Tony Colegrave, an acknowledged Brooks expert, has also spoken of soaking B rooks saddles in water for a day or more. I think the thought of d oing this rather horrifies most of us on this side of the Atlantic, but the Brits, including transplanted Brits like Mike, seem to have no problem with it, and of course they should know more about Brooks saddles than any one. The closest I came to do this was unintentionally, when I rode my first century in 1974, the NorthEast Ohio Century (NEOC) on a recently acquired LeJeune bought new, with the Brooks Pro I upgraded to at purcha se. I say upgrade, but I don't remember if it was actually an upgrade fr om a lesser original saddle or if I through ignorance "upgraded" from an Ideale 90.
In any case my first century started with 50 miles of cold driving rain, an d lack of fenders didn't help the saddle. By halfway it showed signs of sagging, but I had the presence of mind to tighten the nose bolt to keep it from collapsing. I still remember that the ride was covered in the next LAW magazine issue, including a photo of another leather saddle on the rid e which had collapsed around the seatpost. As the saddle driied out over the next few days, I had to gradually back off the bolt again. Amazingl y, even though I had only the vaguest idea of what I was doing, I must have got it right, because the saddle retained its shape and is indeed still in use 31 years later.
So those initiated into the mysteries of Brooks seem to be able to use to g ood effect some techniques which the rest of us are afraid to even contempl ate.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
From: John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net> Subject: Re: [CR]Brooks Reshaping To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 9:36 AM
At 07:08 AM 23/11/2008 -0800, Steve Maas 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.
I asked Mike Barry how he restored an old Italian "Invincible" saddle. Read the Comments here:
http://bicyclespecialties.blogspot.com/
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada