Yikes! I’ve been mostly riding B17s since 1999, and I would suggest that if a new one is not reasonably comfortable for you, a broken in one probably won’t be either. A few random thoughts… I have only had one soaked once, caught in some pretty good rain and no choice but to finish the ride. I dried it as best I could when I got home and let it dry out indoors. Pretty sure I Proofided it again after that. I think in the modern era, leather products containing animal oils/fats are not recommended. I’m a beefy boy, never under 200 lbs., plenty of my riding has been toasty (Chandler, AZ) and I have never touched the tension bolts on any of mine. I use Obenaufs now, I give the underside of a new saddle a thorough bottom coat and a light top coat. Probably once a year or so, I’ll redo the top. My opinion is that once it’s broken in, putting more on the bottom is likely to soften it up more than the ideal amount. I personally wouldn’t force the break in, Brooks’ are too expensive to abuse…
Doug On Sun, May 18, 2025 at 2:35 PM [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Friends, > > My Brooks B67S saddle…the wide saddle with springs…was squeaking so > distractingly much that I decided to try the B17S (no springs), and OUCH. > So stiff! > > I had a B17 many years ago and don’t remember it being so stiff, but I > rode lots more then and perhaps I broke it in quickly. My previous B17 was > on my Atlantis, which is set up with mustache handlebars, so I wasn’t > riding entirely upright…the new saddle is on my Platypus with Choco > handlebars, so I sit more upright on it, and I have a feeling my sitbones > hit differently on the Platy. > > Anyway, I’m not getting any younger, and I wonder if there’s a cheating > way to soften it up. I’ve been thinking of taking a mallet to it. > > Liz in Cincinnati > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAK64jTGC32PznO7_PO6T5QbHZO5Xtc5CHwMQbuKjg9QFUEuMVA%40mail.gmail.com.
