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My existing saddle is over 8 years old and what used to be a fairly comfortable saddle has me shifting around quite a bit these days.

I am considering a leather sling saddle similar to the one made by a company with a name that starts with BR and ends with ooks. I live in Oregon and ride all winter long in the rain on muddy abandoned logging roads. I have fenders installed. My current saddle still gets wet.

Would anyone happen to have experience with a similar situation and could they share how the leather held up or ways they protected the leather material?

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    Do not know how resilient a natural leather saddle will be in moderate to extreme wet environments. A synthetic material, however, should not care much about water presence. Brooks offers saddles made of synthetic stuff for sports as well. However, I would focus on getting a proper saddle fit as you feel like your current saddle is limiting you — maybe it is just not suited for metric parameters of your butt.
    – Grigory Rechistov
    Feb 4, 2018 at 16:46
  • Hi and welcome to Bicycles Stack Exchange. Unfortunately specific product recommendations are considered off-topic here, see: What topics can I ask about here?, you could also check out The Tour. Also, apart from resilience to the elements, saddle choice is very personal and fit dependant.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Feb 4, 2018 at 17:30

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Leather is fine to ride in the wet. However because its an organic product you have to treat it periodically with a preservative. Also you don't want to just leave it in the rain all the time, that will accelerate its failure. Having decent mudguards/fenders will help reduce water up from below too.

Covering the leather with a plastic bag helps reduce absorption of water, but you can't just wrap it and forget it - that way leads to mold and tears.

The saddle needs a chance to dry out, so store the bike inside in the warm. If that's not possible then bring the saddle inside after a wet ride.

Brooks recommend their Proofide mix which is about 15 euros for 40 grams so 5% of the cost of the saddle. I've treated other leather goods (belt, gloves, leatherman pouch) with various mixes of beeswax for suppleness and waterproofing.

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    It really depends how heavily it rains were you are and how long you are out in the rain. While I have had good luck with leather Brooks saddles in the rain (they were just getting a little wet at the nose). One saddle essentially got ruined due to how heavily it rained one day combined with the length of ride. Despite fenders, the amount of rain running down my body ended up saturating the saddle leather, the saddle then stretched too far due to the length of the ride. Now I find it uncomfortable and I have slowly been trying to fix it ever since.
    – Rider_X
    Feb 5, 2018 at 1:19
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    Thank you. Maybe I need to find a winter saddle and a summer saddle. More research. Happy trails!
    – fish
    Feb 5, 2018 at 1:59
  • @Rider_X sounds like time for a rebuild kit, which is a new leather. You might be able to tighten and shorten it by stitching a Z fold in somewhere, or moving the mounting hardware attachments a bit.
    – Criggie ♦
    Feb 5, 2018 at 2:27

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