ridethecliche

I crashed a while ago and ripped a little bit of the nose of my SLR and caused a flat spot in the leather on the nose of the saddle.

I really don't want to buy another one of these saddles and I was thinking of cutting off the parts of the leather that are ripped off and putting a layer of electrical tape on top there.

Has anyone else done this? Is there a better option than electrical tape?

Thanks.

Brian Ratliff

Electrical tape will come off with sweat - the adhesive is not made to hold permanantly, particularly not to oil impregnated material like leather. Duct tape if you are after the ghetto look (but cheap and available), thought it comes in black as well, which would probably look okay. Maybe the tape that hockey players use to wrap their sticks?

Nothing will work as well as keeping the leather in place. As long as there is not a hole through the cover, you should just keep the leather cover intact. If you are worried about aesthetics, take a sharpy and color the flat part black.

ridethecliche

The leather ripped off a bit at the front. If I leave it as is, it'll get caught on my shorts and probably cause rips there. It's at the very nose of the saddle and I rarely ever sit there (I'm no racer ex). I wanted to cut the leather that was jutting out and then tape it up so it doesn't ruin shorts when sliding on the saddle to sit down and the only thing I could think of that was smooth was electrical. Athletic tape would cause abrasion right?

rankin116

Yeah, hockey tape is rough, for gripping. I wouldn't use that. I second the black duct tape.

ridethecliche

Doesn't duct tape have holes in it? Wouldn't that make it a little abrasive?

mloywhite

They make a tape that looks just like electrical but is not sticky, it just stretches and sticks to itself, but has no adhesive. They have it in the electrical department at Home Depot, I used to use it to end bar tape, but it is kind of expensive. I think that would work well for you, not abrasive at all. Sorry I don't know what it is called.

urbanknight

Speed Tape

It's really just an overpriced duct tape that comes in a variety of colors.

dervish

if its overpriced then why not go for the cheap tape?

geist

Get a new saddle or relayer with new leather.

markyore

I have eletrical tape on a couple of scuffs on my SLR (around the edges) honestly you can't even tell its there and It's stayed put for >2000 miles. I did cut it to match the scuff though!

I say try it, what do you have to lose

pungee

Gorrilla duct tape. It comes in black and is stong as hell. I use it on the rail of my surfboards so my kneebrace doesn't mess up my boards. It can stand up to salt water and excessive wear.

urbanknight

Brian Ratliff was suggesting duct tape as it will stick better but said that the downside is it only comes in gray or black, so I showed the colorful option. Everything has its price.

Zaisaroni

Some extra or used Bar tape?

BlastRadius

I used clear epoxy to keep the leather from tearing or separating any further.

ridethecliche

I'll try the electrical tape option and see how that works out. I think I can get it tight enough to work.

I might cut off the leather that's hanging on right now just so it finishes smoother.

Edit: I thought I made it clear, but I guess I didn't. I crashed and the leather is cut on the saddle. You can see the saddle shell underneath the leather. I was going to cut off the leather that's hanging, and tape electrical tape around starting from where the leather isn't damaged, so i can cover the exposed are of the shell and make the surface smoother so I don't get caught on the nose when sitting down after riding out of the saddle.

pista

Why don't you just get a new saddle?

carpediemracing 

Vinyl/leather repair kit from an auto place.

cdr

Coyote2

This may or may not be helpful: I had an old, worn-out saddle and did an experiment. Stripped off the leather cover and padding to reveal the plastic saddle body underneath. Sanded it down, smoothed it out, took it to the local cobbler who charged me $5 to fit and glue on a nice new piece of leather. The saddle is surprisingly comfy, even without its original padding.

Since an SLR has very little padding to begin with, this might work for you.

jimisnowhere

Duct tape melts when hot and gets sticky-gooie. Use cloth bar tape and glue the ends down.

czrich86

i'd suggest using athletic tape. You could get it at a local CVS or walgreens or whatever for pretty cheap or just steal some from a nearby highschool's track team. This stuff isn't very rough on the outside because it's used to tape ankles, fingers, wrists, etc.... It should do the trick. and +1 on the sharpie for asthetics.

BlastRadius

Here's my SLR repaired with clear epoxy. It hasn't deteriorated at all and looks much better than a glob of tape.

carpediemracing 

[QUOTE=Coyote2;6752394...took it to the local cobbler who charged me $5 to fit and glue on a nice new piece of leather.[/QUOTE]

I was going to mention something like this too. A car upholstery shop will have tons of scraps of leather, all different colors, and will be able to glue/shrink a cover onto a saddle pretty easily. A garage friend of mine once offered to have all my seats recovered by one of his guys, but for some reason I turned him down. I'll probably go back and see if I can't it done though. They have different grades, colors, etc., and could get you whatever you want.

cdr

Amen

If you ride your bike you will never notice what your saddle looks like.

byte_speed

I ripped the leather on the saddle on my beater bike. I got some good strong nylon thread (for flyrod wrapping, comes in many colors). A few stitches later the rip was closed and I have been using the saddle for several years since.

ridethecliche

I'll post a picture of the saddle so you guys can see what it looks like. That should help figuring out which solutions will actually work better because I'm not so sure anymore.

Thanks for all the help so far!