Re: [CR]"Butchering" Brooks saddles

(Example: Bike Shops)

Date: Sun, 01 Jan 2006 18:36:02 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]"Butchering" Brooks saddles
References: <20060102003904.6026.qmail@web33603.mail.mud.yahoo.com>


Art Link wrote:
>
> I've done four saddles this way in recent months.Two Brooks B17and two Fuji Belt(thicker leather than Brooks and identical construction) .I did two saddles when I was 10 and 12 years old because we all wanted to be racy. The best method is to mark the cut line with a ball point pen and cut with an X-acto knife. Don't try to go through with the first or second cut,just keep going over the same line. Sand the cut edge with sandpaper or an emery board and stain the cut edge with brown or black magic marker. Ten minutes later--Voila! a Brooks Swallow without "gulping" at the price. The saddles I trimmed as a kid lasted years without deforming,even ridden and parked in the rain for 4 years of highschool. Some kids emulated the pro-racers and punches 3-4 holes on the sides or skirt of the saddle and laced them like sneakers to tighten them in and "slenderize" the saddle. This may be unecessary for stability. A little weight loss but a lot less friction on the inside seam. Keep the
> rubber side down for 2006. Art Link,Sunny San Antonio,Tx

Here's the link to Bill Lane's Wallingford Bicycle Parts web site with the page on butchering saddles: http://www.wallbike.com/content/butchering.html

I've butchered quite a few saddles over the past 30 years, usually removing the tops, trimming the leather at the front and back, scraping the finish off the top so that the leather can be oiled, and then re-riveting with large headed rivets.

I usually use vinyl tape to decide where the trimming should take place, removing and reapplying the piece of tape till I'm happy with the curve of the planned cut. For cutting, I now use a single edged razor blade because it is both sharper and thinner than an X-ACTO™ blade. The razor blade is sharp enough to trim the nose of the saddle just by pressing the blade down through the leather in one cut!

I also use the leather tools shown http://www.wallbike.com/content/JPG/leathertools.jpg to round the edges of the leather and chamfer the lower edge of the flaps. The result is very finished and professional looking.

Brooks saddles butchered by Otussi in Italy were the favorite of the peloton in the fifties to seventies and they usually slotted the front of the tension bolt for a screwdriver, drilled the flats of the tension nut for use with a small tommy bar, and even added an addition large headed rivet in the center of the cantle plate. Three rivets with "OTUSSI" stamped in the heads identified their modified saddles.

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California

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