I have several Brooks saddles, a B17 Champ Special, a B15, a B66, and a Champ flyer. Despite having the same shape as the B17/15, the Flyer was always a problem for me. It had a 'hump' down the middle that put too much pressure on my soft tissues. Tilting it forward just made me slide forward and put pressure on my hands, tilting it back increased the pressure and prevented me from leaning forward.
After spending some miles on a Selle An-Atomica and seeing a number of creatively-modified saddles at Riv World Headquarters, I finally decided to see if the Flyer could be improved. I started by drilling out the existing 'vent' holes to 1/2", then drilling more holes to connect them. A quick (but careful) trim with a razor knife gave me a smooth slot down the middle of the saddle. A short test ride told me I was on to something. When I reached under the saddle I was amazed to feel how much of me was sticking through the slot. It seemed like I was pokking though a quarter inch! That was all tissue that was being crushed by the hump in the saddle. No wonder that saddle made me hurt. I spent an hour or so alternating between riding around the block and rather indelicately poking at myself through the saddle, and trimming the slot where I felt contact. I extended the slot another 1/2" forward to eliminate contact there, and widened the slot and chamfered the edges. Did you know that a sharp vegetable peeler can be used as a makeshift skiving tool? Neither did I until I tried it! The darkened patches around the sit-bone contact points told me where I bore weight on the saddle, so the cutout stops short of those zones. With that much material removed from the saddle I was a bit concerned about sag. I drilled a few holes along the skirts and added a loop of leather shoelace to keep the skirts where they belong. The lace is just barely slack at rest, but tightens up when I sit on the saddle. I finished by rubbing a generous amount of Proofide into the raw edge. The result is pictured at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15750...@n04/3291263207/in/set-72157614095230958/ The Flyer is now amazingly comfortable. The sit-bone comfort was always good, but now the perineal pressure is gone, even with the nose up high enough to keep my butt on the back of the saddle with no pressure on my hands. I was concerned about the edges of the cutout chafing, but I was fine on a hilly 40+ mile club ride. It should be more than fine for commuting, which is the intended use of the bike on which it's installed. Factor in the coil springs and the cushy Col del a Vies that bike now rolls on, and it's about as comfortable as an upright bike can get! BTW, I've since laced in the skirts of my An-Atomica as well. I'll need a few more miles to know whether that's working as intended. Bill --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
