I used only a very light treatment of the oil, and it was well after the problem started. Let me ask you this, as a leather saddle wears, should it maintain a curvature from side to side or do they all form a ridge down the middle as they wear? I might contact VO about it. The saddle itself seemed to be a knock off of the Brooks B17, but cheaper, maybe that's why? I've seen some saddles that are pre-softened, would it be advisable to look at one of those? I'm not against going back to synthetic either, but they seemed to have their own problems. This one was awesome the first 150 miles or so!