Who knew that Amazon delivered on a Sunday?  A surprise at the door this morning when a bloke with a box appeared at the door.  It was not due until Tuesday, but it was the only parcel I was expecting.

It felt a bit like unboxing of an Apple product, instead of the smooth edges of an Apple box you have the rustic feel of the rigid cardboard constructed to make a shoe box size container, you have the feeling they have been making these boxes like this since 1866.  I expect, a good bit of marketing (which is working) and a retro feel is what everyone wants, all very hipster.

Along with a sample of Proofide and a small manual, the saddle itself, a spanner for making adjustments, and an edition of their newsletter in the form of a traditional looking newspaper.   Marketing department at full blast, all a nice touch.

As it was all unexpected I hadn’t planned to do anything with bikes today, that was about to change.  The Royal was in the shed but all clean, and so I wheeled it into the kitchen.  The existing saddle had done me well and there had never been any problems with it, I was more than happy with it since fitting it in 2013 (read here).   The main reason for changing was due to money given to me as a leaving present from work which made me think I hadn’t lost out of anything if I didn’t take to the Brooks.    The current saddle was a purposely comfy one with a bit of padding, the new Brooks was hard leather….

I read the instructions which suggested I gave the top some Proofide treatment and buff it off, and a coating for underneath which was to be left to soak in.   Funny smelling stuff, not unpleasant at all, making the kitchen take on a strange old fashioned smell for a little while.  After spending what seemed like maybe too long stroking and playing with the saddle…  I decided to fit it to the bike!    The old saddle was a bit taller and so with now just leather between my backside and the rest of the bike I put the height down a bit.

With biking not planned for today there would be no time to really try it out, but I can say from my 5 minute ride around the block all felt fine.   Not a totally full proof experiment, but not sudden feeling of ouch or discomfort, only a real ride would tell.   I did think about riding it to work during the week, but looking at my cycling shoes it seems they could do with a bit of a clean to make them usable for work.  I didn’t fancy that sorting that for today.  In any case, I have noticed that discomfort only really comes into it after 10 miles which means waiting for a weekend trip.

Off to plan and wait…