Spa cycles Aire Leather saddle 'breaking in'
daveyroids
Posts: 223
Recently decided to switch over to a leather saddle and after much deliberation I decided to get one of these. http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... 0s204p2669
Thought I would share my experience of breaking the saddle in. Whilst deliberating I came across a range of conflicting advice on what to do to break the saddle in. Sheldon Brown has a good article on leather saddles and a range of forum posts offer, in some cases, bad advice on what to do. Then you get the people who tell you that you will be red raw and not able to walk the next day after using one.
Well received saddle a couple of weeks ago and got round to fitting it this week. The quality is excellent. I have done 2 commutes lasting 40 minutes each way and a 70 mile ride today. Meaning that this saddle is no way broken in yet. What aches, pains, redness do I have? Nothing, not even a hint.
I don't use padded shorts! Only thing between me and the saddle has been my Asics lycra running shorts.
My experience so far has been that on the first day of using the saddle I was aware that my sit bones were digging into it. I have had that sensation for both of my commutes and around the first hour of cycling today. However, what is strange is that on a padded saddle when you are aware of your sit bones being in contact you tend to know that aches, pain or numbness are next. Not with the leather saddle. The sensation just went after the first hour of my ride.
At times I became aware of the saddle again but that feeling soon passed. I was out with a road club on my commuter bike today, which is basically a huge 29er / German city bike (Corratec C29er) with drop bars and a rack. So there I was on every hill working hard with my but placed firmly on the saddle. My riding style is to sit and spin up the hills however today was a grind. If I was going to experience problems It would have been then.
Inspected the saddle when I got home and I can feel 2 very slight indentations where my sit bones would have been. They can't be seen by just looking at the saddle but they are there. If I recall correctly, it takes several hundred miles to break one of these saddles in but already it is tuning out to be the most comfortable saddle I have ever owned.
Hope my posts will go some way to cutting through the rubbish out there. Finally all I used to prepare the saddle was a coating of Gilles Berthoud's wax. Glad I didn't go with some of the more extreme preparation advice which is out there.
Thought I would share my experience of breaking the saddle in. Whilst deliberating I came across a range of conflicting advice on what to do to break the saddle in. Sheldon Brown has a good article on leather saddles and a range of forum posts offer, in some cases, bad advice on what to do. Then you get the people who tell you that you will be red raw and not able to walk the next day after using one.
Well received saddle a couple of weeks ago and got round to fitting it this week. The quality is excellent. I have done 2 commutes lasting 40 minutes each way and a 70 mile ride today. Meaning that this saddle is no way broken in yet. What aches, pains, redness do I have? Nothing, not even a hint.
I don't use padded shorts! Only thing between me and the saddle has been my Asics lycra running shorts.
My experience so far has been that on the first day of using the saddle I was aware that my sit bones were digging into it. I have had that sensation for both of my commutes and around the first hour of cycling today. However, what is strange is that on a padded saddle when you are aware of your sit bones being in contact you tend to know that aches, pain or numbness are next. Not with the leather saddle. The sensation just went after the first hour of my ride.
At times I became aware of the saddle again but that feeling soon passed. I was out with a road club on my commuter bike today, which is basically a huge 29er / German city bike (Corratec C29er) with drop bars and a rack. So there I was on every hill working hard with my but placed firmly on the saddle. My riding style is to sit and spin up the hills however today was a grind. If I was going to experience problems It would have been then.
Inspected the saddle when I got home and I can feel 2 very slight indentations where my sit bones would have been. They can't be seen by just looking at the saddle but they are there. If I recall correctly, it takes several hundred miles to break one of these saddles in but already it is tuning out to be the most comfortable saddle I have ever owned.
Hope my posts will go some way to cutting through the rubbish out there. Finally all I used to prepare the saddle was a coating of Gilles Berthoud's wax. Glad I didn't go with some of the more extreme preparation advice which is out there.
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Comments
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daveyroids wrote:Recently decided to switch over to a leather saddle and after much deliberation I decided to get one of these. http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... 0s204p2669
Thought I would share my experience of breaking the saddle in. Whilst deliberating I came across a range of conflicting advice on what to do to break the saddle in. Sheldon Brown has a good article on leather saddles and a range of forum posts offer, in some cases, bad advice on what to do. Then you get the people who tell you that you will be red raw and not able to walk the next day after using one.
Well received saddle a couple of weeks ago and got round to fitting it this week. The quality is excellent. I have done 2 commutes lasting 40 minutes each way and a 70 mile ride today. Meaning that this saddle is no way broken in yet. What aches, pains, redness do I have? Nothing, not even a hint.
I don't use padded shorts! Only thing between me and the saddle has been my Asics lycra running shorts.
My experience so far has been that on the first day of using the saddle I was aware that my sit bones were digging into it. I have had that sensation for both of my commutes and around the first hour of cycling today. However, what is strange is that on a padded saddle when you are aware of your sit bones being in contact you tend to know that aches, pain or numbness are next. Not with the leather saddle. The sensation just went after the first hour of my ride.
At times I became aware of the saddle again but that feeling soon passed. I was out with a road club on my commuter bike today, which is basically a huge 29er / German city bike (Corratec C29er) with drop bars and a rack. So there I was on every hill working hard with my but placed firmly on the saddle. My riding style is to sit and spin up the hills however today was a grind. If I was going to experience problems It would have been then.
Inspected the saddle when I got home and I can feel 2 very slight indentations where my sit bones would have been. They can't be seen by just looking at the saddle but they are there. If I recall correctly, it takes several hundred miles to break one of these saddles in but already it is tuning out to be the most comfortable saddle I have ever owned.
Hope my posts will go some way to cutting through the rubbish out there. Finally all I used to prepare the saddle was a coating of Gilles Berthoud's wax. Glad I didn't go with some of the more extreme preparation advice which is out there.
I have owned many Brooks saddles and can quote everything you say... they are comfortable from day one... the change of shape depends on how much rain you get... a big soak will soften the saddle very rapidlyleft the forum March 20230 -
Not got it that wet yet.
Few weeks using the saddle now, not as many miles as I would like to have completed but done a couple of hundred at least. Clear dimples starting to form in the saddle and comfort keeps improving. Decided to buy one for my other bike, really like like this saddle.0
