Originally Posted by
froze
That's not entirely correct, here is a product diffinition: "It basically has two roles: It helps accelerate the time in which your new Brooks will conform to your body and pedaling style. It also helps protect the leather exterior of your saddle over the long haul. Since Proofide is a semi-solid blend of natural fats, it won't fill the pores of the leather (unlike oil), allowing it to breathe. This breathability -- or what Brooks refers to as "porosity" -- is essential to saddle comfort. Invisible pores in animal hides provide natural ventilation, which means a Brooks saddle always feels cool, no matter the temperature. Proofide helps ensure this coolness over the many, many years in which you'll own your Brooks. But there has been advice given over the years (not by Brooks) to put liberal amounts of Proofied on the tops AND bottoms of saddles to soften the leather a bit to speed up the break in period."
Some has even gone as far as to say to treat the saddle with oil used in baseball gloves-this is poor advice because the saddle is a hammock and the oil will soften up the leather too much and destroy the hammock effect.
Some people will give advice to use other products to either soften the saddle or waterproof it, but keep in mind Brooks says in their warranty that using ANY OTHER product besides Proofide will VOID their warranty. So if you use any other product do so with the knowledge that if a warranty issue occurs your tough out of luck; for some they may not care about the warranty or warranty no longer exists so who cares. Brooks has been making saddles for over 100 years, I think they know what's best to use on their saddles.
Do you believe everything you read? Proofide will do nothing to speed up the time the saddle conforms to your body. This is marketing bull****. It is in the same category as the retro cardboard box and old-time lettering. Proofide does not penetrate the top surface at all as it is basically a wax. The advice given to apply Proofide to the bottom of the saddle is recent and was only introduced by the new owners in order to pacify American owners who tend to ride without mudguards.
There is too much rubbish spoken about Brooks saddles and much of it by people with little knowledge of them.
Fact: They are made of LEATHER. Not magical Brooks leather but just leather and all the principles concerning leather apply.
Fact: The leather of the saddle is hard because the natural oils have been leached from the leather by the forming process. This means that the internal fibres are not lubricated enough to allow them to slide over one another and so you have a hard saddle. Brooks tells you not to use any substance in order to soften the leather as they rely on your sit-bones
breaking the fibres in order to make the indentations required.
Fact: If you have your saddle long enough what happens is that the leather, lacking oils, will begin to crumble and crack and will eventually end up as dust. This does take a long time (20-30 years but will happen.)
As with all leather, wetting it will allow it to become pliable and take a shape. When dry, it is as hard as it ever was. So, unless you enjoy a certain amount of discomfort, it makes sense to use this fact and make the indentations required for your sit-bones while the saddle is wet (the rear part only). This can be done by riding it for a period until the shape is present, or by creating them by other means (even thumb pressure can do it on the B17 Special which has thinner leather than the Pro. If the saddle is allowed to dry, it then becomes just a hard as before.