I've ridden Brooks saddles in the rain with no precautions many times. Then again, I never really liked riding them so I may not have even noticed that they'd been "ruined". I've always found plastic-shelled saddles both more comfortable and more practical- as well as considerably lighter and generally cheaper too.
Kurt Sperry Eugene OR
On 8/7/05, Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Mitch Harris wrote:
> >
> > We're probably all familiar with the tendency of a Brooks to spread
> > and sag permanently when it gets soaked and then gets sat on. How did
> > generations of pros who used Brooks saddles deal with this before
> > plastic shelled leather saddles became the norm?
> (snip)
> > Using the nose bolt to take out slack seems like it couldn't
> > accommodate the abuse that continental racing dished out.
> (snip)
>
>
> I have a Brooks B.17 from the 1920s or '30s that has had the top
> re-riveted after it got stretched out too long for the nose bolt to take
> out the slack. It now has an extra set of rivet holes to the rear of
> the saddle after they made new holes forward of the old ones. I guess
> money was very dear and they didn't want to say good bye to an old
> comrade at arms.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, Southern California
>
> .
> _______________________________________________
>
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