Recovering Bike Saddle

Is your saddle falling apart? Or maybe just needs a new look?  Recovering a saddle is actually a pretty easy process,  not to mention very cheap.

Step 1: Gather Materials

Your gonna need a few things to get started

- Leather for covering your seat
- Hobbyist contact cement
- Scissors for cutting leather
- Marker or Pen
- Bicycle saddle
-Techshop ( optional, but nice to have a place to layout your project)

Step 2: Remove the Old Cover

Carefully remove the old cover. I simply used my hands to tear each piece. Try to be careful to not tear up the foam underneath, or the finished product will not have a very even surface.

Step 3: Cut the Leather Out

Place the saddle on the seat, then measure the entire surface area that you will need. I did this by laying my saddle all the way left, and marking where the saddle ment the leather. Then rolled the saddle to the tight and did the same.
You can simply use a pen or marker to mark the perimeter of this.

Cut about a quarter inch offset ( outward) so you have enough material to wrap around the bottom lip.

Step 4: Apply Contact Cement and Stretch Over

Now apply contact cement to both the saddle and the leather.  Allow the contact cement to sit for a few minutes until it gets tacky.

Once this happens, stretch the fabric over the saddle.

I ended up doing this process in two steps. I applied contact cement and stretched the leather over for the front have, then the back half. This made it a bit more manageable.