Cycling UK Forum

Brucey wrote:people have tried to tell me that the saddle doesn't get wet when riding in the rain (because you are sitting on it) and that riding them when wet doesn't wreck them anyway. I have proven (the hard way) that neither of these things is true.

I have also found that if you start to ride on a covered saddle where it has been standing in the rain overnight, you will leave the cover on if it is still raining. Then, even a pin-prick-sized leak overnight will have been enough to saturate the saddle and it is then quickly ruined by being ridden on.

Much as I like riding on Brooks saddles, I have regretfully concluded that they are just not practical for true all-weather use.

cheers

We will have to agree to disagree on this one. In my experience they've become a bit more malleable and weathered in appearance but still fully functional. I've also ridden in torrential rain and found them to be relatively dry. Mine regularly gets wet in the part covered bike sheds at work when I forget to put the plastic bag on it but is still great after 10 years use.

people have tried to tell me that the saddle doesn't get wet when riding in the rain (because you are sitting on it) and that riding them when wet doesn't wreck them anyway. I have proven (the hard way) that neither of these things is true.

I have to agree with Brucey. I've tried riding with my weight on the back of a wet saddle to minimize stretching. Of course that lasts about 2 minutes. Because I like the Brooks so much I'll have to live with replacing the saddle now and again.

Pete Jack wrote:

people have tried to tell me that the saddle doesn't get wet when riding in the rain (because you are sitting on it) and that riding them when wet doesn't wreck them anyway. I have proven (the hard way) that neither of these things is true.

I have to agree with Brucey. I've tried riding with my weight on the back of a wet saddle to minimize stretching. Of course that lasts about 2 minutes. Because I like the Brooks so much I'll have to live with replacing the saddle now and again.

Obviously, you both have had different experiences to me. Can you say in what way it was 'ruined' ? I should also mention that I've hardly touched the tension bolt in 10 years or 25000 miles or more. Maybe I've got a tough one!

they quickly stretch out of shape if ridden when wet. With a new saddle one or two wet rides can help to break them in. With a used saddle it wrecks them.

Because there are just three rivets near the nose, the stress is very high on them (exactly double the average stress on the rear rivets, oddly enough... ). These holes pull out oval if there is too much dressing and the leather rots if not. I've had two saddles fail by the leather simply tearing near the nose piece. If you look carefully at older bikes you will see them where the nose has failed and the leather has been riveted back on with more, smaller rivets. This is OK if there is enough leather left that isn't going to fail again the same way.

The steelwork rusts, steel rivets corrode (copper rivets are better here) and the rust is acidic and attacks the leather. If saddles are stored whilst damp they go mouldy, too. I've been lucky because I've only had a few rivets fail and need renewing, but even this is often a waste of time because the leather is already degraded near the rivet hole so that a new rivet (even with a much larger head) might well fail. I've had nosebolts break (which are easily replaced) but the shackle has escaped at the same time sometimes which isn't so funny.

I've also not had any frames break, but plenty of others have done.

I've had badly finished rivets trash several pairs of shorts and longs; beause of this I got so I wouldn't use them unless they had been reworked with flushed copper rivets. At least when I put these in they don't fall out, unlike the originals.

The main reason I persevered with a Brooks saddle until quite recently was simply that my favourite saddlebag uplift would fit onto nothing else. It is a poor reason for persisting with a saddle that isn't really very practical, and one that I have now solved with a revised attachment.

Other saddles are probably not so comfortable, but at least they don't fall apart when wet.

I still have Brooks saddles on bikes which see use on sunny days, but that is pretty much it; if a bike has to be stored or used where the saddle might get wet, I can't have a Brooks on it because it will ruin the saddle.

cheers

I've been riding mine in the pouring rain all day and it hasn't suffered at all.
I've even ridden on multiple wet days with no problem either.

Mick F wrote:I've been riding mine in the pouring rain all day and it hasn't suffered at all.
I've even ridden on multiple wet days with no problem either.

Yes me too. Sorry Brucey I respect your opinion on so much bike-wise and I do not doubt your own experiences, but surely it is reasonable to accept others may have found things worked out differently for them. We can all only report our own experience.

if you wish to reshape leather, the conventional technique is to saturate it with water, at which point it becomes distinctly malleable.

If your saddle gets properly wet it will reach this state, which is why wet rides break the things in more quickly (a phenomenon which is very commonly attested to). If you ride all day in the weeing rain it will very likely get that wet and wetter and will go beyond 'broken in' to just plain 'broken'.

I would suggest that if your saddle didn't change shape during a wet ride then maybe it didn't get wet enough for some reason. Or perhaps there was no weight on it...?

I have been in the habit for many years of riding quite hard which means that my leather saddles are quite often damp in use even when it isn't raining; maybe the perspiration then allows them to soak in more water more quickly or something once it starts raining; I don't ever recall having a saddle that was in any way truly 'waterproof' for any length of time, regardless of preparation or treatment.

Since I don't think it unreasonable to expect a bike to survive mere rainfall all my bikes get rained on from time to time, but no cover I have had is 100% reliable at keeping the water off a leather saddle. Any tiny hole means a saturated saddle.

To date I've owned about two dozen Brooks saddles/leather saddles of various vintages and about 2/3rds of them have failed in interesting ways as previously described. I don't think I'm especially hard on bike equipment generally and I don't do truly exceptional mileages these days, but sadly I have not found these saddles to be as reliable as I would have expected. I don't think I'm alone, either.

cheers

Mine doesn't get wet if I don't get off, and if I do get off, the bike goes under cover or the Brooks gets covered.

Why does your saddle get wet when you ride when mine doesn't?
No mudguards?

My saddle gets wet when it rains. If I only go 10 or 15 miles, it is mostly dry when I get there. If I go further, however, it gradually gets wetter and wetter, until it is soaked. If I am riding on hills, it gets wet quicker; I suppose because I don't sit so much in the same place, but shift my weight back and forth on saddle as I go up and down. Mudguards only slow the inevitable.

How strange.
I don't see how a saddle gets wet - from the rain - when it's covered by one's bum.
Sweat is a different thing of course.

All I can say is that mine doesn't get wet. It may get a bit damp, but not wet at all.

Quite often I get off the bike with half a pint of water in my gloves, a pint in each overshoe. I am soaked through to the skin, not all from the outside. My lights and GPS battery case have got droplets (at least) in them, how on earth could my saddle be dry?

In that small period from bum leaving saddle to plastic bag going on, I see drops hit the leather and despite it being glossy with applied wax, the honey leather goes a funny colour under the drops. When I later remove the plastic bag the seat generally gets a shower from the water on the bag. Then I drip on it, then I sit on it with my wet bum and rub the water in.

My saddle is only about a year and less than 3,000 miles old so it shows no sign of suffering from its soakings, yet. They leave no lasting visible effects. I am resisting the temptation to give it even more proofing as the proofing can have a similar effect to the water.

This is interesting. Thee clearly are two very different sets of experiences here and there must be an explanation. I am firmly in the dry camp. Went out today for a 30miler looking for bearded tits... Got soaked on several occasions, had forgotten the bespoke shopping bag so the saddle got wet while in cafe. Came home saddle merely damp so straight in shed and no harm done. I do have mudguards, don't ride fast, weigh 75kg, use a b17, do stop and look at things and don't worry if it gets wet. The saddle is very well proof hided but has done serious mileage in all conditions and spends most of its life in a damp shed or a semi enclosed bike shed. I've only had one brooks so my sample is n=1 but this one is literally as tough as old boots.

geocycle wrote: ............... literally as tough as old boots.

Maybe that's what's going on here?

Despite other's very experienced statements, my Brooks Team Pro has never suffered ..... despite many many many miles in the pouring rain. In fact, I would go so far as to say that when I'm sitting on it, it may be damp, but definitely not wet.

I cannot understand how a saddle can get wet and soaked when one is sitting on it.

I'm largely in the dry camp. When ridden in the rain, my saddle gets damp, largely from being against damp shorts/longs, but does not get saturated. Maybe keeping the bike indoors so that dampness doesn't accumulate helps?
I've not had a saddle lose its shape from wet (several Team Pro, 1 B17), but have had some lose their shape without any rememberable soaking (1 B17, 1 Colt, 1 Swift). Leather is fairly variable.

Can only speak from my own experience. Got my first Brooks Swallow on a Flying Scot in 1966. Still have that saddle, that's 47 years continuous use on various bikes over that time. A lot of 28 mile daily commutes and 80 mile a day tours. Got my second a couple of years later, still have it too.Also have a Wrights W3N which i swallowized. An Ideale which I also swallowized. A further Brooks B17S bought new last year.
Despite all the advice to the contrary they have been liberally treated with saddle dubbing on a regular basis ie quarterly.
Now the interesting thing is none of the older ones has had any adjustment whatsoever during their life to date but the B17S only one year old has required adjustment twice.
A factor in some of the above may be that I only weigh a tad over 9 stone.
Don't bother about them being rained on either, has had no ill effects that I can see. Maybe being saturated with saddle dubbing is a factor.
Also sold perhaps a 100 or so Brooks saddles when I had my shop and have never to date seen a broken adjuster bolt.
Begs the question has there been a quality drop in recent years?