# What is the best saddle leather conditioner?



## New Mexico Brant

Please provide input concerning the best leather conditioner for seats/saddles. I have searched the site and the following products have been mentioned:
Lexol Leather Conditioner
Picard Leather Dressing
Bickmore Bick 4
Brooks Proofride
Has anyone tried more than one of these to compare which is better?  I have some seats that will be ridden in the future and other that are just show saddles.  Are any of these products better for certain applications?  Thank you for you input.
Kindly,  Brant


----------



## vincev

Brooks.It conditions without softening.A Brooks saddle will soften and stretch if you use the wrong conditioner.


----------



## markivpedalpusher

Mink oil works really well for dry leather - Amazon


----------



## Boris

Been using this stuff for over 45 years. Satisfied customer!
http://www.langlitz.com/leather-dressing/


----------



## Boris

markivpedalpusher said:


> Mink oil works really well for dry leather - Amazon




There is some controversy around mink oil accelerating deterioration of stitching. OP may want to do some research on this before use.


----------



## vincev

Boris said:


> Been using this stuff for over 45 years. Satisfied customer!
> http://www.langlitz.com/leather-dressing/
> View attachment 688092



Are you cornering the market on that stuff??


----------



## Boris

vincev said:


> Are you cornering the market on that stuff??



If those were all mine, believe me, they'd be beautifully displayed on a piece of cardboard!


----------



## vincev

Boris said:


> If those were all mine, believe me, they'd be beautifully displayed on a piece of cardboard!



I am glad they are not all yours.I was starting to wonder about your mental status.


----------



## Boris

vincev said:


> I am glad they are not all yours.I was starting to wonder about your mental status.



No reason to stop just because of that.


----------



## bairdco

I'm anti-conditioning leather saddles.

Whatever you use will degrade the leather, stain your shorts, and darken the grain.

If it's new, just ride it. Your butt will harden and the seat will (eventually) soften.


----------



## NoControl

I've used Proofide for years, and I like it. However upon a friend's staunch recommendations, I've tried NikWax on a brand new Brooks B17 Special that I mounted on my Surly ECR. I must admit that I like it much better than Proofide. It sinks into the leather and really looks nice after buffing. Hey, it's for waterproofing climbing boots! Brooks says twice a year for Proofide. NoControl says once a year for NikWax.


----------



## stezell

I like Lexol Brant, I've used on quite a few dried out saddles. 
Sean


----------



## NoControl

stezell said:


> I like Lexol Brant, I've used on quite a few dried out saddles.
> Sean




I have a BELT saddle, you know one of those leather Fujita saddles from Japan. Some guy had an old old Fuji Special Racer hanging in his garage for like 40 years, and it had one of those Belt saddles on it. The wife was doing her typical, "If I won't use it, I'ma gonna toss it" exercises, and she had a box of stuff for me to take to the dump. Well, there was this huge bottle of vaseline intensive care lotion in there. She didnt like the smell. So here I am holding this and thinking hey wait a minute - if this stuff smooths and softens skin, why wont it work on leather? I slathered it onto the BELT saddle, and by golly its working. The saddle went from brick-hard to almost-flexy. After I got it to the flexy stage, I Nik-waxed it. I was going to ebay it but now I think I might just want it for a future build!


----------

