Making a leather seat less slippery

TheAxeman · Jan 26, 2007

I've got a Bill Mayer leather seat on the bike and can't seem to find a product that makes it less slippery. I've tried, Lexol and the goop that came with seat but they only work temporarily. Its especially bad when the seat is very cold. There must be something that equestrian folks use on their saddles that works but I can't seem to find anything. Any suggestions that would work and keep my family jewels from getting crushed every time I have to hit the brakes hard would be greatly appreciated.

painman · Jan 26, 2007

Axe, there is a product used by the horse crowd called "Sadl-Tite" that is well known to do what your looking for. Plain old saddle soap could help as well. Your seat will become less slippery as it ages and the main thing is to keep your seat away from water. Water is ok to use with saddle soap but thats it. Conditioner's need to be one that creates a "waterproof" barrier but allows moisture to escape the seat/saddle. As a note I would try whatever product your going to use on something besides the ($)seat first. Hope this helped and congrats on the purchase of a great seat. PM. <>< :thumbsup:

05fjrBluedevil · Jan 26, 2007

:blink:

Sand paper might work, :devil: :friends:

or double sided carpet tape, just want to make sure you do not slide off while hanging

JimLor · Jan 26, 2007

I've got Rick Mayer's leather seats and initially had the same challenge. I use Lexol and either I've gotten used to it or it has gotten better. I do recall using saddle soap on my winter gloves and not liking it because it made them sticky and I couldn't let the clutch lever slide. So, I agree that you might try saddle soap.

Scab · Jan 26, 2007

I once used a leather boot conditioner/water proofer from Wally-World (shoe section) on a pair of gloves. The result was soft, supple, and sticky. Not sticky to the touch, but more as JimLor described. I didnt' really like it on the gloves for the same clutch lever reason. However, if your seat is not black, you may not want to use it as it would darken slightly the leather it was applied to. No problem on the gloves, they were black, but some boots I did were brown and you could visually see the darkening.

TheAxeman · Jan 26, 2007

Alright, consensus seems to be saddle soap so I'll give that a whirl. I'll report back (as soon as the friggin wind chill goes above -9 degrees).

Bounce · Jan 26, 2007

https://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/prod...Part1_Jan04.pdf

https://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/prod...Part2_Jan04.pdf

https://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/prod...Part3_Jan04.pdf

https://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/prod...Part4_Jan04.pdf

saddle soap is a cleaner. you still need a conditioner. i agree with MCNews' conclusion about Lexol

Xbrit · Jan 26, 2007

Try Connoly Hide Food, should give it a tacky finish and protect the leather as well.

TheAxeman · Jan 26, 2007

Bounce said:
i agree with MCNews' conclusion about Lexol

Thanks for that link Bounce, that was quite informative actually. Its interesting that some of the higher priced products didn't necessarily get the higher scores.

Luke · Jan 26, 2007

You can get Lexol at your local PepBoys Auto Center.

It is also sold at PetSmart.

ionbeam · Jan 26, 2007

I have a couple of horse saddles that are worth several $thousand$ dollars each. I use a bunch of stuff to maintain them but the basics are Murphy’s oil soap and Lexol. Depending on the layout of the three-phase event and the season, I may use either friction wax or sadl-tite. I way prefer the friction wax to the sadl-tite. I've added heavily sueded panels to one saddle and that really sticks good.

TheAxeman · Jan 26, 2007

ionbeam said:
I have a couple of saddles that are worth several $thousand$ dollars each. I use a bunch of stuff to maintain them but the basics are Murphy’s oil soap and Lexol. Depending on the layout of the three-phase event and the season, I may use either friction wax or sadl-tite. I way prefer the friction wax to the sadl-tite. I've added heavily sueded panels to one saddle and that really sticks good.

Alan, this might sound like a stupid question but would you put the friction wax on the seat directly or on the seat of the riding pants (nylon)?

ionbeam · Jan 26, 2007

Use Friction wax only on the seat. Sadl-tite goes on anything. Sadl-tite is intended to go on pants and/or seat. It does wash off fairly easy. I find that the Sadl-tite sticks to too much stuff, including dirt. In a perfect world you would have a suede seat and a suede panel on the seat of your pants. This combo would actually make it hard to get off your bike! I've had suede sewed to the knee rolls of my saddle and my jodphers have suede panels on the inside of the legs, bring on the 6' fences :huh:

Bounce · Jan 28, 2007

Luke said:
You can get Lexol at your local PepBoys Auto Center. It is also sold at PetSmart.

i've even found it at Ace Hardware.

AGirl · Feb 3, 2007

FWIW, I run w/an Alaska Leather Buttpad on my sportbikes if nothing else "butt" to solve the very issue you're having (ok, minues the family jewels part).

AGirl

E1Allen · Feb 3, 2007

Pine Tar

Grumpy · Feb 3, 2007

Velcro?

jim

FJRottie · Feb 3, 2007

Spill Beer on it and let it dry on its own.

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