SCOTT...Hi, i can sympathise with you when you feel they are toast .. similar situation happened to me climbing a stiff local hill 2 years ago ,about 8 miles into a 16 mile training run a lovely old brown brooks pro let go at the nose, finished the ride picked up the phone and ordered a new pro. the thing is that at this time no cracks were evident and the saddle had just got used to my 210 lbs when it cried enough. They are hard to break in but they are in my opinion a super saddle...through the V.C.C. there is a guy in ESSEX who will put a new top on it but expensive and not worth it unless saddle is a classic. So when its gone its gone, don't waste your time and think of the safety angle ..
willie carton from a cold damp COLERAINE .N,IRELAND
scott Baxter <rg500g@yahoo.com> wrote: My LBS gave me a Wright's saddle that came off of something a long time ago for mounting on the Frejus since I had nothing else and wanted to ride. It was petrified, with light cracking around the nose. I saddle soaped it, dried it, applied neats foot oil, etc. then rode the bike. A couple of days ago I noticed that the light cracks had grown around the nose, and ordered a Brooks Team Professional. Today though, the saddle failed catastrophically with the leather totally breaking off the front adjuster while I was riding the bike. The tension adjuster banged off the frame and hit the street while I lost over an inch of ride height in no time.
Rode to the LBS with the saddle leather right on the rails and showed him the saddle. I got a Brooks Professional that's older than air and also petrified. No obvious leather cracking, but the original leather surface was eroding in a crazing pattern like alligator hide. I'm working on it in a similar fasion to get some flex back into the leather. Here's the question: what are the hallmarks of a lost cause other than deep cracks around the rivets or something equally obvious? As I'm working on this old saddle bringing it back to life I'm asking myself if this is a lost cause also, or might this saddle hang in there making the new Brooks superfluous?
Personally, I think this saddle is terminal and I'm just giving it a bit more life, but after some resurfacing, mink oil, lexol, heat cycles to soak the stuff in and some hand rubbing it's looking pretty good. I dunno...
Scott Baxter St. Louis, MO
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