottom. Like a very good pair of shoes, a leather-based saddle will conform to your personal distinctive anatomy with time, one thing an extruded wedge of bum-shaped plastic won’t ever do for you. Scrapes and scuffs that might destroy a foam seat simply give the leather-based saddle extra character. Typically the outdated issues stick round as a result of nobody has improved upon them. However as Sheldon Brown, the legendary bike mechanic, as soon as wrote, “Leather-based saddles aren’t any extra out of date than leather-based baseball gloves.”
Breaking in a leather-based saddle takes a very long time. And amongst those that care about such issues, there’s heated debate about the best way to pace up the method. Some dunk their saddles in scorching water to melt the leather-based. Others swear by rubbing them lovingly with oil or leather-based conditioner. Earlier than his record-breaking rides throughout America in lower than 10 days, legendary ultracyclist Lon Haldeman was rumored to soak his saddles in motor oil.
Afraid of ruining my new buy, I let time and stress do the work, because the purists do. Earlier than lengthy, nonetheless, my B-17 was topic to an unconventional break-in course of: neglect. Deferring my goals of cycle touring, I headed to school. There, I spent most of my time on the pupil newspaper, my bike pressured to endure 4 dreary Pennsylvanian winters chained up exterior. I thought of shopping for a seat cowl however all the time spent my cash on beer as a substitute.
Brooks aficionados say that rain is the nemesis of the leather-based saddle. Rain causes a saddle to dry out and crack. I used to be fortunate, although. Mine by no means appeared to thoughts. It survived.
After commencement I lastly realized my bike-touring goals, engaged on path crews in the summertime and touring within the offseason. I took off on these adventures on a procession of low-cost bikes, normally picked up — and offered once more — on Craigslist. A classic Fuji that wanted, however by no means had, its wheels trued. The fixed-gear conversion that was two sizes too small. A ‘90s-era Specialised Rockhopper purchased for $60 from a stranger in a Walmart parking zone. However my B-17 was a relentless companion. As soon as I hooked up my very own saddle to the seatpost, the shortcomings of my secondhand bikes diminished. It gave me the boldness to set out on my subsequent journey in a brand new place, whether or not that was touring the South Island of New Zealand or discovering the quickest path to work after I moved to Boise, Idaho.
My Brooks is 15 years outdated now. It’s outlasted mates, girlfriends and jobs. It is aware of a sure a part of me extra intimately than anybody. It’s rakishly scuffed, a bit lopsided. It has an expiration date: There’s a tensioning nut that sits underneath the nostril. When the leather-based sags, I stress the nut to cinch the saddle proper once more, and at some point I’ll run out of threads to show. I attempt not to consider it an excessive amount of. I do know it’s only a bike seat, however we’ve been via loads collectively.
Not way back, I purchased a metal touring bike, one thing with chrome fenders and brown bar tape to match my saddle—the sort of trip a B-17 deserves. Seeing my Brooks sitting on a correct journey bike has jogged my memory that I used to be proper about at the least one factor after I was 17. I nonetheless see the Brooks B-17 as a pathway to epic journeys. That’s partly due to its storied place in biking historical past, but in addition as a result of I’m now satisfied it’s probably the most snug bike saddle ever made. Once I lastly get my act collectively and trip my bike from Alaska to Patagonia, I’ll at the least know which saddle to convey.
