Tag: tension pin

March 18th – A bit of a tip for the Brooks saddle owners with a sheared tension bolt, as I suffered last week.

If your saddle hasn’t stretched much, it can be particularly hard to get the replacement bolt in – in the factory, the saddles are stretched on a hydraulic jig, so fitting a replacement can be a struggle to the home mechanic.

The problem is made worse because the pin isn’t threaded all the way up – and an extra 2mm of thread could make all the difference, and did on my saddle.

To make fitting a replacement easier, I took the adjusting nut from the new pin, and turned 2mm off the head on the lathe at work. It’s a steel nut, so there’s plenty of material left, and that 2mm allows the nut to be wound back clear enough to fit the pin with minimum leverage.

If you have this problem and don’t have access to a lathe, just find a handy local engineering company where someone will probably do this very quick task for a pint.

It could make the difference between doing the job yourself and having to return the saddle to Brooks.

April 15th – I seem to be going through a mechanical rough patch. It happens, I guess, but it’s frustrating. My bikes are never the cleanest around, but I like to keep them mechanically tip-top. Thus when you have a rash of failures, it can be really disheartening. Following a spate of punctures last week, and the bizarre failure of the crank, yesterday the tension bolt on my saddle snapped, making for an uncomfortable ride home.

I use Brooks saddles – traditional, made in Birmingham, they’re the best thing I’ve found for my bum, and they give years of service. Lauded and hated equally by the cycling community, there are all kinds of myths surrounding Brooks saddles; you need 500 miles to ‘break one in’, they need constant oiling, they’re ruined if you adjust the tension. 

A saddle is a saddle – it either fits your arse or it doesn’t. If a Brooks doesn’t feel nice when you first get on, it’ll never fit you and you’ll hate it forever. But if it does fit, wearing it in will make it fit even better. I oil mine using Proofide once a year. I occasionally nip the tension up a half-turn when it gets a bit hammocky to ride. Again, about once a year.

I have never been as comfy on a bike as I have with a Brooks between me and the miles. I love them. I can ride all day (and often do) and never feel sore on them. But that’s me. 

Always try a saddle before you buy it.

My only criticism of these posterior wonders of comfort is the tension pins are crap. They snap usually at the point where the thread finishes, as this one has. The head fits in a socket at the nose of the saddle, and there’s a nut (not shown) that tightens against a shackle acting against it, and the rails. This takes most of my weight, and fatigues. The threaded part above has been filed to enable me to get the nut off without damaging it’s threads.

Easy enough to replace, this is the second time this pin has broken on this saddle in it’s ten year lifespan. What’s annoying is they’re a cheap £4 replacement, but postage doubles the price. Fortunately, last time this happened, I ordered a spare, too.

I love Brooks saddles. But they ain’t perfect and they’re not for everyone…