Touring - creaky Brooks B17 solution found

hi folks,

this is more for someone who may have this problem in the future, just to keep in mind.

When I put my B17 on my old mtn bike commuter, not too long afterwards a small creak started up. It was not doing this on the other two bikes it has been on last summer and while Ive basically ignored it for a while as it wasnt bothersome, I finally tried looking at it tonight.
Had suggestions of greasing all the points of the saddle frame; also that it might be the seatpost itself being diff than the other bikes and how it holds the rails (theory here that the Brooks rails are stiffer than other seats) and/or that it is an old post (1998) blah blah blah

well, took a good listen to where teh creak was, took a gander at the seat itself, dug out the brooks wrench to see if the nut up front was the culprit, turned it a smidge (1/8 of turn) and presto, no more creak.
In fact, as soon as I put the wrench on the nut and turned it slightly both ways, the creak sound was present, so it would appear that all it needed was a slight tightening to stop the creak of the bolt up against the mount.

easy peasy and I wish I had tried it a month or more ago.

cheers

My Ti Swallow has a long-term creak and I initially thought it was the tensioning nut; there was siginificant movement in the fitting at the front and the nut certainly felt loose. However, tightening it (a) did not eliminate the creak and (b) made the saddle too hard again after some thousands of kilometres of break-in to a point where it was great to sit on.

My nex tmove is to lube between the rear frame and leather, but I am unsure of how to go about this. The lube, whatever it is, needs to get down between the metal and leather, and Proofide in its hard form won't do it. I am looking for a lliquid alternative that is not mineral based. I have my eye on some wood polish we have for tables and cabinets.

My nex tmove is to lube between the rear frame and leather, but I am unsure of how to go about this.

I've done that by applying melted Sno Seal with a small stiff brush. I used a flux brush; 25 cents at a local hardware store. I also pre heated the metal frame area with a hair dryer.

I think it would probably work with Proofide as well, if it melts a fairly low temperature.

I just started wearing headphones while riding on my sprung brooks. Can't get rid of the sound.

One of mine had a creak too and a 1/4 turn of the tension nut helped... for a bit. Then it came back. I finally dabbed proofhide around where all the metal parts contacted the leather and melted it in with a hairdryer. Been squeek free ever since.

I like the hairdryer idea. When my B17 was new, I put Proofide all around and as much as I could under, all the metal parts near the leather and used a hairdryer to get it to melt down into the nooks. I did this more in thinking of long term "keeping the leather" conditioned in those hard to reach spots, or if water ever splashed up there.

If the squeaks come back, I will do this again, thanks for the heads up on that Kuan.

Im someone who doesnt like unusual noises coming from my bike, I like being attuned to any diff sounds and fix whatever is making it, so the bloody creak was bugging me.

I also had an old Honda Accord that had a funny creak I ignored and one day the right front wheel struts or whatever broke and the wheel turned outwards at 40 or 50kph, so I dont like creaks, I always figure something is giving warning it is going to snap....

Creaks in Brooks tend to come from any metal on metal, in my experience. A little grease on the moving parts and good tonnage on the seatpost, and it generally stops.