One day long ago I took the opportunity of the last hour of the last day of Interbike to ride my MTB around inside the exhibition hall (last day, what are they gonna do, throw me out? ). I stopped by the Brooks booth, since I was riding on a Finesse. The chaps at the booth asked if I used Proofhide. The bike was only 2 months old, so no I hadn't. They recommended an annual treatment. They then asked if I was tensioning the saddle with the spanner. Erm, no. They were careful to caution me to tension very infrequently, and then only 1/8 to 1/4 turn at a time. Stressing the fibres and all that rot. They then gave me large tin of Proofhide (about 2 lifetimes' supply) and a spanner. Such nice chaps, those Brooks reps.

It's been six years, and I think I've tensioned the saddle twice, Proofhided twice, both usually needing to be done after a good bit of dry riding followed by getting caught in a thunderstorm and spending an hour or more in the saddle on the way home.