Originally Posted by
Caincando1
Actually the leather is an integral part of the structure. It keeps the nose and tail from spreading away from each other. If the leather gets to soft or stretches to much the nose and tail will spread apart causing the rails to bend under the weight. I'm not saying they are right to deny the warrantee claim. I just understand how the leather effects the rails.
Also I would think just the repetitive flexing from pedaling would fatigue the rails, even with properly tensioned leather. Still, I don't think there's anything stronger than a Brooks out there. I wonder if there's some way to add an extra structural member between the nose and tail...maybe drill a small hole in the tailpiece and bolt a metal rod or something between it and the nose (might not feel so great if the leather is really sagging though
).