First test ride on the Brooks

After giving up trying to put my Brooks on my fixie (the seat post is jammed) I took the saddle for a test ride on my Giant instead.
I did about 90 minutes on it. Early on, the saddle felt slippery, but I put that down to a bit of leather protector that hadn't been rubbed in.
After a while the seat became more grippy - however, it still felt more slippery than my regular saddles (a Selle Italia SLR XP and a carbon-railed Selle Italia SLR Flow).
At speed I couldn't get comfortable - the seat rises from the nose, then dips just before the tail - this means moving forward on the saddle is difficult, and when you ride "on the rivet" the experience is not good - way too firm.
People always say Brooks saddles break in over time and after a few rides they're the comfiest saddle you'll ever experience - but after one ride I can't say I enjoyed the experience much.







Another problem I encountered was with the lacing. My road racing frame is set up so that I need to put my saddle quite a way back on the rails. The lacing on the Brooks prevented me doing this, so I relaced it (see photos below). However, this means there is no lacing directly the area of the saddle I sit on, which resulted in my thighs brushing the sides of the saddle, and even rubbing on the lower edges of the side of the saddle. I will try relacing the saddle nearer the nose to see if this fixes the problem.




My final gripe is a very unfair one. The saddle looks daft on my bike. Like a riding saddle on a race horse. When I asked to test the B17 "Narrow" I imagined something pared-down and svelte. Bicycle saddle fashions have moved on, but Brooks has stuck to its guns. Good for some people, but I can't imagine ever pairing this saddle with a modern bicycle.