I think Harvey is right... it's the environment that is the problem. For what it's worth, we see alot of fungal/mold species (particularly in the ears) at our veterinary practice and a great way to kill them is with essential oil: any of the Eucalyptus species, especially E. citriodora is found to be most effective as an antifungal against human pathogenic fungi but will kill mold just as well. I have never applied essential oil to a saddle and dont know what the consequences will be... EO's are extremely powerful and maybe you could try a test spot underneath?? Any good health food/co-op/Whole Foods type of place will have a good Eucalyptus oil for you. I've had the best luck w/ a brand called "Wyndmere ". Mark S Denver, CO USA
>From: Harvey M Sachs <sachshm@cox.net>
>Reply-To: sachshm@cox.net
>To: joebz@optonline.net,Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]Leather Mold-what to do
>Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 08:35:24 -0400
>
>The esteemed Joe Bender-Zanoni asked:
>
>I have asked for help on this before and never received any advice.
>Apparently it is a very tough problem. It is really painful to have to
>keep cleaning up old saddles and know they are deteriorating. In my
>opinion, mild bleach solutions do not work. I have never tried vinegar,
>but these people don't think much of that either.
>
>This article is helpful and I'm going to try the product and give back a
>report.
>
>http://www.leathertherapy.com/moldmildew.html#top
>
>Right now New Jersey is a perfect fungus testing ground.
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>It turns out that I have a bit of tangential professional involvement with
>mold issues, and would make the following observations in the hopes that it
>may help a few members preserve their bikes and saddles a bit longer. All
>pretty obvious and basic - in hindsight.
>
>1) Mold requires (only) two things in order to thrive: nutrients, like
>saddles or even wallpaper paste; and enough moisture - somewhere around 60%
>relative humidity ought to allow some growth; 50% usually suffices to stop
>it.
>
>2) It seems that the easier way to protect leather would be to control the
>humidity rather than killing the mold organisms. You could do this by
>keeping saddles sealed in plastic bags, preferably with some silicon
>sorbent. Could do this on the bike, tightly sealing the bag against the
>seat post. But I don't know where to get the dessicant.
>
>3) Or, dry out the room the bikes are in. First, if you store bikes in a
>basement, DON'T ventilate it during the summer. If you bring hot-humid air
>in from outside, and then let it cool by contact with the basement floor
>and walls, you will drive the humidity way up. That's because warm air can
>hold far more moisture than cool air. Air conditioners dehumidify by
>cooling the air (to 45F - 55F), at which point a bunch of the moisture
>condenses on the coil and drains away. Of course, if you're in a
>radon-prone air, might want to check that before sealing the basement.
>
>4) A pragmatic solution is to keep the storage area closed and install a
>dehumidifier. I strongly recommend selecting an EnergyStar model. See
>http://energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=dehumid.pr_dehumidifiers. Where your
>electricity rates are high, or going to be high, look for a high value of
>litres water removed/kWh (last column of the spreadsheet). We've mounted
>ours so it can automatically drain into a laundry sink, so it runs
>unattended when we're away.
>
>In my experience, I get less rust on tools and parts in drier rooms, too.
>
>So, I hope this will be useful for those with vintage bikes and tropical
>jungle climates, as in the eastern US. We now return you to our regularly
>scheduled programming.
>
>harvey sachs
>mcLean VA
>(day job = energy efficiency "expert." http://www.aceee.org)