harrism

I have this saddle from a parts bike and can’t really find information on it. I have the “Schwinn Approved cover that was on it, but the foam padding material has melted over the years; you can see some sticky remnants on the plastic piece. (To be clear, the black plastic in the picture is a middle layer, there was a vinyl top later that went over that.)




So, what exactly am I looking at?
is there a search term that will work—any reference to springs or sprung inevitably brings up a totally different kind of saddle.
Is it possible to find a replacement cover? If so, is that advisable or should I just toss this and get a new saddle altogether.

noobinsf 

I had a Mertens Coureur saddle that was constructed the same way on an early 70's Austrian bike, and that saddle would have been made in West Germany. The shape was slightly different, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Schwinn-approved saddle is a Mertens product.

EDIT: A quick google search appears to reveal that Mesinger was the German saddle maker that worked with Schwinn.

harrism

thanks for the information. I googled Mesinger since they were Schwinn’s main saddle maker and sounded German, but came up with a Connecticut location for them. Were they Germany as well?

noobinsf 

It's so long since West Germany existed that the same company could have been reborn several times, or equally likely that the Conn company has zero connection to the older saddle maker. Again, my research consisted of a three-minute google search loaded with assumptions, so I'm not familiar with the history or connection. But, of the similarly-designed Mertens saddle, I am certain because of my experience with it.

If you're looking to replace it with something similar, ebay is your best option. FWIW, I thought the Mertens saddle was pretty comfortable.

Vintage Schwinn

The nine spring metal skeleton resembles the nine spring metal assembly on the Schwinn Mattress Saddle that was standard on Schwinn Suburbans. The only difference is that the Mattress Saddle has more metal attachments on to that basic nine spring metal skeleton. It does look to me that the seat manufacturer that supplied Schwinn and others, did probably incorporate that same basic nine spring metal skeleton into various seat styles. I never really thought about that but upon seeing several disected or disassembled seats in uploaded pictures in various web thread postings, it certainly appears that some skeletal frame guts are exactly the same. I can't confirm this because it is simply an eyeball visual observation based on seeing pictures and guessing as to exact dimensions based on seeing other bicycle components/frame tubing in the same pictures as a basis for determining a ballpark rough guess on the exact size and scale. You had another large metal framework or sub skeleton incorporating the two large coil springs on this monster heavy (approx 4 pounds) but really comfy mattress saddle that was standard on Schwinn Suburbans, and seen on upright tourist style Peugeots, and on upright tourist style Raleighs during the 1970's. Those old ancient old tourist, upright city bike mattress saddles from 50 years ago certainly shared that same 9 spring basic skelton part that your seat also incorporates.

juvela

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rhm


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nlerner

That technique hasn’t worked for a long while to ping someone. You need to use the conventional @rhm and ignore the pop-up choices.

juvela

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thank you

that's what i did and this is how it came out


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rhm

As far as I know, Mesenger was an American company. Whether this is a Mesenger product, i don't know.

Mesenger did make replacement covers for these. The covers were tough vinyl with padding, and you could find them on eBay a few years ago.

harrism

Thanks, I'll look into that. The deteriorated padding is the only real problem with the old cover, so I may just try to figure out a way to remove and replace that.