Saddle maintenence

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather saddle.
Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

TIA

Gaz

I have had a Rolls San Marco for years and not treated it in any special
way, it is still in pretty good condition

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather saddle.
Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

Above all, don't let it get wet. I don't really know how San Marco
saddles compare to Brooks, but I'm sure it won't hurt if you treat yours
with a bit of Brooks Proofide, which keeps the leather supple and gives
it some degree of water resistance.

If you don't have mudguards on your bike, it's a good idea to treat the
underside of the saddle as well as the top.

Aside from that, Sheldon Brown has some good advice on how to look after
leather saddles:
<URL:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html>

d.

davek said:

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather
saddle. Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

Above all, don't let it get wet. I don't really know how San Marco
saddles compare to Brooks,

The Rolls is a leather covered padded plastic saddle, nothing like a
Brooks, really.

Quoted message said:

but I'm sure it won't hurt if you treat yours
with a bit of Brooks Proofide, which keeps the leather supple and
gives it some degree of water resistance.

Probably won't do any harm but isn't normally necessary.

Quoted message said:

If you don't have mudguards on your bike, it's a good idea to treat
the underside of the saddle as well as the top.

N/A

Quoted message said:

Aside from that, Sheldon Brown has some good advice on how to look
after leather saddles:
URL:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/leather.html

It's not a "leather saddle".

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

davek said:

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather
saddle. Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

Above all, don't let it get wet. I don't really know how San Marco
saddles compare to Brooks,

The Rolls is a leather covered padded plastic saddle, nothing like a
Brooks, really.

Quoted message said:

but I'm sure it won't hurt if you treat yours
with a bit of Brooks Proofide, which keeps the leather supple and
gives it some degree of water resistance.

Probably won't do any harm but isn't normally necessary.

I wipe my leather (covered, plastic) saddles with a bit of

baby-oil once a season. Certainly stops the leather cracking.

Not done any harm over more than 10 years

Pete

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather saddle.
Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

No.

Just thank your lucky stars you haven't got a Brooks with all the faffing
round that entails.
--
Michael MacClancy

"Michael MacClancy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather

saddle.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

No.

Just thank your lucky stars you haven't got a Brooks with all the faffing
round that entails.
--
Michael MacClancy

This faffing is indeed a huge pain. I had to replace mine after only 20
years because I neglected it. I even left it and the bike outside for a year
at one point. Mind you it was the metal screw bit which broke / fell off.
But it had gone a bit saggy by then. To be fair I suppose I did put the
special stuff on it twice, and cleaned mould off it more than once - perhaps
that does count as excessive maintenance ?

Hywel

Pete Biggs said:

The Rolls is a leather covered padded plastic saddle, nothing like a
Brooks, really.

Ah, I see.

Quoted message said:

Probably won't do any harm but isn't normally necessary.

I suppose not, but it's probably still a good idea to treat the leather
for purely cosmetic reasons - ie for the same reason you polish your shoes.

d.

Michael MacClancy said:

Just thank your lucky stars you haven't got a Brooks with all the faffing
round that entails.

Faffing around? A quick rub down with a bit of Proofide every few months
is all it takes.

d.

in message <[email hidden]>, Michael

MacClancy (') said:

Tazlvr said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather
saddle. Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

No.

Just thank your lucky stars you haven't got a Brooks with all the
faffing round that entails.

What faffing around? A wipe with proofide once in a blue moon?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 'I think we should trust our president in every decision
;; that he makes and we should just support that'
;; Britney Spears of George W Bush, CNN 04:09:03

davek said:

Quoted message said:

The Rolls is a leather covered padded plastic saddle, nothing like a
Brooks, really.

Ah, I see.

Quoted message said:

Probably won't do any harm but isn't normally necessary.

I suppose not, but it's probably still a good idea to treat the
leather for purely cosmetic reasons - ie for the same reason you
polish your shoes.

One's [censored] polishes one's saddle :-)

Seriously, Proofide or neatsfoot oil hasn't made any visible difference
(for more than one ride) when I've tried it on leather covered saddles,
and they usually survive fine without any treatment at all.

~PB

Rub boot polish on your [censored].

"Tazlvr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all. I have just bought a new bike with a San Marco Rolls leather

saddle.

Quoted message said:

Is there anything special I should do to look after it?

TIA

Gaz