[Closed] Re-Covering a saddle

I've not heard of anyone offering this service. You could try upholsterers.

I this recently myself, with am SLR too! They use the crappiest leather known to man in my experience.

Charity shop for an old leather coat, some yoga mat padding, get crafty with some scissors & super strength glue & away you go.

Do it yourself. Leather remnant from ebay, some spray adhesive, and some contact cement is all that you need.

The foam may not be replaceable, though. A lot use liquid foam molded to the plastic saddle.

Hi guys I've got a buddy who does just this he's the head latherer for Rolls Royce so it's all top stuff.
He's on Facebook and called B-Hide if you do contact him just say big Carl has put you on to it.
It's not cheep but it is a custom quality job.
Good luck.

Here's one I did: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-project-recovering-a-tatty-sdg-bel-air

Personally I think you will struggle with the foam. Getting the same (or a similar) foam would be a chore and then shaping it to the same intricate shape as the original would be very difficult. My Bel-Air foam was very thin and I can't see anyone making a copy of it successfully.

The foam was a PITA to shape, every single tiny imperfection shows up under the leather.

If you can peel the old leather off and keep the foam as one, then that's best, alternatively I would recover over the old leather if possible.

You need a surprisingly dense foam that wont collapse to handle an arse it would seem! I lucked out with the mat I got, I thought it was going to be way too dense, but it worked out great.

I tried covering my tatty SDG - got some very nice shoe leather from the local cobblers. I just couldn't get it to stretch though, as it was possibly too thick. However, it's the same thickness of the leather cover on an old Rolls saddle, so presumably the manufacturers stretch the leather over a form, just like with shoe-making. Robdob's effort looks really good - presumably that was with thinner, stretchier leather.

The other 'tool' you might want to get for this is a staple gun, but you'll need to find one that does very short staples otherwise they'll stick through.

I like Batman's suggestion - usually pays to speak to a pro !

I think they only use staples in the manufacturing process as it's quicker - the contact adhesive I used is never going to fail!!

I went to a shop and selected the leather myself to make sure I got some that wasn't too thick. It doesn't have to stretch much though but does need some give.

It's much easier to cover a saddle which has plastic bumpers as they cover up the hard bits.

Some people on Retrobike have recovered original Flites well, even redone the graphics.

you will find some inspiration here...

http://leh-sply-mfg.tumblr.com/

Dead Rats do them, I think they're in Manchester:
http://deadrats.co.uk/bespoke/leather/saddles/