Brooks England Champion Flyer Leather Touring ATB Bicycle Saddle

The famous brooks saddle has been the stalwart choice for cycle tourists since the days of yore. When I got one back in June 2007 to begin my tour I was not so convinced. The smooth but solid piece of leather stretched over the iron frame looked less than comfortable. It had virtually no give other than from the stiff iron springs it was suspended upon. 3 months was the period I would have to endure for the breaking-in process.

My experience with the saddle has had it’s ups and downs. At first I had a frame size too small so I was continually adjusting the saddle back and forth to try and find a comfortable configuration. At some point the component allowing the leather saddle to sit on the saddle’s frame-structure bent outwards causing it to annoyingly disengage and one side to be  lower than the other. I fixed it by bending it back into shape with a pair of pliers.

Once the leather has softened it is definitely the most comfortable saddle available. It is the only saddle you can ride all day, day after day and still be comfortable.

Over time the saddle has misshaped and one side is more indented than the other.

Eloquently put by Sheldon Brown:-

A leather saddle, like a good pair of shoes or a baseball glove, softens with use, and molds itself to fit a particular person’s shape. What ever part of your rear end pushes hardest on the saddle causes the corresponding part of the saddle to soften and stretch to relieve the uneven pressure, until the saddle accomodates perfectly to your own particular tush.

Cue jokes about the shape of my backside. I tried to rectify this by wrapping material around the saddle to push up the centre area. Tightening the leather tensioning bolt did temporarily improve the shape, until the leather stretched again. In hindsight I would recommend closely following the Brooks saddle care guidelines. In addition follow this advice from Sheldon Brown:-

Most leather saddles have a tension-adjusting nut located under the nose of the saddle. Fortunately, this nut usually requires a special wrench, so most people leave it alone. In almost every case that I know of where someone has tried to adjust the tension with this nut, the saddle has been ruined. My advice is to leave it alone.

However, Sheldon also recommend the following for solving the problem of the mishapening:-

If a leather saddle gradually becomes too soft and too wide after many thousands of miles, it is sometimes useful to punch a few holes in the bottoms of the side flaps and lace them together under the saddle frame.

This allows the width and firmness of the saddle to be adjusted to the rider’s taste. Some older models came with a row of holes along the lower edge of the side flaps, for this very purpose.

‘ispoke‘ from Flickr said this with regards to Brooks Saddle Repair:-

I would not spend the money again on having the leather fixed. The ‘typical’ leather worker does not have tools big or strong enough to properly seat rivets and such. Others are now offering affordable leather saddles, such as www.velo-orange.com. If I had a Brooks that was misshaped, perhaps I’d try tying it underneath to add some tension. If that didn’t work, I’d buy a new one. There is no more important contact point (for comfort and endurance) than the saddle…

Some useful links:-

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html

http://www.esande.net/features/newbrooks.html

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