Terry leather saddle durability?

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I thought
it would be more durable. (The leather seats on our 13
year old Toyota have never done this.) Is this typical of
the leather Terry uses? Is this typical of other leather
saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would buy the things?

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover that can wear out pretty quickly under a very
heavy rider. Compare those to a thick leather saddle like
those made by Brooks.

It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the finish
coat coming off from contact with my cotton shorts. In any
case, that old saddle was lycra-covered which is nowhere
near as tough a material as any leather I'm familiar
with...and it lasted two years with the wear-through coming
at the corners, probably exacerbated by lots of sun-exposure
(my bike lives on my bike carrier when not in use with the
saddle covered by a plastic bag).

This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not the
corners. It looks like the result of really poor leather
finishing. I mean really poor.

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:Xns94F7AF35D23B9x12@2-
16.251.47.166...

Quoted message said:

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I
thought it would be more durable. (The leather seats on
our 13 year old Toyota have never done this.) Is this
typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this typical of
other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would
buy the things?

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover that

can

Quoted message said:

wear out pretty quickly under a very heavy rider. Compare
those to a

thick

Quoted message said:

leather saddle like those made by Brooks.

GRL top-posted: {text moved}

Quoted message said:

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:Xns94F7AF35D23B9x12-
@216.251.47.166...

Quoted message said:

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I
thought it would be more durable. (The leather seats on
our 13 year old Toyota have never done this.) Is this
typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this typical of
other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would
buy the things?

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover that can wear out pretty quickly under a
very heavy rider. Compare those to a thick leather saddle
like those made by Brooks.

Quoted message said:

It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the
finish coat coming off from contact with my cotton shorts.
In any case, that old saddle was lycra-covered which is
nowhere near as tough a material as any leather I'm
familiar with...and it lasted two years with the wear-
through coming at the corners, probably exacerbated by
lots of sun-exposure (my bike lives on my bike carrier
when not in use with the saddle covered by a plastic bag).

This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not
the corners. It looks like the result of really poor
leather finishing. I mean really poor.

So take it back.

Bill "problem solved" S.

Now why didn't I think of that? (Actually it's sitting in a
box waiting to go back to Performance.)

You may recall that the original post had a number of
questions. Not one of which was "Anybody know if I should
send it back to the vendor?"

But thanks for stating the obvious, anyway.

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "S o r n i" <sorni@bite-
me.san.rr.com> wrote in message new-
s:[email hidden]-
.rr.com...

Quoted message said:

GRL top-posted: {text moved}

Quoted message said:

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Ken" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message news:Xns94F7AF35-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:
> I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I
> thought it would be more durable. (The leather seats
> on our 13 year old Toyota have never done this.) Is
> this typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this
> typical of other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope.
> Who would buy the things?

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover that can wear out pretty quickly under a
very heavy rider. Compare those to a thick leather
saddle like those made by Brooks.

Quoted message said:

It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the
finish coat coming off from contact with my cotton
shorts. In any case, that old saddle was lycra-covered
which is nowhere near as tough a material as any
leather I'm familiar with...and it lasted two years
with the wear-through coming at the corners, probably
exacerbated by lots of sun-exposure (my bike lives on
my bike carrier when not in use with the saddle covered
by a plastic bag).

This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not
the corners. It looks like the result of really poor
leather finishing. I mean really poor.

So take it back.

Bill "problem solved" S.

GRL said:

Just got a Terry Liberator leather (Italian) saddle from
Performance to replace a two year old Cloud-9 lycra-
covered saddle on which the lycra was wearing through.

After one 17 mile ride on the Terry (dry conditions), the
leather top on one side was chaffing off (actually the
surface coating on the leather was) over a 2 sq. inch
area. Looked like what happens to your skin after it has
been in water a long time and you rub it making the dead
top layer chaff off. Same thing was happening on the other
side on a smaller scale.

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I thought
it would be more durable. (The leather seats on our 13
year old Toyota have never done this.) Is this typical of
the leather Terry uses? Is this typical of other leather
saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would buy the things?

This crushes my favorable opinion of Terry.

I use Terry Fly Ti saddles on both my mountain bike and
cyclocross bike. I've ridden quite a few miles on both and
crashed a bunch of times - mostly offroad but a couple of
times on asphalt. Aside from a slight dulling of the finish
(which I could probably fix with some polishing if I cared
about such things), the saddles have held up great and I
don't see any quality issues.

I bought both saddles from Performance as well so I'm not
sure why yours is wearing so soon (unless the Liberator and
Fly are made to different quality specs). I'd imagine you
just got one from a bad run or when the quality control
employee was on a smoke break.

- khill

Quoted message said:

Just got a Terry Liberator leather (Italian) saddle from
Performance to replace a two year old Cloud-9 lycra-covered
saddle on which the lycra was wearing through.

My Terry's Liberator which is in almost daily use for the
last two years is absolutely fine. I periodically "proof" it
with a gentle application of clear dubbin, and it is
absolutely fine.

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get
correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel
is switched off--

I have a Terry Fly saddle with 7000 miles on it. Aside from
a bit of scuffing, it is fine. Before that I had a Terry
Liberator that I put about 4000 miles on without a problem.
Maybe you have a bad saddke.

Joel

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

Quoted message said:

Just got a Terry Liberator leather (Italian) saddle from
Performance to replace a two year old Cloud-9 lycra-
covered saddle on which the lycra was wearing through.

After one 17 mile ride on the Terry (dry conditions), the
leather top on

one

Quoted message said:

side was chaffing off (actually the surface coating on the
leather was)

over

Quoted message said:

a 2 sq. inch area. Looked like what happens to your skin
after it has been in water a long time and you rub it
making the dead top layer chaff off. Same thing was
happening on the other side on a smaller scale.

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I thought
it would be more durable. (The leather seats on our 13
year old Toyota have never done

this.)

Quoted message said:

Is this typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this typical
of other

leather

Quoted message said:

saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would buy the things?

This crushes my favorable opinion of Terry.

I think you got unlucky. I put over 4K miles on my leather
Terry Butterfly saddle just last year and it's going
strong - no rubbed off places at all. On my new bike I've
ridden about 1200 miles on a different Terry Butterfly,
also leather, and same results. Also, my husband rides a
leather Terry Fly and put over 6K miles on last year with
no problems.

I'd return your saddle for an exchange - sounds like it is
defective.

Good luck!

Thanks to all who replied with experience with Terry
leather saddles. I think it likely that I just got a saddle
with a bad finish. Only problem with returning it to
Performance for a replacement is that the replacement is
likely to be from the same lot and the whole lot may be
(probably was) bad.

So I think I'll just send it back for a refund. Went to a
local shop yesterday looking at vinyl saddles and bought a
Specialized Milano (leather, chrom-molly, like the
Liberator) which had very favorable ratings in mtbreview.
It's made in Taiwan and the leather does not have the slick
(shiny) finish of the Terry. We'll see how it holds up
later today.

Probably would have bought it local in the first place when
I went to look two weeks ago and asked for leather saddles,
but they said they had none. We stumbled on this one while
looking at vinyl saddles yesterday. Sheesh. People really
ought to know what the heck they sell.

Again, thanks to those kind enough to answer my questions.

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "GRL"
<[email hidden]> wrote in
message -"]news:[email hidden]-
ernews.com...

Quoted message said:

It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the
finish coat coming

off

Quoted message said:

from contact with my cotton shorts. In any case, that old
saddle was lycra-covered which is nowhere near as tough a
material as any leather I'm familiar with...and it lasted
two years with the wear-through coming at

the

Quoted message said:

corners, probably exacerbated by lots of sun-exposure (my
bike lives on my bike carrier when not in use with the
saddle covered by a plastic bag).

This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not
the corners. It looks like the result of really poor
leather finishing. I mean really

poor.

Quoted message said:

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:Xns94F7AF35D23B9x12-
@216.251.47.166...

Quoted message said:

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I
thought it would be more durable. (The leather seats
on our 13 year old Toyota have never done this.) Is
this typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this
typical of other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope.
Who would buy the

things?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover

that

Quoted message said:

can

Quoted message said:

wear out pretty quickly under a very heavy rider.
Compare those to a

thick

Quoted message said:

leather saddle like those made by Brooks.

The answer is that the Specialized Milano leather (from
Taiwan) held up just fine. It's also a much more comfortable
saddle than the Liberator was. A pity that the fellow in the
LBS did not know he sold such a thing when I first came
looking a couple of weeks ago. Would have saved me the
hassle of getting that Terry Italian POS. So much for "old
world craftsmanship".

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "GRL"
<[email hidden]> wrote in
message -"]news:[email hidden]-
ernews.com...

Quoted message said:

Thanks to all who replied with experience with Terry
leather saddles. I think it likely that I just got a
saddle with a bad finish. Only problem with returning it
to Performance for a replacement is that the replacement
is likely to be from the same lot and the whole lot may be
(probably was) bad.

So I think I'll just send it back for a refund. Went to a
local shop yesterday looking at vinyl saddles and bought a
Specialized Milano

(leather,

Quoted message said:

chrom-molly, like the Liberator) which had very favorable
ratings in mtbreview. It's made in Taiwan and the leather
does not have the slick (shiny) finish of the Terry. We'll
see how it holds up later today.

Probably would have bought it local in the first place
when I went to look two weeks ago and asked for leather
saddles, but they said they had none. We stumbled on this
one while looking at vinyl saddles yesterday. Sheesh.
People really ought to know what the heck they sell.

Again, thanks to those kind enough to answer my questions.

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "GRL"
<[email hidden]> wrote in
message -"]news:[email hidden]-
upernews.com...

Quoted message said:

It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the
finish coat coming

off

Quoted message said:

from contact with my cotton shorts. In any case, that
old saddle was lycra-covered which is nowhere near as
tough a material as any leather

I'm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

familiar with...and it lasted two years with the wear-
through coming at

the

Quoted message said:

corners, probably exacerbated by lots of sun-exposure
(my bike lives on

my

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bike carrier when not in use with the saddle covered by
a plastic bag).

This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not
the corners. It looks like the result of really poor
leather finishing. I mean really

poor.

Quoted message said:

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet,
humorist, chemist, Visual Basic
programmer) "Ken" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message news:Xns94F7AF35-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"GRL" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:
> I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I
> thought it would

be

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> more durable. (The leather seats on our 13 year old
> Toyota have

never

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> done this.) Is this typical of the leather Terry
> uses? Is this

typical

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> of other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who
> would buy the

things?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin
leather cover

that

Quoted message said:

can

Quoted message said:

wear out pretty quickly under a very heavy rider.
Compare those to a

thick

Quoted message said:

leather saddle like those made by Brooks.