Is a B17 suitable for a road bike?

[cycling-rayb]

I know this kind of question about saddles is asked alot, but this is not about what saddle is right for me, rather what saddle is right for my bike.

Looking at getting a saddle for touring, but was wondering if the B17 or the spa cycles alternative is for a more upright riding position and therefore not as comfortable on a road bike with a fairly stretched out position.

[tatanab]

It is a matter of personal choice and comfort. It also depends on definition of "road bike". To my generation a road bike was for riding road races and indeed the saddle of choice was the Brooks Pro which is pretty close to the B17 in shape. The modern "road bike" tends to be set with the top of the bars set much lower than in days of yore, but with much shallower bars. My machines were always set with the top of the bars about an inch lower than the saddle, and they still are set that way, but on the other hand I do not follow the modern way which seems to be to ride the drops at all times. I ride the tops and so sit more upright in general riding. All of my machines, racing or touring, had the same reach to the bars so I do not really understand that any is necessarily more stretched out. So I would say that a B17 may be suitable, but if you ride with bars set very low you might prefer a Swift (Spa equivalent is the Wharfe).

[FarOeuf]

I tried a few of the Brooks out, over some time. I found that the B17 works when the bars are above the saddle. The Team Pro when the bars are level or just below the saddle. And the Swift when the bars are well below the saddle. These are just the saddles I tried.

I've toured for years on a B17, but when I switched to a road bike it was a horrible/painful saddle to use. I now use a Team Pro on the road bike (setup for 400km days so not extreme), and it's as good as the B17 was on the tourer. I would guess that a lot of people who struggle with Brooks (or talk of breaking them in) may have the wrong saddle for their bike.

cheers

[pjclinch]

I have a B17 on my Moulton, and it previously lived on my (fairly stretched) MTB. The main issue of "does it suit my bike" is that, as with most Brooks saddles on lightweight racing confections, you tend to add about 30% to the weight...

[Spinners]

What I can't quite understand is, despite being wider, that the standard B17 is 10g lighter than the B17 Narrow and Team Pro Chrome. Having had a couple of B17's I might give the B17 Narrow a go.

[cycling-rayb]

Tempted to give one of the spa cycles saddles a try.

With it being quite cheap, there's not much to lose but a lot to gain after a fair few miles on it.