mkeller234

Excuse me, it's 3:30 am and I am thinking out loud.

I recently got a pretty nice deal on a used Wrights W3N. As I conditioned the leather and looked it over I noted that the leather was much thinner than my Brooks B15. I assume this saddle is Wrights version of the B17, which I assume also has thinner leather.

Here is my question, on both of my brooks saddles I can push the leather top with my thumb and it just barely moves. With my Wrights I can push the leather top and get it to move enough to flare the sides out with relative ease. Is that normal or is the leather too slack?

I realize I have two options to stiffen it up, adjust the tension nut or lace the sides. I was inclined to adjust the tension but google seems to bring up a lot of nay sayers, including Sheldon Brown.

Is there ANYONE who has succesfully tensioned a leather saddle? Brooks recommends it... maybe they just want us to break our old ones to drum up more sales .

My Wrights W3N saddle:

big chainring 

I have an old Brooks B17. Bought it used, well used. Didnt have any Proofide so I used some Mink oil to bring it back to life. After riding a few hundred miles it started getting kinda slack. Gave the adjuster nut a couple turns and it really stiffened it back up. I've done it on a Brooks Pro and Ideale 90 saddle as well. What would be the problem with tensioning the saddle?

wahoonc

The Wrights saddles I own have always been a bit softer than the Brooks. Give the adjusting nut a half turn and see how the saddle feels. On a very old one you may have to lace the sides too. I have one that I really need to do that to, but it is over 35 years old and has been ridden hard over the years.

Aaron

Road Fan

Do what Aaron suggests. Just incrementally increase the tension a quarter turn at a time, a little might go a long way. Brooks suggest this gentle approach, while Selle AnAtomica seems to be made for more stretch. We probably don't really know what Wright's would recommend, so go slow and protect your investment.

Some saddles (my Pro) I've seen to loosen up progressively as you tighten/ride tighten/ride. I think this is a bad situation, and I don't think (at least I haven't thought of one) there's a remedy for it. I've stopped tightening it and might still be able to use it, but if I could get a new leather top installed on the frame, that would be a good thing.

mkeller234

Righty tighty, lefty loosey?

scottferreter

I toured on my B17 Champion Special, and I was unable to keep it from getting wet a couple of times, and then had to ride on it the next morning. After a year or so, it had the same thing going on, with the sides flaring out with pressure on top. I went ahead and tightened it quite a big. Now it's riding wonderfully.

Oldpeddaller

Those W3N's are lovely saddles, I've got two of them on a couple of my Claud Butlers and am now looking for a third! They seem to be more reasonably priced in used condition than the better known Brooks B17, which IMO is the nearest comparison. I love the textured top.

I tightened the adjustment nut with great trepidation on my first W3N as it was also a little slack and flabby. Just under a half turn sorted it without causing any splits at the rivets, which is what had previously happened with a lovely old Brooks I had tried to firm up.

The second W3N was badly misshapen when I ought it VERY cheap with a (deliberately ???) poor picture on ebay! It had flared side cheeks, a sag in the middle and worst of all a fore and aft ridge on the left of the top with a crease in the middle of this ridge. With nothing to lose, I dropped the saddle into a bucket of cold water for 24 hours.It was still lumpy but very soft when I fished it out.

I found a length of steel tubing the right circumference for the top curve of the saddle and wedged this omto the end of the adjuster screw thread, then put a length of softwood under this between the saddle rails and wrapped heavy duty cable ties over the top of the leather and under the bottom of the rails to hold it all in place and force the softened leather into shape. If I did it again I'd put some cloth under the cable ties as they did leave a faint mark.

I then let it dry naturally without any great expectations,more in the spirit of experimentation. After a few days the leather was dry and the shape was perfect - on removing the cable ties the leather was firm and held its shape- and was very clean and smooth, I treated it with beeswax gel (my personal favourite leather treatment, Brooks Proofide would work fine) on both the top and the underside leather surfaces and polished the chrome rails and cantle plate. It really is like new and I'm delighted with the result! The side cheeks are tight against the rails and have stayed like that, with no thigh chafing - beats weakening the thing by cutting the cheeks out in a "Swallowising" process!

mkeller234

I agree, the saddle pictured above cost $10.50!

That sounds like quite a saddle surgery, I'm very thankful that mine is not in that condition! This had a bad picture on ebay with local pick up.... so it was a small gamble. I do love the saddle though, the look and the feel. I feel comfortable giving it a few small turns now.