Originally Posted by
ColonelSanders
I would have thought that if the saddle was manufactured with those holes, it was meant to be laced to provide sufficient stiffness and not flay out.
If by some chance the leather is too delicate to lace it up, then I would consider that a serious design flaw and assume the saddle would never be right.
The information I found suggests that it was an OEM saddle on several bikes in the 70's. By OEM saddle standards it's amazing. I would guess that when it was new the lacing holes worked as intended. Given the condition of this saddle, they might work for me. I'm just not going to try it unless I have a problem that needs fixing.