The Lady

For Malcolm's saddle, taken as a direct copy from his painting. When finished the saddle will be on his restored first generation Malvern Star mountain bike. Hopefully ready for Christmas tomorrow.

For Jess' Boyf

I made this custom wallet. Full grain cow on the outside, kid skin inside with hand stitching.

Double Straps - Monogram

Kangaroo, cloth and cow

With doule keeper fit with single cages

"LMNM"

Though strictly speaking not really a monogram, these kangaroo tri-laminate double toe straps feature the new (surprise) owner's initials - hand embroidered. New to my repertoire of techniques this method allows for finer line work lettering to be applied to the straps. The colour is the natural undyed kangaroo hide which will quickly darken to a light tan when exposed to sunlight. Ben, I hope they are well received.

Casino Arione

The "Casino" design is back again by popular demand, reconfigured this time to fit the shape of Tim's Fizik Arione.

Aslan for the Pinarello

A new take on the cross stitch

The classic Turbo embellished with the face of Aslan. A little something for a long time admirer.

Regal Yellow Roo

It's not easy to find yellow leather in Melbourne. Nor is it easy to find nickel plated rivets in 15 - 16mm diameter. Mark knew the shade of yellow he needed for his recently acquired San Marco Regal, Taubmans call it Retro Gold. Eventually we managed to pull the project together with a really nice Australian twist too. The leather is kangaroo dyed to just the right shade of yellow. The rivet caps are actually the tops of press studs polished to a high shine. I've been wanting to attempts a Regal recover for quite some time now, thanks for the opportunity Mark.

Casino Concor Cross Stitch

From the back - fully molded

Red & White cross stitch

Casino Concor dot pattern

The bar tape - double stitch / single perforation

James' 2nd Busyman saddle. This time a variation on the "Casino Royale" perforation pattern on an old Concor Super Corsa. The saddle also came to the Craft Hatch Market today and seemed to inspire a few imaginations. Tomorrow it goes in a bag and off to Gloucester, NSW, with custom leather bar tape to match.

Motor Spares

The Motor Spares / Master Sports bike is finally finished. Latest finishing touches are the Busyman bar tape and saddle. I took it to the Craft Hatch Market today at Bikefest for its initial unveiling. It was liked by many. After the market I took it for a spin around the Yarra Boulevard under the first clear skys we've seen for days, the the 28mm tyres handle the rough surface beautifully.

Farme, fork, bars and stem original from the Kensington gutter

Custom Busyman bar tape - stitched and perforated

Ghisallo wooden rims - hand made in Italy hand laced by
 Shifter Bikes distributed by Cycling Edge

That's Mum on the wall keeping an eye on things in the bike room

Bumble bee saddle motif - an excerpt from the Peel coat of arms

Ride: Lynskey

The Lynskey Helix with Busyman saddle

Busyman bartape

The bar tape was actually $130

Featured in the Ride Magazine issue #50 is a Lynskey Helix Ti bike complete with Busyman Bicycles custom leather bar tape and recovered Arione saddle. The review is a gret plug for me and my work and gives a very positive review of the bar tape in particular. There is unfortunately a bit of an inaccuracy in the 'fine print' where the price of the bar tape is quoted at $250. The actual price was $130 for two pieces of tape that each exceeded 2m in length and were fully mannually perforated using a single hole punch.

So if youy're considering some custom leather bar tape don't let the $250 price tag scare you off, it's not true.

Bleached White

Skulls, bones, skeletons, ghosts.

A nice new mixte ride for Garth's wife.

Bone Head

The defined cheek bones are kind of creepy, suggesting a smile.

The skull and cross bones motif seems to be regaining popularity. This time all in white for a ladies bike on a fairly plush Viscount. The saddle's for Megan from Garth.

Peel Coat of Arms

Line Art Version 1

Version 2

Version 3

Finally the Master Sports Motor Spares is going to get a saddle. Deep purple embossed with some gold details. The design will be a variation on the Peel family coat of arms. The first image is taken from a statue of Sir Robert Peel in London. It's a little bit fiddly for me to achieve this kind of detail in the leather whilst still maintaining an acceptable level of durability in the saddle. So I've adapted the design a little to reduce the detail and fit nicely with the shape of the saddle, which incidentally is a Selle San Marco Concor Light. I will most likely go for version 2, it doesn't include all three 'quivers' of arrows but I like the fact that it includes the hand symbol. The whole thing kind of suits Busyman too in that there's a bumble bee (busy), a hand (hand crafted) and the word 'industria' which I thnk translates as 'industry' but I like to think of it as 'industrious'.

Finished saddle soon I hope, then I'll be taking those wodden rims for their first spin.

The Red One: A Bit More Detail

The Thistle Pattern

A little more revealed

This red saddle is for one of my own bikes, a cream fixie with matching red rims. Originally the saddle was an early Busyman recover, same colour but completely plain. It's about time I had one of these fancy ones on my own bike. Still a few more bikes of my own to do though. Next will be the Peel family coat of arms for the purple Master Sports and then I need to do something about the Turbo on my Hillman road bike.

Skull, Scissors and Folk

Skull on Mind Map

Desk, Skull, scissors - My Office

My office at work has been set up in PhD mode. The walls are plastered with sketches, photos, patterns and posters. Saddles on the desk and all kinds of notes, thoughts, mind maps.

The red saddle pictured here will be featured in The Age Melbourne Magazine out this week. The black one is for Jay's bike, the bike's kind of got skulls all over so he had to have a seat to match. Selle Italia SLR, repadded and covered by me.

Busyman: Updates

There haven't been too many blog posts lately, I feel like I've been neglecting the online world. That's not to say I haven't been working. We recently spent two cold months renovating and fitting out the new MAIIKE Store. That's what kept me out off the bike and out of trouble over June/July.

There have been several saddle through the studio but I haven't made it a priority to photograph them. In particular I have revived a couple of used and abused Brooks saddles. One received a new set of solid copper special rivets and a general makeover while the other received a recolouring to scuffed sections and remoulding as it had become rather splayed from harsh weather conditions.

So if anyone is in need of some Brooks maintenance feel free to drop me a line.

Now that summer is on it way bikey type people seem to be re-emerging from everywhere.

I have a Selle SMP basic black re-cover waiting for delivery, another Selle SMP awaiting treatment - a black skull and cross bones actually - and another skull and cross bones to do, white this time. It seems that all of a sudden the Skull is having a revival. I wonder whether it has something to d with all the kids I see around the streets with rib cage and x-ray like t-shirt prints.

Wallets - I've made a few Busyman wallets for Maiike Store ans they've asked me to craft some belts and bags too.

I guess I'd better get back to the work bench and get these things made.

MAIIKE store

A family affair, the Maiike Store is a collaboration between my sister Aly and wife Feride. They stock Maiike Soft Things and Maiike along with other nice stuff mostly made locally. Things like porcelain by Alistair White and merino knitwear by Uimi. That's my shopping bike there by the window, it makes a cameo appearance every now and then as part of the visual merchandising do. Speaking of which the "do" changes almost every day.
54 Church Street Hawthorn, if you're in Melbourne and happen to be riding past.