slowtostart

I own two Brooks saddles, a new B18 Lady and one that was original to the vintage Sports I recently purchased. The B18 felt comfortable right out of the box and I have put it on the Sports. The older seat, now gracing my Sprite, feels flatter and appears to flare slightly at the sides. I have the tensioning tool included with the B18 and have read the instructions which came with that saddle. Folks on this forum, based on search results, seem to discourage tensioning the saddle and encourage lacing instead. Should I attempt tensioning a quarter turn, take the saddle to a tack shop or shoemaker with an illustration of proper lacing, or simply pass the saddle on to someone who finds it comfortable in it's current state? It's in very nice condition and I have applied what I think is it's only coat of Proofhide in 40 years.

Finally, my road saddle is a very firm Fizik. I'm used to that feel. Do you think I might become accustomed to the "softer" saddle and appreciate the comfort so many seem to enjoy?

Anthropy

I laced my B17 and liked the way it sits, although a little tension is OK as well. There is nothing magical about doing the holes on the seat btw. The key is to make them look symetrical AND neat And uniform. Place marks evenly along the edge of the leather - in from the edge. Once you think it looks good, you can either buy a 1 hole punch and use a wood backing, or use a sharp drill bit. Go slow. I used some brown shoe laces for the cord and cross laced like one would a pair of shoes.

However, don't freak out to much if your wholes are not perfect as hey, it's a bike seat that your bum is riding on. I admit that mine was not just right as I mis-judged the mark a little, but it still works well and the laces hide the holes.

Tom

wahoonc

I lean more towards trying tension. I have had to add tension to a couple of brand new Brooks saddles. Yes you can damage a saddle by over tension, but you get the hammock affect if you don't tension. This is based on my experience with my 8 or so leather saddles (mostly Brooks).

Aaron

Velognome 

A modest amout of tensioning will take the sag out of the saddle and is part of regular maintinance. Lacing will control the splaying of the saddle ( skirts flaring out), and will also raise the center of the saddle a bit if done too tightly.

Velognome 

A modest amout of tensioning will take the sag out of the saddle and is part of regular maintinance. Lacing will control the splaying of the saddle ( skirts flaring out), and will also raise the center of the saddle a bit if done too tightly.

rhm

I'm assuming the original seat on your Sports is a B72. I have seen quite a few ruined B72's, and almost all of them had torn at the nose (a tear starts at one of the rivets on the side of the nose, and works its way over the top). Of course, I don't know what caused them to fail at this point, after 30 or 40 years, but it would seem that adding too much tension could contribute to this problem. A couple of them had also been laced; I suppose that could have contributed as well. I speculate.

That said, if your tension bolt is loose enough to rattle, you should probably tighten it enough to stop the rattling. The same goes if you can make the tension bolt loose enough to rattle by squeezing the the sides of the saddle together.

I have a B72 that is near the end of its useful life, and to eke a few more years out of it I cut a firm piece of plastic foam to fit between the leather and the rails. It presses the leather up, keeps it from sagging, and doesn't put any tension on the nose.

rootboy 

Just a touch. Don't over-do it.

wahoonc

Every B72 that has come through has failed at that point. I think it may be a design issue, these were saddles that appeared to be properly tensioned and in a couple of cases appeared to have been well cared for with regular applications of Proofide. I have an old Wrights 5N that I bought used over 20 years ago, it could stand to be laced, but shows no signs of failure anytime soon. I also have an almost new B-18 that needs to be laced, it was also sloppy loose right out of the box brand new.

Aaron