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Brooks cambium experiences

leicaman

Maximum Pace
Sep 20, 2012
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I'm looking for a new saddle and really like the look of the Brooks c13 cambium. It uses the newish rubber/cotton material on the saddle and was wondering if anyone has been riding one, and if so, what their thoughts are.
Cheers
 
So, whilst I haven't ridden one, I have a number of friends that have.

One chap is a fixed gear rider and just said that the flex from the rubber/waxed cotton version with regular rails was incredibly comfortable, despite seeming 'hard'.

As for the carbon-raile version, I have a number of mates who were lucky enough to be 'test riders' for them (all of them have very positive words to say about it). One of whom is my mate Tim who runs The Broken Line (a popular cycling blog back home). He had to say about it:

"...big fan personally, like any brooks saddle it takes a while to wear in. The flex is subtle at first but after time it eases in. The weight has always put me off and all though it's not the lightest saddle it's shaved half the weight off its predecessor, the C15."

Looks-wise, it is tempting me away from the Fabric ALM Ultimate in a way and, also, I know Harry/Field has/have a decent hook-up with the guys at Brooks. It is a beautiful saddle, albeit narrower than the ALM (at 132mm as opposed to the ALM at 142mm).

Anyhow, my ten pence worth (for what it's worth).
 
@xDOMx cheers for the info mate. Good to know. I was wondering if they would need a little time to form to the rider like the leather saddles do.
 
I had the original C17 for a while, which is quite a bit wider than the C13. In general I liked it a lot, but I've since given it to a friend and switched back to leather Brooks which I like even better.

The cambium has a really nice suspension effect on rougher roads that might feel strange to someone used to stiff saddles, but I really liked it. It's actually a very similar feeling to leather. I noticed the suspension right away. Didn't need any time to break in at all. The narrower versions might be stiffer, I don't know.

My only complaint is that it wears through certain materials like denim more than other saddles. I didn't have any problems with lycra, though. I don't suppose you would be using yours in blue jeans anyways, so probably not a problem.
 
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I had the original C17 for a while, which is quite a bit wider than the C13. In general I liked it a lot, but I've since given it to a friend and switched back to leather Brooks which I like even better.

The cambium has a really nice suspension effect on rougher roads that might feel strange to someone used to stiff saddles, but I really liked it. It's actually a very similar feeling to leather. I noticed the suspension right away. Didn't need any time to break in at all. The narrower versions might be stiffer, I don't know.

My only complaint is that it wears through certain materials like denim more than other saddles. I didn't have any problems with lycra, though. I don't suppose you would be using yours in blue jeans anyways, so probably not a problem.
Great info. Cheers for that. Especially glad to hear that it was ok with Lycra. And our assumption is correct regarding denim ;) . It won't be going on my everyday bike. That bike has a c17 leather brooks that is super comfy but weighs over 500g.
 
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