What Are Bike Saddles?
Brooks Saddle
Bike saddles are what is put on a bicycle to give comfort to the rider of the bike.
They are made in all sorts of shapes and sizes, depending on the style of the bike.
Vegetable Tanned leather is what is used for the Brooks saddles, today they still use veg tanned leather on their saddles.
The B17 bike saddle was invented by Brooks of Birmingham, England, this was made in 1882 when the first patent was filled, Brooks have made leather goods since 1886 and still make leather goods today.
The B17 bike saddle is still made in the same traditional ways today, each saddle can take three days to manufacturer.
The first bicycle was invented in 1817 by a gentleman called Baron Karl Von Drais, this had no peddles and you used your feet to propel the bicycle forward.
A bicycle seat is different to a bicycle saddle, a seat is designed to support the rides back and buttocks. Arthur Garford is who is known for inventing the padded bicycle seat in 1892.
A bicycle seat is different to a bicycle saddle, a seat is something that’s designed to take your entire weight, whereas a bicycle saddle is designed to only take part of your weight like your buttocks, the rest of the weight should be distributed between the peddles, and handle bars. Saddles can have two sprung coils at the back of the seat to give comfort when riding, saddles are what’s mainly used on an upright bike position.
Another English make of bike saddles was also in Birmingham called Wrights, Brooks bought them out and took over the Wrights Company as the saddles both companies made were very similar in design and look, but it was said Brooks used a much higher quality grade of leather on its saddles, both sites at the time of the take over were not big enough to house both brands so a new site was used called Smethwick.
Wrights Saddle
Wrights Bicycle Saddle
Wrights Bike Saddle
Some claim Wrights used elephant hide for its saddles, but we cant find reference to this, or much information on the Wrights company at all.
Restoring saddles can be carried out with the correct products, rather than using a paint like with traditional pigmented leather, it’s best to use a super saddle cream designed veg tanned leathers. Leather Saddles also require natural products to be applied on a regular basis to avoid drying out and cracking, this can be done with a leather softening crème, massage into the seat a generous coating of the softening crème allow this to soak in and then protect with a protection cream.
The super Saddle Cream comes in a variety of colours that can be rubbed in to the leather to bring the colour back to life again, this can then be buffed to seal in the colour and to help give the surface a waterproof protection layer.