Terry leather saddle durability? - Page 6 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

05-31-2004, 05:01 AM

The answer is that the Specialized Milano leather (from Taiwan) held up just
fine. It's also a much more comfortable saddle than the Liberator was. A
pity that the fellow in the LBS did not know he sold such a thing when I
first came looking a couple of weeks ago. Would have saved me the hassle of
getting that Terry Italian POS. So much for "old world craftsmanship".

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist,
Visual Basic programmer)
"GRL" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Thanks to all who replied with experience with Terry leather saddles. I
> think it likely that I just got a saddle with a bad finish. Only problem
> with returning it to Performance for a replacement is that the replacement
> is likely to be from the same lot and the whole lot may be (probably was)
> bad.
>
> So I think I'll just send it back for a refund. Went to a local shop
> yesterday looking at vinyl saddles and bought a Specialized Milano
(leather,
> chrom-molly, like the Liberator) which had very favorable ratings in
> mtbreview. It's made in Taiwan and the leather does not have the slick
> (shiny) finish of the Terry. We'll see how it holds up later today.
>
> Probably would have bought it local in the first place when I went to look
> two weeks ago and asked for leather saddles, but they said they had none.
> We stumbled on this one while looking at vinyl saddles yesterday. Sheesh.
> People really ought to know what the heck they sell.
>
> Again, thanks to those kind enough to answer my questions.
>
> - GRL
>
> "It's good to want things."
>
> Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist,
> Visual Basic programmer)
> "GRL" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
> news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> > It's not the leather itself that is wearing. It's the finish coat coming
> off
> > from contact with my cotton shorts. In any case, that old saddle was
> > lycra-covered which is nowhere near as tough a material as any leather
I'm
> > familiar with...and it lasted two years with the wear-through coming at
> the
> > corners, probably exacerbated by lots of sun-exposure (my bike lives on
my
> > bike carrier when not in use with the saddle covered by a plastic bag).
> >
> > This Terry saddle wear is on the flat surface area, not the corners. It
> > looks like the result of really poor leather finishing. I mean really
> poor.
> >
> > --
> >
> > - GRL
> >
> > "It's good to want things."
> >
> > Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist,
> > Visual Basic programmer)
> > "Ken" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
> > news:Xns94F7AF35D23B9x12@216.251.47.166...
> > > "GRL" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in
> > > news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]:
> > > > I was utterly shocked. I bought leather because I thought it would
be
> > > > more durable. (The leather seats on our 13 year old Toyota have
never
> > > > done this.) Is this typical of the leather Terry uses? Is this
typical
> > > > of other leather saddles? It can't be, I hope. Who would buy the
> things?
> > >
> > > How heavy are you? Some bike saddles use a super-thin leather cover
> that
> > can
> > > wear out pretty quickly under a very heavy rider. Compare those to a
> > thick
> > > leather saddle like those made by Brooks.
> >
> >
>
>