London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

I've had a search but found nothing relating to brooks with full blown rips in them.

Got this on an old falcon I'm currently converting, As you can see it's pretty old and has a tear in the leather at the back and slight cracking tearing at the front around the rivets. I think it must be due to over-tightening, as it's pretty solid and doesn't have seem to have moulded to a shape you might expect. Also, about a third of the adjuster bolt has snapped off. The saddle rails have a bit of give, with quite alot of rust around the back plate.

Would sewing up the rip make this useable again? Because the rip has happened right on the edge of the back plate there's no room to get another piece of leather in and rivet it or anything like that. I'm not so bothered about how it looks, Would just like to be able to use it without damaging it any further. Seems a shame to not be able to use it.

Probably not worth trying to sew up the tears. Email Brooks. Ask them to replace the hide. They do salvage old saddles (the frame and tension bolt are probably fine). Those old Professionals are excellent. It would be good to see if they could replace the rivets as they are there, as they do bigger copper hand beaten ones, on Team Professionals now. But the machined rivets there are what makes this the old one. The hand beaten ones are very nice however, so settle for that if they can't replace those rivets exactly.

I've got an old Wrights with a tear on the front rivet. I've used a bit of superglue. I know its not going to help that much or hold forever, but I'm just going to ride it till it dies.

TBH yours sounds pretty fucked all round so. If Brooks will repare for free or under £25 it may be worth it. Otherwise just do your best to look after it and love it while it lasts.

I missed the thing about the bolt being snapped, but a bolt is eaily replaced by Brooks. The hide too.

or recover it

what is the handle coming off the back of the saddle? can you post a shot of it?

brooks saddles are always worth repairing. if brooks can't do it, i have a fellow that can repair any saddle. he used to work for brooks, and they gave him all the old saddle shapes after he left. pm me.

^^ it looks like a saddlebag support

If the hide and the bolt need replacing, is it even worth it? That's basically most of the saddle.

grandads hammer syndrome

I have had this broom 10 years, its only had 3 new heads and 2 new handles.

Ship of Theseus

nice ,, now i can put a name to it and impress someone cheers.

I think if there's sufficient 'bedding in' time between each replaced component, that component becomes part of the original object. Quick or simultaneous replacement of all components, however, is a different matter.

On a related note, great potential band name; John Locke's Socks.

Another point of view from Douglas Adams, on an historic Japanese building that had been destroyed and rebuilt many times...

The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survives. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.

This is pretty deep for a cycling forum.

Still, the concept of "same" is pretty weak and folds under any sort of scrutiny. An item changes in minute ways everytime we use it. Tiny pieces are eroded, etc. So all objects are constantly changing.

On a sort-of-similar note...

I was recently at a rather large and naturally-occuring tourist attraction, and was told in confidence that without constant human intervention and maintainance it would no longer be doing what it does. That's rather vague, but my point is that lots of ancient attractions, buildings etc have had lots more work done than you think, and are not original, usually.

Ooh, this reminds me of that fact which I've forgotten about the human body, about how often all the atoms in our body are replaced. Does anybody know it?

It's something I think about every now and then, that we're constantly shedding and replacing expired cells. Surely the body is replaced, cell for cell, many times in a lifetime.

My body seems to be shedding hair cells and not replacing them.

lol

7-8 years as far as I remember

Yeah, Yeah!

Yeh, I figure this is probably my best bet. I don't want to spend much money on it, it's gonna be on a bit of a beater anyway. I'm assuming i would be easier/cheaper to just get a new brooks than get this one professionally repaired.

The recovering option is impressive, but seems like it's far too much effort (homemade vacuum former anyone?!) I've taken it for a few rides and it's quite comfortable, so I'll clean it up and attempt a quick fix and use it until it breaks.

Oh and the thing on the back of the saddle is an ingenious little clip on rail for a saddle bag, that clamps in-between the rails.

Yeah. Use it til it dies.

But then ask Brooks. It might not be expensive ... did you ask them?

I've sent them an e-mail through there website and am waiting on a reply at the mo

bc its a similar subject I thought I'd pass this on...

... to put some life back into my Wrights I used Timberland leather nourishing cream, which helps to soften and replace the oils in the leather.

- I know Brooks do their own, and I know this is prob the same cost as Timberland (or any other shoe brand), but I found this in my folks shoe polish box...

...and I know loads of ppl have stashes of these leather creams... so if you're looking for a cheap solution, go check.

Try rubbing "neatsfoot leather oil" into it, it should soften it up

no no no don't use neatsfoot on a brooks saddle. it makes the leather too soft and it stretches too much. stick to proofhide or a non-cream/oil based oil

Just got an e-mail from brooks regarding re-hiding:

'' It is possible to fit a new leather top onto saddle, provided that the model concerned is still a current one.
The price for this repair would be £50
Best Regards ''

So not cheap, but nice to know it can be done. Note the comment about 'current' models though.

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

Thought i'd update on how the repair went.

Regarding the saddle above, to make it usuable and try not to make the rip any larger, I drilled an extra hole in the cantle plate just after the rip, and inserted another rivet (i had a pop rivet gun lying around) This meant the stress would no longer be on the rip. I then glued the join in the rip, and painted the join and small rivet with brown acrylic. I gave the whole thing a clean, a bit of leather conditioner, and a nice polish, and it looked pretty decent in the end. Not sure how long it would last but hey. Shame I don't have a photo.

Anyway, I missed the saddle so much since I sold the bike I just managed to buy the exact same model (67 pro) on ebay for £10 - It was badly listed and missing one rivet, but the leather looks sound. I'm gonna get a rivet from brooks and have a go at mending it this week and i'll post it here.