I know you're supposed to use some kind of oil to aid in the breaking in process. I know its advised you use proofide. when i bought my saddle last weekend i got some proofide too. My question is how often should i apply it until its broken in?

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it's way easier to just apply the proofide to your pants instead of the saddle.

Proofide is also really tasty on blueberry waffles, so always use a blueberry waffle to apply it instead of a rag.

what if i haven't done that? is my brooks going to die a super premature death?

cc, i would, especially with seattle weather. proofide can help protect against rain/moisture. I have a couple tins if you just want to use some of mine.

i've never used it. eff u proofhide

you rub it into the underside of the saddle.
im not sure you use it on the top, but i use a little bit on the top and rub it off as best i can

i'm the opposite, use it on the top, nothing underneath. fenders FTW

well then it's no wonder your saddles suck

this explains the "ass hammock" sensation I had with his saddle

in other news, don't ride swrve knickers on brooks unless yours have the zipper garages. exposed zippers equal ridiculous wear.

My strategy for leather saddles is to use mink oil, a heavy coat underneath and light on top, and put the saddle in a warm place to get the oil to wick into the leather. Here is a Flyer I just got for a project:



The heater is set on LOW (I can touch the heater without burning myself). Leave it there for a day, then ride it. I also occasionally wipe the top with Lexol.

- dorinte

I've heard of people throwing their saddle in the oven at ~200 or so for a short while before hitting it with proofide so as to open up the pores (well it probably doesn't have functional pores anymore now that it's dead, right?) or whatever in the leather and also so the proofide is nice and runny and seeps in really well.

Fixed that. I absolutely hate my Swrve knickers.

I'll take em


What I love about the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Brooks threads on the interwebz is the number of crazy things people do to try to break in their saddles faster. I recall a thread on BF where a guy suggesting submerging the damn things in motor oil, and of course, someone tried it and reported how his saddle was wrecked.

They'll be booty shorts on you.

There's a lot of folklore about breaking in Brooks saddles. Some of it is seriously weird. FWIW, I remember reading somewhere that Brooks blames the majority of they complaints they recieve on over treatment.

I proofided the underside of my Brooks saddles when they were new and give them a light treatment on the top about once a year. If I have to park in the rain I slip a plastic grocery bag over it. That's it.

All you need to do to "break in" a Brooks is stop dreaming up with ways to speed up the process and ride the damn thing.

In my case (I've broken in 4 of them) it's only taken about 100 miles or so.

Yeah, basically this.

I doubt that the heat opens any pores in the leather, but it does make the Proofide more liquid and amenable to absorption.

Why not just follow the instructions instead of searching for a shortcut? Honestly, it doesn't take that long to break one in. Not that expensive either.

Got any tips for "rubbing it off?"

For the most part the saddle should have "absorbed" it. However, there is usually some residue after a day so I wiped it off with a rag.

Since your butt doesn't touch the underside of the saddle, the proofide won't have to be wiped off.