Alternatives to Brooks saddle Proofhide

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What alternatives are there to the Proofhide for Brooks saddles? The stuff Brooks sell seems very pricey but there must be people putting wax into leather that isn't Brooks approved. Any suggestions?
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
Any leather product. I use an equine saddle feed for my walking boots and it is perfect for bike saddles.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
This stuff is good, one tub seems last to for ever.

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carpenter

Über Member
Location
suffolk
+1 for Renapur - used it on a leather jacket, a Brooks saddle from the 60's (took lots to soak in!), and regularly on my shoes.
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
Proofide is mainly beeswax and tallow, so look for something made from those. Best to avoid silicones, which rules out a lot of shoe polishes. Having said that, I have restored really dry ones with neatsfoot oil.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I suspect there will be a lot of these locally judging by the amount of horsey people I encounter riding.

I've now ordered a saddle Brooks Flyer (Honey colour) as I've found the one I have to be pretty comfortable, eventually. As I recall it should be left unwaxed until broken in, and then you apply the wax, is that correct? The current Brooks took ages to break in. I don't appear to have have a Brooks shaped backside, so I'd like to speed the breaking in process as much as I can.

Of course there's always the debate as to whether he saddle gets broken to the rider or the other way around...
 
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carpenter

Über Member
Location
suffolk
With a new saddle I got a small sachet of proofide in the box - I put a bit on the underside of the saddle before I fitted it as the bike hasn't got mudguards, so I thought that it would be best to start with a little more protection.

Also I must be one of the lucky ones; I found the B19 comfortable from the word go :smile:
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
Because the leather is a natural product (well, as natural as taking a dead cow's skin and soaking it in unknown nasty chemicals can be!), you get hard ones and soft ones. Some are pretty soft from the off and never noticeably break in, some stay hard but visibly break in after 1,000 miles or so (fine creases around the sit bone contact area). Some never break in at all; I commuted on a Spa Wharfe for a couple of years and it remained unaffected, and as hard as concrete. Never rode it more than 10 miles at a time, and wouldn't have wanted to. It broke a nose bolt bracket (Spa sent me a new one for free) and then popped a rivet (not easily home repairable) so the hardware was weaker than the leather!

There is an oft-repeated theory that honey Brooks are softer and more easily broken in, if they even need it, than the black ones. My experience of about 7 different Brooks saddles tends to bear this out. My honey Swallow and Team Pro were soft from the off and have stayed smooth, with no visible break-in. My black Swallow is harder and quite clearly broken-in at the back. My favourites are the large rivet vintage dark brown Professionals (not Team Professionals, which are a bit longer) which were "pre-softened" from new and just work.
 
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