MassiveD

i want to take back what I wrote above as No Reg, since i have a lot more experience with leather since all that was written. I have been working the stuff for 40 years, but I started making holsters, which have many of the same requirements as saddles. I guess the neatsfoot oil I used to get did not dry, and did soften leather. The genuine NF oil I am currently using dries quite quickly, and will not soften leather if the leather is allowed to dry before it is used again. I am not recommending it's use, but I wouldn't worry about using it myself. I use a cover, so my saddle never gets wet, if I wanted to use my saddle without a cover, it might make sense to saturate the saddle in oil, then let it dry and then use it.

You really shouldn't use any product (other than water) to soften and mold leather that is being used as saddles are used, and I would never use water on the whole saddle to help break it in. It might be OK if you just used water in the sit bone area, but that would be hard to control. The safest way to break in a saddle is with mechanical force in the areas you want to mold, and if your ass won't do it, you need to get something that will. One can break in a Brooks saddle in an hour. If you aren't doing that, you are using the wrong tool.

Comparisons to horse saddles are a little different since those saddles are well supported under the whole surface of the leather. Bike saddles are molded and hard.

djb

I can equivocally state that my children will have neither any interest, nor use for my sorry old posterior when I am done with it.
And I'll stick to Dove thanks.

staehpj1

Up front I'll say that I am a Brooks hater. I'll also say that this netasfoot oil thing and leather saddles in general are one of very few issues where I disagree fairly strongly with Sheldon Brown's advice.

I have only owned one Brooks and thought it was just OK comfort wise when new. I grew to like it less and less as it broke in, to the point where it eventually became the least comfortable saddle I have ever owned. This happened in a few months. I am convinced that Neatsfoot oil sped the demise of my Brooks. I may be an outlier here since I liked the saddle better before it broke in. For sure neatsfoot sped the break in period and quite a bit. Personally I considered that a bad thing.

The whole neatsfoot issue is kind of moot for me since I much prefer to go with a lighter race style saddle since they are more comfortable for me and a lot lighter to boot.

Edit, I forgot to mention that the Brooks is the only saddle I have owned that I really hated. I am usually not fussy at all about saddles and would do a multi month tour on any of the saddles that came with my bikes.

djb

This sums it up, thanks for putting this experience down as I hope people read this to see what NOT to do with a leather saddle.

fietsbob

Japan based OP of this thread, in '09 should have sorted it out by now .. an Experimental sort , a dollop Tbs sized, of Proofide

melted into a warm (100F) saddle upside down has made the Brooks Pro I got in the Mid 70s , work so well as a one time treatment,

I did the same to the 2nd Pro I bought 25 years ago..

Sharpshin

I bought a B17 about a month or so back, and stressed out mightily because REI had no Proofide.

I forget where I found it, the BrooksEngland webite maybe? Brooks themseleves advise not treating the saddle for SIX MONTHS.

Note that Brooks is located in England, where it rain a lot.

I feel better now.

Mike

djb

Here is what Brooks comments:


There are many fables as to the best way to soften the saddle. However you do not want to soften the saddle, you want to promote its forming without it becoming soft. A good saddle will still look and feel hard but it will have taken to your shape. Consider your best, hand-made leather dress shoes. The first time you wore them the leather was hard. They pinched and you got blisters. But after a few months they felt better than any shoes you ever owned before. The leather is not any softer, it has formed to your feet so the shoes are now truly custom fitted.
This is what a leather saddle can do for you if you treat it properly. And the proper way to break in a Brooks saddle is to ride it. The photo shows a perfectly broken-in Brooks saddle. This saddle is still hard at every point, even where indented, as no foreign substances have been used to accelerate its breaking in. The rider's contact with the saddle is now uniform, with no pressure peaks. The saddle may look distorted but to the owner it is incredibly comfortable – exactly how a Brooks should ideally become. How was this form achieved? Simply by riding.
Proofide does not accelerate the breaking-in process. It conditions the leather without saturating it, allowing it to breathe whilst offering some protection from the elements. A saddle that has been treated with Hydrophene or Neatsfoot oil may appear comfortable but this comfort comes from its bowing. Brooks' official advice is lots of Proofide on the underside without wiping off – to protect the saddle from anything thrown up by the wheels (not so important on a bike with mudguards). On the top use it sparingly every 500 miles: apply in the evening, wipe off in the morning.
Andrew Hunter – Brooks England Ltd, Smethwick