cale

Just get a fender... Are you serious?

cale

The saddle leather is absolutely brimming with lubricants and preservatives so the chance that you did any long term damage is minimal. Unlike combat boots, motorcycle jackets, and horse saddles, there's no body inside to support the leather when it gets wet. It is essentially a hammock, stretched between two points and the "body" sits on top and stresses, not supports, the leather.

The upshot of this design is that when your saddle gets wet it is more prone to stretching and deforming. If you really soak it, the lubricants and preservatives in the leather will start to get displaced by water and the leather will eventually dry out. Notice the language, it's a process, over time. Any saddle can be over-ridden in the right or wrong conditions until it wears out, but who dedicates themselves to doing it? You've got tons of miles left and certainly hundreds of downpours too.

Discoloration of your saddle is normal.

sickz

favorite selle series would have to be the aspide... quite comfortable.

D1andonlyDman

I just picked up a really nice condition used Ideale 90 from a local CL seller for the bargain price of $50. Gave it a couple of drenchings with Lexol over the past several days, and mounted it on my Tommasini (replacing a beautifully broken-in Ideale 80 which needed the tension bolt tightened about 1/4", and which I'm going to mount on my Paramount PDG Series 7, instead of the Fizik Antares that's on there now). In the past couple of days, I've put about 40 miles on the Ideale 90 and it's already comfortable.

Wallonthefloor

I do have a slight problem, I bought an aero water bottle cage that is supposed to clamp onto the back of my saddle rails. The problem is that it doesn't seem compatible with either of my seats. In case you were wondering the model is the "X-Lab Delta Wing 100" So I am thinking of choosing a spare seat that is compatible with it so that I have water handy for those really long and hot rides.

Edit: I'm thinking of getting the flite saddle, I just found one used for a great price. Does anyone know if it will be compatible?

hairnet

If you find a saddle that works for those long rides then I would suggest sticking with that one instead of doing saddle swaps. Switching saddles just before a big ride is a bad idea.

cDiff Notorious

Why not? It helps to prevent the water from getting on the underside of the saddle.

fietsbob

Vain about Mudguars? you could stuff a wad of plastic bags under your Leather saddle, or just wrap it up entirely in a plastic bag ?

cale

I was exaggerating a response. The title of the new thread would be "Does my fender make my saddle look big?"

JohnDThompson 

Go easy with the leather treatments, as too much will ruin your saddle (which sounds like what might have happened with your mod. 80 saddle). If the top of your saddle is marked «rodée main selon D. Rebour» it was pre-softened and treated at the factory and shouldn't require anything extensive, maybe just a judicious application of SnoSeal or Proofide once or twice a year.

D1andonlyDman

I'm very familiar with Ideale saddles. My example of the Ideale Model 90 did NOT have the Daniel Rebour treatment. And my conditioning routine is really just a one time thing before I mount the saddle for the first time. As for my Model 80, it's not ruined at all, it's just fine. It was just sagging a bit from being 37 years old, and it just needed the tensioning bolt to be tightened up a few turns after having been ridden for many many years. I had not actually tightened it since maybe 1990. After having tightened it just under 1/4", it's as good as new - and actually, I've never given this Ideale 80 saddle the aforementioned Lexol treatment, as I didn't know about it when I first got this seat in 1978. I just rode the thing for many years and many thousands of miles to break it in. In actuality, the Ideale 80 leather is somewhat thinner than that of the Ideale 90, or the top of the line Brooks seats (i.e. the Swift, Swallow, and Professional). It's more directly comparable to the B17. The Ideale 90 without the Daniel Rebour treatment - much like a Brooks Professional, needs some sort of pre-conditioning to make it rideable early on, and that's what I did. It's already riding quite comfortably, after only about 60 miles since I mounted it.