HI Eric. You're right about Lon Haldeman. He has a Pactour blog and there's an entry about breaking in a leather saddle. It's still available. I have to laugh at this topic because I got my first Riv in 2011 as I became interested in a cross country ride, and had moved to leather saddles and was having a devil of a time breaking them in. I read Lon's blog and used his method. Be careful not to ride it too long when it's wet, as I apparently did, because it stretched and sagged badly. I was new in this group and reported my experience. I was just a young lad of 50 at the time and one of the group "old-timers" really berated me for doing that. I haven't seen him post in a long time so I hope he's still going strong, but he didn't have to be so mean about it. At 64 1/2 maybe I'm getting to be that grumpy old timer so I shouldn't throw stones. Damn whippersnappers! I broke in my first B17 in a while last September. I only use proofide now, but having only ridden B-17s since 2011 they break in easily. I ride a lot without padded shorts so if it's a little too hard I put some on for longer rides. One other note, I have to use the B17 Special, which has the hammered brass rivets, rather than the machine-set steel rivets in the Standard. I tried two of the standards and the furthest rivet to the left of the seat gave me a sore. My left cheek must have a little "princess and the pea" thing going I guess.
Peace, Tim On Monday, May 19, 2025 at 3:34:07 PM UTC-5 EGNolan wrote: > I ride a few different Brooks', the most comfortable ones are the vintage > ones (a B17N and a B5N). I've had a newer B17 that broke in fairly easily > just riding, but a B17N that just doesn't seem to want to form to me. > > I remember an old Lon Haldeman (maybe from a Reader, maybe elsewhere, but > Grant did some great interviews with him, he's an ultra long distance > rider, FWIW) story about breaking them in this way. He'd soak them in water > to break them in and then use oil from there on out. I doubt realistically > it shortens the life much, but maybe... > > Anyway, I'm tired of the B17N not fitting and don't want to keep it if it > ain't gonna work, so I'm soaking it tonight and seeing what we can do! > > Thanks for the info and unintentionally pushing me to do something. > > Best, > Eric > > On Monday, May 19, 2025 at 2:59:31 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: > >> I'm also a fan of the 'leave it out in the rain a time or two' method of >> speeding up the break in process. It probably shortens the lifespan some >> but I am ok with that. >> >> Brian >> >> On Monday, May 19, 2025 at 1:03:29 PM UTC-5 Jason Fuller wrote: >> >>> Glad it has worked out (so far)! I'm confident it'll last a long long >>> time after this - I think the issues arise when it stays wet, or is ridden >>> wet repeatedly. As a tool for breaking in, seems great to me. Then again I >>> soak my cast iron in soapy water sometimes, too - clearly I live >>> dangerously! >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7309b98c-50a8-4b0a-b7cb-939569698f3en%40googlegroups.com.
