Biltong: Confessions of Brooks seat niffter

Further to talk about wool/cotton/synthetics and their varied handling
of sweat, leather does the same.

I had my Mad Ludwig skeleton watch on my desk to check its time-
keeping. It's a beautiful thing in a gold and stainless and black
chrome half-hunter case with engraved mechanics visible through glass
from the front and the back. But I hardly ever wear it; I can't
remember when I last wore a tie, never mind a suit, and such a watch
just looks pompous with the track suits or cords or khakis I normally
wear.

Mostly I wear titanium-cased pilot's watches with rotary slide rules
on their bezels and international time zones besides the normal
stopwatches etc useful in the everyday life of even a middle-aged
athlete. All my tool watches are on rubber straps.

This week I was reminded of why my commonly worn watches are on rubber
straps. I put the Royal Works Utter Madness (honestly, that's the Mad
Ludwig's official name -- maybe the little old gnome who made it has a
sense of humour --) on my arm, forgot it was there, and went cycling;
it happened several times.

Now the crocodile strap smells of biltong (sundried beef, known in the
US as jerky, plainsman's preserved emergency rations). I spent an
interesting quarter-hour sniffing all my watch straps. It is easy to
tell the dress watches in which I never broke sweat. They smell of
leather or of nothing at all. Any watch I ever wore on a bike, on
which my purpose is always to get my respiration rate up to
perspiration level and keep it there for between 20 and 40 minutes,
smells like sundried beef, biltong, jerky.

It's the sweat soaked into the leather that causes the distinctive
smell.

I went and niffed my Brooks leather saddle and handlebar grips. No
smell. Not a drop of sweat has fallen on them yet because it has been
too cold since they were fitted. In years to come no doubt there will
be messages on them to decode for my wife's cats.

My LBS breeds terriers. I shall pick up the little dogs and take them
walkabout the saddles of his rental and repair bikes, some of which
are leather, and see if the dogs go mad with so much intellectual
stimulation.

*****

Also niffed my Cheeko90 seat, which has seen five years of constant
use. No smell. Perhaps the materials experts can enlighten us. The
Cheeko90 is made of gel and covered with a plastic that looks like the
MBtex Daimler-Benz used to put on their seats back in the 1970s when
leather was considered "old-fashioned", though this stuff doesn't have
the excellent wear qualities of MBtex.

Andre "Proboscis" Jute
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20ARISING.html

On Mar 27, 11:34*am, Andre Jute wrote:
Further to talk about wool/cotton/synthetics and their varied handling
of sweat, leather does the same.

I had my Mad Ludwig skeleton watch on my desk to check its time-
keeping. It's a beautiful thing in a gold and stainless and black
chrome half-hunter case with engraved mechanics visible through glass
from the front and the back. But I hardly ever wear it; I can't
remember when I last wore a tie, never mind a suit, and such a watch
just looks pompous with the track suits or cords or khakis I normally
wear.

Mostly I wear titanium-cased pilot's watches with rotary slide rules
on their bezels and international time zones besides the normal
stopwatches etc useful in the everyday life of even a middle-aged
athlete. All my tool watches are on rubber straps.

This week I was reminded of why my commonly worn watches are on rubber
straps. I put the Royal Works Utter Madness (honestly, that's the Mad
Ludwig's official name -- maybe the little old gnome who made it has a
sense of humour --) on my arm, forgot it was there, and went cycling;
it happened several times.

Now the crocodile strap smells of biltong (sundried beef, known in the
US as jerky, plainsman's preserved emergency rations). I spent an
interesting quarter-hour sniffing all my watch straps. *It is easy to
tell the dress watches in which I never broke sweat. They smell of
leather or of nothing at all. Any watch I ever wore on a bike, on
which my purpose is always to get my respiration rate up to
perspiration level and keep it there for between 20 and 40 minutes,
smells like sundried beef, biltong, jerky.

It's the sweat soaked into the leather that causes the distinctive
smell.

I went and niffed my Brooks leather saddle and handlebar grips. No
smell. Not a drop of sweat has fallen on them yet because it has been
too cold since they were fitted. In years to come no doubt there will
be messages on them to decode for my wife's cats.

My LBS breeds terriers. I shall pick up the little dogs and take them
walkabout the saddles of his rental and repair bikes, some of which
are leather, and see if the dogs go mad with so much intellectual
stimulation.

*****

Also niffed my Cheeko90 seat, which has seen five years of constant
use. No smell. Perhaps the materials experts can enlighten us. The
Cheeko90 is made of gel and covered with a plastic that looks like the
MBtex Daimler-Benz used to put on their seats back in the 1970s when
leather was considered "old-fashioned", though this stuff doesn't have
the excellent wear qualities of MBtex.

Andre "Proboscis" Jute
*http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20ARISING.html

Duud:

While you may be riding high on the 'success' of other posts, this one
is definitely not the peak of technical informational usefulness. I
see you going the way of Dear Carl, a mere footnote in RBT history,
another poster of useless trivia that we don't need.

Better step it up, or you'll be battling your way out of RBT obscurity
like him.

Just not interesting nor worth the time,

D'ohBoy

P.S.: You could go the OT route, but that's merely a gimmick (and
overused by people such as myself). Posters like Jim Beam and others
who only deviate from technical discussions to deliver insults to
their intellectual and domain-knowledge-superiors will always remain
active and attended to by other denizens.

On Mar 27, 6:09*pm, "D'ohBoy" wrote:
On Mar 27, 11:34*am, Andre Jute wrote:



Further to talk about wool/cotton/synthetics and their varied handling
of sweat, leather does the same.

I had my Mad Ludwig skeleton watch on my desk to check its time-
keeping. It's a beautiful thing in a gold and stainless and black
chrome half-hunter case with engraved mechanics visible through glass
from the front and the back. But I hardly ever wear it; I can't
remember when I last wore a tie, never mind a suit, and such a watch
just looks pompous with the track suits or cords or khakis I normally
wear.

Mostly I wear titanium-cased pilot's watches with rotary slide rules
on their bezels and international time zones besides the normal
stopwatches etc useful in the everyday life of even a middle-aged
athlete. All my tool watches are on rubber straps.

This week I was reminded of why my commonly worn watches are on rubber
straps. I put the Royal Works Utter Madness (honestly, that's the Mad
Ludwig's official name -- maybe the little old gnome who made it has a
sense of humour --) on my arm, forgot it was there, and went cycling;
it happened several times.

Now the crocodile strap smells of biltong (sundried beef, known in the
US as jerky, plainsman's preserved emergency rations). I spent an
interesting quarter-hour sniffing all my watch straps. *It is easy to
tell the dress watches in which I never broke sweat. They smell of
leather or of nothing at all. Any watch I ever wore on a bike, on
which my purpose is always to get my respiration rate up to
perspiration level and keep it there for between 20 and 40 minutes,
smells like sundried beef, biltong, jerky.

It's the sweat soaked into the leather that causes the distinctive
smell.

I went and niffed my Brooks leather saddle and handlebar grips. No
smell. Not a drop of sweat has fallen on them yet because it has been
too cold since they were fitted. In years to come no doubt there will
be messages on them to decode for my wife's cats.

My LBS breeds terriers. I shall pick up the little dogs and take them
walkabout the saddles of his rental and repair bikes, some of which
are leather, and see if the dogs go mad with so much intellectual
stimulation.

*****

Also niffed my Cheeko90 seat, which has seen five years of constant
use. No smell. Perhaps the materials experts can enlighten us. The
Cheeko90 is made of gel and covered with a plastic that looks like the
MBtex Daimler-Benz used to put on their seats back in the 1970s when
leather was considered "old-fashioned", though this stuff doesn't have
the excellent wear qualities of MBtex.

Andre "Proboscis" Jute
*http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20ARISING.html

Duud:

While you may be riding high on the 'success' of other posts, this one
is definitely not the peak of technical informational usefulness. *I
see you going the way of Dear Carl, a mere footnote in RBT history,
another poster of useless trivia that we don't need.

Better step it up, or you'll be battling your way out of RBT obscurity
like him.

Just not interesting nor worth the time,

D'ohBoy

P.S.: *You could go the OT route, but that's merely a gimmick (and
overused by people such as myself). *Posters like Jim Beam and others
who only deviate from technical discussions to deliver insults to
their intellectual and domain-knowledge-superiors will always remain
active and attended to by other denizens.

snippage of my snarkitude

My apologies for my rudeness, Andre. I am suffering from multiple
herniated discs (one new, one old). It has morphed from significant
pain into significant pain plus motor issues that most likely will
require surgery (laminotomy/discectomy) to remedy before the nerves go
permanently dead.

I got chewed out by the SO this weekend for bad behavior arising from
my pain/movement issues/inability to ride, and realized I prolly had
been a dick elsewhere as well. Sadly, you were a target for the
spillover of my frustration as well.

I'm usually not a total ass. Again, my apologies.

D'ohBoy

On Mar 30, 5:42*pm, "D'ohBoy" wrote:
snippage of my snarkitude

My apologies for my rudeness, Andre. *I am suffering from multiple
herniated discs (one new, one old). *It has morphed from significant
pain into significant pain plus motor issues that most likely will
require surgery (laminotomy/discectomy) to remedy before the nerves go
permanently dead.

I got chewed out by the SO this weekend for bad behavior arising from
my pain/movement issues/inability to ride, and realized I prolly had
been a dick elsewhere as well. *Sadly, you were a target for the
spillover of my frustration as well.

I'm usually not a total ass. *Again, my apologies.

D'ohBoy

No problem, D'ohBoy. I didn't respond because I thought there was some
issue your side. You're a scholar and a gentleman for apologising.
It's forgotten. Regards to your SO, a smart person. -- Andre Jute