A Life with a Brooks B17

One of the most popular posts that I have written for this Blog was all about the breaking in of a Brooks B17 saddle . That particular post was written about a black B17 that I had had fitted to my new Mercian Vincitore Special and was the second in my series of Brooks B17 saddles.  In the event the life ( with me ) of that particular saddle was short as I discovered that the riding position on a road bike was significantly different from the Specialized Sirrus Comp Hybrid, my original bike and the place where I fell in love with Brooks saddles.

The original saddle was a Honey Brown with Copper Rivets and both looked and smelt like the piece of handcrafted excellence it was.

The image above  was taken when the saddle was still relatively new and at this stage the score was

Brooks B17  6   -   My Butt    0

I bought this saddle in the spring of 2008 and sat on it constantly for the next 10000km of cycling by which time the saddle and I were coming to an understanding. I fed it with Neat Oil, wiped it down when it was soaked from the rain or covered in snow, polished the copper rivets and generally treated it with respect. In return it began to change its character, moulding itself to my butt ( or did my butt mould itself to saddle shape ?)

As I started cycling more, my friends introduced me to the algorithm of how many bikes even an OAP cyclist actually needs and so I started to acquire just a few more; all essential purposes of course, no luxury here. With these new bikes came a range of saddles including Fizik Arione and Selle Italia and so the Hybrid, and hence the Brooks B17, got less use.

Recently however I have been going through a period of forced maintanence on the road bikes ( I did  tentatively suggest to my wife that this probably indicated that I  might be in desperate need of another purchase, but the look of astonishment on her face and cries of wonder made me think that I might be better putting that idea on hold ) and so I have returned to the Hybrid and hence to Brooks.

I had forgotten just how comfortable my long lost love had become as she had matured into a grand old lady

I wonder if I made a mistake in exchanging the black B17 on the Mercian, perhaps there was a more fitting model in the Brooks range I should have chosen.

Anyway, off now to give her a polish and take her out for a trip to the local tea shop.

A Mechanical Interlude

Rule #12 states that while the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.


My previous post talked about my venture into bike maintenance and described my initial steps to upgrade the chain wheels on my vintage mercian. Whilst this exercise is probably a simple and straightforward exercise to the majority of readers of my ramblings, to me it is a major undertaking which will take a while to complete as I discover the necessary steps and acquire the requisite tools.  The outcome of all this is that the bike is hors de combat as it languishes in my garage.
This workshop project does not curtail my cycling completely as I can always use my Specialized Sirrus Comp hybrid or my new Mercian Vincitore Special, or rather I could until the hybrid started emitting very disturbing grinding noise from the front wheel whilst out riding the other day. 

“Wheel bearings gone” said my knowledgeable companion. “ Very tricky task replacing those. Little blighters have a mind of their own once  released from the bearing race “ ( whatever that is ) he continued. “ Better not use it again until fixed “  

And so, I was down to my last bike..and that was my new, shiny Vincitore which ought not really be exposed to wet weather.
This disaster scenario led to the following exchange with my wife.

Me:   “ I only have ONE working bike “
Wife :  < silence >
Me: “ And I can’t really use that in wet weather, it might get the chainset dirty “
Wife: < silence >
Wife leaves room

This was not going quite the way I had hoped.

As part of the essential (??!!) upgrade process with which every bike owner is completely familiar and understands, I now have 5 saddles.  Two Brooks B17, a Specialized gel saddle, an old Madison saddle and my latest acquisition, a Selle Italia SLR GF team edition built on a carbon fibre frame.

I am now wondering whether to try a fresh approach to wife on the number of bikes needed  based around the proposition that with 5 saddles and only 3 bikes there is an obvious mismatch

What do you think of my chances of a favourable outcome?

Marques of Distinction

The history of cycling is littered with iconic names

The names of the Five Monuments of Cycling are generally considered to be the oldest and most-prestigious one-day races on the calendar.

• Milan - San Remo ( Italy )– the first true Classic of the year, its Italian name is La Primavera (the spring), this race is held in late March. First run in 1907.
• Tour of Flanders ( Belgium )– also known as the "Ronde van Vlaanderen", the first of the 'Spring Classics', is raced in early April. First held in 1913.
• Paris - Roubaix  ( France )– the "Queen of the Classics" or l'Enfer du Nord ("Hell of the North") is traditionally one week after the Ronde van Vlaanderen, and was first raced in 1896.
• Liege - Bastogne - Leige  (Belgium) – late April. La Doyenne, the oldest Classic, was first held in 1892 as an amateur event; a professional edition following in 1894.
• Giro de Lombardia (Italy) – also known as the "Race of the Falling Leaves", is held in October. Initially called the Milano–Milano in 1905, it became the Giro di Lombardia in 1907.

and at the other end of the scale are the Grand Tours lasting more than 14 days each

• Tour de France– Tour of France (est. 1903), held in July
• Giro d’Italia– Tour of Italy(est. 1909), held in May
• Vuelta a Espana – Tour of Spain (est. 1935), currently held in August

The stories of the men who have competed in these events; their feats of endurance, daring , bravery and imperviousness to pain are the stuff of legends.

And they were all done on a bike whose basic concept has rarely changed over the decades. Though advances in engineering technology and material science has now allowed the introduction of exotic materials into frame construction and wireless technology into gear change.

It was to capture some of the essence of those early pioneers that I wanted my bike to be built from components which harked back to those early years. A retro bike in these days of carbon frames and electronic gear shifters.

A bike which would salute those Marques of Distinction.

Pedal to Saddle..setting the Height

When I collected my new Mercian and rode it for the first time, the most noticeable thing was that the saddle was much higher than that to which I am accustomed. And I am not talking mm here.This was the first time that I had ever been measured and specially fitted to gain proper efficiency. It did seem strange, especially as I was also still getting used to the idea of clipless pedals.

The bike is fitted with Shimano SPD  pedals, not that that was a concious choice of mine as I had no idea that there was a choice, but it was the recommendation for a novice.
I have now ridden about 150km on this bike ( it doesn't go out when it is either wet or muddy :-) and am finding that the new position is much more efficient, even more enjoyable. Because of  this I thought I would just check out the saddle heights on my vintage Mercian and my Specialized Hybrid. Neither of these had ever been "set" as I just sat on and pedalled. As such it was not surprising that they were all at different heights, not a few mm but amazingly by up to 12cms lower!  So how do you go about deciding the correct height? And whilst I was at it I also noted that the saddle was not straight on the old bikes, a fact pointed out by Grant at Mercian Cycles.
It seems that there are a number of techniques which can be adopted
a) The Heel Method
b) The 109% Method
c) The Holmes Method

There may well be others. What I have now done is to measure the distance between my pedal axle and the top of the seat on the new Mercian and used that as the correct height; and then adjusted the other bikes to have the same dimension.

The Vincitore Special is proving to be much quicker ( in OAP units ) than I have ridden before and I suspect that setting the correct saddle height is one of the major contributions to this improved efficiency. I am obviously not competitive, but at my age I do need all the technical factors that I can control to be working in my favour. I read that one can lose up to 12% efficiency by having the saddle too low, perhaps now I will be able to ride for longer, I hope so.