A Saddle Bag Attached

A customer asked me to attach this bag to the saddle on his Gellie Custom touring bike. So I did it with a couple of short belts with brass buckles. Eventually there will be a mini rack to support the bottom of the bag and prevent it swinging around and getting in the way. A beautiful old bag, heavy though, the leather is at least 5mm thick.

Green Goblin with Pink Bits

Being such a wonderful brother, on my last day of Summer holidays I gave Ged's Steam Roller a thorough clean. He didn't realise it could look so much like new again. The finishing touch is the "protest brake" with new pink cable housing.

Red Progress

The Two Wheeled Fire Truck is rolling through the streets of Melbourne complete with stainless steel Gellie Custom porteur rack. Not quite finished yet, still needs a black leather carry bag for the rack and some more comfortable pedals.

Resurected from Beneath a Car

Alison's Road Master, found in a ditch by the side of a country lane. Her dad made it rideable until one of the pedals fell apart, I found a suitable set to replace them in one of my yoghurt containers. Then, while riding through piles if leaves on an autumn day, a tree branch found its way between the front spokes. The wheel was wrecked and Alison found herself and the Road Master underneath a car, thank goodness it was stationary.

Before leaving for a year long tour of the globe Alison asked me to fix it up and left it chained to my front fence with instructions to cut the chain when I was ready to work on it and she would collect in a years time.

Oringinal Parts: Frame, fork, bars, head set, bottom bracket, mud guards, seat post and bolt, saddle
Reclaimed Parts: Pedals, cranks, rims, stem
New: Brakes, hubs, spokes, chain, chain ring, cog and lockring.

It's fixed, I hope Alison likes riding it, should be a breeze since she's experienced on a unicycle.

40

Thanks to all for birthday wishes. Photo by Adam Crapp.

Busyman bicyle chic

Saint Cloud

Two Turbo(esque) saddles recovered for Saint Cloud, a new fashion and fixie store  on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. White, Black and Chocolate.

Our Shopping bike

Finally finished the Busyman Shopping Bike. Assembled onto an old Repco frame set recovered from the Phillip Island tip the bike features single speed wheels built by Shifter Bikes, a $5 pair of mis-matched cranks, old Peugeot mudgards, rusty old rack with basket attached, kick stand, Brooks saddle from the heavy old Avon, a new brake system with cross levers, front cane basket and hand stitched leather grips with wooden bar plugs. All these additional components nearly did my head in, very different to a minimal fixie or single speed. Particularly difficult was fitting the mudguards and rack, I ended up having to crudely engineer my own brackets to get it to work. Tried it out last night on a trial shopping run. Bought cheese, corriander and beer. Forgot the bread stick which would really have looked the part.

Feride's bike take 2

After an unfortunate accident a year ago that ended up with a bent and buckled frame and fork and the front rim beyond repair all components were transfered onto this feshly powdercoated frame recovered from an old Silverton bike. The final touch on this version is the two tone stitched bar wrap, part of Feride's Christmas present. Also differnt on this version is the pure single speed replacing the three speed hub that never really worked well anyway. Feride's comments, "My bike is perfect".

Aly, Khiem and Thuy

Here's an oldy but a goody. Again hailed by Feride as the nicest riding bike. The baby seat was removed and in its place a powder coated aluminium rack with square basket attached. The bike (the green one) was completed a good 15 months ago but never made it to the blog. The strange thing about this bike is that it's a 700c frame running with 27" wheels and it handles beautifully. Also pictured is Khiem's new mixte built up on an old Raleigh. This one is currently the bearer of the baby (Khiem's) seat. Almost all of the bikes featured on the Busyman blog have come through Thuy - Aly's husband and Khiem's Dad. He has a real talent for finding beautiful 2nd hand bargains.

Matress Saddle #1

My first matress saddle. The biggest concern is whether or not Alison decides that the sunny lime green suits both her complexion and the deep pool powdercoated frame. If not, never mind, I'm very happy with the outcome and enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to construct this thing. It will become another Busyman sample. I expect it will be more comfortable than the original thanks to the silicon gel insert I found in another deteriorating saddle.

Christmas Surprise II

To match Michael's Basso track frame this set was a surprise gift from the lovely Elise. The saddle is an old Ariake Aero Jaguar also picked up from the recent swap meet at Seven Seeds. The original saddle was velour covered and the foam padding was quite perished. So I ended up replacing all of the padding before applying the new leather cover. Hand stitched toe straps to match and, still to come, stitched leather handle bar wrap.

Christmas Surprise I

This turned up in one lucky brother's Christmas stocking. From a loving sister named Gemma. An old Ritchey saddle from the recent Fyxomatosis swap meet. The previous owner was a little over protective of the saddle and didn't want to sell it to me if I was just going to resell it. I assured him it would be well loved though it was certainly in need of some TLC. So it ended up with a variation on what is becoming a busyman classic. The 'Casino Royale'. Hope you like it Gemma's Brother.

Dad's Old Bike

Ayisha needed a bike. The frame had been rusting away in her uncle’s garage, it used to be her father’s bike. Together with parts from another bike the brothers found by the side of the road I pieced this single speed. It holds sentimental value but has been given a new life. A new set of 27” wheels, tyres, tubes, cables and cages. The saddle is from a very large Peugeot sitting in my back yard and the pedals I found in a yoghurt container nearby. Mauve leather basic recovered saddle with cross stitch and matching toes straps. The old Nitto bars are wrapped in cotton twine and herringbone tape. The test ride was nice, I could do with one of these myself I think.

Add to the Quiver

SJ’s new fixie conversion just finished today. The brief was to create a bike reminiscent of her late seventies surfboard collection. Somehow I think the outcome is almost a decade out with it’s almost neon ‘sunny green’ frame and hot pink brake cable. The saddle, looking further back in surfing history, bears some likeness to a blonde wood Malibu in its uncoloured kangaroo hide stretched over the original saddle from SJ’s other bike, a Surly Steamroller. It’s a summer beach bike that was initially supposed to be coral coloured. Most parts are reclaimed from my collection of bits and pieces, the crank spider has been trimmed, removing the built in chain guard and permanently attached large chain ring. The wheels are factory built Deep V’s, new BB, brake calliper and pedals. Toe straps in matching kangaroo, bars wrapped in cotton twine and herringbone tape. A touch of coral in the left side of the bottom bracket.

The SMP meets the BMC

James sent over this picture of his assembled bike last night. He's paid so much attention to every detail of the bike and has been extremely patient waiting for all parts to arrive. More photos here.
What about something like this Nghi?

Fire Engine Progresses Further

Keylined lugs, original headset, Wiennman centre pull brakes and seat post bolt from the green Raleigh. And stem!

Dutch/Aussie Hybrid

I just finished recovering this saddle for J.O. in the colour of the Dutch national football team, known as oranje. I dyed the leather myself and found the most suitable and available hide was kangaroo. Hence the Dutch/Aussie Hybrid. The saddle is a Specialized Toupe Ti and, incidentally, J.O's from Melbourne not Adelaide.

Super Villains

For Nick's Skelletor build. Keep an eye out on the streets of Ney York City. Dyed to match Nick's Knog  Frog, thread is custom twisted with bees wax for a verigated chartreuse colour and a touch of purple...

Selle SMP: Comfortable

The Selle SMP Glider was certainly a challenge. It was kind of like recovering two saddles rolled into one. Twice the work, twice the blood, sweat and tears. I'm very pleased with the outcome though, it was all worth it. Keep an eye out for it on the streets of Adelaide. There seems to be something about Adelaide folk, they have a taste for complex saddles.