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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.

Mattress Saddle #1

My first mattress saddle. The biggest concern is whether or not Alison decides that the sunny lime green suits both her complexion and the deep pool powder coated 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.