Mr S Middlemore

......or, I have this shot

rhm

Yeah! Hardening leather is a tricky business. If you had known then what you know now, what would you have done to it?

Yes, leather covered; but it's still an upholstered plastic saddle. A proper leather saddle is actually made of leather, not just covered with it.

Mr S Middlemore

I probably would have used water that had cooled for a minute or two rather than straight from boiled. I still don't have any knowledge specifically for saddles though, the only stuff I found was about making leather armour for military re-enactment people.

The starting message for the thread said leather covered saddles are ok. That is the only covered leather saddle I have but I liked it so I got one. I used to have a Rolls but I sold it.

rhm

I tried boiled water on my first saddle; it got so hard and brittle it cracked within a week . More recently I've tried drying the saddle in an oven after forming it; so it's a little wet when it goes into the oven, keeping the oven between 130 and 170 F for an hour or so. This definitely hardens the leather, but I don't know if it's enough; the saddles with that treatment haven't been ridden enough.

Ah, right you are! My bad. I must take this up with Rootboy (/).

rootboy 

I have to admit, my jury is still out on this saddle. Though I've only ridden it a couple of times, I think my old butt is so used to the brooks Pro that this feels a little funny to me.

BTW, I just picked up a 60's Brooks Pro which was mislabeled on ebay as a B-73. Neat old saddle, and now I can put a more "proper" time period saddle on my Frejus. Though I'm sure they didn't originally come with a Brooks saddle.

rootboy 

HA! Yeah, I had to go back and read my initial post to see if I did indeed specify leather covered. I guess I must've thought folks would like to post their Cinellis as well.

rootboy 

I'm really amazed at you guys who can replace a leather on a saddle. Some day I'll try it. For now though, I just bought a piece of veg tanned and will try some brake hoods first.

Mr S Middlemore

I think more people could do it, a lot of it is thinking about materials and methods and carefully working through it.

Brooks use the oven method, there is a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK00dNB61qE

noglider 

If you saw what Rudi does to complete the task, you'd be even impresseder.

This is my RHM saddle, which has a way of disappearing into my butt so that I'm not even aware of its presence. It gets embarrassing when people tell me I'm walking around with a saddle in my butt.

Sixty Fiver

This thread reminds me that I have a saddle to send to Rudi...

Mr S Middlemore

Another great tradestamp.

rhm

Here's a more recent one, #50 :

Mr S Middlemore

Looks good, another with a classical Greek sort of look.

I think the one the same as your avatar on the Swallow type is one of the best on any saddle ever.

Big Block

the recreation of a saddle
the saddle frame
the leather top

he is recreating a 'geared facile' bike, piece by piece.

Mr S Middlemore

Hello Big Block , small world

Big Block

yes, Stephen it is.
I have a few recovers underway. A new mould has been made, this one in fibreglass and the leather is pulled down into the mould by the vacuum bag resulting in a very smooth finish. Works well.
The handmade rivets now have a orderly workflow, with excellent results.
The riveting process is also orderly with a new custom built workstation.

Mr S Middlemore

Sounds great! Like you could almost make it a career. I'd be interested to see some of the end results.

rootboy 

So would I. Along with shots of the process, if it's not all top secret stuff.

mobilemail

Yet another Ideale 80. I'm getting ready to put this on a Miyata touring bike I just picked up, waiting to be cleaned and overhauled.

Mr S Middlemore

Mansfield Club

Roypercy

I've got three in rotation right now.

My current favorite: Norex 39, bought NOS (with significant shop wear). You could pound nails with this thing, but somehow I find it very comfortable. Seems to fit my sit bones or something.



A San Marco Rolls, also NOS, also very comfy, gracing the Grand Jubile earlier this summer;



And A Fujita Belt, bought cheap on Ebay in good shape but with an unfortunate oil stain (?) on the nose that I couldn't get out. I think the dimensions are similar to a Brooks B17. it feels a little wide to me, but I haven't given it much time yet.

Mr S Middlemore

A Wrights W33/1

noglider 

Seeing those saddles with the big spring in front makes me cringe uncomfortably. (That's redundant, isn't it?) I think of getting my scrotum caught in the spring. Someone please reassure me it doesn't happen.

Italuminium

Just wear pants and you'll be good. I know don't wear them too often but it will feel ok after a few miles

Mr S Middlemore

When you sit on one of these the leather shields you against such things involving the metal parts.