Originally Posted by
gster
Save my Saddle
Has anyone had any success saving a leather saddle?
My B66 has just started to fail at the outer rivet.
I'd like to save it as it's already broken in and quite comfortable.
I'm not keen on breaking in a new one.
The leather can't be repaired.* One thing you can do, to keep that saddle usable for a while longer, is cut a triangle of firm foam, the kind that is used for floatation or packaging for electronics, and cram it between the top of the rails and the leather to take your weight off the leather. Sometimes that foam comes in thin sheets that you can fold up and squeeze under the rails. It doesn't really matter what foam you use, as long as it's firm and fits snugly, not so tight that it will push up on the leather.
*If I were to try to fix the leather, I would first remove all six rivets on the cantle plate. Then I'd form a thin piece of leather to glue to the underside of the existing leather with contact cement, and glue that under the place where it's tearing. Then I'd rivet it back together. Whether it would work would depend on whether contact cement can stick to the leather, and I'm afraid it won't. It looks to me like this leather has reached the point where glue will not stick for long.
It is possible to replace the leather (I can do that, but I'm pretty busy with other projects right now) but it's a rather involved process that most people don't want to try themselves.