Plain Jane Brooks B17 into a Sexy Brooks Swallow

Long time listener, first time caller. I love the sexy look of side rails on a leather bike saddle.  I’m funny that way. What I really wanted was a Brooks Swallow saddle, but I couldn’t afford the $320.00 price-tag.   So I went to ebay and bought a B17 for $69, all in and decided to make my OWN Swallow.

Step 1: Layout

Used electrical tape to mark off the amount I wanted to cut off.  I decided that since I’m 240 lbs, I wanted to leave something to tie together underneath in the middle for stiffness.  So I taped off the Brooks stamps on the side skirts to save them for folding over later.

Comments

[extremelymild]

Hey, thanks for that great idea, just did it myself to my B17 and it looks great. My experience: I used electrical tape, which was adhering too strongly and left marks on the leather after peeling it of, so you should choose the tape carefully. Maybe the brown leather is also more delicate. Also, the edges were spreading a bit in the front part, which I could correct by soaking it with a bit of water and then tying a thin rope around it. After drying, it keeps the shape.

Looking forward to riding it when the weather is better :)
All the best from Switzerland,
Martin

[mjursic]

Well, that just made my day! I had no trouble with the tape leaving marks. What kind of marks are we talking about? Did it strip off the leather? If not, try cleaning it up with zippo lighter fluid, or something like that. Test the cleaning fluid on the scraps. Good luck!

[extremelymild]

somehow I can't comment on the comment by mjursic below, so I'll put it here...

Yes, it stripped the dark brown surface partly, leaving ugly marks. I ended up giving the whole saddle a used look (actually I had it for a few years already, so it was not new at all). Especially the BROOKS letters come out nicely after carefully filing them a bit. And a bit of shoe wax helped on the top surface... It really looks great now :)

[wschruba]

Beautiful! I must say though, the skirts on my Brooks grew on me. At first I didn't like them, but now I can appreciate the (now) unique aesthetic.

Bravo, though. I hope it rides as well as it looks?

[mjursic]

I didn't dislike the skirts, I just wanted something different. I have my uncut B17 for my beater and my cut one for the fixie I'm building.

[iminthebathroom]

That does look better, nice!