Brooks B17 saddle repair

Repairing a brooks leather saddle that has a broken tension bolt

[@JRLNeal]

Thanks for this. It’s a perfect solution. Brookes wanted £45 for the repair!

[@robertfalconscott7039]

My bolt sheared on tour. Googled it and came across this video. Got an 8m bolt and nuts. Was back on the road in a jiffy! Thanks to this video. Cheers mate.

[@SimonBrowneNZ]

Thanks for taking the time to explain the problem and provide several solutions - something every Brooks owner needs to know. I bought a second hand Dawes Galaxy in 1979 for 90 pounds from bike shop near Sloane Square and it came with a B17. In my ignorance, I over tensioned the saddle and tore the leather in the front - but have recently had it repaired back to good as new. I now appreciate what I have so much more now than I did then.

[@Tommyhearnsrighthand]

I tried this myself, raided Dads bolt collection and bodged one in there and its fine... thanks for making the video feel a bit reassured it'll be ok now.

[@pedalpetter5865]

Thank you Sir for this tutorial. 👍

[@alans4281]

I am 64 years old but my B17 is just under 24 hours old. Thanks for sharing.

[@user-do5hd7zb4x]

Dear Scrimper U.K. I think ya got er! Hope she holds up for you. Never did have the nose bolts snap but have always owned the brooks pro. Racing saddles. Never had any trouble with them. The old brooks pro. Racing saddle that came with my5th px 10 peugeot did have problems. I used olive oil on it to recondition the leather and it got too soft. I was riding one day and the nose rivets let go all of a sudden I heard a ca chunk! Sounded like a paper cutter striking down. She bottomed out and I had no support. My brooks professional was broken. I was able to ride it home but the noserivets were ripped out. The moral of the story is dont use olive oil on your saddle. It will make it too soft and pull away from rivets. Also dont over tighten the brooks nose bolt. Just enough to give some tension but dont overdo it. Else it will pull out from rivets.reccomend only use proofide to reconstitute the leather. Happy cycling.

[@nicodobben7897]

Thank you, I was just looking up the address for Brooks to have them repair my B17 saddle when I came across your video. Now, (20 minutes later) it's all fixed, using nuts and bolts I had lying around. Brilliant!

[@heggedaal]

Thank you very much. Your video really helped to repair my saddle within fifteen minutes.

[@supermusclemaniac1]

Excellenct video chap! Very helpful. Thank you from New York!

[@edlazda3245]

The Brooks bolt has a 5/16" British Cycle thread (you may not be a collector of such useless information 😁). If you wanted to use the original nut, I guess you could get a 5/16 BSCY bolt or some threaded rod instead. I've just snapped my first tensioner bolt after using Brooks saddles for decades, and your solution looks much easier -- I think the Brooks bolt makes the job difficult when it doesn't need to be. Thanks.

[@toku_floyd]

Personal discovery, G.P.O. pliers adjusting No1, are the perfect tool to insert a new tensioning bolt in the Brooks saddle.

[@88sstraight]

My buddy’s B17 suffered the same bolt break - your video saved the day! The world’s ugliest (green, hey it was cheap) Brooks rides again.

[@wayneellis96]

Thanks for your video, just repaired my saddle, works perfect, thanks again 👍

[@davidsiscar207]

Sir, you're a master magician. Thanks !!

[@BrotherApps]

Very helpful mate (as we say in Iowa). I snapped my B17 tension bolt a couple of days ago, and have had no success finding a replacement part so far. Even though I have about 7k miles on the saddle, I was unsuccessful in stretching the leather to provide enough space for 2 nuts. I intended to put one nut into the nose bracket, the other would be to turn against the rail bracket. I was successful using a socket head 8mm screw (with an allen head) and a single thin nut. It was a still a tight fit, but I was able to squeeze it in. It was then very easy to hold the nut with an open end wrench and turn the screw with an hex head wrench. Worked really well.

[@MarkMcCluney]

Finally got back to finish watching and, as always, found it very enjoyable to watch you solve a little problem. Thanks mate -I'm away to watch you painting your bike now!

[@breakfastrider8179]

Thanks for the helpful video. The nut size 5/16 British Standard / 1/4 Whitworth. It measures 13.34mm. Leave it to Brooks! 🙂

[@annebeginn2034]

Brilliant video thank you so much for sharing. Just got back from a wild camp on my saddle only to discover the bolt came out of the fixed hole at front. Looks like it’s had a similar fix by a previous owner as I bought this b17 many many years ago and I was gutted when it fell apart. Thanks to you I’ve managed to put it all back together and hopefully I’ll have many many more years if the leather doesn’t give out 😅

[@SwimSherpa]

Got a B17 cheap. Convinced the tension bolt was stripped. This video showed me the potential to replace or repair. It just came down to knowing where to get a solid grip and turning the bolt in the correct direction. All is well. Thanks!