Saddle Repair?

dave_o_brien

So I've had a SPecialized Alias saddle for a good while now, and have loved it. I have a Toupe on the race bike, and the Toupe took up the job of everyday, high-mileage saddle with amazing comfort. BUT, it has cracked... The shell on one side of the cut out has cracked, and obviously this has led to a HUGE reduction in comfort. I know these saddles aren't stupid money, but I am quite broke and like the idea of repairing one. What I am wondering is do you think it would be feasible to laminate fibreglass strips on the underside of the saddle to sufficient strength to support my 86kg (plus more often than not a bag)? If so, where do I buy small quantities of fibreglass?!

Any advice is appreciated,
Cheers,
Dave

mbiking123

Hello

Used to use fiberglass for Kayaks, and I used to be able to get it in a car auto factor shop. One word of warning, fiberglass will not bond to all material types. For example fiberglass will not fix a plastic kayak, it will not bond to the plastic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ULemgTR-g this guy works with the mat and resin on a car

may be of some help

dave_o_brien

Right, I think the shell of the saddle is plastic, so I may be in trouble from the off... Thanks for the link, I'll look at it properly before trying anything! Can't hear Youtube (or anything for that matter...) from the computers I'm on now.

cdaly_

I'd say fibreglass wouldn't have enough flex to repair a plastic saddle anyhow.

TBH, I can't think of anything that would work short of gluing big lumps of plastic to the underside of the shell.

dave_o_brien

cdaly_ wrote: »

I'd say fibreglass wouldn't have enough flex to repair a plastic saddle anyhow.

TBH, I can't think of anything that would work short of gluing big lumps of plastic to the underside of the shell.

Yeah, I thought about that too, but it seems clumsy and I'd be concerned over it's strength. Justifiable?!

cdaly_

Strength can be an interesting one. In metalwork, adding a big lump of steel to repair a crack can result in moving the stress point to the end of the patch and causing a new crack to develop there. With the right sort of heat and the right sort of plastic as a filler, it is possible to weld thermoplastics. The issue with the saddle is getting the padding off to get at the shell and getting the repair to be smooth enough that it won't cause chafing later.

I've not had any success repairing plastics...

dave_o_brien

Yeah, I'll have a look at the base again later on. I reckon if it's the plastic one, it's probably written off... I know one of the two (alias or toupe's I have) has a carbon shelled base, but I can't remember which. IF it is the carbon shelled base, do you think the fibreglass strips might work?

CheGuedara

[thread hijack] Slightly OT but has anyone here ever had a saddle re-covered? Have a Spec saddle that got a skinning from a tumble earlier this year - rails and body are 100% but a fair bit of the cover & padding were left on the road, would be handy if it could be re-covered (at handy cost) [/thread hijack]