Originally Posted by
willydstyle
I purchased a second-hand Brooks B17, and I'm having problems with it.
As you can see, the tensioning bolt is already getting pretty long. The metal bit under the nose isn't sitting properly on the tension bolt assembly, and this causes the saddle to sag in the nose and be unstable.
I already tried to bend the metal nose piece in with a vice, and this worked for about 30 miles, before it bent back out again.
Any ideas, or did I waste my money on a saddle that's just not going to be ride-able?
If your saddle has not been treated underneath with any substance then you could try doing the following.
Soak the leather thoroughly with water until it becomes very soft and pliable. Now use cloth or paper to stuff the underside raising the central area and removing the depressions. Now, with the stuffing still in place bind the wings together using string or whatever and leave the saddle to dry naturally for 24 hours. If the saddle has been untreated, the leather will become once again hard and will have shrunk to its former shape. With saddles which have been treated the method will not work.