brooks saddle color "bleeding"
 

yesterday i put on my new b17 narrow and went for a ride. this morning, i noticed some discoloring on my saddle.

i treated the saddle with proofide as directed by the dude at my LBS and online. i globbed it on the underside and put a thin layer on the top side, and wiped it off after about an hour. i left the proofide on the the underside. i read online here http://www.wallbike.com/saddlecolors.html that it "can also happen if too much wax-based product is saturated into the saddle" but a few lines below it says to give "a new saddle be given a heavy coat of Proofide" what do i do? i don't want to ruin this saddle :(

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...IMAG0058-1.jpg

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...AG0059-1-1.jpg

I'd ask the C&V forum guys. I'll move this thread there if you want.

yes, please do. thank you

the best way to fix this problem is to hide it with your butt.

seriously. it's a saddle.

It's just the nature of leather. As it wears it will "Distress" What can you do to slow it down? Make sure you wear shorts that are as smooth as possible so it doesn't pull on the top layer of the leather.

Don't worry, the saddle is fine, in time it will develope its own shape and color variations- They only look new for a day or so anyway.

Were you riding it in jeans? If so they act like fine sand paper on a Brooks.

I disagree with Andrew F. I've had new Brooks saddles look new for several years. After while they all develop a patina, but I'm surprised to see the OP's wear like this so quickly.

yea i exclusively wear jeans :/ ah well. i was just surprised at how quickly wore out as pastor said. i guess i just wanted to make sure i wasn't doing anything careless.

on a lighter note, this saddle is surprisingly comfortable even after the first ride! i rode for ~2 hours and i thought my ass would be destroyed based on others' experiences. it is a little sore today, only when i sat back on the saddle. i look forward to having the seat broken in.

thanks for the replies.

@buttstink: Good luck with your saddle. I just love all 3 of my Brooks saddle. Oh, and I think your screen name is great.

No reason to pay big bucks for Proofide. Generic $2 baseball/softball glove oil is just as good and much easier to apply. I use toilet paper to buff the top 15 min after applying a light coat of oil. Wait overnight before use. You can apply the glove oil 3-4x per year to "condition" the leather.

Easiest way to check for proper saddle tilt is to ride with no hands and let gravity slide you toward the lowest point on the saddle. Your sit bones should be on top of the wide portion of the saddle. Excessive downward tilt will compress your anatomy against the saddle's horn.

...but you will probably shorten the life of the saddle significantly. :( Let's guess from 30-40 years to 10? What the oil can do is over condition the leather and make it "stretchy." I suppose if the average price of a Brooks is $100-$150, this equates to $10-15 a year for a "shortened" life.

If a Brooks is kept out of the weather, a very light coat of Proofide on the top once a year is all that is needed. This works out to a few extra cents of expense. IMO, it's worth the extra cost. :)

:thumb: Just call this C&V CSI! Actually I have member cudak888 to thank for this information. 4-5 years ago, Kurt mentioned in an email, how jeans could be really hard on a Brooks. His sage advice, given at the wise age of 16-17, has been followed ever since.

Some of us have what I like to call "A Brooks Booty" and every, if not all leather saddles, are comfortable out of the box. I've not met a Brooks or Ideale yet that was hard on my booty. Certainly, the first time or two back on the bike in the spring after a long winter, I'll experience a little saddle tenderness, but by the third ride I'm fine. Of course Brooks are not for everyone. Usually this provides an opportunity to acquire a barely used, and nicely discounted classic. :innocent:

This Swift titanium is a good example.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...Sidelength.jpg

Agreed. Glove oil is designed to soften leather, while Proofide is designed to protect leather. Softening your saddle will shorten its life significantly.

The Brooks Pro I got in 1983 came with a tin of Proofhide, which I have applied sparingly over the years. It's still almost half full.

I bet the abrasion is largely coming from the back pocket seams on your jeans. Jeans and bicycle saddles don't work well together, but the more significant problem will be found with your anatomy's response to the thick seams found on the crotch of the jeans, not with the saddle's reaction.

The indigo dye used in blue jeans often will dye transfer to leather, how do you think Brooks makes those Blue saddles? This is what might be going on. Washing jeans in salt water can help, bleaching the saddle back is not going to happen.

Did someone mention a Blue Brooks? :D

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...rofessiona.jpg

I'm surprised riding with blue jeans would only wear the right back edge of the saddle, very little friction there, unless your riding with a huge wallet, wallet with a chain, or wrench in your right rear pocket. ( the huge wallet can be remedied, I'll send an address if you're interested!) I would think the abrasion would come along the upper front edges from your leg motion? Odd to see abrasion only there if it was from jeans.

You must be light as a feather, mine begin to show signs (patina) within the first few days, not quite like that but definate indentations and color change.

A 250lb feather! Nothing light weight about me. Maybe it's the salt air in NJ?

Must be? Your Swift looks like it's been used a bit but your Blue professional looks fresh from the box!

(It's close to Sunday, here's my confession.....I'm a little lax on cleaning and causal with my bikes, I've even leaned my ride with a new Brooks against a concrete wall and scuffed it up.......it gets worse......I've made no attempt to hide the scratches.......forgive me C&V'ers, I know not what I do.)

Wow that felt good!!!

From one to another.... Pastor Bob, have a blessed and joyous Sunday!

a couple of things on that:
a. I do not have a Brooks Booty. I bought a brand new Brooks about 25 years ago and it was very painfull to me, and I rode and rode to break it in (hey when you are young, you can deal with pain) and it never broke. So not a big Brooks proponent, thought of it (until recently, see c. below, as an S*M parephinelia thing)
b. There are leather saddles that are fine out of the box: Regals and Rolls.
c. A 30-some year old Brooks fell into my lap last month. Being older and (not as much) wiser (but being accustomed to dealing with pains and aches, including PITAs,) I decided to give it a shot on a 20 miler. It is a thick leather B15 that looked not 'broken in' (whatever that might be). Being wiser, I wore padded biking undershorts (underneath my shorts - I need the pockets, y'know.) And the thing performed. No pain. It replaced a 20 year old Vetta touring gel (that really needed to be replaced) and the only difference I could tell was that it was more slippery than my Vetta gel and that I had to adjust my rear north and south more often; so I might be a new convert on the Brooks thing for certain applications. And it was brown (like the OPs) and did not leak paint

I've never had laid hands on one of these but have seen plenty here on C&V. They look to be leather coverings over some sort of base which holds the rails. I assume the base is plastic. But I could be wrong. I should have clarified, "100% leather and metal saddles." :)

When I ride I usually wear cycle shorts with the thinnest chamois pad possible. I've come to the conclusion that Brooks fit some people, "butt" not all. Personally, I find that any gel saddle is always painful. :twitchy:

The Swift Titanium was a CL find. The original owner tried to break it in for about 500 miles and then gave up. IIRC, I paid $75. I think he used some oil on it to soften it up, which caused the discoloring, and is a no-no. :( "Butt" the price was right! :D

The Blue Professional was a new purchase last fall. It now has about 750 miles on it and looks brand new. I have a Honey Professional that has 3+ years on it and looks to be NIB as well.

That saddle looks to me like it was damaged by leaning against something. The damaged area could have been hidden with some brown shoe polish and the Proofide removed the polish. It seems like every used Brooks has marks like that. It's not caused by wearing jeans. If you paid for a new saddle, I suspect that you got taken.

10 years? Do you have any scientific data to back this up? I've been using glove oil since 1987 and no excessive sagging noted as of today. Rider is 150 lbs. Short of a major accident, I would expect this 23 year old saddle to celebrate its 30th birthday.

No. I was just guessing. Glad you have had success with the baseball glove treatment. I am at least 100 lbs heavier. Possibly this is why Brooks don't bother my booty. I always pack extra padding.

You'll also find various oil additives in Proofile. This stuff is basically wax and oil, not much different than Sno-Seal. Soaking the saddle in oil will result in excessive stretching, but will also expedite the break-in period. A damp rag between your butt and the saddle will also hasten break-in without worrying about the big stretch. Human sweat is water, salt, and oil.

I prefer to coat the saddle with a little glove oil, then use the saddle. With normal care, the saddle should last at least 20 years.