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Choosing a Brooks saddle is a matter of taking into account your riding style.
Saddle design is based on the width of the saddle or ‘seat’ area. And the length of the saddle or ‘nose’.
A long nose on a saddle is good for an aggressive cycling position. Like that of a road bike or gravel bike. A narrower width of saddle is also preferable for this type of riding.
A shorter nose on a saddle is better suited to a bike with a more upright riding position. Like a mountain bike, a step-through bike or a hybrid bike. A wider saddle also works well for this kind of cycling position.
A shorter saddle is also well suited to a smaller frame size or a smaller cyclist. This is why a shorter nosed saddle is popular with women cyclists.
Once you have your riding style & riding position in mind it is time for aesthetics!
Often the motivation to buy a new saddle is that you are finding your current one uncomfortable.
Because your ‘sit bones’ are one of the major load points or touch points on your bike, it is very common to find yourself uncomfortable. After all, this is where a majority of your weight is resting.
The best way to address this discomfort is to first establish what kind of riding position you are in. So as to find the most comfortable saddle for that position.
For the commuter cyclist this can be tricky to determine. You may ride a drop-bar road bike with a reasonably ‘aggressive’ riding position. Requiring you sit at a more angled, forward position with a lot of contact on the nose of your saddle.
For this position, and this kind of bike, a narrower saddle in a lightweight rubber compound is a good solution. We recommend the Brooks Cambium C17 as a solid middle-ground saddle which suits a lot of riders.
As with all Brooks saddles, a carved version of their saddle will have a cut-out in the center. Which can provide pressure relief but also allows the saddle to bend and flex more, making it a more comfortable option.
If on the other hand you are a commuter cyclist on a step-through bike, or a flat-bar ‘normal’ bike with a quite upright riding position a wider saddle may be more comfortable. The Cambium C19 is a wider saddle that suits an upright seated position. It works for riders who are in and out of the saddle often at traffic lights and works great if you are a woman or have ‘wider’ sit bones.
Many companies now make saddles for women riders, and these are often wider to suit the ‘wider’ sit bones of the female pelvis. Or feature more comfort factors like a cut-out in the center to provide pressure relief. While changes within the bike industry to adapt to the reality that all genders ride bikes and that saddles and bikes should be made with this wide audience in mind are welcome, sometimes this can just be marketing differences and not real differences in the product.
Brooks have always offered saddles with pressure relief cut outs. These are their Carved versions of their saddles. And in a number of widths to suit different pelvic anatomy. This is the numbering system found in the product names. For example, a C19 saddle being wider than a C17 and thus suiting ‘wider’ sit bones. However the biggest difference in the saddles Brook make for women cyclists is the length. Brooks Short saddles have a reduced length in the nose of the saddle which can be more comfortable to ride. And also create more room inside the frame of the bike when stepping off the pedals. Which is great if you are already riding a smaller sized bike.
However, do not be deterred from purchasing Brooks’ best selling saddle size of the last 100 years – the B17 or C17 sized saddle – because the data on what women and gender non-conforming folks find comfortable on a bike is certainly not complete yet and you may very well find that a narrow saddle without a cut-out works perfectly for you.