michael k

Has anyone reskinned their saddle? Is there a source for the rivets?

I'm asking cause I'm cheap and have this saddle from a 52' Raleigh sport.

Any Idea what model this is? TIA

Grand Bois

https://www.wallbike.com/accessories/rivets.html

EjustE

Looks like an older B66. Not sure whether those patterns were there or whether someone got creative with a knife.

SingeDebile

watch the mini documentary on the brooks website to give you an idea of how they get the leather to hold its shape.

JohnDThompson 

Tony Colgrave is the man for Brooks repair. He is an authorized Brooks agent, and even has the stamps to properly emboss the replacement leather.

tony_colegrave@hotmail.com

A. Colgrave Wellhouse
Northian Rye
East Sussex
TN31 6HY, England
01797 253177

Big Block

my attempt at recovering a tensioned leather saddle.
would have been much cheaper to buy a new one, but I wanted to keep the saddle frame

EjustE

Now, that's a labor of love. And a lot of know-how. What I really like about your saddle is that it looks like natural leather (the one that gets dark by time) and not a cookie-cutter color like "black", "brown" or "honey".

A job well done!

unworthy1

QUOTE=Big Block;10280034]my attempt at recovering a tensioned leather saddle.
would have been much cheaper to buy a new one, but I wanted to keep the saddle frame[/QUOTE]

BRAVO! That's an inspired project, I love the results. I haven't done any leather moulding since I was a Boy Scout and into hand-making moccasins, back then I was making wooden forms and nailing the wetted leather to the form. I like the home-made vacuum bag method, but it would not have been "Scout-approved" back then for what we thought was authentic Navajo/Apache footwear technique.

michael k

Thanks for that Big Block!! An enjoyable and interesting read.

Welcome to BF


With my limited resources I may just sell a bike and BUY a saddle. lol

RobE30

Wow! The final product looks amazing Bigblock!

Reynolds 

My DL-1 saddle when I bought it:



I discarded the old cover, got some sole leather about 3-4 mm thick, cut a square oversize piece and soaked it in wather for 15 mins. Molded it by hand over the frame (took me some time and force, about 40 mins, since the leather tended to return to its flat shape). Let it dry overnight and trimmed it to shape. Got some hollow copper rivets from an auto clutch and brake shop, punched holes in the cover and put the rivets but not hammered them yet. Did the final trimming and hammered the rivets on. Rubbed some linseed oil and let dry. The shape was OK, but the leather was too soft and sagged after some riding. Took the saddle off and soaked it in boiling water for 4 mins. When dry it was very hard and worked ok since:

michael k

That turned out good Renolds!

Thanks for the tips... Just the kind of info I was looking for.

Chris_in_Miami

You can also find a good assortment of rivets at Tandy leather shops, also an obvious source for the leather. I've been wanting to re-cover a sagging B72, and I recently picked up another that's unusable, this will probably go into the project queue...