Brooks Saddle adjustment

Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup, but....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more "Obenauf"
leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could feel a bit
of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any "official"
recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

Pureheart in Aptos

On 5/16/2021 7:20 PM, pH wrote:
Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup, but....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more "Obenauf"
leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could feel a bit
of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any "official"
recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

Pureheart in Aptos


No.
And note that leather saddles are more taut or less
depending on humidity. It's easy to overdo the tension
adjustment, deforming the saddle's shape.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 2021-05-17, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/16/2021 7:20 PM, pH wrote:
snip


No.
And note that leather saddles are more taut or less
depending on humidity. It's easy to overdo the tension
adjustment, deforming the saddle's shape.


Thanks for the reply and knowledge. I think I'll go un-adjust it three
flats before I ride again.

pH

On Mon, 17 May 2021 19:36:41 -0000 (UTC), pH
wrote:

On 2021-05-17, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/16/2021 7:20 PM, pH wrote:
snip


No.
And note that leather saddles are more taut or less
depending on humidity. It's easy to overdo the tension
adjustment, deforming the saddle's shape.


Thanks for the reply and knowledge. I think I'll go un-adjust it three
flats before I ride again.

pH

Just as a comment, after breaking in my Brooks saddle always had a bit
of "give" if you pressed down on it with a finger. I had always
assumed that it shouldn't be "bow string tight".
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 17/05/2021 02:20, pH wrote:
Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup,
but....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more
"Obenauf" leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could
feel a bit of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any
"official" recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

I he a B17 that's 40 years old and nowhere near the end of it's
adjustment, so gently, gently teasy monkey. Fwiw I use good quality
shoe polish which seems to shrink the leather. So slacken it off,
slather it on, leave it overnight, polish and re-tension.

Ymmv.

On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 1:20:26 AM UTC+1, pH wrote:
Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup, but....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more "Obenauf"
leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could feel a bit
of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any "official"
recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

Pureheart in Aptos
..
You've already done too much. A quarter turn every few years should be more than enough. And gently with the Obenauf's. There is advice on the Brooks site, and on the leaflets that come with the saddle and Proofide (the Brooks brand saddle food). A bowstring-tight Brooks is being abused and having its lifetime shortened.

On the whole, the big enemy of a Brooks leather saddle (any leather saddle but especially the hammock types like Brooks) is not your weight, which forms it beneficially to your sit-bones, but getting wet or being Proofided or Obenaufed to death. Brooks sells a waxed canvas rain cover, but unfortunately it is a branded thief-attractor; a ladies' shower cap stuffed into your toolkit does the same sterling service.

My Brooks hasn't been Proofided* or tensioned in about 6000km, but I must add that, as I don't commute and so can choose my riding times to suit good weather, it lives a relatively easy life parked indoors on a centrally heated space.

If you buy another Brooks, you may be interested in a preparation model I've found beneficial. There are other versions than mine, some using dirty motor oil (I mention that one in particular because the late great Sheldon Brown mentioned it without condemnation and excommunication...). What I do is to borrow a baking pan about the depth of the saddle's leather part, and to put the saddle upside down in it. I then pour in neat's foot oil (ancient magic horse saddle oil boiled out of calf's feet, obtainable cheaply from any supplier to the horsey set) until the saddle is full. Some will run over the side and through the slits and holes but I don't care about that. In fact, I buy the so-called honey-colour so I can see the oil is evenly spread on the topside, which it will turn a distinctive mid-brown, a much more natural colour than Brooks' own deep dirt-brown. After twenty minutes, which is barely enough for the oil to soak in a tiny fraction of the depth of the leather, from the bottom upwards, I pour the neatsfoot back into the can, and rub a cloth over the top and along the edges of the leather to be certain of moderately even cover. On the bottom I don't even wipe it -- I just want a barrier against mold and fungi. Nowhere has the oil been allowed to penetrate the leather and start decomposing it by breaking up the fibres. After this it doesn't get any more neatsfoot oil except perhaps applied with a small painter's brush to very deep scratches, routine service every few years being Proofide applied only on the top, so that the rest of the saddle can breathe. You'll be surprised at how long even a very thin layer of Proofide or Obenauf's just gets rubbed in rather than off by the sliding action of your bum.

Take heart though. Even if you have irreversibly cut into the lifespan of your Brooks as it stands, when you run out of adjustment, an expert like Chalo Colina in Austin can weld on an extension to the threaded rod the adjustment nut turns on. I mention Chalo because he did it for his own bike -- get Slow Johnny to Google it for you on this forum -- but presumably any serious bike repairer with welding equipment can do the same.

Andre Jute
Your leather saddle doesn't want you to fiddle with it.

*And when it was last Proofided, it was a very, very thin layer, just the excess on a cloth I used to apply some to the evidence left of an interaction with a rather thorny gorse hedge in a narrow lane. But, since I'm old already, I don't mind that a single unnecessary Proofiding will probably cut five years off the life of my Brooks. Even so it will outlive me by several decades.

On 2021-05-22, Andre Jute wrote:
On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 1:20:26 AM UTC+1, pH wrote:
Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup, but....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more "Obenauf"
leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could feel a bit
of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any "official"
recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

Pureheart in Aptos
.
You've already done too much. A quarter turn every few years should be more than enough. And gently with the Obenauf's. There is advice on the Brooks site, and on the leaflets that come with the saddle and Proofide (the Brooks brand saddle food). A bowstring-tight Brooks is being abused and having its lifetime shortened.

On the whole, the big enemy of a Brooks leather saddle (any leather saddle but especially the hammock types like Brooks) is not your weight, which forms it beneficially to your sit-bones, but getting wet or being Proofided or Obenaufed to death. Brooks sells a waxed canvas rain cover, but unfortunately it is a branded thief-attractor; a ladies' shower cap stuffed into your toolkit does the same sterling service.

My Brooks hasn't been Proofided* or tensioned in about 6000km, but I must add that, as I don't commute and so can choose my riding times to suit good weather, it lives a relatively easy life parked indoors on a centrally heated space.

If you buy another Brooks, you may be interested in a preparation model I've found beneficial. There are other versions than mine, some using dirty motor oil (I mention that one in particular because the late great Sheldon Brown mentioned it without condemnation and excommunication...). What I do is to borrow a baking pan about the depth of the saddle's leather part, and to put the saddle upside down in it. I then pour in neat's foot oil (ancient magic horse saddle oil boiled out of calf's feet, obtainable cheaply from any supplier to the horsey set) until the saddle is full. Some will run over the side and through the slits and holes but I don't care about that. In fact, I buy the so-called honey-colour so I can see the oil is evenly spread on the topside, which it will turn a distinctive mid-brown, a much more natural colour than Brooks' own deep dirt-brown. After twenty minutes, which is barely enough for the oil to soak in a tiny fraction of the depth of the leather, from the bottom upwards, I pour the neatsfoot back into the can, and rub a cloth over the top and along the edges of the leather to be certain of moderately even cover. On the bottom I don't even wipe it -- I just want a barrier against mold and fungi. Nowhere has the oil been allowed to penetrate the leather and start decomposing it by breaking up the fibres. After this it doesn't get any more neatsfoot oil except perhaps applied with a small painter's brush to very deep scratches, routine service every few years being Proofide applied only on the top, so that the rest of the saddle can breathe. You'll be surprised at how long even a very thin layer of Proofide or Obenauf's just gets rubbed in rather than off by the sliding action of your bum.

Take heart though. Even if you have irreversibly cut into the lifespan of your Brooks as it stands, when you run out of adjustment, an expert like Chalo Colina in Austin can weld on an extension to the threaded rod the adjustment nut turns on. I mention Chalo because he did it for his own bike -- get Slow Johnny to Google it for you on this forum -- but presumably any serious bike repairer with welding equipment can do the same.

Andre Jute
Your leather saddle doesn't want you to fiddle with it.

*And when it was last Proofided, it was a very, very thin layer, just the excess on a cloth I used to apply some to the evidence left of an interaction with a rather thorny gorse hedge in a narrow lane. But, since I'm old already, I don't mind that a single unnecessary Proofiding will probably cut five years off the life of my Brooks. Even so it will outlive me by several decades.

Thank-you for all these tips.
I *did* undo most of my previous adjustment and I thought I was being really
stingy/remiss in my proofide/obenauf application. (being a world-class
miser, I apply it so thinly that lens paper seems like cardboard in
comparison).

I have about 2/3 of the adjustment left....I'll leave it alone and not
worry.

pH

On Monday, May 24, 2021 at 6:23:26 AM UTC+1, pH wrote:
On 2021-05-22, Andre Jute wrote:
On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 1:20:26 AM UTC+1, pH wrote:
Well, sorry to bring up bicycle related items on this newsgroup, but.....

I just got back from a nice ride and decided to rub some more "Obenauf"
leather stuff on my Brooks B17.

I got the Brooks and the Obenauf from Rivendell, by the way....

Anyway...

I pulled the saddle up and down and notice a bit of play: I could feel a bit
of slack in the adjustment...just a bit.

So, I took my home-made tool and turned the adjusting nut six flats
tighter--one revolution.

I'm happy w/ the saddle, but I'm just curious...is there any "official"
recommendation? (guess this is a job for super-Muzi).

Pureheart in Aptos
.
You've already done too much. A quarter turn every few years should be more than enough. And gently with the Obenauf's. There is advice on the Brooks site, and on the leaflets that come with the saddle and Proofide (the Brooks brand saddle food). A bowstring-tight Brooks is being abused and having its lifetime shortened.

On the whole, the big enemy of a Brooks leather saddle (any leather saddle but especially the hammock types like Brooks) is not your weight, which forms it beneficially to your sit-bones, but getting wet or being Proofided or Obenaufed to death. Brooks sells a waxed canvas rain cover, but unfortunately it is a branded thief-attractor; a ladies' shower cap stuffed into your toolkit does the same sterling service.

My Brooks hasn't been Proofided* or tensioned in about 6000km, but I must add that, as I don't commute and so can choose my riding times to suit good weather, it lives a relatively easy life parked indoors on a centrally heated space.

If you buy another Brooks, you may be interested in a preparation model I've found beneficial. There are other versions than mine, some using dirty motor oil (I mention that one in particular because the late great Sheldon Brown mentioned it without condemnation and excommunication...). What I do is to borrow a baking pan about the depth of the saddle's leather part, and to put the saddle upside down in it. I then pour in neat's foot oil (ancient magic horse saddle oil boiled out of calf's feet, obtainable cheaply from any supplier to the horsey set) until the saddle is full. Some will run over the side and through the slits and holes but I don't care about that. In fact, I buy the so-called honey-colour so I can see the oil is evenly spread on the topside, which it will turn a distinctive mid-brown, a much more natural colour than Brooks' own deep dirt-brown. After twenty minutes, which is barely enough for the oil to soak in a tiny fraction of the depth of the leather, from the bottom upwards, I pour the neatsfoot back into the can, and rub a cloth over the top and along the edges of the leather to be certain of moderately even cover. On the bottom I don't even wipe it -- I just want a barrier against mold and fungi. Nowhere has the oil been allowed to penetrate the leather and start decomposing it by breaking up the fibres. After this it doesn't get any more neatsfoot oil except perhaps applied with a small painter's brush to very deep scratches, routine service every few years being Proofide applied only on the top, so that the rest of the saddle can breathe. You'll be surprised at how long even a very thin layer of Proofide or Obenauf's just gets rubbed in rather than off by the sliding action of your bum.

Take heart though. Even if you have irreversibly cut into the lifespan of your Brooks as it stands, when you run out of adjustment, an expert like Chalo Colina in Austin can weld on an extension to the threaded rod the adjustment nut turns on. I mention Chalo because he did it for his own bike -- get Slow Johnny to Google it for you on this forum -- but presumably any serious bike repairer with welding equipment can do the same.

Andre Jute
Your leather saddle doesn't want you to fiddle with it.

*And when it was last Proofided, it was a very, very thin layer, just the excess on a cloth I used to apply some to the evidence left of an interaction with a rather thorny gorse hedge in a narrow lane. But, since I'm old already, I don't mind that a single unnecessary Proofiding will probably cut five years off the life of my Brooks. Even so it will outlive me by several decades.
Thank-you for all these tips.
I *did* undo most of my previous adjustment and I thought I was being really
stingy/remiss in my proofide/obenauf application. (being a world-class
miser, I apply it so thinly that lens paper seems like cardboard in
comparison).

I have about 2/3 of the adjustment left....I'll leave it alone and not
worry.

pH
..
Proofide and Obenauf's are priced to make you wish you can go thinner. -- AJ