Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

G'day all,

I had a minor off this morning caused by some damn wet leaf litter - these road bikes really don't have much rubber on the ground at any one time do they! Luckily I came out totally unscathed, and the bike almost did - can't say the same for my 2 week old PI Elite gloves though... Only real damage was a scuff on the side of the my saddle - which is almost as new as the gloves! Anyway, I wondered what could potentially be done to treat this and hopefully stop the damage from getting any worse? It's not very deep, only just on the leather surface. I figured there must be some sort of very thin adhesive patch you could buy and stick over the affected spot but google isn't showing me the light. Obviously it'd need to be thin enough that I didn't notice it when riding, but surely there is something like this available? Anyone had any success stories with this sort of thing??

Thanks for any help,

Tk

Type of saddle?

Sorry, should have added that! It's a Fizik Arione.

You can sand leather.

The clear pre-glued patches used for bike tubes and air mattresses and the like would be worth a shot for nylon/polyester/vinyl/butyl.

Hmm, the patches might be my best bet I guess. Figured I'd upload a pic of the damage incase anyone had any other ideas? Maybe I should go see a bootsmith... Appreciate any advice!



Tk

white fibre inpregnated duct tape (not the grey plastic type) would be the quickest most efficient repair, tough, shiny, white, superb adhesive quality, it will cost you about 3.99 and if you dont like it, just peel it off. cant hurt to try and unless you recover the whole thing any repair will look like a repair, so you might as well try it.

Google your closest automotive vinyl/leather repairer, they may be able to do something with it, I think if you took it to a motor trimmer it'd cost the same as a new saddle, but that being said it costs nothing to ask.

Liquid electrical tape might be the way to go.

http://www.starbrite.com/productdetail. ... ductSSCat=

Ooh, that's nasty, I think you're looking at more than a thin film to cover it.

Tape's alright. I've used black fibre tape on black saddles. It's not permanent, and more of a cover up than a repair, but beats buying a new saddle.

Not sure about liquid electrical tape, IME it seems to remain forever greasy, never really sets. Maybe different if exposed to sun.

Where abouts might one find this "fibre tape"? I've never heard of it, but something like that is probably my best bet. Any hardware store should carry it? I might try and smooth out/fill in the area a little then stick some on over the top. I'm not too worried about the aesthetics of the thing (white tape would be preferable though), I just don't want it to get any worse. Luckily the damage is in an area that doesn't get contacted too much. So long as I don't have to buy another saddle I'm a happy camper!

Cheers,

Tk

Queestce wrote:Where abouts might one find this "fibre tape"? I've never heard of it, but something like that is probably my best bet. Any hardware store should carry it? I might try and smooth out/fill in the area a little then stick some on over the top. I'm not too worried about the aesthetics of the thing (white tape would be preferable though), I just don't want it to get any worse. Luckily the damage is in an area that doesn't get contacted too much. So long as I don't have to buy another saddle I'm a happy camper!

Cheers,

Tk

its not called that as such, but it usually goes by the name duct tape or reinforced tape, you will know it when you see it, it comes in black,white, green, red, yellow, and blue that i know of. Service stations usually sell it too.

Also known as gaffer tape in some areas.

Theres a nice fizik saddle for sale in the "member to member" though its not white.
I dont think a repair is going to look any good on your pride and joy

Queestce wrote: I might try and smooth out/fill in the area a little then stick some on over the top. I'm not too worried about the aesthetics of the thing (white tape would be preferable though), I just don't want it to get any worse.

Maybe a patch with Sugru??

Well, I would definitely have considered Sugru - HAD I KNOWN SUCH A CRAZY THING EXISTED! Ha. What an unusual product. I might give that a shot, seems like it could well work, plus I am just damn intrigued about it! Have you used it at all? Seems like it should adhere to the foam/leather. Cheers for the tip!

I haven't used it but I think others here on BNA might have. It was Aushiker who I first saw posted about it, so maybe he has experience of it.

After literally researching this stuff since you posted about it I've gotten to this stage...

Thanks for your order! We've sent you a confirmation email.

Will be sure to post up as to how it works. For $22 AUD shipped from the UK, I'm sure I will find more than enough uses for it to justify the cost! Not such a fan of all the overly bright colours so I was glad to see it comes in packs of just black/white too. I'm stuck looking around for things to modify now

It looks like a hardier version of blu-tac - and blu-tac comes in different colours now.

il padrone wrote:Maybe a patch with Sugru??

Oh man, that stuff looks brilliant! I've got an slighly seperated Ay-up power lead just begging to be fixed with that!

For a closer colour match for your saddle maybe get the coloured pack and mix some orange with the white ?

il padrone wrote:For a closer colour match for your saddle maybe get the coloured pack and mix some orange with the white ?

The pic makes it look orange-ish, but that's just the cameras crappy white balance. It's actually plain white. I'm sure it will still be a noticeable repair, but so long as I can sculpt it to be smooth enough hopefully it will be ok!

any update on this? Ive got a week old smp needing a repair.