Jack's interesting experience notwithstanding, I've found that if you ride a saddle that has been rainsoaked, it will sag out, stretch the leather and become un-ridable (perhaps restorable by the soaking method). I ruined a Brooks Pro this way at my lightest teenage weight. So I would not soak and ride your hard Brooks saddle to break it in.
Difficult for me to advise you on the hard Brooks since I love the comfort of a super hard Brooks Pro right out of the package--harder the better. I happily do a century on the newest Brooks so I don't have a break in period. What I'd want to avoid in your situation is softening the whole saddle, so assuming your rear end is fully acclimatized to putting ischia to leather which is the usual answer to breaking in a Brooks (let your two butt bones get used to it), then you might consider the spot softening methods people have used in that past. One I've seen used, and tried my self in the 70s, is the ball peen hammer method. You ride the saddle and try to identify the exact two spots where your butt ones (ischia of the pelvis) want to rest, and then you use a smooth ball peen hammer to soften these two spots, having prepared them with a softening agent. The agent recommended back then was neatsfoot oil as it loosens leather well (some argue disastrously but it might be just right for this), or water in the spot version of the bucket method being described in this thread.
BTW, I've had good results with the water bucket method for restoring a saddle. In particular I can recommend the slow dry method for reshaping a Brooks. Because of the sag out problem I mentioned with rain soaked Brooks, I usually cover a Brooks locked up in the open with a plastic bag or similar to keep the rain off it. Once parked outside the Shepherd's Bush theatre, I forgot to do this and my Brooks Pro got fully soaked by soft London rain while I was inside seeing a production of The Gigli Concert. Careful not to sit on it even for a second on the ride home to Bloomsbury, I got a workout since his was my fixed gear town bike. When I got home wrapped the soaked saddle in cloth around the waist of the saddle, like Brian's methods suggests, and made sure it was shaped correctly as when new--level on top front to back, very narrow in the waist, sides aimed straight down. I left it this way for a few days, and when unwrapped it was good as new, shiny, solid, holding the shape on its own, and ready for hard riding. Wish I'd known about this method when I was a teenager and ruined my Brooks in the rain.
Mitch Harris Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA
On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 12:22 PM, <cwstudio@aol.com> wrote:
> Interesting discussion, and it all makes sense.
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> However, I have a Brooks Professional with a slightly different issue.
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> The saddle is circa 1980, and looks almost new. It was on a bike that was barely ridden when new in 1980, then stored until last year. The saddle was apparently never fully broken in.
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> The saddle is rock hard. I've given it a couple of thorough rub downs with Proofhide and ridden it many miles, yet it is still hard.
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> I'm very curious whether the soaking technique might work it's magic on this saddle, and I welcome input from the soakers among us.
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> It's a beautiful saddle and I would love to break it in properly.
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> Thanks,
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> Chris Wimpey
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> San Diego, California
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> USA
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jack Gabus <jgabus@gmail.com>
> To: CR <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Thu, 28 May 2009 10:26 am
> Subject: [CR] Soaking saddles
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> I love this discussion because the best fitting saddle I have is my Brooks
> Swift on my Seven. The reason is the second time I rode on it, I got caught
> in a horrific thunder storm in Iowa (RAGBRAI). That morning it rained cats
> and dogs and then in the after noon it was a beautiful sunny day, 90 miles
> later it took the shape of my, well let say my large back side. To my
> surprise the next day it fit like a million bucks, I have never messed with
> it since. Water works for me.
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> Cheers,
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> Jack
>
> --
> Jack Gabus
> 310 490 3784
> jgabus@gmail.com
> Laguna
> Beach, CA
> USA