Originally Posted by
DHPflaumer
I actually have one of these. It lives on a Surly Cross Check that I used for commuting and I've had it there for about two years- maybe 1000 miles? (it's not my favorite bike). I also have a navy b17 on my Soma GR ( 3 years, probably close to 6000 miles).
The green has both faded and darkened, if that makes any sense. It's definitely less vibrant and looks more "organic" now than it did new, to be sure. The color didn't transfer much at all, which is certainly better than I can say about the navy edition (I think I permanently relegated three pairs of shorts to the "bike use only" pile the first year).
If no one else has mentioned it, Fiebings leather dye is one possible solution.
https://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/
It's kind of the high quality standard for leather dye, and is less likely to transfer to your shorts etc than cheap shoe polish dye or whatever. Since your saddle is faded green now, you'd probably need to go with a reddish or orangeish dye to counteract that, and then maybe a black dye for the final color. It'd be easier to start from a new saddle of course.
Yeah, as others have said, maroon Brooks have been available at some point in the past 10 or 20 years. However, that's a modern thing. In vintage days, all leather saddles were dark brown/black or (rarely) honey or undyed natural, so those IMO are your best choices for a vintage bike.