Old Flight Ti saddle - refurb help needed

[valleyboy]

I've got an old Selle Italia Flight saddle with titanium rails that I can not part with, had it donkeys years, super light.

To say that it is past its sell by date is an understatement so I am looking to restore/recover it. Anyone done this successfully that can offer advice?

Pretty happy with the technicalities of what is required and how to do the job but not sur what leather is suitable for the job? Where to get te hide from? How to make it water repelent?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers VB

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

Its been done on ere a couple of times mate,
Cant remember who by though, have a play around with the 'search' function, I remember a thread with pics, turned out pretty nice.
you will get leather offcuts from a furniture upholsterer or fabric warehouse

G

 

[ajantom]

This thread here - http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33820&sid=1d6e0be2dc00b73e375d5be4c6956232

I had it bookmarked for future reference

 

[valleyboy]

This thread here - http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33820&sid=1d6e0be2dc00b73e375d5be4c6956232

I had it bookmarked for future reference

Nice one. I'll have a looksy now.

 

[valleyboy]

Been looking for something like that for a while. Seen similar threads on other forums but not very descriptive when it comes to material selection.

 

[bduc61]

its a bit of a trial and error process
I bought some off ebay to find that
1) when you buy a lot ( of pieces of leather) on ebay, quite a few are not big enough as sellers tend to be optimistic
2) the leather needs to be supple enough and not too thick as it is going to condition the easiness of gluing it and the "look" of the tricky parts pf the saddle ie the forward end and the edges.
You want it to strectch a bit but not too much so that the look is homogenous
I would say "Flea market" is the source to go

Buying without touching is not good enough as you can't evaluate these details with a picture

finally, the glue is important as you need one where you can "reposition" the leather and unfortunately "neoprene" ones don't allow that.
Apparently some "wall to wall carpet" allow that.

I would forget about water repellent
you will be happy enough if you find a nice piece of leather in a nice colour

will try to finish a post pictures for a couple I planned with perforated creamy leather and another with ostrich hermes sourced piece

 

[24pouces]

You forgot :
You have to wet a lot the weather for forming it