Butchering my Brooks B67 saddle

 Here's the result of that butchering -

and here's the story behind it -

I haven't ridden my Koga much this year, owing to the Brooks saddle becoming uncomfortable again. When I first had it, once I had got the tilt and height correct for me, it was extremely comfortable, and I could ride long distances on it without needing any padded underwear. Then I had some trouble with it last year when it became very uncomfortable, and also creaked a lot, and on that occasion tensioning resolved both issues. Did it now need more tensioning? I tightened it up a small amount while it was on the bike, but it didn't really help. I was a bit mystified as the change seemed quite extreme. I had read one or two cases of people finding their Brooks saddles uncomfortable after having been comfortable, so thought that perhaps I was unusual in this, but maybe not unique.

I decided to take the saddle off, and have a good look at it to see if I could see any reason why it might have changed. Amongst other things I found that underneath it wasn't quite symmetrical, and that the tensioning bolt didn't run parallel to to the rails, but I couldn't see why this would affect it now and not have done in the past, unless perhaps the extra tensioning that it seemed to need now just wasn't happening due to this. I had tightened the nut quite a lot more  and tried it out again, but although the creaking was much improved, probably due to my having given the saddle clamp and seat post a good wipe (though they weren't very dirty) it was still uncomfortable.

Tension bolt not parallel to rails

I should explain that the discomfort was at the front of me (that's quite enough explanation...). At the back under my sit bones was fine. Another important thing to take into account was that the saddle on my Trek, which I have had for years, was also not quite as comfortable as it had been, so I was beginning to think that maybe it was me and not my saddle that had changed. So I started to look online at saddles with cut-outs, thinking that this was what I probably needed. In the end I bought this Bontrager one from my local bike shop, as it was only £20, had good reviews online and I knew I could get a refund after 30 days if I didn't like it -

Bontrager saddle

According to the width measurement, 167mm, it wasn't as wide as I needed, but with the 30 day comfort guarantee I thought I might as well try it. As it turned out, it was surprisingly comfortable, but in the process of tightening the two bolts, which I should add I had always found very fiddly compared to adjusting the saddle on my Trek, which has one bolt, I managed to break one of the washers, although I didn't realize what I'd done until I went to adjust it more - 

Broken washer and underside of seatpost

I contacted Cyclesense where I bought the bike and asked if it was possible to get new washers. The answer was no, and the only solution was to buy a whole new seat post, for £30. That seems to be the case with a lot of things these days - you can't get a tiny replacement part for something and have to buy a whole new one. My local bike shop hadn't got any similar washers either. However, Husband is very handy and cleverly managed to fix the saddle back on by using a different washer and a bit of wood. Very Heath Robinson. It worked, but although I had made sure it was in the right position before he finally fixed it in place, I could no longer make any adjustments to it at all should I want to, or swap the saddle again, without having to ask Husband's help again. Although this new saddle was pretty comfortable - and on the whole I'd recommend it - I knew the Brooks was more comfortable under my sit bones. I really sit "in" the Brooks, rather than on it, which someone somewhere on the net said was what you should be doing. Maybe, maybe not! Not all experts agree, as we have all been finding lately.....

After some more weeks of thinking (slow thinking is good sometimes...) I wondered what I would now do with the Brooks saddle. Sell it? Probably hardly worth the bother. Keep it and maybe try it again at some point in the future? Or - have a go at butchering it, which I knew some people had done? I really wanted it back on my bike, for the comfort under my sit bones, so I thought I might as well go for the latter, and after reading anything I could find on the subject (not a lot to be honest) I got out my Stanley knife..... I made a stencil of the cut-out bit on the Bontrager saddle, drew inside it on the Brooks, and then began to slowly cut through the leather.

Just in case you're wondering, Husband had written "Haven't seen cat"

I was expecting the cutting to be difficult, but it was quite easy. Once done I skived off bits to make sure it wasn't too rough. I did a bit of filing as well using the emery board (I'm not a nail filer - it came with  corn removing stuff!!) and the grater that came with a tool kit -

After this photo was taken I did enlarge the cut-out slightly at the front.

Now I had to try it out, which of course I couldn't do on the Koga, so I put it on my Trek. I did a bit of riding up and down the road, and it seemed pretty comfortable, so a few days later I rode it a few miles. Still seemed good, so after another few days I rode it about 14 miles to go shopping, adding on more miles to give it a better trial. I also altered both the height and tilt of the saddle en route. I was very pleased! The next step was - put it on the Koga..... but to do this I'd have to ask Husband to go through his Heath Robinson thing again, and I wouldn't then be able to adjust the saddle further. I decided then to bite the bullet and buy a new seat post, not the £30 one from Cyclesense but a Bontrager one I had looked at earlier in the year (£22) but which I had decided against partly because it did not have as much setback as the Koga one. This was important to me as I had had the Brooks set back as far as it would go and even that at times didn't seem enough - a common problem with Brooks saddles owing to their short rails, and the position of them on the saddle. I looked at seatposts online with more setback but there wasn't one that would fit my bike (31.6mm). However, knowing that I had possibly not had the saddle as high as I needed it, which would give me more set back - as you raise the saddle, it goes back further -  I decided to buy it and hope for the best. Here it is back on the Koga, higher than it was previously -

It actually makes adjusting it easier, as you can see what you're doing from the top -

Note the trendsetting combination of Keen sandals, socks, and rolled up jeans...

I rode it up and down near our house and am now pretty confident that all will be well. That's as much as I can say at present as I haven't been able to ride it more this week as my lovely little granddaughter kindly gave me a present of a cold last weekend, since when I have done very little, but am now on the mend and am looking forward to trying out the saddle properly.

Just for comparison, here is the Bontrager saddle on top of the Brooks -

Actually, now I come to look at them both, there doesn't seem to be much difference in the length of the rails, but if you imagine that the Bontrager saddle were set as far back as it would go according to the rail markings, then you can see that the rider would be sitting further back on the bike.. It's not just the rail length that counts, but the position of them on the saddle.

So hopefully I have now got an improved version of my Brooks saddle! I wonder why Brooks don't make a version of the B67 with a cut-out as they do of some of their other models? If this really works for me then I'll suggest it to them.

I would love to hear of anyone else's experiences and opinions of butchering their Brooks, so if you have any please let me know in the comments!

And here, for your delight and delectation, as they used to say on some old TV programme, is another little bike bag I made from a rucksack I got from Freegle. Not at all waterproof, but useful on dry days! I might try a waterproof version.

 

Home made bicycle bar bag

 Before I get on to the bar bag, here's the reason why I decided to make another one: I treated myself to a second pair of panniers to go on my Koga, the bike I use for longer touring or just longer day trips, and because these new ones don't have any outside pockets, having extra and easily accessible space to put small bits and pieces in is even more important. The panniers are Ortlieb Back Roller Plus, bought from Spa Cycles (delivery was quick, despite Covid) in lime green, and it took me hours of poring over the internet to decide which ones to get. My old Karrimors  are excellent, and have two good outside pockets on, and I just wish that someone would make some exactly the same. I don't think I'm the only cyclist to think like this as similar style ones go for good prices on Ebay. I did in fact have my eye on a pair of Carradice panniers on Ebay but they went for more than I wanted to pay for something I wasn't totally sure about. At first I didn't want to even consider any that hadn't got outside pockets, and I came close to buying these Carradice ones, which are a very good price, but for various reasons in the end I went for the Ortlieb ones. I nearly went for the Bike Packer style, as they do have one outside pocket, but I thought it looked a bit flat and slightly awkward to get into. There were lots of other factors that influenced my choice, too. Maybe I'll do a whole blog post on that later.


In my very first blog post I wrote about a bar bag I made from a musette bag. You can read about that here. That very simple bag is still going strong, but I decided I wanted to try to make one that was a bit stronger, and, frankly, a little more professional looking..... I very much like these from Ornot, and other companies do very similar ones, and thought I'd have a go at copying the style, but in the end I just couldn't see how I'd fix it on without squashing my cables. I'm sure there are ways to work around that problem, but I thought I might as well just make another version of the one I've already got which I know works and doesn't get in the way of cables.

As the Karrimors are now permanently on the Trek, the cheap panniers which were on there are now spare, so I cut one up and had just enough material from one of them to make the bar bag. The fabric is some kind of ripstop. I had the design and measurements in mind before I started, but made alterations to those as I went along.

On the bike - 

The back, and no, that's not a bit of unstitched binding at the bottom right. It's just where I had to re-do the yellow stitching on the front and  didn't quite catch in the binding on this side, and so I did it by hand - 

The green lining came from an old windbreak I had acquired for free, knowing it would come in useful one day! I was vaguely trying to colour co-ordinate with the lime green of the panniers.... The green tape is just to fix anything else to if I want, based on the military molle attachment system which I came across on YouTube - see explanation here - 

Dog clip inside for attaching things like keys or safety pins to -

Don't look too closely at the stitching....

I was originally intending to attach the bottom Velcro strap round the stem, and the bag was going to sit right behind the cables where my old one did, but I decided it was better attached like this - 

Everything that I used came from the old pannier, or was saved from something else (like the tape and the dog clip), except the Velcro and the zip, both of which I bought.

I'm really pleased with how this bag turned out. I'm also making a waterproof barbecue cover for my neighbour out of Cordura type fabric, which is a whole new area of sewing for me - different fabric, different thread, meaning lots of internet research - and these two projects have really got me thinking about making bags from more outdoorsy fabrics, as opposed to the upholstery or dressmaking fabrics I've used in the past. And so then I got on to looking at vintage industrial sewing machines.... 

I would still want to re-use things, as with the old pannier. I just hope that charity shops will open up properly again soon, by which I mean unlimited numbers of customers and therefore unlimited browsing - essential in charity shops!

Just an everyday shopping trip....

My mileage is well down in the last couple of months. Because of the lockdown restrictions I have not gone out on long day rides, due to not wanting to have to call out Husband if I got a puncture, or some other problem. Not that this has ever happened to me, except very near home, so my reasoning isn't really logical... However I have had some really lovely short rides, finding some routes I either didn't know about or had forgotten.

One lovely sunny day - there have been so many! - I decided to take a route along our local Wilts and Berks canal to go shopping in Wantage. The canal is being restored in places and is a lovely quiet route to walk or cycle. In the winter it's too muddy but at the moment it's perfect. The surface is reasonably good for my hybrid bike, though in dappled sunlight the tree roots can be hard to see. Before I start, here's an interesting thing; I realized when cycling along the Kennet and Avon canal a couple of years ago that I much prefer to cycle with a canal on my right - it feels slightly weird cycling with it on my left.

Back to the shopping trip. I got onto the tow path about 2 miles from home -

 It's so lovely at this time of year. Who would want to drive along a road when you can walk or cycle along here?

Now I'm approaching Grove after about two miles on the canal. A few years ago this was just a field with a footpath across, which I used to enjoy walking. You can see a new housing estate on the left; they have at least done a reasonable job of landscaping the area, putting in trees and good paths. I don't know whether the paths are designated for walkers only but no-one has yet objected to me cycling on them. This is also part of what was once Grove Airfield, an important WW2 military air base, hence the aeroplane on a stick - that curved thing in the distance. Apparently it's a De Havilland Venom! (now I know...). There are some excellent photos of it here.

Here I am in the middle of Wantage, but still roughly following the route of the old canal. It's only in recent years that I have discovered just how many quiet paths there are between the houses in Wantage. There are quiet short cuts everywhere. In theory most of them are not for cyclists but I always give way to pedestrians and nobody seems to object to a cyclist being on them. Here the canal is just a ditch -

Now through a housing estate -

And here I am, after about 5 miles, finally back on the road and nearly at Sainsbury's, and even this road is much, much quieter than normal, due to lockdown.

Then through to the market place, which would normally be full of cars, both parked and moving. It does seem very strange once you get here, where most of the shops are shut - quite dead. There are not just few cars but very few people -

My bike was the only one parked here in my usual spot outside Waitrose (I truly do get a bit miffed if someone else parks there....) which is strange; we all know there are more people cycling at the moment and even the usual bikes aren't here.

 Now I'm back on the canal path between the houses on my way home, with very full panniers -

Sneaking through a gap by the stile and back on to the old footpath near the aeroplane -

Now, after cycling round the edge of Grove Business Park, I'm heading across the old airfield. It was many years since I'd walked this path and I couldn't remember how rideable it was, but in my relaxed and exploratory mode I just thought - oh well, I can always turn round and go back.....

It turned out to be rideable all the way to this lane  at East Challow. The photo below is of the site of what used to be a country club, and where I believe Elder Son wasted some of his youth. When I first came across the derelict buildings some years ago, and didn't know of this fact, I snooped around and came out with a haul of several beer glasses (some used by him perhaps) and a very nice stainless steel bucket, which we still have! This was also where a friend showed me Poplar Balsam; some time later when passing a wood close to home I realized from the remembered smell in my nostrils that it was growing there too.

Now past the church at the lovely village of West Challow. There is a stream that flows past the church wherein I once dipped my feet on a very hot day, after a day's riding. Nothing like it....

And now back up the bridlepath to Childrey, and then a short distance on quiet back roads home.

How many people's shopping journeys are like that? Just had a thought - I wonder if Husband would let me use his Go-Pro to film it? If I could manage the technology.....