Let Skully customise your leather saddle: Brooks, Wrights etc - trimming, tying, name embossing and de-hammocking.

Ha ha! @coppiThat

looks good hewitt. nice work again skully. might be popping round to see you later this week dude.

Just picked up my stamped Swift. Very happy with it. Letters are beautiful.

Thanks again Skully!

_
DM

Looking good Dan

Cheers Dan, thanks for posting that.

That swift was really hard, which is probably a good thing for you as it will wear well.

Here's one I did ages ago. Drunk.

what are you tryin to say? i think it looks awesome :-D

A new one finished last week. Hope Hester digs it, Jonny.

You still doing chops skully? Would really like to get the thigh-chafing bit of my B17 removed if poss, maybe even some BAD MOTHER FUCKER type stamps on it if I'm feelin' gangsta...?

Yep, a chop is £20: chop and tie skirts (sidey bits), trim nose and tail flaps too if you want. Letters thrown in if you want, up to about five or six characters in the big fancy letters, and up to about ten in the small. Could even try more if you wanted two lines of text I guess. Not sure that BAD MUTHA FUCKER is really going to look that nice, but it's your saddle, you can put what you want on there.

PM if you want to drop the saddle to me, in W1 weekday work hours, E2 other times, or meet at South or East drinks.

nice work skully. i will drop it round to Hester tomorro evening. i am sure she will love it.

good work, as always dude.

Skully I think it looks amazing, thanks so much. Will ride it to some forum beers and buy you one soon

Skully I have a Wrights that someone elses arse has squished to one side- can I ask what the advantages are of a chopped saddle? or is it all in the aesthetics?

Oh I guess it is OK to let Skullychops loose on a Wrights and not a Brooks- heres a pic to see what you think, and I will have to post too :(

skully how has that brokks pro ended up ?

Just a question, cant see if anyone has mentioned wether its makes them less comfortable
My regular B17 ssoooo comfy.
if i chopped it down, what would it loose ?

the question is what do you win?

@ Bush ranger, that is what I was trying to get at -(but you are much more consice than I).

I have the opposite problem in that the saddle is not overly comfy for me-

I guess I would have the most to 'win'!

mushy brain, been at the text book last two days straight.
i have a turbo super, turbo bio and san marco supercorsa saddles on my other bikes and the b17 is by far the nicest.
back to my question
simply, if i chop my saddle down will it be less comfortable?

I've been looking for new saddle for while now and after a shitload of research I think a brooks is gonna be the one, and maybe I'll have to hit up Skully for some chopping, those photos above look sweet. Does anyone know what the selection criteria is between a B17 and the B17 narrow?

I figured the narrow would be a little more racey but will i compromise on comfyness? I had my sit bones measured at evans out of curiosity and Im about 140-145mm.

OOppps missed all these comments:

Skully I think it looks amazing, thanks so much. Will ride it to some forum beers and buy you one soon

Really no need! Jonny has paid me handsomely. Hope its nice.

Don't forget a little bit of proofide (especially a layer underneath, which you don't wipe off, if you don't use mudguards). You don't have to keep it up forever, but apply some to the top once a month or two whilst it breaks in a bit.

Skully I have a Wrights that someone elses arse has squished to one side- can I ask what the advantages are of a chopped saddle? or is it all in the aesthetics?

Oh I guess it is OK to let Skullychops loose on a Wrights and not a Brooks- heres a pic to see what you think, and I will have to post too :(

I don;t like doing old saddles much. If its a bit wonky, try blocking it out. PM me tomorrow and I will explain how to do it... Or I'll do it for a pint.

skully how has that brokks pro ended up ?

Haven't ridden it yet, waiting to go on the next bike which is still in bits. But its a beaut, cheers.

Just a question, cant see if anyone has mentioned wether its makes them less comfortable
My regular B17 ssoooo comfy.
if i chopped it down, what would it loose ?

If it aint broken... Don't fix it. Yeah its really just all about making it racy looking (a B17 cost £40, a swallow costs £100+). It could get a little softer if I chopped it and tied it loosely. I can vary how much tension I put into the tieing bit, so could firm it up a bit. But my advice is, don't do it if you like the saddle just the way it is. Stamp your name in it if you like it that much.

@ Bush ranger, that is what I was trying to get at -(but you are much more consice than I).

I have the opposite problem in that the saddle is not overly comfy for me-

I guess I would have the most to 'win'!

See above comment. It could make it a bit softer for you if I chopped, if it feels a bit rigid due to the support of the large side flaps. It might be best to look at a wider/narrower framed saddle if its really not suiting you. Remember to try all the possible variations in saddle height and position on the seatpin before anything else though.

It might help to chop, basically.

mushy brain, been at the text book last two days straight.
i have a turbo super, turbo bio and san marco supercorsa saddles on my other bikes and the b17 is by far the nicest.
back to my question
simply, if i chop my saddle down will it be less comfortable?

Probably not. Just racy looking. If you're into touring style, don't bother, if you want a roadie look, perhaps it is worth doing. Thing is, some are really soft straight away, some hard as nails for thousands of miles. They vary, its a natural product. Some use thicker bits of hide thanothers, and allegedly black is harder than honey, brown in between.

I've been looking for new saddle for while now and after a shitload of research I think a brooks is gonna be the one, and maybe I'll have to hit up Skully for some chopping, those photos above look sweet. Does anyone know what the selection criteria is between a B17 and the B17 narrow?

I figured the narrow would be a little more racey but will i compromise on comfyness? I had my sit bones measured at evans out of curiosity and Im about 140-145mm.

Best to compare your best saddle with either of these widths of brooks, just visually. Best to try and ride some different ones though. note that the Team Professional frame is in between the B17 and B17 Narrow. I think that the swift is similar to the Team Pro, and swallow is as narrow as the B17N.

I just got me a vintage Sprinter. It's insanely narrow! It was apparently for track riders. They did a limited re-release of it a while back, but mine's an original. I'm actually scared it will rip me new bumhole though.

thanks skully your probably right, ill take comfort over aesthetics when it comes to my regular hack.
ive seen some of your name stampings and like. when i think of a name for my ride il look you up.

PM'd about 'blocking out'

thanks Skully

I had my sit bones measured at evans out of curiosity and Im about 140-145mm.

Does someone have to feel your arse and then lay a ruler from cheek to cheek to do that?

Yeah, it sounds quite kinky.

BLOCKING OUT YOUR SAGGY SADDLE

I just wrote all this for one person, so I thought I'd post it here for the sake of anyone else who may find it useful. It's only based on my experience of doing this a couple of times, from some very terse instructions about it found on classic lightweights. Seems to be quite a good way to start off afresh with a second hand saddle, or if yours that you've ridden for ages has sagged down quite a bit.

Blocking out:

If the nut has been turned at all it might be a good idea to undo it by a turn or so. Normally these should only be used as a last resort, best left alone.

Soak the saddle in lukewarm water. This seems like a drastic thing, but hey if your saddle's a bit screwed, you have nothing much to lose. It's only a saddle! Leave it for a good ten minutes, bubbles will emanate for while.

Then remove and stuff it with scraps of newspaper. Its a good idea to start with really small pieces under the curve of the cantle plate (the horseshoe shaped thing) where the hide can often be quite indented, to make sure the new shape you're giving it is continuous right down to the rivets. Its hard to get more paper in that bit later on, so that's why you do it first. Then fill out the whole hide with lots more newspaper. Stuff it in so it bulges the leather outwards away from the rails, flattening it out back to its original shape. Don't go mad though, as the leather might tear when drying if it's overstuffed. If there's any lopsidedness try to work more paper into one side to correct that.

Then use a leather toestrap or two, or a leather belt, to tie the middle-to-nose section around, to keep its rounded shape.

Dry it somewhere warm-ish like near your boiler - not on a radiator, too warm there. Just a gentle drying out, you need to leave it for as long as you can bear... a few days seems to be fine. Check it early on though, to be sure there's no tearing near the nose rivets as it starts to dry out (and shrink), if there looks like there might be a lot of shrinkage there, maybe remove some paper around that area or undo the nut (if its been tightened previously).

Don't apply any proofide til its really dry.

Once it's done, you'll find that the soaking has made the hide less glossy. It seems quite normal for them to get like this with age anyway, but if you want it shinier your local shoemender will be able to buff it with beeswax on one of their machines (they should use the cloth polisher) for the price of a pint.

Beware that old saddles can tear if you go mad with oil/neatsfoot/leather cream. Just a little bit is fine, not often. Watch out for the inner layer (a kind of white-ish stuff that I think isn't actually leather) that a lot of older saddles have underneath the hide. These can tear near the nose in my experience. Once gone, the hide could rip there too.

But if it does, meh, what the fuck its only a bleedin' saddle.

Does someone have to feel your arse and then lay a ruler from cheek to cheek to do that?

I'm sure they can accomodate your request if you bat your eyelids, ask nicely and spend lots of cash with in their store ;-)

They have a special cushioney thing you sit on for like 1 or 2 mins with mm increments. Your sit bones leave indentations and you then just read it off.