Broken Brooks Professional

[rogerrabbit]

Today I took my Centurion Pro Tour out for a ride. I had just fitted a black 1974 Brooks Pro saddle that appeared in excellent condition.

2 minutes into the ride I felt somthing give slightly in the saddle. I stopped, and the front of the saddle fell to the ground. The saddle leather had broken entirely in half just behind the nose assembly. I never would have thought that was possible. Has anyone heard of this happening?

Roger

[Johnj]

Exactly the same thing happened to me with a Brooks B72 given to me by ColB. It was a beautiful chrome rail number, and hardly looked used. I rode over a tiny bump and the nose snapped clean off.

[Nobody]

Just out of interest, how much do you guys weight?

[WyvernRH]

I have had a Brooks Swallow (modern, late 1980's version) snap both rails just behind the seat post clamp. I think Brooks had a little problem with their metallurgy around that time.
I was able to weld the breaks in the rails and re-tension the saddle but close to the nose that might not be possible?
Cheers
Richard

[WyvernRH]

Just out of interest, how much do you guys weight?

At that point about 85 kilos. I weigh a bit more now
Cheers
Richard

[Clydesdale Scot]

The saddle leather had broken entirely in half just behind the nose assembly. I never would have thought that was possible. Has anyone heard of this happening?

Yes, like these?


I bought them with the ripped leather. A plaster mould has been made, and the cantle plate of one has been refashioned (narrowed and arched).
Ready for the recover.
So please don't discard the frame.

[edited for spelling]

[rogerrabbit]

The seat frame is fine and I have put it aside. My one looks a lot like yours except the break is very clean. Are you saying it is possible to get a new leather fitted? I suspect that would be more than the usual $130-odd it costs to buy a near new Professional on ebay.

[Clydesdale Scot]

Are you saying it is possible to get a new leather fitted?

yes, sort of, just DIY
It really isn't hard, it is not something that Brooks promotes.
It is easier to buy a new saddle, but much more satisfying to recover the existing frame.
I am currently photographing the steps and will make a post of it,
but here is one I prepared earlier.


and the steps needed.
Unlike the one above which was vacuum formed, I have just hand formed the current one over the new mould, and am very pleased with the results.
The modification to the cantle plate on the current project is to replicate this one with further details here.
I have the two B17 chrome frames from 1959, and a further B17 to play with, along with a Dunlop sprung saddle which will be recovered for the Malvern Star Coronation bike, another project which is almost complete in the parts acquisition phase.
Each cover cost will be about $17 for the leather, and about the same again for the large Brooks copper rivets. Tools are a sharp knife, rasp file, drill, hammer and a home made mushrooming punch (and old steel rod with a concave face ground into the top) which is held in a vice.
It is not rocket science.
Philip

[Kid_Carbine]

The leather 'broke' at that point because that is the place of greatest stress & because the leather would very likely have been dry & brittle, or very old & was decomposing.

It's always a good idea to give any newly acquired tensioned leather saddle a good clean with saddle soap, unless it is still new, then a couple of applications [or more] of Proofide.

I was looking for a 'Professional' for a while & eventually bought a pre loved example in the UK. [yet to arrive]
Well blow me down if a fellow cyclist didn't give me one just two days later.

He bought it new in the early 50's he said. When I got it, it was missing the tension bolt & it looked pretty damned ordinary. Particularly since it looks like it went down the road upside down for a bit.

I fitted a tension bolt from a scrap saddle & have been treating it with Proofide in front of the heater. It has come up surprisingly well with the dry hard leather now feeling a lot more supple. It is important, particularly with a very old & very dry saddle, that it be given enough time & warmth for the oils & waxes to penetrate right through the leather & this will not happen overnight. I would recomend anywhere from a week to a fortnight if the leather is really dry &, during the winter, keeping it quite warm will be an advantage.

I would be prepared to ride mine now with confidence.

Leather is just skin & dry leather is brittle while leather that has the right amount of oils & waxes is supple & elastic. It will also stretch in areas of high load & eventually conform to the shape of your sit-upon, but it must have the waxy/oily moisture that it craves in order to give it strength, flrxibility & resiliancy.

My sows ear will never become a silk purse but it looks to have made a fair grade of [metaphoric] pigskin.

Oh yeah, the "candle" plate refered to in earlier posts must be a typo as it is correctly known as the cantle, or cantle plate & for those not up to speed on tensioned leather saddle terminology, it is the piece at the rear of the frame that the leather top is fastened to.