jason_h

The rivets on either side of my sit bones (the ones at each end of the rear frame) are starting to dig into my backside. It started happening after about a year using the saddle, and the amount of pain seems to vary depending on the day. I suppose that could indicate it is a leather tension issue, but then again, it might just be the mood of my backside as well. I should note that my sit bone width just barely fits on a team pro, so I don't have a lot of saddle real estate to play with side to side. FYI, the forward part of a B17 is too wide to fit between my legs, so that isn't an option, even if I wanted to get a new saddle, which I don't.

The question is how to go about alleviating this problem. The way I see it, I could either try tensioning the saddle further or try to peen the inside edges of these rivets down a bit to make them more flush with the leather. The rivets do seem just a tad proud of the leather, such that I can fit a fingernail between the rivet and leather. Just curious if others have had this problem, and if so, what worked for them to fix it.

hueyhoolihan

solution: don't insist on using a brooks? this is from a bike nut that has seven bikes, three of which have brooks pros on them. there are other saddles out there.

a77impala

I would peen the rivits, be careful not to damage the leather. Edges should be almost flush with her leather.
Support the rivit from the backside with something solid, anvil, bolt clamped in a vice, anything to give a solid base to use when striking the rivit.

jason_h

I'll try that a77impala, thanks.

fietsbob

I just got rid of the B17 .. the frame setback was insufficient couldnt shove the saddle back far enough.

'sitting on' rivets were just a symptom

look into a lot larger set Back Seat Post ..

side? which side? Nose or Rear?

Dfrost 

Sitting on the rivets was my complaint with the Team Pro. Otherwise it's a great shape, stiffness, etc.

i know the OP said no new saddle, but IMHO, the Gilles Berthoud saddles have all the best characteristics of the Team Pro or B17 and avoid all but one of the irritants. Now if only GB and Brooks would make the rails just a bit longer toward the nose.

prathmann

One of my Brooks Pros lost one of the side rivets many years ago and it doesn't seem to have affected its function in any way.

jason_h

Thought I would post a followup. I first tried peening the rivets, which resulted in rounding off the sharp edges a bit, but didn't seem to deform the rivets much. I then noticed that my tensioning nut had backed off about a 1/8th of a turn. Retensioned the nut back to its original spot, and all seems well. Will have to keep a eye on that and see if i need to loctite it in the future.

I did have to get a Nitto S84 seatpost, to get the setback I needed, but that didn't bother me as I was looking for a reason to fork over the money for one.