Brooks Cambium C17

If you want a saddle for riding a bike with the bars level with or marginally lower than the handlebars, and you like to ride in the rain / are a vegan / can’t handle putting a saddle cover on a bike, this is the saddle for you, maybe. Test ride one first. Cambium saddles don’t break in. It’s true, the canvas on top gets a bit felted, like really old jeans that you never wash, but that’s not a break in, like a leather saddle (or even good foamy saddle) breaks in. This saddle will never conform to your rear.

If you like the Cambium on a test ride (1 outta 10 people end up getting a Cambium over a standard B17 after a testing both) you’ll always like it. It never changes, like the guitar riffs on Excellent Italian Greyhound. It’s a good, tough saddle, for a small slice of the riding population. You are not gunna break it, or wear it out, or need to rebuild it. You don’t need to care for it, unlike a Griswold pan.

Set a Cambium up by putting the bike on a level surface, like poured concrete. Break out a household level and lay it across the saddle from tip to tip. Level it. Done. That’s how a Cambium should be set up, not nose down, not nose up. It’s a flat saddle, there is no ‘dip’ in the middle of the saddle that would allow you to tilt the nose up and still not have pressure on your bits. If you tip the front end of the saddle down to relieve pressure, you are violating one of the inviolate rules of bike fit: Thou shalt not tilt thy saddle nose down unless, of course, you want neck pain, shoulder pain and numb digits. If your bits are numb riding this or any other saddle when the saddle is set up correctly, your bars are too low, pal.