I've recently acquired a "honey" Brooks B17 for my new racing green Brompton, and I have a pot of Proofride left over from when I had a Brooks Imperial, as well as the little sachet that came with the B17, yet reading here and elsewhere (and Brooks' own instructions) there seem to be countless contradictory ways to apply Proofride (or half a dozen other substances, which I don't want to use) to a new Brooks saddle, so I'm left with not quite knowing what to do.
From my experience with the Brooks Imperial I had on my Hewitt tourer (before it got stolen off my bike after about 3 years of use), I think I applied too much Proofride to it -it got way too soft quite quickly and sagged. For that saddle I applied a liberal quantity of Proofride to it on both the underside (which I didn't wipe off) and the top (which I did, after it had soaked in a few hours). After that I applied a little Proofride to the top about every six months, when the leather started to look a bit dry in places.
On my Hewitt, I replaced the Brooks Imperial with a Gilles Berthoud Aspin, which I only applied a little of the GB saddle grease to (quite liberally on the bottom and a little on the top) initially, and only about once a year (a little, just to the top) since, and that seems to be holding up a little better, but even that is now starting to get a bit soft.
I've seen others, though, with Brooks B17 saddles that seem to have conformed well to their sit bones, but which still seem to have remained quite firm - which as far as I can tell, is meant to generally be the desired outcome? Do these people use *any* Proofride, or just very sparingly?
Brooks own instructions seem to imply you just need to apply a very little Proofride to the top, and then to wipe this off. It only mentions putting any on the underside if it's thought needed for waterproofing (I do have mudguards, but do live in England, so...).
So - what is the generally recommended way to apply Proofride to a new Brooks? Just the top? Just the bottom? How much and how long to leave it on for (if buffing off)?I'm assuming from experience that you shouldn't use very much. I don't mind having to do a few hundred miles on the saddle before it starts to break in properly.