Brandy colour kangaroo whip leather. In one piece of leather (one skin) there can be scars from scratches and variation in colour from one side to the other. Over time with use the leather will continue to develop character, colours will deepen and lighten with burnishing and exposure to daylight.
Denis' Brooks saddle covered in black leather with striped grid perforations to match his Baum paint scheme, with matching bar tape.
There have been many notable highs in my practice since I started doing Busyman leatherwork in 2008. One of those highlights was meeting chef Ben Shewry of Attica restaurant and being commissioned to make leather folders for the restaurant's bills, beverage and wine lists. Here are a couple of fresh bill folders and wine list covers from earlier this year. The staff at Attica do such an amazing job with cleaning and maintaining the original folders but unfortunately one mysteriously disappears from time to time.
Burnished light tan leather with a pull up effect for Rolling Wheels. The large perforated motif is derived from the original Stelbel head-badge design.
I sculpted some fresh padding for this SMP Lite 209. This saddle one of the more heavily padded models in the SMP range. In the past I've avoided replacing the padding on these because I wasn't sure I'd be able to achieve good enough symmetry and a shape close enough to the original. Sculpted from a few layers of medium density EVA foam. Covered here in the standard black vegetable tanned kangaroo leather. It turns out were pretty happy with the shape.
James' collection of shrunken bison Bontrager Aeolus saddles. James sources the leather pieces from Leh Cycling Goods to match his handlebar tape.
There's a bike shop in Seoul, South Korea called Bike Makes Me Happy. The sell a range of top shelf custom bikes including Pegoretti. This S-Works Power saddle and matching bar tape are a classic looking finish for Black Pegoretti Ciavete. The hand motif is taken from Pegoretti's head tube badge symbolising "made by hand" which sits nicely with the saddle upholstery and handlebar tape too.
Prologo Scratch M5 PAS custom covered in kangaroo leather with RCC inspired bands for another Tailored Baum Cycles x Rapha Cycle Club bike. On this set the bar tape was notched up a little with a row of pink perforations and perforated bands angled to the saddle shape.
Bo has changed his saddle preference and is opting for some Berk Lupinas and Björn Probkas. He's also decided he really likes Alcantara synthetic suede for the covering material.
