Brooks saddle care
Brooks saddle care
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
The tiny tin of proofide that brooks sell is expensive
One day you life will flash before your eyes
Make sure it's worth watching!
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Re: Brooks saddle care
Never used dubbin but I do use leather conditioner from Mountain Warehouse http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/travel ... spx?cl=ONE seems to work well
'Kernow bys Vyken'
Re: Brooks saddle care
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?
Middlemore Saddles http://middlemores.wordpress.com/
Re: Brooks saddle care
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
J Bro
Re: Brooks saddle care
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.
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Re: Brooks saddle care
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.
Given the quality and price of a Brooks I wouldn't use anything else.
Re: Brooks saddle care
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.
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.
Re: Brooks saddle care
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!
Re: Brooks saddle care
What about saddle soap The stuff for horse saddles ?
Re: Brooks saddle care
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.
Re: Brooks saddle care
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
J Bro
Re: Brooks saddle care
thanks all
Proofide it is
Proofide it is
One day you life will flash before your eyes
Make sure it's worth watching!
Make sure it's worth watching!
Re: Brooks saddle care
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 IMOJohnW 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?
Re: Brooks saddle care
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 .
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 .
Re: Brooks saddle care
Has anyone used the Velo Orange version of Proofide? (I don't know what's in it)
Middlemore Saddles http://middlemores.wordpress.com/