Customer Reviews

Brooks B-17 Narrow Saddle

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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I've had my B17 Narrow for 20 years. It's been a great saddle, after I broke it in after 6 months of riding. I've moved on to the Brooks Flyer Special Saddle but I've kept the old brooks for a bike to restore. The seat still works, its just that I'm only commuting so I don't really care about the weight of the saddle and my butt bones are less padded than they used to be. (Or maybe the padding has moved!)

The B17 Narrow is only a little more narrow than the Brooks Heritage Saddles B17 Standard Saddle - Men's but if you have thicker more muscular thighs you'll appreciate the greater clearance. But you sacrifice a little support further back.

Saddles are very individualistic and fortunately Brooks makes a wide selection. I can recommend the longevity of them though. The Brooks saddle prior to my B17 narrow was a B17 regular which I sold with the bike, after 15 years of riding. I probably should have kept it, as the saddle was butt fitted.

If you are new to Brooks saddles, I'd recommend buying a saddle through a bike shop that has a bunch of them so you can test ride them. Now if you are just replacing one, Amazon has them all, which is probably a bad thing because if you are like me, you'll spend hours on the Brooks web site looking over the specifications and measuring your existing saddle and then trying to figure out which one would be "best". When in reality, what we should be doing is just going for a ride!

This books saddle enhanced the beauty of my bike and made me the envy of my peers on the road. It is also very comfortable.

This is a great saddle, there are lots of detailed reviews about these including how to break them in, and I don't have anything new to add there.

The one thing that I have to add is that the set up of rails vs. the seat is different than other saddles. This is my third (or fourth) saddle. The other three had similar geometry, i.e. I did not have to adjust the front back position or the height much from one saddle to the next for the fit to be correct for me. The Brooks B17N is a higher saddle compared to the rails. I had to set the seat post down a half inch, not a problem, lots of play there. The problem for some people, including me, is that the rails of the B17N are more forward than other saddles. So I had to buy a zero offset seat post to get the right front/back position. My previous seat post had an offset of approx 30mm and I had the old saddle almost all the way forward. With the zero offset seat post I have the Brooks all the way forward.

So great saddle, but you may also need a new seat post depending on your set up.

Bicycle saddles have gone the way of over-engineered shoes-- lots of special gels and pads, ergo designs, as if they know the shape of your butt. The problem with most saddles is that they have a plastic base, so if you hit a bump and the padding gives way, you hit the rock-hard shell. Brooks saddles mold to your butt, and offer that shock absorption at the base that other saddles dont. Plus they look really cool. There are ways to break them in quickly as well, so the worry of that it takes thousands of miles isn't necessarily true. A baseball glove oil bath will get it broken in in a matter of days. The only drawback is the weight, but I don't race and don't really care. They do make a model with titanium rails which is much lighter.

I bought this to replace my Swift saddle. The Swift saddle had over 30,000 miles on it, and the leather was starting to split at the front rivet. Feel like I got my money's worth from it. But, have to say, I was a bit nervous replacing it - after all, would my butt adapt to a new saddle, or would I be fishing my old one out of the waste basket in a couple of days?

This saddle was immediately comfortable, and looks great on my bike. I got it in antique brown, to put on my celeste Bianchi. As another poster commented, I had to lower my seat post about 3/4".

Great price and awesome saddle. I've had it 4 days and I'm already comfortable with it, can't wait until it fully breaks in. Lots of compliments from people on the looks as well. But I already thought it looked great, makes my bike look cooler, now I have to get matching grips.