Broken rivet on Brooks B17
10-06-11 | 01:56 AM
#1
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From: London
Broken rivet on Brooks B17
Just picked up a A89 coded Brooks B17 which is in great condition... except one of the rear rivets has come slightly loose:
Hard to see but the rivet isn't laying flush with the leather. From the rear you can see the back of the rivet has snapped:
Should I buy a new rivet from Brooks and try replacing it or leave it as-is and not worry? It's a tad disconcerting to see one of the four rivets at a different angle to the others...
I should as that I don't have any experience with working leather, but am happy with general DIY tasks.
Chris
Hard to see but the rivet isn't laying flush with the leather. From the rear you can see the back of the rivet has snapped:
Should I buy a new rivet from Brooks and try replacing it or leave it as-is and not worry? It's a tad disconcerting to see one of the four rivets at a different angle to the others...
I should as that I don't have any experience with working leather, but am happy with general DIY tasks.
Chris
10-06-11 | 04:37 AM
#2
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Joined: May 2010
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From: Hurricane Alley , Florida
Bikes: Treks (USA), Schwinn Paramount, Schwinn letour,Raleigh Team Professional, Gazelle GoldLine Racing, 2 Super Mondias, Carlton Professional.
You can have Brooks fix the rivet. Or buy a rivet from them and have a leather craftsman fix it.
Last edited by Michael Angelo; 10-06-11 at 07:22 AM.
10-06-11 | 07:17 AM
#4
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Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
I don't think the rivet is broken, but just wasn't peened down sufficiently. Anyone with a hammer and an anvil and moderate hammering skills can fix that for you. If it's worse than I realize, the guy with the hammer will know from one glance that it's time for an all new rivet which, at 95p sounds pretty good to me.
10-06-11 | 07:42 AM
#6
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Joined: Nov 2006
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From: NJ, NYC, LI
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
Try? Sure. Guaranteed success? No.
The rivet was probably a "semi-tubular" type; it has a hole drilled in the end, and when it is installed one simply pounds the edges of that hole out into a mushroom shaped flange. If part of that flange has broken off, you may well be right about needing a new rivet. Properly installed, a rivet should have approximately even pressure all the way around that mushroomed flange; if yours broke at one spot, then that one spot was doing all the work (which is not good) and maybe that spot is now too broken to hold anything even if you peen it out some more. Perhaps you can grab the rivet with pliers and turn it half way around, and then peen out the edges a little more?
The rivet was probably a "semi-tubular" type; it has a hole drilled in the end, and when it is installed one simply pounds the edges of that hole out into a mushroom shaped flange. If part of that flange has broken off, you may well be right about needing a new rivet. Properly installed, a rivet should have approximately even pressure all the way around that mushroomed flange; if yours broke at one spot, then that one spot was doing all the work (which is not good) and maybe that spot is now too broken to hold anything even if you peen it out some more. Perhaps you can grab the rivet with pliers and turn it half way around, and then peen out the edges a little more?
