<classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2003 7:54 PM Subject: Re: [CR]Brooks saddles
> In a message dated 12/27/03 1:43:42 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> jtperry@worldnet.att.net writes:
>
> > Oil first, then tap w/ ball of ball peen hammer. Or you WILL crack her.
> > Start w/ light taps and as she "breaks in" increase force. But never
wail
> > on
> > her. A good half hour will do wonders. Double time if she is still
> > recalcitrant.
Wow. I must be doing something wrong. I've been riding on Brooks (and Wrights) saddles since I was 9 years old. I have never once found the need to pound, beat or otherwise torture them to be comfortable. I have never soaked them in neets foot oil, baked or boiled them. Almost never had to "tension" them.
I guess I am of the old-fashioned sort who thinks a saddle is supposed to support not be a glove-leather upholstered armchair. Indeed the least comfortable Brooks I have ridden was one that was soaked, beat and or boiled. It's like riding on a dead eel.
Regular use and sparing use of Proofhide is the ticket. But I do know what you mean by the occasional "thicker" leather on B-17Ns. I got one recently like that on eBay; it's brand new so maybe British bovines, having survived Mad Cow Disease, just have thicker hides now.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA