How long does it take to break in a Brooks' Swift Saddle?

Neil Holland

80 miles so far and some give but should I set my horizons further in the future for optimum derrière comfort?

dhope

I tend to do 60 miles a week on a modest commute into town so I'd expect a bit longer.
Edit: On a B17 which is now comfy

tri-sexual

for ultimate comfort, think years
gets better with age

Neil Holland

Only a few days in and to date a little stiff still. Oddest feeling is the slip sliding on the polished leather compared to the more matt Selle Italia it replaced!!

Cheers

Neil

SimonAH

Took me a couple of weeks to defeat my b'stard, but since the mighty buttocks ground it into submission it has become the most comfortable seat ever.

ChrisLS

..takes ages but boy is it worth it in the end

SimonAH

Use lots of the dobbin stuff. I used olive oil but lots of folks on here told me that it would ruin the saddle...........it didn't but I bow to superior knowledge (I'd already oiled it, from the underside, before I got the advice btw)

ex-pat scot

took about 5 years I guess.

Neil Holland

I'm riding to Paris in 3 days in August so kinda hoping it's at its comfortable best by then. Commute about 120 miles per week plus a long ride c. every other weekend so should have a fair few miles on it by then...

Origamist

Neil Holland wrote:

Only a few days in and to date a little stiff still. Oddest feeling is the slip sliding on the polished leather compared to the more matt Selle Italia it replaced!!

Cheers

Neil

I have the nose angled slightly upwards on Brooks saddles - this includes the Swift as it helps to limit sliding forward.

More worryingly, I have killed two Brooks saddles over the years (snapping a tension bolt and a nose bolt).

clarkey cat

my B17 has about 1500 miles of my arse atop and it is now very comfortable but does seem to get more comfortable every time I get on it.

Neil Holland

Sheldon Brown recommends immersing in Neatsfoot Oil for half an hour to speed up the breaking in process. Will mull over that one!!

vorsprung

If I got a new Brooks tomorrow I would

1) leave it wrapped in a wet cloth for 24 hours. Dampness should touch the underside and the top
2) ride for 18 hours straight
3) let the saddle dry out
4) proofride it

If you just ride it and wait for it to break in, it could take a while. As Brooks saddles are made from "natural" materials with varying thickness etc the time to break in varies a lot from one saddle to the next

Sanderville

I just got my second B17 Narrow. I used an old toothbrush to paint the underside with Brooks Proofide the other night. In a couple of days I'll give it another coat and then I'll fix it to the bike.

I'm going to take my current one off my commuter and put it on my road bike, then put the new one on my commuter. My commute is only 30 minutes so it will be easier to break it in a bit at a time. I did find the first B17 surprisingly comfortable from the off but the new one suddenly feels very hard in comparison with the broken-in one.

I decided to have a Brooks on my road bike because it is so much comfier than any of the "modern" saddles that I've used that I don't think the extra weight is a problem since my invite to be in the TdF still hasn't arrived.

When I started using a Brooks saddle it did strike me that modern plastic saddles were introduced because they are easier and cheaper to make, not because they are better.

don_don

I bought a Swift (my first Brooks saddle) recently, on the basis that it was pretty close in shape to my favourite Fizik Aliante.

It was pretty comfortable straight away, but after a few weeks of daily short commutes I could see the shape changing very slightly under my sit-bones.

A 300 mile road tour last month went brilliantly and the saddle is now very comfy. I suspect it will just get even better.

I have read various recipes for softening the saddles but personally I would steer well clear. I can't remember the web-site, but I read somewhere that wetting/soaking the saddle just stretches the leather out of shape. I have stuck to Brooks's advice of Proofide applied regularly underneath and an occasional very thin coat on the top of the saddle. This seems to have worked fine for me.

+1 on the idea of tilting the nose up a bit more than you might be used to. Brooks saddles seem to be designed to do this and it places you on the most supportive part of the seat. Not sure how that would feel on a head-down racing bike though :shock:

Neil Holland

Cheers guys. A mate of mine used a B17 on a ride from Venice to Manchester last year and swore by it. He reckons the leather on the Swift is a bit thicker and has found it slower to break in.

N