I bought a used bike with a Brooks saddle. The saddle is in good shape, no cracks or damage. The only problem is, the tension adjustment nut is backed off too far. The saddle is too loose to the point where the adjustment bolt rocks back and forth. I've read horror stories about people over-tensioning the leather and destroying them. Any advice on how to properly re-tension the saddle?

Turn the nut so it begins to tension the leather, then 1/4 turn more. Done. Unless the saddle gets really wet, tensioning is done only a couple times a year and then only a partial turn. Never a lot a once.

Thanks, that's pretty much what I figured. I just wanted to make sure so I didn't ruin it accidentally.

this is correct except for one thing, after the saddle is broken in you shouldn't have to retension it except maybe once every 5 years depending on the saddle and the rider weight, but you can tell if the bolt becomes lose when it's time. I have a Brooks B17 Ti and I haven't touched the adjustment in about 6 years but I only weigh 164 and the B17 uses thicker leather than my Swift Ti does, but even the Swift I only adjust it about every 3 to 4 years.

The only reason besides weight and leather thickness why a person should have to adjust a Brooks more often is if the saddle is being treated with oil which essentially the saddle is becoming ruined over time. And never adjust the saddle if it's wet.

I can usually go a couple years without retensioning a new saddle, and then it needs tightening once or twice a year. Feel it as you turn it, and when it's tight, you're done. That's usually 1/2 to 3/4 turn per year, max.

If the saddle is really loose, you may find the bolt head rotates against the frame, and you don't actually tighten anything. If that happens, get a bit of sticky paint and dab on the bolt and frame. When it dries, you're ready to go.

Thanks, good advice!

My first ride out on the seat before I tensioned the saddle was pretty rough. I was ready to nickname it 'taint-buster' after only 4 miles of riding. I adjusted the tension as stated above and did a slight fore/aft adjustment and did 25 miles with my son last night and it felt great. I can certainly appreciate the fact that this saddle is pre-broken in before I got it. I have very little soreness today, just in the spots you'd expect and it's certainly not bad. I think I tensioned the seat just right.

One of the nice features of the Brooks is the tension adjustment. I have a few Brooks, new and used, that have gone from not so great to really comfortable with some minor tension adjustment. I ride upright so I put pretty much all of my 200# on my butt and the B67s and B72 have both worked out well with some adjustments.

The tension adjustment on mine seemed to vibrate loose last summer. I'd had it for a couple of years without problems but it suddenly seemed way, way too loose. A dab of Loctite and then resetting it to a proper tension and it was good for the rest of the summer.

Lace up your old sagging brooks, it is a way to gently control the sag and tension.

This is the way to go if your saddle is too saggy. Some leather saddles already anticipate this by providing the holes in the wings and a cord to tension these such as these ones.

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/products....=m2b0s204p2667

It's worth noting that the saddles I've linked have much thicker leather than the Brooks B17 and longer rails and work on the "hammock" principle. They are already waterproofed which is a help also. These saddles appear to be marketed under the VeloOrange brand but at a much higher price. In my opinion, and I've used Brooks saddles for over forty years, they are a superior product.

You do have to be careful about the thickness of the leather used, if you're a person that weighs less than 220 a thick leather saddle will be too hard to break in correctly and your arse will sorely pay and leave you with the thought that all leather saddles are crap. This site hints at this problem see: https://selleanatomica.com/products/saddle-comparison/ and: https://selleanatomica.com/design/leathers/ But too thin of a saddle like the Titanico using their Watershed leather has had issues of sagging too much to the point where the adjustment bolt runs completely out within a year, I would not get the Watershed for any of those saddles personally. While I understand the above is about Selle Anatomic saddles, the issue of leather thickness is the same no matter the brand and too thick will cause severe frustration.

If by chance anyone wants a Selle Anatomica saddle see this site for the best deal: https://www.theclymb.com/all/6680/cyc...365-components scan down toward the bottom.

I too think Brooks is a superior product, I own a B17 and a Swift, but in the last 5 or so years their prices have gone way up, much higher than I think they're worth. I got the B17 Ti for just $119 13 or so years ago, today their almost $300; I got the Swift TI for $149 today 8 or so years ago, today try $260. (prices found on Amazon, retail stores will be even more)

Regarding the thickness of the leather used my point is this. Brooks saddles rely on being "broken-in". By this is meant that the leather has all the natural oils leached out by the forming process. This means that the rider's sit-bones can then break the leather fibres causing indentations while the rest of the saddle remains hard. This is fine but means in time the leather, being robbed of its natural oils will become so dry it will crumble albeit that this will take many years.

Saddles such as the "Berthoud" and those which I previously linked, use leather too thick to be broken-in by the Brooks' principle and so become more comfortable using the hammock principle rather than creating indentations.
My previous post was clumsily written and I meant to say that the "Nidd" saddle and others in the range and certainly the "Berthoud" saddles, are in my opinion superior to the Brooks.

I hear you, and you might be right, but I have no way of experiencing that and haven't known anyone...though I admit I know only a handful of people that use leather saddles and their all Brooks. But I do recall in the old days other saddles like Ideal (sp?) and some other French saddle all worked the same way as Brooks with indentations and spanner bolts. I also know that people regard Brooks as a hammock type of saddle which is why they have the spanner bolt so you can adjust the amount of hammock you want and to keep the saddle from ripping away from the rivets.

Also if you go to that Spa Cyces web site you provided there is a link that says: "read review here", click on "here" and you will be taken to a PDF file, and they say this saddle will be firmer due to the heavier and thicker leather and they recommend using Proofide, a Brooks saddle conditioner, on their saddle! And that saddle too uses a spanner bolt to tighten up the saddle. In addition that saddle is a Chinese made saddle personally I stay away from Chinese made products as much as possible. No doubt the thicker leather should last longer though, but when the average Brooks user gets 25 years out of a saddle I don't think their complaining too much!

Speaking of a saddle drying up, a friend and I found a barn bike a couple of years ago with a Brooks (B72? not sure) saddle on it, the bike sat in the barn for 30 plus years, we took the saddle and treated it by taking a pan and pouring neatsoil into it and letting the saddle sit upside down covered in this crap for about 3 or 4 hours, removed it and buffed it with a rag to remove excess oil, let it air dry for about a week then applied show wax and the saddle was good to ride!!!

+1 this has been my experience with very little adjustments, a smidge after a few years riding. Mind you I weigh 140lbs and don't ride a huge amount, maybe 2,3 or 4000km per year on the 2 B17's that I ride on. Plus I've only proofided them, no oils, and use rain cover in rain so they are never wet from rain, just from perspiration.

I too use a rain cover but only when it rains, the perspiration thing doesn't bother me in fact makes the leather look richer! I weigh 164 or so and I don't adjust the saddles much at all. I also only Proofide but I do do another step, I apply Kiwi neutral shoe paste wax (paste wax has more wax and less oil unlike the liquid version), the Kiwi wax seems to hold up better in moist conditions than Proofide.

off topic slightly, but I am now convinced that "breaking in" a Brooks to ones sitbones really is easier and faster when the weather is hot and humid, the sweating helping the leather take to your shape. Kinda goes along with one of the many "breaking in theories" of using a damp cloth on the sitbone areas when riding a new Brooks--although I can see that being more with a thicker leather one, or with a really light rider.

People may regard Brooks saddles as "hammock type" but only if these saddles have been softened using conditioner. The recommended method is as I've mentioned above.

The Spa saddles are firmer due to the thicker leather and the Brooks "Proofide" is merely a mixture of wax, oils and citronella which when used, gives a very temporary sealing to the the rolled top-side of the saddle. The leather used in the Spa saddles has had a waterproofing process applied and the underside has been covered by a tough waterproof material.

These saddles do not use a spanner to tension but have an Allen-headed bolt to do this, a much more sensible idea. I know this as I have several.

I've had a B17 that lasted 30 years but still believe that in terms of construction and the materials used, the Spa saddles are superior whether they are Chinese made or not. It must be difficult to avoid Chinese-made products unless you are averse to Apple products and most hi-tech others and still rely on pigeon post.

Over time regardless if you use a softener or not the saddle will "hammock" by itself! I broke in my saddles without using any Proofide! It wasn't until the saddles had about 1000 miles on them did I start applying it, and then I apply is sparingly and about once a year, I use Kiwi shoe wax more frequently.

If you read my post I said I try to stay away from Chinese made products, didn't say I stay entirely away because I know it's impossible to do so, but whenever possible I avoid buying made in China products. what most people don't realize is that due to profit hungry corporations who have their junk made in China they raise the cost of the product to make more profit and then that item comes darn close to the price of something equivalent made in some other country...even the USA!! Chinese made products will always have spotty quality control and higher fail rates and shorter life expectancy. Some things simple like that saddle should last a long time, their using thicker leather and steel...not much can go wrong there! But I still wouldn't buy it because of what the government uses the money for.

If you waterproof a leather saddle, you're negating one of the cardinal virtues of these things and, if this is what you require, you should consider switching to a synthetic one.

Proofide is not a conditioner or a softener but merely a wax applied to the top rolled surface. Brooks saddles should not hammock by themselves if maintained at the right tension and none of mine did and I've been riding for a long time. You are right in saying that a wax polish will do the same job, as Proofide does not soften when applied on top and cannot penetrate the rolled top but merely offers a temporary and slight waterproofing effect.

"Chinese made products will always have spotty quality control and higher fail rates and shorter life expectancy. "

This is quite a statement. I was of the impression that the aficionados of Apple products thought that the high price of these was justified by the high quality of these products and of course they are made in China. Given that all if not the majority of mobile devices/computers are made in Korea /China/Asia I'd like to know where you source your own devices.

Yes I'm aware of the breath-ability issue and haven't had the Spa saddles long enough to know how these will cope in hot weather. Test conditions for this are likely to be rare given where I live I'm afraid.

That said I've tried a few synthetic saddles over the years and don't rate them.....each to their own of course.

The wettest any of my Brooks has ever been was on a 90/90 century. I sweated so much I soaked it through, Proofide and all. To add insult to injury, my non-lightweight rear was on the saddle for hours after it was soaked. I've carried a saddle cover to prevent a recurrence since then, and haven't killed another one.

I've never been a big sweater unless the temps get over 90, but as long as the temps stay below that and I keep moving I don't sweat a whole lot. But the saddle has been stained by the sweating but it looks like a patina rather then stain. I did find that the Kiwi shoe polish in paste form works better against water than Proofide does, but regardless if I'm going to be out riding and the chance of rain is around I put on the cover, I even take the cover with me when I tour but it's in the handlebar bag in case I need it.

my Brooks can get slightly wet from sweating, but all in all, I figure it airs out when riding, and I do feel a diff in being less sweaty in my nether regions compared to regular seats Ive used in the past. It seems this is a factor in hardly any sore nether regions since Ive had Brooks seats (well, since I figured out how to position them properly)
I too always carry a rain cover, but have never been concerned with sweat making the leather too wet (again though, Im a light guy)

I don't like riding on a Brooks with the Aardvark rain cover (got the Aardvark because I heard of fit complaints with the Brooks cover) because it slides around and then my arse slides around, but I usually don't ride long in the rain so I can stand it, I use it more to cover the saddle when I camping at night in case it rains. I found too that these covers don't last long, I'm on my second one, but they're cheap.