Brooks saddle care

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Tango
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Joined: 3 Jul 2012, 6:15am
Location: Preston Lancs

Brooks saddle care

Post by Tango »

Has anyone used dubbin to condition and protect their brooks saddle and is it ok to do so.

The tiny tin of proofide that brooks sell is expensive
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Swallow
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Joined: 4 Feb 2010, 10:13am
Location: Cornwall

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by Swallow »

Never used dubbin but I do use leather conditioner from Mountain Warehouse http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/travel ... spx?cl=ONE seems to work well
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WrightsW5
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Joined: 1 Jun 2010, 10:37pm
Location: Saddle City

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by WrightsW5 »

The Cherry Blossom that is available everywhere is like a bad 2nd rate version of Proofide. If you can get some brand with citronella oil that Proofide has it may be good?
jb
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Location: Clitheroe

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by jb »

You need to be careful that whatever you use does not soften the leather, its only purpose is to waterproof and prevent cracking.
Cheers
J Bro
JohnW
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by JohnW »

Tango wrote:Has anyone used dubbin to condition and protect their brooks saddle and is it ok to do so.

The tiny tin of proofide that brooks sell is expensive


Yes. it is expensive, but it's the stuff to use. Once you've completed the initial applications as instructed on the instructions that come with the saddle, the tin of Proofhide lasts a long, long time.

I do think that the price of Proofhide is a con - it can't be so expensive to make. On the other hand, I'd say that it is basically beeswax, and have you seen the price of that from an apiarist or a farm-shop?

A tin of Proofhide lasts me at least a couple of years, and I have three bikes with Brooks saddles on the road.

This is just my opinion, but for the sake of an expensive saddle, such economy is false economy - and one I wouldn't make. I don't know how much you're being quoted for a tin of Proofhide, but let's say £6. Once you've made the initial applications, a tin would last me at least three years if I was only using one saddle. That's maximum of 17p a month. The cheapest price I can find at the moment, for a B17 standard is in the "Bike Plus" advert in "Cycle", and that's £54. If you make a mistake with saddle care and your B17 only lasts ten years, that's 45p a month even if you've bought the cheapest, basic leather Brooks from the cheapest place. You can pay well over £100 for a Brooks saddle.

You may find that (very much) older cyclists will tell you that "......in my day, we just put a good brushfull of neatsfoot oil underneath three or four times a year......". When I was a lad in the 1950s, that was the perceived wisdom and I once found to my cost that it was false wisdom - bad advice. It was what they could get, it was what they knew, and it was what they could afford in those days.

Experience says stick to the proper stuff.
leelovesbikestoo
Posts: 20
Joined: 14 Jul 2012, 2:27pm

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by leelovesbikestoo »

Second Proofide. On occasion my B17 gets a soaking, and although odd drops bead, after a big downpour the leather is properly wet. It always dries out without marks or adverse effects to the surface of the leather.

Given the quality and price of a Brooks I wouldn't use anything else.
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CREPELLO
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Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by CREPELLO »

Dubbin is too sticky.

I've had good result from using Lord Sheraton's wood and leather polish. It's just beeswax, lanolin, linseed oil and turpentine. None of my Brooks have stretched or deformed from using it and it has good waterproof properties.
JohnW
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by JohnW »

CREPELLO wrote:Dubbin is too sticky.

I've had good result from using Lord Sheraton's wood and leather polish. It's just beeswax, lanolin, linseed oil and turpentine. None of my Brooks have stretched or deformed from using it and it has good waterproof properties.


Interesting that - the ingredients quoted on the Proofide tin are : Tallow, Cod oil, Vegetable oil, Paraffin wax, Beeswax, Citronella oil.

My price quoted above for Proofide was a bit out of date - it's £7.50p at Spa now - for 40g. How much is His Lordship's stuff?

Down the years I have used just beeswax from time to time, when the Proofide had run out, and not noticed any problem, but to be honest, Proofhide being the manufacturer's purpose made product and as it goes such a long way, I've not thought to look into alternatives.

I remember a thread some time ago where someone was querying whether NikWax would be suitable. I don't remember what the verdict was, but was the saving worth making?

There's certainly no beeswax in dubbin!
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fossil
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Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by fossil »

What about saddle soap The stuff for horse saddles ?
JohnW
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by JohnW »

fossil wrote:What about saddle soap The stuff for horse saddles ?


It's use and application are very different from Proofide and bike saddles.

If I was contemplating saddle soap on a Brooks, I'd do some research before I risked it - I wouldn't even consider it myself, although I don't know enough about it's consistency to seek to infuence anyone else.

Having saddle-soaped plenty saddles and reins etc, I'd say that it's effect would be about the same as neatsfoot oil.
jb
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Location: Clitheroe

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by jb »

Use saddle soap and you'll end up with a saddle looking like wet tripe slung limply between the bar supports like a worn-out hammock. Keep to what they recommend, I've still got a tin from 20 years ago, how cheap's that? The only reason they work is that they remain hard but shaped to your unique personage, thus having excellent load distribution properties.
Cheers
J Bro
Tango
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Joined: 3 Jul 2012, 6:15am
Location: Preston Lancs

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by Tango »

thanks all

Proofide it is :)
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CREPELLO
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Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by CREPELLO »

JohnW wrote:
CREPELLO wrote:Dubbin is too sticky.

I've had good result from using Lord Sheraton's wood and leather polish. It's just beeswax, lanolin, linseed oil and turpentine. None of my Brooks have stretched or deformed from using it and it has good waterproof properties.


Interesting that - the ingredients quoted on the Proofide tin are : Tallow, Cod oil, Vegetable oil, Paraffin wax, Beeswax, Citronella oil.

My price quoted above for Proofide was a bit out of date - it's £7.50p at Spa now - for 40g. How much is His Lordship's stuff?
It's £2.20 at Wilkos... http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/furniture- ... RC5g%3D%3D ....and a fair bit cheaper than Proofhide, but more in the container. Good wholesome food for leather IMO :D
alicej
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Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by alicej »

The thing is, horse's saddles (and a lot of other leather stuff) is better when the leather has softened and stretched a bit, whereas bike saddles need to soften just a little from new and then ideally not stretch much more at all.

I've spent loads of time cleaning and maintaining horse tack and have just broken in my first leather bike saddle, and I think it's probably worth using only stuff intended for bike saddles on bike saddles.

Saddle soap MAY be ok, but if you try it then remember that you're supposed to use very little water indeed with it - only just enough to get some soap onto the sponge. It's not really soap at all and if it lathers up even a little bit then that's far too much water which in itself could stretch a bike saddle too much.

The other thing is that horse saddles are better if they're just a bit sticky and grippy, but bike saddles are better if the surface is slippy. If using saddle soap then a bike saddle would need to be well polished afterwards just so it doesn't wear a premature hole in one's trousers :shock: .
WrightsW5
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Location: Saddle City

Re: Brooks saddle care

Post by WrightsW5 »

Has anyone used the Velo Orange version of Proofide? (I don't know what's in it)
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