Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: energyman on June 30, 2013, 04:46:10 pm
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After over a year of trying to get used to a B17 I am nearly giving up on trying to get the seat leather to stop being slippery. At present I have a seat cover on all the time.
Does anyone have any tips (not involving surgery !) to make the seat sittable ?
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Does anyone have any tips (not involving surgery !) to make the seat sittable ?
Hi, Chris!
To a certain extent, "They all do that" best describes a Brooks' slipperiness.
That said, I've found changing the other part of the interface -- riding shorts, tights, or trousers -- helps a lot. Some blends of lycra, especially, are just "squirmy" atop a Brooks. Others with a coarser weave aren't nearly as slippery. I've found wool shorts (as used "back in the day") are fine.
I've also found saddle position makes a great deal of difference. If I have it spot-on, then I don't slide around much. If the saddle is too far nose-up or -down for me, then I slide. Saddle height being a bit "off" can contribute also. Wearing-in the saddle helps, as the little dents one's bottom makes help locate a person on the saddle. I think riding tends to wear off some of the initial surface polish. Sweating a lot in hot summer temperatures helps, sometimes too well!
Some people tend to apply Brooks' Proofide saddle dressing a bit too generously or too often, and that can make things more slippery till it wears off. Still, it is the top grain (skin side) of the hide that really makes for a slippery surface.
I did see a sanded Brooks one time. I was a little horrified till I realized it was a last-ditch attempt to make the saddle usable. The rider claimed it helped a lot, but had to be re-done periodically as it wore smooth again.
Best,
Dan.
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Oh! Chris! An additional note...
If the saddle is the dark green Brooks, then the color is due to dye and the saddle will feel much like a black or honey-colored one. If it is the apple green color, they can be especially slippery; the surface treatment seems different in some way. They even look glossy out of the box: http://brianphillips.co.nz/zen/images/b17%20apple.jpg
Not sure what to suggest if that is the case....
Best,
Dan.
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It is the apple green one. I tried sanding and it did get better but not for long. Thanks for the inclination tips that will be my next tryout.
Thanks
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I used Nikwax (the leather boot tretment) on my last brooks to stop me slipping. Just a bit now and again.
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if you tilt the nose up it will stop you sliding.
mind you thats where the expression came from when riding hard and fast.
on the rivet 8)
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Yeah as far as I can tell the saddle is meant to be slippery and the game is just to get the tilt precise. The saddle is a shallow sort of U shape so there ought to be an angle where you slide back to the middle of the saddle instead of sliding off either the front or the back. The advantage of the slippery surface is that is prevent chafing. That's the theory as I understand it!
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FWIW, my B17 (dark brown) is now set to that the central spot (the centre of the shallow depression, mid-saddle) is pretty much horizontal. So, there's a self-centring tendency for fore-and-aft motion. Seems to work just fine for me, though it took some fiddling over the course of 2 - 3 rides for me to find it last year. (Never occurred to me to resort to sanding, Nikwax, etc; or, now that wax has been mentioned, something like a hard kick-wax from the cross-country skiing bin, maybe Green Special or Polar.) (!!??) Good luck!
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In my experience (I've now got three Brooks saddles on my various bikes) it will become less slippery. Getting it wet a couple of times helps and riding over a protracted period also helps. In the mean time I agree with Jags, tip the nose up slightly and it'll stop you slipping forward.
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Are you slippng in one direction? If so adjust the angle of the saddle to compensate.
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I used Nikwax (the leather boot treatment) on my last brooks to stop me slipping. Just a bit now and again.
Thanks - I have treated it a couple of times with the Nikwax and it did get better but after a few rides it was slippy again. Finally bought a saddle cover (Coarse Nylon type from Brooks) and it is now rideable but I can't see the green leather - c'est la vie !
Oh yes also adjusted the nose angle VERY slightly !
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At last I think I have sussed it. A locally sourced (www.sheepskinshop.co.uk)
sheepskin woolly side up. A 10 km ride this sunny morn has confirmed it.
No problem with rain etc as it hardly ever rains in England ! ;)
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Thanks - I have treated it a couple of times with the Nikwax and it did get better but after a few rides it was slippy again. Finally bought a saddle cover (Coarse Nylon type from Brooks) and it is now rideable but I can't see the green leather - c'est la vie !
Oh yes also adjusted the nose angle VERY slightly !
Brooks say Proofhide only. They know what they are talking about.
Let it get wet in the rain and dry in an airing cupboard and start again.
Whilst I am not a great reader of instructions I always feel angry when people mistreat Brooks saddles!
John
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Yeah as far as I can tell the saddle is meant to be slippery and the game is just to get the tilt precise. The saddle is a shallow sort of U shape so there ought to be an angle where you slide back to the middle of the saddle instead of sliding off either the front or the back. The advantage of the slippery surface is that is prevent chafing. That's the theory as I understand it!
I totally agree with this. In the recent deluges we have been having in UK I resorted to riding with my Brooks saddle cover on. (a thing I don't normally do) After a couple of rides I have a sore arse because the cover prevents the natural back and forward slide. A combination of tilt adjustment and tension adjustment (very little and gradual) with the front bolt is everything and I find I have needed to do this several times with both my B17s from new as they develop the dip.
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I know we are all different and have different preferences, but what's wrong with it being slippy?
I like it slippy. I thought that was how it should be?
Matt
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The sheepskin makes it not as slippy and it also makes it very comfortable.
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The sheepskin makes it not as slippy and it also makes it very comfortable.
Back in the days before a grateful nation put up a nine-foot tall life-size statue of me in front of my old skool (take that, Miss Pomeroy!), when I was dodging the previous government's assassins, I used to leave stuff behind. I'd literally put the phone down and say to my wife, "A couple of men with South African diplomatic passports have just broken my publisher's arm for refusing to give them my address. They're on their way here now to kill me. Put the baby and some nappies in the Volvo, we're off to France. Leave everything but the baby." One of few things that I regret leaving behind was a large sheepskin that I used to sit on in Africa, South America, Australia, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, California and Alaska, cool in summer, warm in winter, and, as you say, very comfortable.
My favorite Herman Miller Mirra chair is comfortable even after 16 hours, and has long since earned its cost in fees not paid to physiotherapists to fix a hurting back, but the only thing that would improve it is a large sheepskin. If I could buy a Brooks saddle made woolly side-out of sheepskin, I would. Be hell to keep clean, though.
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I'm so glad you're with us, Andre.
All the best,
Dan. (...who knows at last why the Volvo sported a transplanted Chevy small-block)
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I'd say Andre is a secret agent without a doubt ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79amavL8zHo
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I'd say Andre is a secret agent without a doubt ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79amavL8zHo
Nah, you don't want to be on the oversight committee that has to explain my "excess initiative" to high authority; when I was a conscript, I worked on plans for the lightning takeovers of neighboring countries, and one or two over, well anywhere our planes could reach, or where I thought the dictator was impertinent. I gave the colonels overtaken by the Peter Principle, the majors promoted beyond their competence, heartburn every time they heard my name. When the Prime Minister asked to have me serve the rest of my conscription time as his youth advisor, Military Intelligence (oxymoron warning!) fell over themselves to deliver me to his office before noon on the day the request arrived.