Rene: I experienced something similar once with a Brooks B17... After only a short period (maybe 2-3 months of mild break in), a friend noticed my saddle sat rather askew, and I then realized it definitely was lopsided... I sent photos to the retailer, who warranted it as defective, but stil made a point of telling me "go easy with the Proofide"... I gave it 2 generous treatments, but didn't think I overdid it. The replacement is doing just fine, BTW....no problems.
I wouldn't be shy about sending photos to Berthoud... You've had enough experience riding other leather saddles where this hasn't occurred before, correct? Good luck, BB On Mar 28, 10:06 am, Tim McNamara <tim...@bitstream.net> wrote: > Iif you look at the photos from behind the rear cantle plate is lopsided. It > certainly looks like a saddle failure. It almost looks like the left side > saddle rail has been forced out of its pocket in the cantle plate and that > this is what's twisting the nose. I'd inspect the the cantle plate for a > crack above the saddle rail on the left side. > > I had a Brook Pro (still have it) which used to have a twisted nose like > this. Turned out that the nosepiece was improperly formed; it was too wide > and would slip over the support stop on one side. A minute with the bench > vise fixed that and it's been fine for about 10 years now. My Lepper > Voyageurs tend to have a slight twist to the nose, too, but it is minor and > un-bothersome-y. > > On Mar 28, 2011, at 7:53 AM, Kelly Sleeper wrote: > > > > > René > > > I would blame the saddle. I would also write it off as a problem with a > > single saddle at this point not the Berthoud Touring Saddle as a brand > > defect. (unless it happens again of course) > > Send the pictures to the manufacture and I would bet they replace it for > > you. > > > It’s to early to blame your riding style or to start paying for > > professional fits etc. > > > Just my opinion. > > > Kelly > > > From: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com > > [mailto:rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Rene Sterental > > Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 9:39 PM > > To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com > > Subject: [RBW] Berthoud saddle twising on seat post... what is going on? > > > Hi all, > > > To my utmost dismay, today I realized that my 3 month old Berthoud Touring > > saddle is all twisted on the seat post on my Atlantis. Please check how it > > looked in January when I installed it:http://tinyurl.com/4mw79msand how it > > looked yesterday:http://tinyurl.com/4ea9qfe. > > > I have posted some additional photos as well where you can check it from > > behind referencing the handlebar:http://tinyurl.com/4vbsdmf. > > > It all happened because I got a second Berthoud saddle for my Homer and > > installed it yesterday. As I was checking to make sure that saddle position > > and height on the Homer was identical to the Atlantis, I noticed that the > > screwed rivet on the nose seemed to be pointing towards one side instead of > > pointing upwards. Further inspection from behind showed the left side > > significantly lower than the right side, and what appeared to be a twisted > > frame. When installing the Berthoud on the Homer, the distance between the > > rails is quite shorter than than the width of the rail "tracks" on the head > > of the Nitto S-83 seat post. The same was true on the Atlantis, but it > > wasn't quite so significant and this time I had to spend a significant > > amount of time slowly tightening the screws on the Nitto's head so the > > saddle rails would slide and get expanded to fit properly. The saddle on > > the Homer is very straight, just like the saddle on the Atlantis was at > > first. > > > I don't know if my hips are twisted and/or one of my legs is shorter than > > the other one; I'm having problems on my right hip that coincidentally or > > not, started when I started riding the Brooks saddles on my Riv bikes. As I > > removed the Brooks saddle from the Atlantis to replace it with the Berthoud > > - the Atlantis is the bike I ride the most - I did notice that it seemed as > > if that saddle was starting to break in and the left side had a larger > > indentation making it a bit lower than the right side. At the time I > > dismissed it having read that it appeared that the newer Brooks saddles > > were not holding their shape very well and since I was swapping it for the > > Berthoud didn't pay any further attention to it. > > > I then proceeded to remove the saddle from the seat post on the Atlantis to > > examine it (after taking the photos) and found the following: > > - The saddle seemed to straighten itself but I could twist it by hand quite > > easily and replicate the twist it had when mounted. > > - The screws on the rivets were a bit loose and I tightened them all - the > > saddle seemed to get a bit firmer and less twist prone but I could still > > twist it by hand. > > > I then mounted the saddle on a Thomson Elite seat post and carefully > > adjusted its position and tightened slowly ensuring it was straight. After > > being tightened on the Thomson, I could no longer twist it by hand. > > > I'm quite puzzled by all of this but am wondering if any of the following > > may be true: > > - My body is slowly twisting the saddle as I ride and my left seat bone is > > actually lower than the right one. On the Brooks saddle it seemed to start > > causing the leather to adapt to my derriere but on the Berthoud, the metal > > rails can twist on their plastic ends and therefore rather than the thicker > > leather adapting to my seat bones, the whole saddle has slowly twisted as > > the rails have slid even though the saddle was quite tight. > > - My right hip problem are the result of this twist that is probably in my > > body. I never had this problem when riding regular modern saddles, but for > > the past year+ all my rides were on leather saddles. I've gone back to > > riding clipped in instead of flats as that was another variable that > > changed at the same time. My right hip problem has been getting worse > > slowly over the past year, and nothing I've been able to do so far has > > really worked. > > > I apologize for the very lengthy description, but I'm wondering if the > > saddle is just reflecting something that is wrong with my body while it > > should be staying straight to help it. When I rode my Atlantis, didn't feel > > at all that the left side was lower than the right side. > > > Thinking back, about a month ago I moved the saddle further forward. To try > > to maintain its tilt I didn't loosen it too much, just enough to be able to > > push it forward by shoving it from behind. I wonder if it wasn't loose > > enough that my shoving caused the twist by pushing one rail further than > > the other one and then tightening it. > > > Any feedback is much appreciated; I'll keep riding it and monitoring it to > > see if the twist returns or if it now preserves its correct shape. > > > Thank you all! > > > René > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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