Brooks Saddle Repair Question

[Louis]

I have a Brooks Swift with very few miles on it. I recently noticed that the forward inner edge of one of the rivets in back is slightly higher than the leather. (This is most likely because the leather has gone down a bit, not because the rivet has moved up.) As a result, over a arc distance of about 5mm there is lip, about 0.5mm at its highest point, that given enough time will most likely chew through my shorts. All the other rivets are very smooth, sub-flush, with no edges to speak of.

Is the solution to this problem for me to just bash down the front lip of the rivet with a hammer? One can clearly see where Brooks has already done this during the initial manufacturing process and I seem to recall seeing a picture of some guy at Brooks doing this to a saddle that was being made.

TIA
Louis

[Birddog]

I've done what you describe to a Brooks Pro with so so results. You need to remove the saddle (I didn't) and place something like solid metal under the area, then take a ball peen hammer and carefully hammer the raised area till it flushes out. I think the best way to do this is with some sort of slop sided (slightly rounded) punch rather than a direct blow with the hammer. I had some trouble hitting the exact place I needed to hit with just a hammer. The punch would give you some accuracy. I managed to curb the rivet's appetite for my lycra, but it could still use some work for aeshetic reasons.
Good luck,
Birddog

[MarcusPless]

I did this on a Brooks Team Pro, so the rivets might be different. My Team Pro had the larger copper (or at least they looked like copper) rivets and one of them had developed a slight edge after a few thousand miles. I left the saddle on the bike and used a punch and a few light hammer blows to make the edge of the rivet flush with the leather again. It took very little effort; the bike certainly takes a lot more pounding in normal riding.

--Marcus

[Louis]

Thanks guys. I have the large "copper" rivets on the Swift and will try a punch and see what happens.

Louis