Recovering Saddle
 

I've got a saddle that is very comfortable but has a sort of
artificial suede cover that I don't believe is going to last long if
the seat is used very much.

I can buy a "seat cover" with draw strings to tighten it up but I am
looking for a more permanent solution... and one that doesn't look so
muck like a kludge, if truth be told.

I've seen a number of "re-cover your saddle" articles on the web and
it looks pretty straight forward but has anyone actually done this?
And if so are there any things that are a bit tricky that one needs to
take into consideration?
--
Cheers,

John B.

Recovering Saddle
 

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Recovering Saddle
 

On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the
contact cement.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Recovering Saddle
 

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the
contact cement.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Hi again John.

The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling. I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too.

Cheers

Recovering Saddle
 

On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:19:41 -0800 (PST), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the
contact cement.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Hi again John.

The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling.
I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too.

Cheers

In the article I read the author had used staples to make sure that
the edges, folded up under the bottom of the seat and glued, did not
come loose, which sounded like a good idea. I had thought that they
might be special staples but he mentions buying the short ones needed
in a business supply shop. I thought I'd look into that also.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Recovering Saddle
 

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 1:37:49 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:19:41 -0800 (PST), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the
contact cement.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Hi again John.

The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling.
I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too.

Cheers

In the article I read the author had used staples to make sure that
the edges, folded up under the bottom of the seat and glued, did not
come loose, which sounded like a good idea. I had thought that they
might be special staples but he mentions buying the short ones needed
in a business supply shop. I thought I'd look into that also.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Staples will work IF #1 they are strong enough to penetrate into the saddle shell and #2 you can getthe stapler to where you need to do the staplind and that can be very hard to do with the saddle rails in place.

Good luck and cheers

Recovering Saddle
 

nnnnnnn throw it away

materials have advanced

treat urbutt

goo.gl/gFsZZw

repaired Spec saddles with Shoe Goo UV REC ...this process can go on ideafintely unique in that this is one of the few uses for Shoe Goo

but new generation materials saddles are a major improvement in comfort n durability.

Recovering Saddle
 

oh with shoe goo or using contact cement n nylon or polyester place a plastic grocery bag over saddle n tie on with bag handles....is like a chamois flexible interlude.

Recovering Saddle
 

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 9:23:14 AM UTC-5, DATAKOLL MARINE RESEARCH wrote:
oh with shoe goo or using contact cement n nylon or polyester place a plastic grocery bag over saddle n tie on with bag handles....is like a chamois flexible interlude.

the shoe goo idea is filler, eg saddle Bondo, on a hard saddle

Recovering Saddle
 

On 1/21/2017 12:01 AM, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some
more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and
glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement.

It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although
I haven't been using it for quite a while.

- Frank Krygowski

Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the
contact cement.

I don't remember any problem, but at this point I can't recall the exact
technique I used. The result was/is quite smooth, no wrinkles.

--
- Frank Krygowski