Tag: repair

Nice Day for an Aborted Ride

I decided to work from home today. I made the decision a week ago. The weather was perfect. Shorts and t-shirts in early March. Enjoy climate change while you can because its’ gonna suck when all those tropical diseases work their way north.

At lunchtime, I decided to go for a quick ride. My first excursion was 1 1/2 miles on The Mule to test out the work done by Spokes Etc. last week. I was a little worried that the chainrings, which I chose not to replace, might not play nicely with the new chain. No worries. The bike is much faster now with a bottom bracket that isn’t rusted and brakes that don’t stick to the25558893832_3b67da08cb_m.jpg rim.

Once that was taken care of I planned to go for a quick jaunt on my Cross Check which I haven’t ridden in months. Off we went. Then I felt the saddle, a Brooks Flyer made of leather, wobble. I took a look and found that the tensioning bolt was bent. This meant that the bolt could snap at any minute. I tried tightening the bolt and headed out for a ride anyway. I made it about a mile from home when the bolt snapped.

Sad face.

I sent it to a bike shop in Seattle that repairs Brooks saddles. They repaired the saddle on The Mule and they did a good job.

I put the Flyer saddle from Little Nellie on the Cross Check because I am taking Little Nellie in for service on Saturday. I put a Brooks B67 on Little Nellie just to keep the seat hardware in place.

Old Saddle Made New

If you look at the picture at the top of my blog, you’ll see The Mule, my Specialized Sequoia bicycle. The saddle is a Brooks Flyer, a leather saddle that costs over $100.  Look at how the saddle sags in the middle. It’s not supposed to do that. Underneath the nose of the saddle is a tensioning bolt that you can use to tighten the leather and remove the sag. You can use it, if it isn’t broken. Mine was.

I finally decided to replace the saddle. My new saddle is another Flyer and it works fine. On a whim I search the Interwebs to see if I could get my old saddle repaired. I found this place in Seattle and decided to give them a try. I mailed them my saddle and in a couple of days I received an email from them saying it was done. I sent them the money for the repair and return shipping and a few days later it arrived.

IMG_0420
Old saddle with sag removed. Looks like new except for the matte finish to the leather
Underside of saddle with new bolt installed
Underside of saddle with new tensioning bolt installed

Other than the fact that the leather is no longer shiny like a new saddle, I can hardly tell the difference between the two. The leather on the old saddle is softer to the touch and since comfort is king, it went back on the bike. I’ll ride the bike and see how the repaired saddle holds up.

The repair shop does other repairs to Brooks saddles. Sadly if the leather is torn you’re out of luck. Also, there is the possibility that the leather will tear during the repair. Caveat sella.

By the way, I now have two extra Brooks saddles. It would be a shame for them to go to waste. There is only one thing to do….buy two new bikes. 🙂