Bel Air 2.0 has split along the rear so needs a new cover. Anyone done this before? Just wondering what you recovered it with.

Would a waterproof canvas do it? What thickness of leather would you use? Would a marine vinyl be too sweaty?

Depending where you live you could try a horseriding shop, yonks ago I had an expensive saddle [ bontrager ] that split , No bike shop would repair it without it costing more than it’s value.
In the end I went to a shop that did saddle repairs, the woman fixed it while I waited, charged me a fiver and apologised for the cost. The benefits of living semi-rural I guess.

I’ve done a few.

I use leather offcuts from ebay, you want fairly thin ones, and the spray glue for sticking down carpet tiles.

go slowly. Clean the saddle well. Use the old piece as a template, but cut your new piece bigger and trim it after it’s stuck. a handful of wee bulldog clips are useful for the edges

looking back at some notes I did on one before, I found 1.1mm leather a bit tough to fold into the nooks, so maybe a little thinner would be better.

There’ll almost certainly be at least one spot where it isn’t perfect.

a flite titanium I did years ago – second ever effort

it’s nigh-impossible to do saddles with “shapes”. I made a horrible mess of a fizik aliante

lots of folks doing this on retrobike

That flite looks phallic now.

That flite looks phallic now.

*goes to rejuvenate an old flite with purple cover materials*

Done it a couple of times using vinyl offcuts I got from an automotive trim supplier called Segal Motor Trim in Manchester. You need to get the thinnest vinyl, which is fabric-backed and very stretchy. Do it somewhere warm to help it stretch and conform. Cut it bigger and use Evo-Stik to glue it around the back, then replace the plastic trim, which squashes it nicely in place. Then do the nose and finally the sides. It’s fiddly and you’ll get glue all over your fingers. You used to be able to buy glue thinners, with which you can remove stray glue. It’s very satisfying to re-cover your favourite saddle.

Have used old suede jackets. Usually less suedey on he reverse. If you can find a glue that works with damp leather a tighter finish at the front is easier. Turbos work well as the shape is easy to work with.

These people say they can recover saddles
http://www.southlondonsaddles.com/

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recovering-a-saddle-1

I got a Brooks out of a skip once and got a few years use out of it.

Thanks for the advice folks. After trying to remove the cover and finding the cover was very well stuck to the foam, but the foam, not so well to the shell, and given the cost of materials, I’ve decided, sod it, I’ll just buy a new saddle.