Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Brooks creaking

I wasn't sure which forum would be most appropriate for this, but I figure the Brooks population (and mileage) here are higher than average.

I have a year-old B17 with maybe a thousand miles on it, exposure to all weather, and several Proofidings. It's nicely broken-in. Today it was creaking and driving me nuts. I can reproduce the creak by pushing straight down on the leather, but I'm not sure what to do about it. Any suggestions?

A couple possible solutions:

Might be the leather squeaking against the rear support. Smoosh a little bit of Proofhide/SnoSeal/Obenauf's LP up in there and see if that stops it.

Might be the rails creaking in the post clamp. The rails flex as the leather 'gives'; I'm not saying open the clamp and grease 'em up, but a single drop of 3-in-1 at the rear edge of the clamp where the rails come out may help.
This was the issue I had with mine, and I had a 2 part solution: 3-in-1 on the edge of those rails, and I punched/laced the skirts to reduce the overall saddle flex.

Try putting some lubricant in the screw in the nose.

Thanks--somehow this didn't show up in my subscribed threads, so I didn't know anyone had responded. I'll try all that this weekend.

HI,
I moved mine to far forward one time and the clamp was partially on the edge of a less than flat piece of the seat bracket this would cause a creak when peddling only with the left leg down stroke ..
Go figure on my cad it sounded like a creaking in the bottom bracket of the bike that long hollow alumn down tube tricked me into thinking I needed a new bearing ..
Till I leaned on the bike seat...:o
Doug

Damn bikes, always camouflaging where the noises are coming from...

I know that's not the case this time, but it's worth remembering. Thanks.

I have a 30-year-old Ideale leather saddle that creaks, too, but only after about 30 miles or so into the ride. It doesn't sound like a metal-on-metal sqeak - definitely a creak. I'd first look at the leather-metal contact points. I ignore my saddle's creak. It's no worse than my own creaks.

My Brooks Swift started creaking recently after a few thousand miles of use but I found that increasing the tension slightly made the noise go away and the saddle feels even better now too.

Thanks for all the thoughts, but it stopped.

I suspect it'll start up when the weather gets hot again.

My brooks swift started creaking. I too thought it was BB bearings. I realized that it only creaked while slowing cranking up hills while seated. I realized that the creak only occured when I was on the rear of the saddle - no creak while sitting on the nose. I stopped and could recreate te creak by pushing down on the rear of the saddle with my palms and body weight. I was able to resolve the noise by oiling the interface between the rail and rear support thats riveted to the leather. Im a little worried that lubing that interface means that something broke there... I wouldnt expect relative movement at that interface.

My Brooks was creaking last year and in desperation I just turned the bike upside down and squirted T-9 lube over everything near a contact point anywhere near the saddle. Haven't had a problem since.

my swallow (ti) creaks. i managed to stop it for a bit by loosening the tension and sliding a piece of stair tread rubber between the tension nut and the flat part it pushes on. managed to ride a 100k populaire with it quiet... but its started again.

i picked up some nylon washers from the hardware store - going to slice one and try to get it in the same spot as the rubber is (was?).

annoying, yes.
lube, grease, etc. did nothing for me...

I wish all of you would look under the saddle and see if the tension bolt is bent. I don't have any idea how it happens, but I've had 2 bend and break.