Lacing a leather saddle --tying the skirts together-- has a much greater effect than just correcting the flare of the skirts. It completely changes the architecture of the saddle. With the skirts tied together, the saddle can't sag under the rider's weight, so becomes much harder, like a "swallow" style saddle. This may or may not be what you want.

If any of you have old leather saddles that can't be used any more, because the leather has exceeded its usable life, please let me know. I want them. I will put new leather on them.

Tensioned leather saddles:


Berthoud
Lepper
Persons
Selle Anatomica
Selle Monte Grappa
Tops




Gyes
Cardiff, made by Gyes
Rivet, manufactured by Gyes to their specifications
Velo Orange, made by Gyes
Papillionaire, made by Gyes


Ideale - out of business, sometimes available on ebay or at cycle jumbles


No connection to any retailers mentioned, examples only. There are plenty of places to get any of these.



I started riding tensioned leather saddles in 1979 and have since. I currently own, ride and like my Brooks Pro, two Persons 77 Deluxes, a Selle Anatomica Titanico NSX Watershed (NOT a split saddle, unlike other Selle Anatomica models) and a Gyes GS17A. I'm unimpressed with the construction of the lower frame of the Tops tensioned leather saddle I have.

Any good articles or how-to's as to lacing a leather saddle? I've got an extra Selle Anatomica that could use some modification.

So very true. Often I hear people complain about perineum pain with a Brooks, and I see their seat is too high, or it is tilted up too much, or sometimes the opposite. I had slight issues as I was experimenting with positioning, until I got on Brooks' own blog and read what they had to say. They said to keep it level. By level. Their example looked like the nose was level. I adjusted one down a bit since I had it slightly tilted, but basically level when you placed a board across the top, and instant seat nirvana. I don't even know it is there.

Of course while experiencing this "issue" with the seat, I was still able to do a 70 mile day, then do it again the next day, and the next day without real problems. Now though I don't even think of it.

I laced a B17 years ago that had developed unacceptable sag/splay. Lacing did make it flatter/narrower, but ultimately I went back to more rigid conventional polymer-framed saddles which sag far less than tensioned leather saddles. Here's how I laced my B17 saddle:

1. Draw a pencil line 70mm long about 10mm from saddle edge, centered* at the bend (where saddle widens out). Cardboard makes a good flexible rule to draw on the saddle bend.
2. Drill 1/16" holes at 10mm intervals along the line. An awl works too, but the drill makes cleaner, easier to lace holes.
3. Use a small diameter nylon or polyester cord in contrasting color to lace saddle, secured with square knot. Lace saddle mounted on bike, as lacing must pass around seatpost.

* If you're trying to make saddle more rigid in middle, where it naturally sags, you have to try to lace behind the bend where the saddle widens. Lacing in front of the bend in the narrow region looks nice and centered/symmetrical but does little to nothing WRT reducing sag. If I laced another B17 I'd drill holes further back, with no holes forward of the center of the embossing stamped on each side of saddle skirt.

BTW, the embossing marks must be stamped without a template, "eyeballing it" only, because on my B17 the stamps were not in the same position front to rear. Measure from saddle tip to locate your first hole on each side, as holes need to line up pretty good, and don't rely on the embossing marks as reference points as they are not precisely located. Mine were offset by ~12mm.

Here's an Aged17 to illustrate lacing - basically all the holes/lacing from the embossed area forward are useless for the control/reduction of sag. I recommend a small cord to minimize friction/abrasion to your pants/shorts/thighs. The leather cord used in the Aged17 looks nice but doesn't work as well.

http://www.brooksengland.com/catalog...king/B17+Aged/

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=486702

Selle Anatomica saddles have a much shorter skirt than most Brooks. You may have to drill holes closer to skirt edge to move lacing further away from saddle top.

Thank you Seeker for your detailed explanation, quite kind of you to offer your technique. It sounds like a nice evening project for this upcoming winter.

Similar to the Brooks B-17 at half the price. They have saddles for the Brooks range up to the B-73.

Yes, those are good instructions. I'm a fairly slow bike mechanic but lacing only took about an hour. I did need an assistant for the final tying to squeeze skirts together while I knotted. Perhaps one could also use a strap for that.