restore red leather saddle- dye or paint?

[zennmotion]

I have an 80s era red Selle San Marco Regal saddle that has a little more patina than I'd like that I would like to mount on my '81 Marinoni (7400 Dura Ace except I'm cheating with a newish compact Sugino crank- 'cause my legs are old and frail). If it looks "right" it will replace the black Turbo that's there now, I love the Belgian Sofa and garish red seems right for the time period. Does anybody have a clue about how best to restore the color? Leather sites (don't google leather sites, trust me...) say that it depends on what kind of leather-- I have no idea, but it seems closest to auto upholstery leather, in which case the common wisdom is acrylic paint made for leather (also used on shoes and handbags apparently). But there are dyes also that may work better, I dunno. I don't expect or want a like-new finish, but it would be great if I could restore it- it's otherwise in pretty good shape, some expected scuffing around the rear edge but no tears. Advice?

[Hawker]

Rivet saddles offers red leather saddles. Maybe they would have a recommendation for you, or do it for you if you are willing to spend the $?

[Wsteve464]

I would go with a dye. I had a brooks light tan saddle that had a painted finish on it and it didn't hold up to the constant polishing. The dye will penetrate the leather and a bottle to do the saddle multiple times is about $8. Do you have a Tandy Leather close to you?

[m_sasso]

Look here: https://angelusdirect.com
I have used the die to change a Regal saddle colour, worked well.

[zennmotion]

I would go with a dye. I had a brooks light tan saddle that had a painted finish on it and it didn't hold up to the constant polishing. The dye will penetrate the leather and a bottle to do the saddle multiple times is about $8. Do you have a Tandy Leather close to you?


Thanks- I found some good leather suppliers online, the problem is the large number of product choices, I'm sure better than a brick and mortar. You may be right with paint durability, that's my sense as well. But Brooks leather and the thin covering on a San Marco are very different leathers, I would choose a dye for a Brooks for sure. But I'm not sure how well dye would penetrate the old coating on the Regal. I have a local artisan shoe maker/ leather goods guru who would definitely do a good job if it could be done, but I'm not sure it would be worth his high cost, and I'm kind of looking forward to a DIY as I've done for everything else on this bike (including the wheels that I built and raced on more than 35 years ago that are still true :banana:)

[Peter P.]

Have you considered getting it recovered instead or dyeing the saddle?

One of the forum sponsors, Recovered Cycling (http://www.recoveredcycling.com/faq/faq-saddles/), does just that. He recovered a couple saddles for me and I was extremely satisfied, in both price and quality.

[zennmotion]

Look here: https://angelusdirect.com
I have used the die to change a Regal saddle colour, worked well.

Thanks this sounds promising- you changed colour from what to what? Just asking because white Regals are easy to find, but some of the colors from BITD are as rare as hen's teeth (e.g., red, yellow) and stupid expensive collectors items (400 bucks on Ebay for a NOS perforated yellow :eek:) I'd do a yellow job instead of red, but I think the chance of it looking decent would be slim to none. And just checking- your Regal was leather and not the synthetic "microfeel" (creepy name whatever it is), right?

[zennmotion]

Have you considered getting it recovered instead or dyeing the saddle?

One of the forum sponsors, Recovered Cycling (http://www.recoveredcycling.com/faq/faq-saddles/), does just that. He recovered a couple saddles for me and I was extremely satisfied, in both price and quality.

I would, but he doesn't do Regals AFAIK. The rivets are a major challenge I think.

[zmudshark]

What about Fiebing's dye (https://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/)? It sounds like it may work.

[zennmotion]

What about Fiebing's dye (https://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/dyes/)? It sounds like it may work.

That's one I'm looking at. I also found this https://angelusdirect.com/products/angelus-walk-on-red?variant=995591408&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqDiBRDAARIsADWh5TeBheu1IDWjxzvNMWka bD_RqJllA4VHSApOupZux84pCoplk_SkeBsaAvB_EALw_wcB made for shoe bottoms that might hold up better than most.

[dsimon]

They have one in red in stock

http://www.veloclassique.com/

[rccardr]

They have one in red in stock

http://www.veloclassique.com/

That was still on the wall last time I visited, a month or so ago.

[jmoore]

I would, but he doesn't do Regals AFAIK. The rivets are a major challenge I think.

Correct.

Also, I'm not doing saddles anymore. Happy to consult though.

[zennmotion]

Correct.

Also, I'm not doing saddles anymore. Happy to consult though.

Thanks- but the world will miss your saddle work! Any advice on the best product to restore the color? I'm thinking I might try a dye first, and then still have the option for paint if it doesn't work well. Paint seems like go for broke, if it looks bad no going back to dye. It occurred to me that the only time I see what color the damn saddle is, is when I'm not riding the bike- so I may be overthinking this, it's winter...

[jmoore]

Thanks- but the world will miss your saddle work! Any advice on the best product to restore the color?I haven't done a lot of color restoration. The stuff I have used is from Tandy. So I'd defer to their products.

I have no idea on colorfastness though.

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[zennmotion]

Just a follow up for this thread, thanks for all the tips. I ended up using an acrylic leather paint that worked pretty well and seems pretty durable, though time will tell. Vintage saddles like the Regal, Turbos, Rolls etc aren't hard to find, but they're often beat, or stupid expensive if they're not, especially if you're looking for colors other than black and white. I took some bad advice from elsewhere and cleaned/deglazed the saddle with acetone- this removed the surface finish but it also roughed up the leather some in the worn spots which remain somewhat rough after the paint- I wouldn't do this again, I would just clean it next time maybe with some denatured alcohol or actually buy the made-for-purpose leather deglazer (doh! impatient cheapskate!). The paint comes in colors including black, yellow and white. Based on this experience, I think it would work pretty well with a synthetic saddle cover as well as leather, as people paint sneakers with it. I think you could take a beat up old white saddle and color it, or maybe even a black saddle with enough thin layers it would cover it. I have no idea what this will look like after some hard miles, but I'm confident it'll be OK. This is what I used

https://angelusdirect.com/products/angelus-walk-on-red?variant=995591408&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkIzlBRDzARIsABgXqV8h8-wSOBSxfL10xWqZ2TGY8K3kLWSCFl5xJCI7nNozbgkiYeVKqhQa AjIuEALw_wcB

[m_sasso]

Nice work, always like to see cycling equipment restored and the useful life of equipment extended. I found Angelus leather products quite good, hopefully the appearance holds up for you, never tried anything red, but the black products have held up well.