Re: [CR] Butchered Brooks Saddle?

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Avocet)

References: <d50.5a0038ca.37fe4345@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 13:30:51 -0700
From: Kyle Brooks <brooks_kyle@att.net>
To: <Stronglight49@aol.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To:
Subject: Re: [CR] Butchered Brooks Saddle?


Hey Bob, I haven't seen the job you mention having done to your own B17, but I'd have to say that there is a huge difference between slicing a $10 saddle that has a tear in the leather, and paying $175 and then hacking it to within a jagged inch of its life. Your work probably improved what would otherwise have been a throwaway -- whereas the person with the ebay saddle in question took what was perfectly good and turned it into a throwaway. And for $175, he probably could have gotten a brand new steel-railed Swallow or Swift.

I've seen some very nice sliced and modified Brooks saddles (I think the work "butchered" is a bit negative) -- but what we're talking about here is mutilation.

Kyle Brooks (who takes Brooks mutilations personally) Akron, Ohio

________________________________ From: "Stronglight49@aol.com" <Stronglight49@aol.com> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 3:17:25 PM Subject: Re: [CR] Butchered Brooks Saddle?

I'm guilty of having butchered a couple of saddles.  One was a  Brooks B17 picked up for only $10 in NEW condition because it had a  damaged (torn) side skirt on one side (the shop had already recovered its  losses through insurance coverage and decided not to just discard the  saddle). 

The hacking on the eBay saddle [item number 330364403157]  is certainly the very worst cutting job I have ever seen perpetrated on any  leather. 

My guess would be that the deep cuts made near the nose had  been intended to help prevent the sides from flaring out/up when a rider's  weight was put on the saddle.  Unfortunately, I think this would  weaken the saddle at one of the most vulnerable points.  Worse still, the  slices are sheared to sharp corners in a direction which could lead to a  future (for lack of a better term) "stress riser" - a rip right across the  leather top.

I would reject that saddle even if it was offered to me for  FREE!

BOB HANSON,  ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA