Brooks B17 Saddle - Disassembly and Rebuild with Copper Rivets 

I've been riding Brooks saddles for 40 years. I have 4 brooks saddles with 1000's of miles on them and love the comfort they provide, BUT I have had 3 of these saddles break on me. 2 of them one of the rails broke at the seat clamp on different bikes. both were replaced with new saddles by my local bike shop. I noticed I have another broken seat at the rear banana shaped rear frame on the outer wing area where the rail connects. I plan to repair this myself. I can not believe the problems I have had with durability but I will continue to ride brooks because of the proven comfort. I weigh 160 and ride these seats on touring, Mountain bike with rear suspension and a folding bike. I have 2 Professionals 1 swift and 1 B17 sprung. I treat all these saddles with Brooks recommended Proofride. Top and bottom. I always protect the seat from rain or tire spray with a cover and store the cover pushed under the seat when not using. I feel if you spend enough time on a bicycle your ass can ride most any saddle because of the callus buildup and soft tissue conditioning but for a casual rider these Brooks saddles are in a class of there own and can provide hours of comfort. One can not expect to jump on a Brooks with no or minimal hours in the saddle and expect to have no saddle sores. Time in the saddle is important.

It looks beautiful, with the wider copper rivets. Thank You for the video.

Great workmanship, very impressed. I've got a Swift with the copper rivets which look better with age.

I have done the same thing, changed the nickel rivets for copper ones, 13 mm. Thanks for the tutorial, Works great, it only was very hard to put the rails in and get the metal nose part in place. At the end it worked, with help from my son.

That was beautiful. Actually made my day.

Very nice job. That totally gave me the confidence to do the exact same. Those alu rivets are flimsy and the big copper ones are surely sturdier and more pleasing to the eyes.

Need to get one of those machine gun hammers

Nice job. Brooks are the best.

I just ordered some rivets to redo my B67. I think they're the same as yours but they're labeled as 12.2 mm. BYB248 brooks copper rivets. Ordered an extra tenth one just in case.😅

he made his own Swallow. nice.

Hi and thanks for the video, what the last product you use on the rivets ? the white one, it's like a polisher ? A customer give me a quite young B17 carved but I would put the proofide before use it, also he have tight the laces to much avec I hope to comme back to he original's shape of the saddle. I know about come back to a finest shape with some really old leather saddle but for extend them I don't know (For the moment I put a little pen for discard really slowly but maybe I make a Mistake ... for explain without picture, the part who "Brooks B17 at right and Brooks at left goes too inside" Sorry for my English and thanks if you see this coment .

whoah small world i found your video so early to you uploading it. great video!

Better than new fantastic job....

I have a B17 with crappy white metal rivets, which were torn right through the leather after about 30,000 km. Those rivets rust and break. Copper is must more resistant to corrosion.

I want to get that speedy hammer you are using.

Looks beautiful, good job

great video though... thanks for posting!

The job’s a good un’.well done.

Hi sir, just wanted to know did you apply a first coat of proofide on the underside when you disassembled it? Would have seem easier than after you fully assemble it.

May need to mail you mine down the road lol.

Great video. I want to do the same thing to my Brooke's saddle. I couldn't tell, but did you also use copper washers underneath or riveted right to the frame ?

Great video and thank you for sharing. I'm thinking about doing the same with my saddle. May I ask you: did you use the 12,5mm or 8,75mm copper rivets to replace the stock ones ? Mine is an aged flyer and I'm looking for the right rivets. Thanks.

Bravo. Liked. Questions if I may. Where did you purchase the rivets and what did they cost? I'd like to swap the titanium rails from a black B17 to a honey colored B17 with regular steel rails. The method would be doing what you demonstrated. Do you anticipate any issues? Thanks.

It was cool to see the rivets, but it would have been helpful to see the underside of the rivets, also if you could have specified the wax on top (looked like it was Turtle wax?) I guess this wasn't a "how to" but more of "Just watch" type video.

What were you using to spread the rivets on the inside?

Awesome! I've swapped out a failed steel rivet with something resembling a chainring bolt. Eventually I'd like to put cooper. Did you buy from Brooks? Or other supplier?

Great job man!

What kind of hammer did you use ? Also did you just use a metal dog for your anvil base? My brook saddle the top rivet on the tension nose is coming loose, horrible scrotum accident waiting the happen for me.

Where did you get the copper rivets?

Nice job! Could you please comment on what you are using to maintain the leather from 2:16 onwards? You seem to be using some type of oil and later on some paste/wax of some sort? Thanks.

That's the great thing about good quality honestly made stuff, you can repair it. Unlike stuff from China, even if you could it wouldn't be worth your time.

we all wanted to see the underside of the rivets - what's the one thing you didn't show .... ;-)

Good explanation One question if you allow : have you been riding in the rain with this saddle? MBKing in the rain and mud? I´ve been living in Belgium where it rains a lot. My B17 got completely stretched and useless after 2 times 3 hours on rainy MBK tour. The Brooks dealer took it back and gave Swift instead. I didnt trusted it anymore and put the Brooks on my Brompton to avoid ruining it again.

we need to ban automatic assault hammers

Doo you recommend buying the B17 special?

what size copper rivets did u used? any link for me to buy them. thanks

What are you using as an anvil?

Hello. Do rivets have to be shortened before hammering them down?

Nice job!

interesting, i thought the b17 has "ears on the side"

Where do you get that copper rivet?

The original Brooks rivets often look like that when they are new, not just after a lot of use! They rarely fail, in fact hardly ever. The side rivets on the nose are very difficult to do for anyone without any engineering experience, and the right setting tools.

Jason and Dan what size set did you guys get?

Where did you find the rivets? I've been trying to call Brooks for days without any response.

what was that paste you used on saddle , also what was that blacking

what setting tools did you use? thanks

hello - where buy the tools to make it ?

is that really a b-17? looks like the "professional"

hello, I've a b17 on which I need to replace the sheared 'nose'. I got the replacement nose and copper rivets from a supplier out of New Orleans. (forgot the name) my question: did you trim the inside portion of the rivets once inserted, before hammering or did you just set them as-is?

Any housewife can do this by teeth !! :)

great, unfortunately the saddle looks much more premium than the whole bike :)) i think it goes better on road bikes...the styles don't match here

If it took a drill and all that hammering to get the rivets out maybe they weren’t actuality needing replaced.

Please put a towel down on the bench

What you've done is taken out working rivets because they looked dirty and replaced with oversized ones that spoil the original look. You "attacked" the leather with inaccurate tools and hammering - obviously slightly "missing" the target. That will compress the aging leather around the hole which will stress it. You gouged/forced out the orignal hole, which will also stress it and encourage water ingress around the rivet. It's unlikely the rivet you fitted is as tight as the original fixes - so your frame will start to move, very slightly, on the bad rivetting. Pointless - you have not really understood leather, accuracy or correct tools.

Not a B17. This is a Swallow, the original racing style saddle... Lots more wrong with this video.

Unnecessary