Life for a worn Brooks B17 standard

[Smiley]

Got back from Vermont last weekend and the tandem was soaked from the ride home. Decided to dry off the Brooks and re-apply proofhide, while I was at it I said what the heck and drilled two 1/8 inch holes on each skirt side and then I took a shoe lace and laced the skirts inwards. I used a large zip tie to hold the skirts in where I wanted them and this made the tensioning easier. I was excited to today to ride the over hauled tandem that I re-lubed and dried out but especially excited to try the Brooks in its new form. Wow, love the results as the skirts hold up the top shape really well and no more skirt chaffing is present. If your on the fence about doing this Don't it works especially for a good old Brooks saddle that did not owe me any more money after +8 years of use. I think I have another 5 years in this saddle now :)

[WadePatton]

i'm this close to punching holes in the skirts of my selle anatomica to lace and firm that thing (new) up.

my only brooks that might benefit from lacing is an 70's model with holes already in place.

post pics!

[alancw3]

back in the early 60's when i was racing lacing the skirts on a brooks saddle was standard operating procedure. we use to drill 4 to 6 holes on each side and lace with a rawhide boot lace. became a poor man's racing saddle and looked pretty cool too.

[Ken Robb]

I have laced and non-laced Brooks saddles. None sagged but there was variation in the width of the skinny parts of the saddles. The wider ones rubbed the inside of my thighs up near the taint so I laced them to make that part of the saddle narrower. The rear and nose of these are pretty consistent since they are riveted to the frame but the "skinny" middles do vary as they are handmade from natural material. If you are having rubbing problems with a Brooks it's an easy fix. Drill some holes and use zip ties to snug it up.