Brooks B17 central channel modification

[vorsprung]

I've made a hole in the middle of my black titanium railed, broken in B17 to relieve perineum pressure
Then to stop the sides splaying out I've added lacing. Photos etc on blog link below

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/holey-saddle/

 

[the student]

good job, you have just ruined a perfectly ok saddle, so now you can get yourself a new one. Plenty of saddles with a hole readily available.

 

[vorsprung]

good job, you have just ruined a perfectly ok saddle, so now you can get yourself a new one. Plenty of saddles with a hole readily available.

That's the thing, if there was a saddle available, ready made that was like this I wouldn't have done it. Brooks make a B17 with a hole in the middle called an "Imperial". Apparently their patent on this goes back to Victorian times, predating the modern invention of the saddle with the hole in.

But the version of the B17 Brooks do with a hole is the narrow model. I have a "standard" width saddle to match my large backside.

I have a Specialized Avatar on my summer commuting bike. I like the central channel hole on this but the gel filled surface of the saddle top doesn't work for me, it's just not comfortable over longer distances. Fine for a quick commute but not so great for hundreds of km

A friend of mine has a similar modification on exactly the same type of Brooks B17 saddle and it's been fine for thousands of km

 

[Bustedknuckle]

That's the thing, if there was a saddle available, ready made that was like this I wouldn't have done it. Brooks make a B17 with a hole in the middle called an "Imperial". Apparently their patent on this goes back to Victorian times, predating the modern invention of the saddle with the hole in.

But the version of the B17 Brooks do with a hole is the narrow model. I have a "standard" width saddle to match my large backside.

I have a Specialized Avatar on my summer commuting bike. I like the central channel hole on this but the gel filled surface of the saddle top doesn't work for me, it's just not comfortable over longer distances. Fine for a quick commute but not so great for hundreds of km

A friend of mine has a similar modification on exactly the same type of Brooks B17 saddle and it's been fine for thousands of km

http://www.albabici.com/selle/selle-smp-mp.htm

 

[vorsprung]

http://www.albabici.com/selle/selle-smp-mp.htm

Those saddles do look interesting but they aren't made in the same way as a B17. Most of them aren't hard, they are covered in padding. This doesn't work for me. The hard ones seem to be a leather cover over a nylon or carbon fibre shell. The carbon lite one looks fabulous and seems to just be raw polished carbon fibre! I don't see that this will breathe as well as a 100% leather shell