I snapped two cell phone pictures of this pretty root beer colored Hunter cross bike at the McLaren Park CX race recently in San Francisco. The owner stopped to talk to me about how he created that great matching seat. He started with a worn out plastic and vinyl seat and advised me to do the following:-Peel the vinyl covering off
-Repair any ruined foam padding with house hold caulk, let that solidify
-Soak the leather to make it stretchy
-Stretch the leather over the sadle and clamp it in place
-After the leather is in place tight on the saddle, trim so that you have just enough to tuck under and glue to the shell using contact cement
-Soak the leather to make it stretchy
-Stretch the leather over the sadle and clamp it in place
-After the leather is in place tight on the saddle, trim so that you have just enough to tuck under and glue to the shell using contact cement
Sounds like a slightly messy but rewarding way to get yourself a leather saddle that looks much more classy than any of the stuff you can buy for cheap these days.
It actually looks pretty good. I've seen many do-it-yourself saddles where the leather looks loose and creased.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this looked pretty slick and matched the bike really well. Of course, if you like black and white bikes like I do, matching stuff to the frame is easy!
ReplyDeleteWith your color scheme, you could get checkered pleather and make yourself a Cheap Trick Rick Nielson tribute bike:
ReplyDeletehttp://bp1.blogger.com/_AUJ1pA6tvUc/SGk6gx-X-DI/AAAAAAAAAG0/bA0Q83_VMZs/s1600-h/RN_5neck.jpg