Saturday 31 December 2022

Specialized Phenom Mimic: Custom Splash design for a Prova


Kelly's Prova Mostro, runner up in the best in show category at Bespoked UK 2022. Well done Mark and Kelly. Thanks for asking me to do the saddle. It was great to have the chance to open up one of these Mimic saddles and see what's going on inside.

Fizik Aliante VS Custom Carved II

This is the 2nd plain back Fizik Aliante VS I've recovered for Ross. There is a chunk of foam removed from one side to make the ride more comfortable for him. I'm looking forward to doing a red one with the same treatment for his track bike.

Fizik Aliante VSX: Aubergine Fade Patina

For Naomi's Baum Orbis I hand dyed this kangaroo leather to create a very dark aubergine purple which deepens to black at the edges. Bar tape to match with champagne colour linear design perforations on both.

2022 Powers: Another Four

This kangaroo whip in brandy colour has some purple hues that make it look like a dark aubergine with deep olive grey in the perforations.
For Baum Cycles in black with lines of silver and orange perforations and some stitching on the bar tape.
For Steve's Baum Corretto a special hue of Bitter Orange with deep blue in the perforations.
For Adrian's steel frame Mason, whiskey whip with gold details.

Friday 30 December 2022

Power Saddle and Matching Bar Tape for Tony's Baum in Whiskey

For Tony's Baum Orbis I recovered this S-Works Power saddle in whiskey coloured kangaroo whip leather. With matching bar tape and perforated detail in burnt orange, champagne and dark silver to match the paint scheme of the bike.

Thursday 29 December 2022

ISM for a Kumo

For Steph's navy blue Kumo Mixte. Steph has these ISM saddles on her other bikes but, for aesthetic reasons, was running a Brooks B17 in honey colour on the Kumo. The ISM in factory finish looks fine on her road bike but it really needed a nice facelift for her Kumo. In kangaroo whip leather, whiskey colour and multi panel construction to achieve the best fit. the new cover has a fully perforated main panel with navy blue perforations. There's also a very faint suggestion of the Kumo storm cloud logo on the back. A couple of short pieces of bar tape for matching handle grips too.

Hand Dyed Burnish Patina: Brooks C13 for AN

Alen's Brooks C13 covered in kangaroo light tan crust leather with a hand dyed fade edge. Bar tape to match. Both with a two size perforation pattern in a classic brogue style and Alen's initials perforated as small as I could go.

Saturday 24 December 2022

Burnished Tan with Silver: SLR

The leather is a light tan Kangaroo crust (vegetable tanned) with a burnished finish giving a smooth surface but uneven colour. With time this leather should develop really nice character. The lattice style perforations on this one in dark metallic silver suggest the stitching on a classic quilted saddle form the 1970's. This one is for Paul's Baum Corretto which is off white and a few shades of grey.

Customised Selle Italia SLR Flow Saddle with Colnago Club in Italian Colours


Rolling Wheels: SLRs and Toupe

For Rolling Wheels Custom Bicycle Shop in China I recently did the leatherwork on these SLR saddles plus one Specialized Toupe. The Toupe has the Chris King Cielo head badge logo reversed through the pink perforations. The last image of the SLR in natural vegetable tanned leather has white perforations with an image of the Rolling Wheels owl logo in a kind of halftone method. It's not so visible with the fresh leather but as it deepens in colour with use the image should become more striking.



Friday 23 December 2022

Baum Cycles with Pro Saddles

I have lost count of how many Pro Stealth saddles I've done for Baum Cycles. Here are a few Pro Stealths and a Pro Turnix I completed earlier this year for a handful of Baum custom builds. There is a bit of a Ferrari theme in a couple with the signature tan leather and a reference to the shield logo. I still have a bit of this Ferrari tan available if anyone needs a saddle and/or bar tape to match their car interior. 




Above Category: Various Styles and Models

I've done a lot of work with premium cycling store  Above Category based in Sausalito, California. Above is an example of the AC logo popping out of a perforated grid. They've also been working for many years with Baum Cycles and have seen a few Baum frame repaints by Velocolour in Toronto. The Throne saddle below is an adaption of a design originally developed for Speedvagen which worked very nicely in black and lavender for a recent Baum repaint. I try to avoid doing white saddles as the leather never really ages gracefully but sometimes the aesthetics of the bike requires white.



Thursday 22 December 2022

2022 Custom Made Bar Tapes

 This is a selection of some of the stand alone bar tapes I've made this year. With the exception of my sewing machine for the decorative rows of stitching everything is completely made by hand using hand tools. First up is white leather with three row dense offset perforations in red, blue and yellow.