Olive Oil and suntan lotion with bug juice in a plastic sack. Marinate overnight, wipe and apply hand lotion. Ride with balck shorts. This worked for me, from box to 30 miles in less than a day.
Anybody have a better one?

Yeah. Put your ass on it and ride.

Just curious, why did you chose these ingredients, or were these just all you could find in the 'frig when your saddle came in?

My Brooks saddles get marinated with butt sweat every time I go riding whether I like it or not......it also aided somewhat initially in breaking them in. The degree of this marinating my saddles receive is controlled by recommended applications of Proofide. This combination has worked well for me.

Well..... It's not like you can put domino's on your saddle, possibly your right. I did take a long look at the butter. But hey it worked and the last B-17 took 800 excruciating miles.

Well your choices were either uncanny or the equivalent of a monkey writing shakespeare, well, maybe a bad childs book . Olive oil is vegetable oil, which is in proofide; a bug repellent is citronella, which is in proofide; and hand lotion often contains lanolin, which is in there. The suntan lotion I don't know about, but I think you got pretty close.

Darn I got beat to the butt-sweat comment, yes, butt-sweat works just fine!

Butt...

Yes -Nothing. I've used it for 35 years, works just great from day one.

Yeah I have a far better one, use Proofide and keep your warranty in tact...which by the way yours is no longer due to your ignorance. So from out of box to 30 miles to out of warranty in less then a day.

- i don't understand where all this Brooks saddle treatment stuff is coming from...

- many Brooks saddles need no treatment whatsoever aside from use...

- and i'm pretty convinced that the little Brooks wrench is totally unnecessary as well...

I agree with you Linux, but the poster was talking about treating his seat and the only treatment that is acceptable by Brooks is their Proofide treatment, any other treatments used will void their warranty which is planely stated in their warranty...which no one reads!!!

I broke my Swift in without any treatment either. By the way with using Proofide the wrench still will not get used except for maybe every 5 years. The wrench is mostly for the duffs who use other methods only to find their seat sagging. Also Proofide helps to keep the water from ruining the leather, but I use a seat cover that I got from Rivendell made for Brooks if the weather is questionable.

Brooks Saddles have a history of bizarre break-in rituals and traditions.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html
A note for my fellow cyclist, a little decorum and civility is admirable, in those who profess knowledge.

But Sheldon Brown is wrong on this subject...that is if you care about the warranty. I own a Brooks and the warranty paper work planely states that if you use any other product besides Proofide on their saddles their warranty is voided-no if, and's, or buts!!!

I just took both of my Brooks saddles out of the box and rode 30 or so miles, a bit more actually, then remembered to put on the proofide the next day.

@ Froze.. BLASPHEMY! INFIDEL! ;-)

Sheldon is Never Wrong!! Behold the one and only truth and words by the man himself:

"If absolute safety is your primary concern, using Brooks Proofide according to directions is probably the best approach..."

Just slather the proofhide on and 'bake' it in a warm oven for a few hours. Brooks can't ***** (has anyone even used their warranty?), and your butt gets a break by a few hundred miles. Worked on my Team Pro like a charm. No drama, no chemistry, no B.S. It's just a big ole hunk of shoe leather.

I also have a Team Pro (S). Put it on my road bike without treating it in anyway. I hadn't even bought the Proofide yet (have since). I rode it 50 miles that first day. I had no pain, no soreness, no chafing, nothing. It was great!

Any one ever tried stuffing a leather shoe, mounting in on the seatpost and riding it? Just curious I bet it's hella more comfortable ...

It's not just about the warranty, it's about getting the max life out of your saddle. Brooks has been making their saddles for over 100 years they know what to use and what will ruin the saddle. The saddle is different then a shoe or a baseball glove, it's designed to hammock your butt, and if you soften the leather too much then that hammock designs sags too much because it's stretching to much which will lead to premature saddle failure. And just like any product made there could always be a chance that the warranty will be used, and I'm sure there is someone somewhere that has used it...and I bet some of those people tried to use it after doing bazaar treatments to it that someone "in the know" told them works the best.

Quick question: how would Brooks tell if you used anything other than proofide?

I mean, if you used something that discolored the saddle, maybe......but if your homemade concoction didn't alter the appearance in any way, then how do they know?

Bug juice?? Do you find mosquitos attracted to your saddle? Do you put this strange concoction on your saddle, or on your butt?

Why not just use a bit of Proofide to condition and waterproof the saddle?

Bug juice? I just can't see it.

It was already in the sunscreen. Once during a tour I used chapstick (rain protection).

Don't ask me, I'm not employed by Brooks! But I would assume, IE guessing, they must have some method of testing what residue is left in the saddle, or maybe they can tell by the damage that was done. If a crime lab can find residue of blood left at a crime scene AFTER it was cleaned then there most be some way to discover what the makeup of any residue on a saddle is made of.

It would be cheaper, easier, and flat better business to just hand your customer a new saddle than test it.

No matter what folks do to these things it's exceptionally rare to even hear of someone who actually wore-out a Brooks or made use of their warranty. The service life of these saddles under just about any condition exceeds that of most bikes these days. The exceptions are generally of the DUH! category.