Changes on these pages

2023-2-21: Update on the 'repaired' Gilles Berthoud Aspin. It doesn't deform so far, though I've only ridden about 150 km with it. In a month I should have a more useful update.
2023-2-7: Notes on the B17 break-in on long rides. Here my experience with the B17 was different than with the earlier ones I used (B17 titanium, B17 Select), due to starting to use it on long tours (usually 100km rountrip, with after ca. 50 km a short break). Not a good idea!
2023-1-30: I made videos already of the repairs of the too stretched B17-ti with torn leather at the nose and the Berthoud Aspin with too pronounced sit bone indentations, and wrote a little bit about it on this page, but I completed the texts of my experiences with the 'repair' of these saddles.
2022-11-2: A few weeks ago I bought a Selle Anatomica H2, a 2nd hand B17 titanium that was stretched out far too much and a Gilles Berthoud Aspin saddle that was 'worn' from far too pronounced sit-bone indentations and sagging. I will try to fix the 2nd hand saddles, and I will report on my experiences with the Selle Anatomica after that.
PLAN 2022-9-30: I may experiment with replacing the rivets on a B17 with stainless inner hex bolts with round head. A friend has done this with a B17 imperial, I didn't notice them more than rivets but I'd like to try on my own bike.
2022-9-29: I ordered a Selle Anatomica H2 (Tool Leather / Silver) with stainless steel rails, aluminium bridge, can be taken apart completely.
2021-12-8: Addition after a comment by a reader about lateral movement of a saddle with springs on what makes the springs give comfort.
2019-4-26: Updates in the section 'Other possibly interesting saddles': Lepper Tourer, more Berthoud saddles, and from Selle Anatomica some new saddles with better carriage.
I had some discussions with a reader of my site about the Selle Anatomica NSX2. I will add some pictures of his NSX2 here as it's interesting to see the leather layers. And it made me think, perhaps I should test an H2, though I have reservations. Not because of how the company behaves that some people complain about, defensively from what I read, i.e. they assume that too much stretching or bending of the saddle rails is very likely the fault of the customer. I suspect this is possibly related to how many they sell. If you sell a lot, you can afford to be be generous. If not, then each issue eats into the profits. However they made a mistake in not listening more to my criticism, about the length of the saddle, the flexing/bending of the rails, but esp. about the form of the leather top which just doesn't have enough leather esp. at the front of the cutout... Stretching will always be an issue then. But as with most companies, they probably don't like criticism nor suggestions... Note also my comment after my review of the original Selle Anatomica Titanico LD, about the email I got in 2011 about a new version saddle that they would send to various testers. When I replied, interested to see if issues I encountered were gone, I was not selected to test it. So who else can and does test saddles better than I do? Who tried more leather saddles than I? Who can and does give advice on how to improve products? Well, it's their choice... The frame now seems a lot better (aluminium + stainless steel), but the issues of stretching still seem present. Should I test one? Or the Lepper Tourer? My plan is to start with a few saddles by Berthoud and test them this summer.
2019-4-22: I added a few more details of experiences to my section on the B66 Champion, with single rail carriage from a Flyer aged. (= the B67-champion)
2019-4-22: I added a longer description of my experiences with, and pictures of the Brooks B17 that I modified with an extra-wide long cutout, along with more information on the wrapping of the leather. I had used this saddle for a brief period (a week or so), then sent it to someone in the USA (ca. Aug. 2016) who had trouble with finding a comfortable saddle, but I have not heard from him any more... In any case, for me the experience was interesting and told me that a very wide cutout is not needed. I added pictures that I managed to rescue from a hard disk that had failed in 2016 (a lot of pictures and videos that I wanted to upload in 2016 for my site were lost as most of the new things were not backed up).
2018-7-3: I added some text with my review of the Swift, about the idea that I had long ago of making a cutout on the Swift. In the end I never did that (and I recommended against it to all who enquired), for 2 reasons: There is not enough leather that remains which would likely give stretching issues as with the Selle Anatomica, and the leather in all the Swifts I've encountered and that a reader recently mentioned to me too, is for some reason never really thick but also fairly soft. This is quite different for the Team pro or Swallow for example. As I've had my hands on many Swifts, it looks as if Brooks purposely uses leather that is on the thin side and fairly soft, for the Swift, which is odd.
2018-7-3: I made a B66 Champion-Flyer: I mentioned it with the suggestions section, but I will give a bit more information: In 2017 I took apart a B66 Champion and the Flyer aged that I modified, the latter had become useless because as I found out then, cutting out leather from an aged saddle doesn't work. So I used the springs from the B66 Champion, the rest of the carriage from the Flyer, and the leather top of course from the B66 Champion. This gives me a saddle equivalent to a Flyer, but with softer springs. I wil add some pictures later. I've been using this on my touring bike, and I've not ridden it that much, but I didn't feel the springs were as effective as I thought they were the previous time I used the B66 Champion (It was long ago, I think it was with using a hack to make it fit on a patent seatpost).
2016-7-25: Riding with a San Marco Rolls (standard version), and comparing it directly with Brooks saddles.
2016-5-16: Initial impressions of a modification of the B17 with a very wide and long cutout with leather partly wrapped instead of cut.
2015-7-17: B17 whs-mod: oval cutout and high lacing
2015-2-1: Pictures of the B17 narrow after lots of use, pictures of the Colt mustard on a bike, added a picture of the Lepper Voyager after 1500 km use, pictures of the broken in Brooks Swift.
2014-11-30: I noticed Brooks have followed my lead and made an imperial version of the (standard steel rivet) Team pro...
2014-4-10: Added pictures of the B17 select that I modified and used for a few thousand km, with lots of rain too, to show the colour change: It's almost antique brown.
2014-4-8: Added pictures of a B68s laced to counter too much sagging without using the tensioner bolt.
2014-3-6: Start of description of my experiences with Team professional Imperial (only cutout at the moment, no lacing) and experiences with the B17 select that I modified.
2013-7-23: Tests of various equipment if all goes well on a very long bike trip August-Sept 2013. This page will be updated with my choice of saddle that I will use on this trip, when I've decided on that. In the mean time I've ridden quite a lot with the Team pro with imperial cutout, more on that soon.
2013-7-8: As I wrote on my lighting page, I want to make a long bicycle trip in August during which I will do endurance testing of lighting and test which ones are good enough on German, Polish and Ukrainian roads. I will also do endurance testing of a saddle, either a Team pro modified with Imperial cutout, or a B17-select with imperial-swallow cutout. I have been asked about the Brooks 'select' saddles, whether they last a lot longer than the normal Brooks saddles, and this will test how the 'select' line of saddles fare with use, as they should last longer from special selection, and the deformation of the leather in a Imperial-swallow mod should make that clear. The other option, the Team pro imperial (no lacing at the moment, if needed I will lace it) is also an interesting option that I need to test long term. I will make a new page with all the equipment that I will test and updates during the trip how it all works.
2013-1-2: Modification: Brooks Team pro Swallow & Brooks Team pro Swallow Imperial...
2012-11-24: Modification: Brooks B17 Swallow Imperial...
2012-11-23: A few more updates 'finally' put on this page: pictures of recutting the cutout on a B17 narrow Imperial, pictures of lacing a Swift, pictures of the width of saddle frames.
2012-11-22: Finally put pictures of the sagging of a Swallow with soft leather on this page.
2012-11-21: Finally put pictures of the honey colour coming off of Brooks saddles (at rain or from sweat on a hot day) on this page.
2012-9-15: Coming soon, experiences with a differently modified Brooks B17 saddle (different than a standard Imperial modification).
2012-7-14: Finally started tests of a laced Swift to improve on the sagging. Results so far: Shape is much better, the drooping is less and so the saddle aim isn't as critical, but the ride is very hard, harsh I'd say! after a few more rides and more riding in position nearly as on a roadbike, the saddle is quite good for such a riding style, the sag in the front helps prevent too much pressure in the middle, and the shape in the rear is ok. But of course, the ride is not soft! More experiences to follow.
2012-2-17: I've written down more of my experiences with the Colt and the Lepper voyager Lounger.
2011-10-18: Added saddle measurements and estimates for the sit-bone width they are suitable for, to this section: Which saddle is suited for which sit-bone width? And how to measure sit-bone width?
2011-10-2: Starting my test of the Brooks Colt.
2011-9-31: Some additions to the review of the Lepper Voyager.
2011, August-September: Test of the Lepper Voyager lounger (I unexpectedly got a bunch I ordered in 2010, I wasn't planning on testing them any more at first as I didn't get any I ordered within 8 months...).
ca. 2007-2010: I started the reviews on a different page with my experiences of a few leather saddles. I started with the Swallow titanium that I bought for my cross/touring bike to replace the damaged Rolls Ergo, then came the Conqueror, B17 titanium, Team pro titanium. After that in 2009-2010 I tried more saddles: B17 imperial, B17 narrow, B17 narrow imperial, Swift.

Last modified: 2023-3-27