Brooks Saddle Tension Pin Replacement

In this video I show how I replaced the tension pin in my Brooks B17 leather saddle. I struggled quite a bit with this so skip to 11:30 if you only want to see a summary of what I've done.
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[@michaelbose9682]

Thanks for your video. I've been riding Brooks saddles for more than 30 years and, in addition to the Flyer Special, I also ride a B67. Two other people in my family ride Brooks saddles - I just love these saddles! The 64 mm tension screw broke for the first time and the thread on my old B67 was destroyed. I was also delivered a 70 mm screw instead of the 64 mm! But it fits because the saddle, or the leather has been stretched anyway after a few years and the saddle has been re-tightened. The actual procedure for replacing the screws is to open the screw connection at the back with which the frame and suspension are screwed to the leather base plate and remove the saddle frame. Then you can insert the tension screw. In order to screw the saddle back in place, you need a second person with narrow fingers, because unscrewing the nuts is a difficult task. After I squeezed out the springs and my son unscrewed the nut, my saddle worked again. Best regards from Germany. PS: By the way, comparable models used to be made in Germany, but then everything was switched to plastic and artificial leather. Thanks to British tradition, we can still enjoy these noble products today!

[@imprintwell5436]

good information for someone who has issues with tensioning bolt. Danke

[@martinlower8247]

Same thing happened to me; used your method and it worked! Took far too long, but got there in the end. Many thanks...

[@spinningtrue]

Appreciate that, I probably could have been more to the point in my video but glad it helped and that you got yours fixed!

[@bikebiketom4407]

Loved the video. I have been in that place so many times. The reason it was such a herculean task was because the bolt that you got was the wrong length for the saddle. The 63mm would have gone in without any force. As you correctly stated, the length of the unthreaded bit was different, and that makes all the difference slotting it into the holder at the front of the saddle. Thanks again, it is seldom that I watch a video all the way to the end, but I had to know if you won in the end.

[@spinningtrue]

Oh thanks for the insight! And I appreciate you saying you watched the video to the end :).

[@martycunningham3273]

Thanks, mine has just sheared on my B17. Have requested a replacement from brooks - happened one day before two year warranty expired!

[@ChrisOwen-ee6dc]

Thanks for posting. It helped me fix my brooks pro (same issue, broken bolt). The whole assembly was just plain confusing.

[@spinningtrue]

No prob glad you got it fixed!

[@manaboutlondontown968]

I've looked at a few people wrestling with this on KZbin, and all resort to the hammer in the end, but I found it made things worse. I've just managed to do it. I used the general advice about tying the bolt back to stop it swinging around and then I levered it into place using a 6" flat screwdriver. It took several tries, and it has to go in one move or try again. My tips are: clear the swarf off the entry hole first, and turn the tension pin out a couple of turns to make it a bit longer, so it bounces up off the end of the screwdriver and into the hole.

[@delboy868]

I live in in the UK in Birmingham which is not too far from the brooks factory I did email them once and they said they would do the same repair as you did,I think after watching your video I think I will let them repair it, I've built many bikes ect it looked like it gave you a few problems, take it easy

[@simplexicated]

Just watched this video as I got the pin in but not seated. I didn't need to go to the lengths you did and just ended up drifting the pin in the rest of the way with a hammer and punch, it finally seated after a number of blows.

[@bradybeavers3418]

Somewhere, your physics teacher is so proud of you 🙂. My pin snapped as well on my B17...should I order the 64mm? You have far more patience than I do. Thank you for the video, very helpful!

[@spinningtrue]

Ha thanks for sticking with me and my frustration. I'm not sure about the size, off the top of my head 64mm is right but hopefully you figured it out since you commented this 2 months ago!

[@YellowBellyBob]

Absolute pain in the arse job. Spoon almost worked for me but in the end prying with a pedal wrench got it in. Thanks for the tips. I hope we can all avoid doing this job in the future

[@spinningtrue]

Yeah if I did it I think that I would use a different kind of screw which you can access from the outside.

[@johnwatson8192]

Have an electronic pat on the back!

[@ricko3k]

Keep saddle on bike for this: The big help to me was, using a countersinking bit in my drill, put a small chamfer/lead onto the inside of the hole, that and with my girlfriend pushing hard against the back of the saddle, allowed the front of the pin to find the hole. Also Brookes are you listening, put a lead on the point of the pin and deburr/put a lead on inside of hole 10 second increase to your production cycle time!