DIY - Cover your cracked/old/crap saddle

Wait til I've tried mine this weekend and I might be able to tell you how to do it!
If you're realistic with design etc I reckon it's doable

I finally did this and it worked a treat.. Borrowed a leather punch and started small holes at nose to big holes at the back in a triangle shape. Bit of glue and it's all good

Only issue to resolve is how to centre the leather on the seat so the holes are bang on up the middle..possibly some sort of lines on a cutting board/ bit of wood I can pin the seat to

I'd post a pic but I don't have the technology just now.. Can email if anyone is interested

Anyone had any sucess re-covering a concor? I think it might be difficult due to weird shape (esp at the back where the rails meet)

I wouldn't call it a successful re-covering but here's my first try:

aaand here's my second:

http://imageshack.us/a/img33/955/dsc08264f.jpg

Fake leather. Waaay easier to glue to the seat, stretches nice and is thinner than the real leather i used before. Might do my drop bars with the (fake)leather i got left.

I covered my old SE saddle with Denim a few weeks ago.

Thread from t'dead.
Has anyone successfully retrimmed a saddle with a cutout?
My old SLR Gel Flow needs a new skin. I'm happy to leave the old one on and go straight over it, but the slot is super-narrow and quite pointed at each end.

Selle Italia put a seam down the centre of it originally but it would be nice to avoid doing that.

Decided to crack on with this, and visited my local Leather wholesaler. It's in the Fashion district, so the scrap bins are raped on a daily basis. I found some nice thin black leather within the first five minutes of rooting around, but thought it would be too small. 45 minutes later, I hadn't found anything better.
The good news was the price - 50 cents for a scrap of leather!
The adhesive ended up costing much more, a whopping $4.25.

So I got home and got started.

[[/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120231_zpsa55de902.jpg

Like I said, I was concerned it might be a bit small.

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120232_zps2b8de48c.jpg.html"]](http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120231_zpsa55de902.jpg.html)http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120232_zps2b8de48c.jpg

As the saddle has a (narrow) cutout, I decided to deal with that first. Instead of applying adhesive to the whole saddle, I just did a strip in the middle so that I could put the leather on, press it into the groove and then cut a slit using a scalpel.

[[/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120233_zps250ab3da.jpg

After that had cured (20 mins) I went on to gluing each side of the saddle.

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120234_zps960c3db3.jpg.html"]](http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120233_zps250ab3da.jpg.html)http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120234_zps960c3db3.jpg

Another 20 minutes went by waiting for the adhesive to go tacky.
At this point I just wanted to get the top of the saddle adhered properly, quite tight and neat. No rush.

[[/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120235_zpsbd9a6806.jpg

Here you can see how I've just pushed the excess leather down into the cutout. It's all glued so it should stay put. Superglue is always on hand if it lifts.

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120237_zps69642414.jpg.html"]](http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120235_zpsbd9a6806.jpg.html)http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120237_zps69642414.jpg

With the top done, I could turn the saddle over, trim the excess and start working out where I'd need to cut the odd dart or slot to fold all that leather under.

[[/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120238_zps7cf8bbd7.jpg

I started at the nose, using a scalpel and scissors to trim away enough to allow me to fold the leather. I then worked my way up the sides of the saddle until I got to the 'hips'. The back is a complex shape, so I had to cut a good few darts.

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120241_zps640056be.jpg.html"]](http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120238_zps7cf8bbd7.jpg.html)http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120241_zps640056be.jpg

With everything folded in and trimmed, that was me done for the day. Doesn't look too shit for a first attempt, but I doubt Busyman would be happy with this.

[[/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120242_zps7d4b2445.jpg

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120244_zpsd239a7d4.jpg.html"]](http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120242_zps7d4b2445.jpg.html)http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120244_zpsd239a7d4.jpg

[URL="http://s20.photobucket.com/user/190Evoluzione/media/P1120245_zpsf9d65ed1.jpg.html"][/URL]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/190Evoluzione/P1120245_zpsf9d65ed1.jpg

I then left it for 24 hours before installing it on the bike and taking it out for a ride.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3685/9673778217_a77c02b3a3_o.jpg

If I were to do it again, I'd definitely cover the saddle rails with masking tape. The adhesive is stringy as fuck and gets everywhere. If you get it on the top of the leather, the rails, or anywhere else you don't want it, rub it off whilst it's tacky (ie within 20 mins of application).

this is really informative, thanks

Great thread! Might try some of the tips on here. Cheers

I did a specialised toupe with a hole in the middle. I cut out the leather and sewed in a flap all round the hole, which made it very easy to tuck the edge around the inside of the hole. Yours looks great though and sewing the leather was a proper pain.

Any tips for filling holes in foam? I've got some different saddles I want to recover, but some has some wear on the nose, others have shallow - 1-2mm - pits.

Has anyone got spare brass rivets?

I will attempt to recover an old Rolls next week and need at least 4 rivets.

If not, I will buy some online:

Saw these online:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-ASSORTED-BIFURCATED-RIVETS-FRAMING-LEATHER-SPLIT-RIVET-steel-bzp-copper-brass-/251322436882?pt=UK_DIY_Material_Nails_Fixing_MJ&hash=item3a83fc0d12

and these used by Roboto:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Split-Rivets-Brass-11-gauge-Spare-Riv1-/151241988129?pt=UK_Vintage_Accessories&hash=item2336b99821

Bought a fluorescent green saddle on eBay and the cover was knackered.

San Marco Rolls Ergo, which is basically a Rolls with added gel for comfort.

Found some pink leather, also on eBay and gave it a go.

Glue, cutter, scissors, paint brush are all from Poundland.

The rivets I bought on eBay aren't the right ones so I will need to replace them.

The nose was the hardest part and is still not looking 100% right but altogether, I am happy with the result.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20140405_150824_zps5nddgpwr.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20140405_184004_zpspoydeptm.jpg

Awesome! Good work Vince!

i can recover any saddle

When you say any saddle, does that include tensioned leather hide with rivets like Brooks? People often ask me (as I chop and stamp names in them) but I have no clue about doing this. Brooks will re-cover with new leather but it aint cheap.

Dredge. Got three knackered flites inbound, 9 euros for all of them on ebay. Thinking I might give this a go. Lots of broken pics in the thread @Mr_B @Vince any chance of getting them back up? And does anyone know what thickness leather to go for, I assume as thin as possible? 1.1 mm seems kind of common from a quick ebay search for offcuts.

As thin as possible is the answer.

I have some leather offcuts left somewhere in the attic, I will see if I can locate them for you.

That's very kind of you! Would need them posted but will cover costs of course, if you find anything suitable.

It depends what's underneath. When I stripped an SMP I found there's some nasty bumps in the plastic and actually some screws sticking through that had been covered by the previous padding (which was like 2 inches thick, hence stripping it).

Ah, ok. Not planning to remove any padding but good info.

@Hulsroy did a bit of a guide in his CP thread, didn't he?

He did: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15030973/
And he can probably be pursuaded to give a bit more info as he's such a nice guy

https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTkwNjgxNzEwMzAzNzM3?igshid=185miudlk706u&story_media_id=2202370535169771624_217803013

I made this story which is a sticky on my IG page. Should be self-explanatory.
I never got around to finding pins and a pin gun. But it is holding up nicely anyways ridden in all types of weather.
I would look for something to weather proof the leather with next time I do it.

Super helpful, thanks. Following your IG now!

I cannot locate the spare leather unfortunately...

Flites are good once stripped, you need to dremel / sand off a couple of nobbly bits and you're good to go.

Cross posting from CP. I've started my first try.