I've now contributed about 36 articles to Braking News and Roundabout The Villages and while I have a list of local historical articles still to go I haven't done enough research recently to write another now. And, now is Tuesday night when I am under the gun from editor Komoroske who wants something NOW. As Monty Python would say, "And now for something completely different" - how to modify a Brooks B17 saddle. Maybe not the smoothest transition, but it got the job done.
When I was 14 in 1960 I desperately wanted a 10 speed bike. My Dad said
he'd put up 50% if I joined a cycling club and took it seriously. So I got a
Velo Sport handbuilt 10 speed racing bike, my Dad ante'd up, I joined the
Streatham Cycle Racing Club, and I worked Saturdays at Velo Sport to support my
new habit. Pete Russell owned the store and one of the things he did, and taught
me how to do, was "butcher" a Brooks B17 saddle - probably the most popular bike
seat in the days before plastic saddles.
And guess what? A couple of years ago I was at a bike event where they had
a swap table and I was irresistibly drawn to an old Brooks B17. I knew exactly
what I was going to do with it, so picked it up for a few bucks, took it home,
then went online and bought some large Brooks copper rivets and a can of
Proofide.
"Butchering," sometimes known as "blocking" the saddle, is pretty simple if
you have an eye for the finished shape. You cut off the bag loops at the back,
remove the metal Brooks name tag, then use a sharp knife to cut off the leather
flush with the rear frame and also the nose, which will expose the front of the
frame. Keeping the saddle on a seat post, you then turn it upside down and with
a rubber mallet beat a curve into the flat part at the back of the frame. Once
you have established the shape you want you drill out the old rivets and replace
them with the new large copper ones. Some people take them out and replace them
one at a time - personally I remove the leather cover completely. If you hand
hammer the rivets they look really nice.
We're nearly done. With the cover back on, roll the sides of the
underneath, use about 120 grit sandpaper to get rid of the shine, hit it with
Proofide and you have a butchered Brooks B17. Something that Brooks copied and
called the B17 Professional.
 |
A work of art. |