The Brooks Cambium C17 Carved saddle is aimed at drop-bar bikes \u2013 gravel, road, commuter, tourer, adventure or whatever. The rubber construction helps absorb trail chatter and the channelled centre means it\u2019s pretty comfortable generally, but I found the rivets annoying and the cover inconvenient, as it soaks up water and mud.<\/p>\n
Brooks Cambium C17 Carved \u2013 Technical details<\/p>\n
While Brooks will forever be associated with leather, the Cambium range keeps the look but uses vulcanised natural rubber instead. It\u2019s better for wet and dirty applications, providing flexibility and absorbing vibration well. The Carved part of the name means there\u2019s a central cutout, there to reduce pressure on the perineum and boost flex overall.<\/p>\n
The plate beneath is fibreglass-reinforced nylon, and the rails are steel tubes with a powder-coated finish that\u2019s stronger than paint. It\u2019s finished with a nylon cover, and four anodised alloy rivets fasten it all together. It\u2019s 283mm long, 164mm wide and 52mm high.<\/p>\n
2025 brooks cambium carved upper (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)<\/p>\n
This interesting construction does make it weighty, though \u2013 we weighed ours at 454g, which is slightly heavier than the 446g claimed. The C17 is offered in Black, Orange, Octane Blue, Brown and the strangely-named Mud Green, and they\u2019re all lovely muted tones.<\/p>\n
Brooks Cambium C17 Carved Saddle \u2013 Performance<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll admit my first thoughts were not positive; I thought it looked uncomfortable and hard, plus it felt heavy. Unlike Brooks\u2019s leather saddles, at least, the C17 is ready to ride \u2013 their leather saddles need a lot of patience to break in before you reach their famous levels of comfort.<\/p>\n
2025 brooks cambium carved profile (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
2025 brooks cambium carved profile (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)<\/p>\n
I tested the C17 on my steel gravel bike, which loves a bit of abuse and doubles as a commuter on its rest days. The first thing I noticed is how flexible it is. The wings easily deform and pop back in place, and with one hand pushed into the middle of the channel, the saddle splays a significant amount.<\/p>\n
I found the long nose very pedal-friendly, and although the top of the saddle isn\u2019t exactly scooped out, your weight kind of sinks into it thanks to all the flex. I felt sat down in it, rather than perched on top. It\u2019s a very different feeling than with a regular foam-padded or even gel saddle.<\/p>\n
2025 brooks cambium carved profile (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
2025 brooks cambium carved profile (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)<\/p>\n
With all that said, on my first few rides \u2013 commutes \u2013 I didn\u2019t really feel much benefit from that flexibility. I could also feel the rivets pressing into my rear quite noticeably. I\u2019m not entirely convinced it\u2019s suited to as many disciplines and Brooks claims.<\/p>\n
2025 brooks cambium carved nose (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s when I hit the gravel that I began to get it. Kitted up and wearing decent bib shorts, I soon felt the benefits of such a minimalist build. Pushing the pedals hard and getting out of the saddle to negotiate wet and wild winter conditions, the C17 allows for tons of movement thanks to its great shape.<\/p>\n
On rough gravel sections \u2013 ones that would numb an ass into coffee-stop submission given a poor build \u2013 the C17 came into its own. I found I could power through the rough stuff seated, and the C17 added massively to my steel frame\u2019s ability to cut out buzz. Hitting compressions in the trail, I could feel the C17 actively squish below my sit bones. I also never experienced any numbness, so I guess the channel was doing its thing. Yes, it\u2019s quite heavy, but then so is my bike, so it\u2019s something that didn\u2019t concern me.<\/p>\n
2025 brooks cambium carved rear (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not perfect. I was always aware of the raised rivets, which I could still feel through padded bib shorts, and the \u2018waterproof\u2019 claim for cover does not feel right \u2013 mud and water gets ingrained, leaving it a bit moist, to say the least. Mud does wash out easily though, and the whole thing dries quickly. This cover is already starting to show signs of wear around the edges, and generally looks a bit grubby. I really like the worn-in look, but you may not.<\/p>\n
Personally, I can\u2019t decide if it\u2019s a keeper or not. There\u2019s no denying its vibration absorbing prowess over the rough stuff, and it\u2019s properly pedal-friendly on the long haul, but as we\u2019ve seen, it has a fair few downsides too. At \u00a3125, that may or may not work for you.<\/p>\n
Brooks Cambium C17 Carved Saddle \u2013 Verdict<\/p>\n
Your saddle is such an important contact point to get right, and its\u2019 an extremely personal choice. The market is massive, but there isn\u2019t much out there like the C17 that claims to cover so many disciplines<\/p>\n
The WTB Gravelier Titanium saddle<\/a> scored highly when we reviewed it back in 2023, but it now costs \u00a3175. Although it\u2019s mooted as gravel-specific, it\u2019s just at home on an XC bike and weighs 209g. The C17 is more than double that, but then it\u2019s cheaper.<\/p>\n Recently I reviewed the Selle Royal Explore Athletic<\/a> saddle, and at \u00a360 it\u2019s a good option if you\u2019re after lots of comfort and vibration absorption. The shape doesn\u2019t lend itself to longer days in the saddle or more dynamic riding, however, so it\u2019s best suited to commuting and leisure riding.<\/p>\n In short, there isn\u2019t much you can directly compare to the Brooks Cambium C17. Whilst it is expensive it\u2019s also a bit different, and it has a traditional look than may appeal. If you want masses of shock absorption and deep levels of comfort in the rough stuff, it\u2019s great, and it\u2019s worth checking out if you\u2019re into cycle touring and adventure riding, too. It\u2019s not flawless though, and it\u2019s not cheap.<\/p>\n All the deals displayed on our review pages are pulled from a constantly updating database feed of the best affiliate deals available. The criteria for deciding on what are the best deals is who is offering the lowest, delivered price. In most cases we will be showing the very best deal available online, but sometimes you may be able to find an item cheaper. If you can please feel free to post a link in the comments box below. To find out more about affiliate links on road.cc click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooks Cambium C17 Carved saddle is aimed at drop-bar bikes \u2013 gravel, road, commuter, tourer, adventure or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-533263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}