Anyway to really SHINE a Brooks?
 

I searched for some info, but couldn't find anything, sorry if this has been asked a billion times.

Ok, so y'know when you first pull your new Brooks out of the box and it's got that really nice shine on it?

Is there anyway to get my 70's Brooks Pro to look like that?

Any advice or techniques would be greatly appreciated!

same thing you'd use to shine shoes :-) but, your saddle would be better off with Brooks proofide or similar leather oil. See:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html

Not sure, pedal really fast?

If you shine it with shoe polish its going to be really slippery, is that a good thing since it seems one of the first comment people make when they get a new Brooks is "I feel like I'm going to slide off this thing" or something similiar.

You could wipe some Proofide on it, then ride many miles in Corduroy pants. :-)

1+ I have an old leather saddle that looks much better after a few hundred miles on it :).

A Brooks when new seems to have a lacquer type coating on the leather: I've needed to wipe them with lacquer thinner in order to dye one from natural to black...

armor-all kids...

100% silicon, ph neutral, and dries fast..no stain on your pants..

Any kind of shoe polish, ie: spit shining etc is going to wind up on your butt when you ride. Perhaps you should Google leather preparation and coloring to see how it is professionally done.

Speaking of Sheldon Brown, how many of you just use neatsfoot oil instead of Proofide?

Personally I've never used Proofide and never had a problem. Then there is the doom and gloom camp that says neatsfoot will ruin it......just curious.

Neutral shoe wax. I like my saddle slippery, it makes it easier to reposition during the ride. Proofide is softer and has more oil in it so it won't shine up nearly as nice. It's also $14 a tin vs. $1.50 for shoe wax.

Sit the bike and the shoe wax out in the sun to let them warm up. Work the wax into the leather and then take your bike into the garage or shade and let it harden up for a while before you polish it.

Do not allow a tin of Proofide sit in the sun. It will quickly turn to liquid.

exactly, i like my saddle shiny so that i can slide around on it and get comfy on a long ride!

do you recommend something like KIWI brand polish or what? does it leave black all over your pants? is there such a thing as clear shoe polish?

thanks.

p.s. i already use profide on my saddle, especially the underside, so i'm good there.

I have a 26-year-old Brooks Professional that has been in and out of storage several times during its life. On a couple of occasions it's come out of storage with corroded, green copper rivets, musty-looking leather, etc. Ick.

However, after drenching it with Neatsfoot oil, and riding it for 500 miles, it ends up looking fantastic. The leather glows, the copper rivets shine. I've been through this cycle of storage & revival 3 times now. The saddle is my regular commuting saddle now, which means it gets wet a lot.

I never knew that I wasn't supposed to use Neatsfoot oil on it until a couple of years ago. I guess the first 24 years of mistreatment have probably shortened its life...:o

Neutral shoe polish has no pigment, hence the name. :)

Most commonly leather is dyed with an alcohol leather dye, Fiebings is the most popular and quite common and cheap. There are also Aniline Leather dyes for vegetable tanned leather but that's overkill in this case. The alcohol dye will of course drive some of the moisture out of the leather, so you would need to replace it, leather dressings come in 2 basic formulations, one with Neatsfoot oil and lanolin blended 60/40 or so, and some which have neatsfoot oil blended with bees and microwaxes. Both will rehydrate, the lanolin will penetrate better for very dry leather, then i recommend the other sort to 'seal' the moisture inside.

If you insist on using any sort of shoe polish I recommend Meltonians, don't be cheap and buy anything that smells like a petroleum based product. The Meltonian has a neutral to alkaline PH which is good for the leather and the ingredients are similar to those found in face cream. It actually smells nice.

Meltonian products come in about 40 colors including NEUTRAL, which is highly recommended for keeping leather products from drying out.

I still recommend Armor-all for saddles of all stripes. ph neutral and a nice silicone protectant.

For cleaning and refurbishing an old saddle, try Lexol Ph-Netural leather cleaner, it's basically a very mild liquid soap, nice stuff cleans deep and doesn't dry. Easy to find.


I sell all of these items for maintaining leather books.

This thread is exactly why I like BikeForums C&V....

Digging around laaate last night, I came across a very nice Brooks Pro, albeit dull ugh w/green rivets.

Me: (talking to myself, ...as it was 4 in the morning) "Great! Nice saddle, but dang, it's gonna take some work to get it nice again. What do I have to do to get the rivets all bright & coppery, and the leather shiny? Hmmph. Later. I just have to get it fit to the bike. ... Next."

Fast forward to logging in just now, and lo, a Brooks revitalization thread! :thumb:

Lots of helpful insight & humorous wisecracks.:D

I love:love:this place! :)

but now i'm going to sign off and bust open that bottle of red Feibing's and the Proofide and have at it!

Thanks for your help everyone, I'll post pics when it's dry.:innocent:

I agree with nearly everything you say *except*: I never, ever want silicone on my saddle. I don't want a slippery saddle (why do all those embroidered-top saddles have embroidery: to provide some grip) and I don't like what silicone does to wood, so I don't trust it for leather, either. I have read that silicone slowly destroys the fiber of leather, I don't know if it's true but I know Armor-All has gradually destroyed my dashboards...so no thank you, I have had no problems with waxes, oils and animal fats on my leather saddles and I'm sticking with them.

can you point me towards your information about silicone? i have found that it is not destructive on an assortment of materials, but i did not think to look for research regarding organic materials.
i have been using it for non leather saddles and bags and i can understand your reticence about not using it if you don't have to.

i guess it will remain to be seen. (btw i don't find the slippery to be more than normal)

I had the same thing happen to a 1969 BMW. The dash started cracking about a year after I started using Armor All.

Now for a bit of trivia and no fair googling it:

What is a Neet?

+1 ! If you really want it to shine, aplly one coat, don't buff it, then several more coats without buffing, just let it dry between coats and only buff the final coat after it's completely dried out. BUT - it will be REALLY slippery and very waterproof!

Meltonians is the best, and I would never, ever, think of putting silicone on anything leather. Well, unless you want it to be rain proof:D. I wonder what the main ingredient is in sno-seal? I think everyone saw that NOTD post, with a ruined Brooks saddle?,,,,BD

Whatever you do, do not use a hair dryer on your saddle to work the wax in. I did that to a saddle and it became as hard as wood.

Sno-Seal:
WAX <65%
MINERAL SPIRITS 8052-41-3 <35%


nearly all MSD Sheets are available on the net, there are entire databases of them out there.
just google the product you want and "MSDS" you will find it 90% of the time
most of the ingredients will be listed as well as flammability and PH.
infrequently you will find an ingredient listed as "proprietary" but you can usually dope out what it is.

good rule of thumb for things you want to preserve, if you can't eat it don't use it.
excepting of course carriers such as alcohol, mineral spirits, heptane etc... which evaporate 100% and leave no trace elements.

So leaning towards organics such as waxes and oils is usually better than not.
and sticking to non-toxic cleaning products like saddle soaps.

the idea is not to apply anything that will break down the fibers..staying way from adding more acids.
many leathers are already acidic due to the tanning process. BETTER leathers and i am assuming Brooks Saddles to be such, are tanned with vegetable dyes and are less acidic and will hence last many years if you treat them right.

Ever wonder why much saddlery leather, straps, seats, luggage etc...from 50-150 years ago turned to dust and red rot? because they were tanned with a process that leaves them highly acidic and start breaking down from the moment they were made.

I have not read that silicone destroys the fibers of leather. Among automotive detailing hobbyists, it is generally much accepted as fact that silicone substances will lead to vinyl dashboard cracking. The theory is that the silicone causes the plasticizers to come to the surface of the vinyl and evaporate more easily. I have never seen proof of that theory or the effect. I suppose it one of those issues that take so long to prove, that no one is willing to test it.

I can confirm that I have had two dashboards crack after years treating them properly with silicone containing dressings. My guess is they probably would have cracked without the treatment. So the silicone just did little or nothing to protect the vinyl. Anyway, I've started using silicone free dressings (like 303 Aerospace Protectant) on the vinyl in my cars. I guess I'll see how that works out in a few years.

I use Leatherique on my leather covered Pearl Izumi gel seat and the leather seats in my cars. The leather is very supple after treatment.

I would stick with organics, as Erasergirl suggests. She sounds like she knows what she's talking about and makes sense. I'd give preference to Proofide, since it's what Brooks provides. Yes, it is costly, but a little tin will go a long way. I think the basic polisher is your rear end on the saddle as you ride.

Proofide it, ride a lot, and don't tighten the screw any more than you have to.

Road Fan