agmetal

I have my grandfather's 1961 B17 Competition (predecessor to the Professional), and it's very much in rideable condition. However, after having the alignment checked out on my bike's frame, and a couple tweaks made, I found that I seem to be putting most of my weight onto a bit of a high spot with my left sit bone, and I'm wondering if there's a good way to fix this.

One thought I had was to move that saddle to a bike that gets used more frequently, but on shorter rides, and see if that helps - the bike it's on now is the "impractical fast bike", which sees fairly infrequent use.

Wildwood 

Check to make sure a rail is not bent so as to raise one side. Or both rails unequally.

I find on some of my worn leather saddles broken in by others, that it takes a long ride to suit me. In other words, the first 10 miles of every ride feels not quite right, but by mile 11 it's all good.

edit: I've had others that were just too hard, even when the appearance would lead one to believe otherwise.

Kilroy1988 

In case you haven't done so already, oil the saddle from the inside with neatsfoot or some other compound suitable for leather. Old leather should not just be worn in by force - there are almost certainly brittle fibers inside that will simply break rather than soften under pressure.

Chombi1 

Once dry rot sets in, there's really no way to reverse it, and althiugh you might be able to massage it back to some semblance if suppleness, it might be just a matter if a few miles before it starts tearing apart like damp cardboard at the rivets or nose....
I also suspect that leather on saddles have a finite life span, being organic and vulerable to the elements....

jj1091

Possibly it's the leather having been stretched on the left side, but it could be that the cantle plate on the left side is bent too far downward (rolled towards the front), meaning that the rear of the rail needs bending back to move the cantle rearward, which would stretch the leather back out on the left side. I'd take the tension completely out, soften the leather, then work on the left rail.

agmetal

It's worth noting that I've got probably 200ish miles on this saddle. Oddly, this is the first time I've found it uncomfortable in this way, and all I can think of is that it has to do with having had the frame and fork alignment worked on.

Here's what it looked like when I first got my hands on it a couple summers ago, after sitting in a box in my grandparents' basement for who knows how long:

Kilroy1988 

Leather can easily pass a point of no return, but if it appears to be in decent condition then it can certainly be made useful with attention. Fibers that are already brittle from rot or overexposure to heat/light will probably not be saved by oil or compound, but the surrounding material certainly can be preserved. Almost any old saddle is bound to have dead spots - the point of conditioning is to refresh the surrounding areas to maintain enough of the structure to make it useful without worry.

Oil and waxing compounds can do a marvelous job on old leather, and should be considered mandatory to use especially on pieces that undergo stress like a bicycle saddle. I've got some rather rough looking old saddles and have been riding them for quite a while after taking the time to renovate the leather.

-Gregory

cdmurphy

I find old Brooks leather to be a crapshoot. I've bought probably 5-6 old (1970s) Brooks Pros from eBay, all in visually "good" condition. All were quite hard and obviously dry. After one or two treatments with leather dressing, all appeared to be good to go, with some flexibility restored. In use, some went thousands of miles with only minor surface cracking, while others developed significant cracking and splits in only hundreds of miles. I suspect that storage without some sort of periodic dressing damaged the fibers in ways that are hard to discern visually.

That contrasts with plenty of Brooks Pros that I've seen give 30-40 years of hard service. I suspect that if you refresh the oils with Proofhide or other dressings once a year or so, you can get a long life from the leather. Leave it somewhere very dry for decades, not so much.

Kilroy1988 

All of this is absolutely reasonable. Leather that has been periodically maintained will almost certainly outlast leather that has been left dry (or too damp) for long periods of time. When looking at old leather on the surface, it's often impossible to discern what may have been the case. If I knew the history of a saddle, I would almost certainly go for one that had been used but maintained rather than unused and left dry.

-Gregory

rhm

I am reluctant to mention this, because I don't know whether it is a good idea for such an old saddle... but water will temporarily soften a saddle. If you know what part of your saddle is bothering you, you could make it wet before a ride. Start making it wet a couple hours earlier, and get the area in question pretty wet. Don't use so much water that you soak anything out of the saddle (if you soak it in water, you will turn the water brown; I don't know what's coming out of the leather, but it should stay in the leather). Let it sit so the water permeates all the fibers as well as possible. You may want to add another spoonful of water after a little while. Keep a plastic bag over it so it can't dry out.

When the leather is wet, take it for a short ride, maybe a mile; then look at what you've done. If you don't see any change, ride another mile. Repeat as necessary. If you've made a small dent in the area that was bothering you, that's probably enough; let the saddle dry. The dent will remain. When the leather dries again, it will be as hard as before, and possibly a little harder, but (with luck) a little more comfortable.

I would have no hesitation doing this to a new saddle. With a 50+ year old saddle, I'd be more cautious. That probably wouldn't stop me.

FBOATSB

Body heat and butt sweat for the win. Another disadvantage of overly padded shorts.

rhm

+1

agmetal

What are your guys' thoughts on swapping saddles with another bike that gets used more frequently for short commutes? (About a mile and a half each way)

rhm

Sure, whatever works! I frequently move saddles around on my bikes to suit my needs at the moment. Last week, anticipating a lot of saddle time in the pouring rain on Saturday, I changed the saddle on my randonneuring bike to a Cinelli Unicanitor. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but completely weatherproof.

But about your B17 Competition, as you say, it's the predecessor of the Professional and it's now something you don't see every day. I would consider it something of an antique, an item that may have more collector value than utilitarian value. It might be worth more to someone who's restoring a 1960 bike (that won't get ridden much) than to you. It may actually be rather fragile; if so, you won't know it until it tears in half.

Big Block

most likely to be the tannins used in the tanning process.

Tanning (leather)

Kilroy1988 

Almost certainly so, unless if the leather is also stained or old - it could be dye or dirt as well in that case.

It's important not to get vegetable tanned leather wet very often (or mostly any other traditionally-tanned leather) precisely because it will slowly dissipate the physical bonds made between the leather fibers and the tanning solutions. For the same reason it's important not to let it get too dry. Leather is tricky stuff.

-Gregory

SparkyBeacon 

+1 on an oil soak for an old Brooks. One that I bought used was very dry. I soaked it in oil to bring it back to a normal condition. It did not have shape issues to deal with.

ironwood

VO sells an oil that I have used on an old Brooks Pro that was dried and hard. It has softened up some and is fairly comfortable. But I still prefer the B-17. The leather on old Brooks seems a lot better than what you find now.

dweenk

My understanding is that neats foot oil comes in two grades; one is pure foot oil, the other is a blend of foot oil and petroleum distillates. Correct me if I am wrong.