Originally Posted by
Road Fan
I prefer leather straps, too, but I can't say I've ever had any actually wear out. Get ugly, lose the finish, yes, but never unusable. One wonders where all my old ones went to, however!
The old ones were used to the your spare sewups to the bottom of the seat
I've worn out and broken quite a few. I think they would usually stretch and break just behind the buckle.
I finally took them off the bike about 2 years ago, and put SPD pedals on all my bikes... and they're nice.