Keep your fingers out of your hole

 Whatever else might be dictated by manufacturers, like shifting systems, bottom brackets, and suspension, the human butt remains stubbornly immune to standardization. The saddle section of the parts catalog has as much -- or more -- variety as ever. Wide ones, skinny ones, hard ones, squishy ones... I mean the saddles, not the tushies.

And of course it goes beyond the buns. There's all that tender stuff that t'ain't going quietly if the saddle is a bad fit.

Saddles with "relief" have been around as long as saddles. That feature has almost become automatic in modern saddles, made of mostly synthetic materials that deteriorate in a matter of months to a few years, depending on initial quality, exposure to the weather, and intensity of use.

You do your best to find what fits your particular specifications. In my case, it was the Avocet Racing II in 1980, which was basically the same as the Selle Italia Turbo. Avocet went away, but Selle Italia remained. But the Turbo faded out, replaced by lighter models that I never developed a relationship with. About the time I couldn't scrounge new old stock Turbos, the model was reintroduced as a retro thing. I snapped one up as soon as I saw it. It turned out to be made of flimsier materials than the original, and I was already able to wear out originals.

Along came the Brooks Colt. The Colt in 2013 was a re-issue of the original that Brooks had offered in the era of the Avocet II and the Turbo, as a similar shape with the legendary durability of real leather. I noted in the months that followed that the saddle did develop indentations where my weight was heaviest on it, which led to a central ridge. Strategic softening of the leather and adjustment of the angle made it manageable, but it was not exactly comfortable a lot of the time. During this summer, I decided it was time to try a relieved saddle.

Brooks offers the B-17 with a cutout, so I got one. The basic B-17 is wider than I have liked, but I could get it for wholesale. And with current shortages of all sorts of components, I felt fortunate to be able to get anything.

It did not feel too wide when I first sat on it. Other saddles, no wider, but shaped differently, have felt totally wrong. The racier saddles can be uncomfortable when I ride at slower speeds, because they don't provide as much support when I'm riding more upright.

When you ride a saddle that is too wide for your bone structure, you get squeezed forward onto the narrower part of the saddle. The bun dents on the Colt indicated a good fit on the wide part of it.

I may put it back on, or move it to another bike after I reform it and condition the leather so that it's soft where I want it to be, but still maintains its shape.

For the first ride with the B-17, I rode to the CSA pickup with the BOB trailer. 

Might as well knock off two objectives at once. And pulling the load meant some heavier exertion on climbs, but also low-speed cruising in a more upright position.

For the CSA runs, I put a pair of black nylon cargo shorts over my tight bike shorts, just to look a little more normal among the other patrons loading their shopping bags with their shares of the produce. Because of the padding in the bike shorts and the extra layer of the outer shorts, I couldn't be quite sure where I was on the saddle relative to that cutout. Coasting along on a bit of an easy grade, I tried to reach in under the saddle to feel up through the cutout to figure out whether it was actually under the trouble zone. That's when my fingers got stuck between the seat rails where they narrowed toward the front of the saddle. I had a tense few moments as I extricated my digits. I laughed at the image of myself in a crumpled heap in the ditch, with my broken fingers jammed in the seat rails under my crotch. Explain that at the emergency room.

I had also wondered about what might get caught from above in the various slots or holes in relieved saddles. I grew up in small sailboats, where we used these things called "jam cleats." Jam cleats have v-shaped slots in them, in which one jams a dangling rope end to secure it. There are other forms with spring-loaded cams, but the simple basic type with no moving parts is a common fixture. I could imagine the notched or cutout seat acting as a jam cleat for anything that might chance to dangle. And, at the end of my ride, back at home with the loaded trailer, my overshorts did jam momentarily in the cutout as I tried to dismount.

Having logged a  bunch of commutes on the B-17, I do notice the width of it on the downstroke. So far, it does not seem to be pushing me forward, which would alter my position over the pedals and also push me forward of the cutout, negating its usefulness. Brooks does make a relieved version of the B-17 Narrow, but I couldn't get that one for wholesale. But the top on the Narrow saddle is flatter than the Colt was, which might make the uncarved version break in without forming a ridge.

Brooks makes molded-shell versions in their "all-weather" line, but then you're back in the realm of laminated materials that wear away.