I just recently reshaped an old and heavy broad spring equipped saddle in a similiar way. It was installed on a friends commercial tranportatin bike which he uses as a disply piece in his grocery store. One of the bike seen often in Germany in the 50ies and before, featuring a 24inch frin wheel and a 26inch rearwheel. Quite the opposite of a lightweight. The saddle was badly deformed and whethered, the sides came rolling up, making it impossible to ride on it. We soaked the saddle in water for a coupele of days and the reshaped it usin some vices and lacing. When getting dry whe started applying generous amounts of neatsfoot oil a coupe of times and the saddle came out nicely, althoug I have to say, the oil will cause stains when you sit on it too long. We might hve overdone it a little bit. But essentially the saddle stays in shape and looks a lot better than before. I might top it off with soem shoe shine in the future since the top has some surface cracks due to the wethering. But the leather is now supple again and will not crack anymore as I fearde before the treatment. This also was a nice experimantal piece, nothing to loose there. Regards
Michael Schmid Oberammergau (too much snow already to ride and too cold as well) Germany Tel.: +49 8821 798790 Fax.:+49 8821 798791 mail: schmid@zunterer.com http://www.zunterer.com
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] Im Auftrag von Mitch Harris Gesendet: Sonntag, 23. November 2008 16:45 An: Steve Maas Cc: Sean Flores; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Betreff: Re: [CR]Brooks Reshaping
On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 8:08 AM, Steve Maas <bikestuff@nonlintec.com>
wrote:
> Try wetting the inside a bit where you need to straighten it, enough
> to make it flexible, but beyond that the amount of water isn't
> critical. Then clamp it in the shape you want, let it dry completely,
> and it should stay that way. If it doesn't, try again with more water.
> After it's in the shape you want, you can oil it; oiling won't cause
> it to resume its former shape.
>
> If the saddle has been oiled a lot, this won't work. You might have to
> soak the whole thing to get oil out and water in. Sounds like an awful
> thing to do, I know, but this has worked for me without causing any
> damage. And, after all, if it doesn't work, you're only out five
> bucks.
>
Had good results using the method Steve describes although there are other methods in the archives. One way to clamp the saddle effectively I've found is using duct tape over plastic or newpaper. For example, cover the center of the saddle with a plastic bag to protect the leather from duct tape adhesive and then wrap the duct tape around the center of the saddle, wrapping progressively tighter until the saddle pulls into a tight shape. I've found that getting a narrow shape at the middle, like a corset, is the way to restore a Brooks shape--get the top flat, reduce side splay. Using tape reduces the chance of damaging the leather with sharp edges from a square edged clamp or bench vice. Important to let the saddle dry completely while clamped in shape, and that can take days.
Mitch Harris
Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA