Hello,
I recently had a go at recovering an old plastic and leather saddle myself.
I would describe the results as satisfactory rather than amazing.
Although the topic has been covered (ahem) before, here are some observations from my experience:
1) It's very cheap to do. I got a bit of leather sufficient for two saddles for
about £5, plus the cost of glue. Use contact adhesive like evo-stik and put two coats on the leather. I tried copydex but that stuff is complete sh1te.
2) Practice on another old saddle first. You can probably find an old saddle for peanuts, or even for free if you put a wanted ad on here.
3) If the saddle has foam padding, do your best to keep it in place when you remover the leather. Some makers seem to glue the leather to the padding as well as the plastic, others don't. It's pretty much impossible to
replace the foam padding yourself. I tried using a bit of foam camping mat
(karrimat) but it was (as I should have predicted) hopeless. If you can't keep the foam padding, it's easier just to recover the bare plastic. And only old women need padding anyway...
4) Keep the original leather from the saddle and use it as a template for the new covering. It's important to get the nose part accurate, this is the fiddliest bit to do.
5) I'd love to know how the makers put the logos on the side and rear of saddles. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know.
In all, it's probably worth a go recovering yourself, it is not too expensive, and you could probably get better results if you are a bit more patient and
less cack-handed than me...
Good luck,
Johnny
