DrMarkR

Looking for men's or women's models. Anyone have an old one lying around? Condition doesn't matter.....I'll be recovering it.

zonatandem

Mark, you're stepping back in time! An Avocet saddle!!!
Used 'em 'way-back-when!'
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Carbonfiberboy 

That was an innovative saddle. Today a close cousin would be this one:
Forté Pro SL Saddle

DrMarkR

Showing my age, Rudy! I love these saddles....put them on all of my bikes (except my custom Gilmour single...)

I actually WANT to recover the saddle, CFB, so the Forte won't work with the pudendal protector.

I found one on ebay, and bid on another. Thought maybe someone on here might have one lying around that they would part with.

chojn1

How do you recover a saddle? Do you have a service or do you do it yourself?

jnbrown

A good friend of mine and former RAAM record holder used that Avocet saddle for along time. He finally switched saddles, I am assuming he couldn't get them anymore.
I have had my own saddles woes lately. Was using a Terry Zero Y on the tandem for many years now I can't find them them anymore. I have been using a Selle Italia SLR on my single and it works ok but not at all on the tandem.
Since I am on the small side I always assumed I needed a narrower saddle, but had my sit bones measured and they are 120mm which is wider than I thought.
So now I am using a Specialized Avatar Gel Comp 143mm on the tandem and its working ok, switched to a Specialized Toupe 143mm on my single and it is better than the narrower Selle Italia SLR.

Gilmour single? Our first tandem way back was a Gilmour made with Columbus tubes.

DrMarkR

Yep. Aluminum! 15.9 lbs without pedals or cages! (had the rear Zipp off it when I took this pic....)



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...115_181037.jpg

DrMarkR

I do them myself. It's a bit time consuming to do it right, but with the right leather it works out great. THis is a pic of our MTB, both are Avocet O2's:




And one of the white leather on our Robusta. My saddle is an O2, wife's is a favorite Vetta from many years ago:

chojn1

Those saddles look amazing.
Care to share how it's done?
Love to learn.
CJ

DrMarkR

I getting ready to do one....I'll take some photo's of the process....

WillFam-Reno

I have an old Avocet saddle that I am not using. How do I tell if it's an o2? Is it printed on the bottom somewhere? I'll try to take a better look this week. Just finished a 52 mile ride yesterday using a Specialized saddle. Seems like the best I have found so far.

DrMarkR

Here is a pic:



The small retaining trims on the back edges are distinctive...seen better here:

WillFam-Reno

Sorry, I do not have O2's. I will keep my eyes open for one.

DrMarkR

Thanks....appreciate this. I'm still looking for one or two of these saddles....

Mark Russell
Tucson

PMK

Not to be greedy, but what do you have to trade, AND/OR can you refoam and recover a Terry Butterfly...

I have an O2 womans, I would need to look close but it had no real miles on it and, I need to look close, but probably does not even need any work to it for now.

Send me a message on MTBR since I am not often here.

PK

DrMarkR

First of all, thanks to PK for the no longer being used O2 saddle he had available...it's in excellent shape and I won't be recovering that one (Did you get the my package, Paul???).

On to the pics of the saddle recover that I did on one I picked up on Ebay. First, the removal of the original cover:



You have to be very careful to preserve the foam:







When finished, I chose a piece of new leather for the cover. Initially I was going to use this honey brown color, because I was planning on recovering the saddle PK sent me. When I saw how good of shape it was in, I chose a darker, almost black color. Pics in next post......

DrMarkR

Laying out the replacement leather...






I then bolt it up to an old seatpost that I can put in the vice...makes it easier to work. I use 3M "77" strength spray adhesive and put some paper towels down around the base to keep off the overspray. I put a coat on the leather, and the foam/seat edges, and then stretch the leather tight as I apply it. You do not need a thick piece of leather, in my experience. This piece as quite thin, as you can see here:







I forgot to take pics as I worked the underside (my apologies...) but I then take it off the seatpost and trim it using a razor blade to approx 3/4" all around. I then cover the middle portion of the inner base, and the rails, with masking tape. Using the spray adhesive I give the edges of the leather and the edges of the seat base a nice coat, let it set up for a few minutes, and the aggressively stretch the leather and adhere it to the base. This takes some patience and perseverance to get it down smooth. You don't want a lot of leather wrapping to the base....just 3/8 of an inch or so. Trim it as needed. The finished product, along with a pic of another saddle I did some time ago in a pigskin:

DrMarkR

My apologies for some of the pics being too large to use thumbnails....not sure why it worked on some, but not others....??

TandemGeek

Nice work and great way to keep prized saddles in service.

gracehowler

We all know how it is, you save that ... whatever and a week after you throw it away someone needs it! Sadly for you, I tossed a TI woman's avocet.
R

PMK

Yes the package arrived...Jeanne and I are both happy with those items.

FWIW, Terry was outstanding to deal with regarding warranty.

PK

chojn1

Thank DrMarkR for the instructions,
I will attempt it on my old Terry Fly. Any suggestion on how to deal with the hole in the middle of the saddle?
CJ

DrMarkR

I've never recovered one with the opening. I suspect it would require an additional piece of leather to be sewn in for the opening?

Glad you liked them Paul!

PMK

I am sure you have now seen that the Fly is also stapled around certain areas, including the cutout.

PK

chojn1

I finally got around to re-covering my old Terry saddle. Took about 30 minutes per DrMarkR's instruction. Thought I would post a follow up.

saddles.jpg