Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires can be hard to mount on a rim. They’re big, thick, heavy tires. The folks at Spa Cycles, in the U.K., have published a video that shows a good way to get a Marathon Plus, or any difficult tire. onto a rim.

Mike Sherman posted his technique for taking the sag out of a Brooks leather saddle.

Tags: reshaping

Have you ever thought about forming a new leather cover for your old Brooks? “Big Block” did it and he posted  a nice series of pictures showing his process from beginning to end on the London Fixed Gear and Single-speed Forum.

Enough tire spray on wet roads and your leather saddle can become saturated and vulnerable. Usually we have fenders, or at least a bag under the saddle, for protection. Brooks used to offer these undersaddle shields, probably around the middle of the 20th century. (They’re made out of celluloid if that’s any help with dating them.)

Tags: water damage protection

Cathy B. has let slip her secret for making Brooks copper rivets shiny:
(dirty rivet on right, sparkly rivet on left)

Cathy tells us that she uses . . . . ketchup! And a Q-tip.

Originally uploaded by guuwatanabe

GUU-Watanabe shows this frontbag mount on their Flickr photostream. The bag sits on a small rack so this system of wood and straps is an alternative to the decaleur.

There are more pictures of the bag and bike in the photostream.