This one has the same design as the Round Back Race applied in black scotch grain calf hide leather with white stitching
Another Custom Leather Selle Italia Flite Saddle
Custom Leather Pentagram FIT BMX Seat
I made this custom leather pentagram bmx seat for my friend Russell
Hern Takes 2nd at Redbull Ride & Style
Hern Montenegro & Austin Horse both raced the 2013 Redbull Ride and style this year in Santa Monica Airlines/Anytime Crew race kits I designed with Hern. The also both rode two of my custom leather road bike saddles during the race. Hern has been a long time supporter and is constantly testing my new saddles. He is riding some of my very first BMX prototypes, now in their third year on his bike. Congrads on your 2nd place finish. It was a majorly close race.
Custom Leather Eclat BMX Seat
This is a BMX Saddle I made using the Turbo Half Stitcher design over an Eclat integrated post seat.
Derek Devries Riding Bellingham Skatepark
It's the season for bikes in Bellingham, Wa right now. My friends from back home made this video. Take a peek, Derek's bike has a LTD Leather hidden bolt Pivotal saddle I made for him in December.
Filmed and Edited by Drew VanderGriend, D.A.V Media.
Custom leather Eclat BMX seat
This is a custom saddle in the turbo stitcher style on a Eclat post combo seat. Will have baseball stitched rear bumpers and brogue style punch work on the front.
BMX - Shorty13
Rough hide and smooth calf, double stitch.
H. Leh & Co
An envelope my brother bought me off eBay. Believe it or not I am just picking up an old family business in a way. Founded by my fathers family in 1850 as H. Leh & Co the business ran for 146 years. Leh’s started as a shoe manufacturer and quickly grew into a chain of department stores across Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
New Machine & New Nightmares.... the Singer 52W19 saga
So I purchased a second machine. This Singer 52W19 was made in the same factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut as my 110W but is probably a little older. I bought this machine to do parallel needle stitch lines in a single pass and for it's unique post bed design. However the machine was packed pretty poorly and the v-belt wheel was shattered in shipping. A part from the 40's which is not easily replaced. Luckily the wheel from my 110W fits with out problems and I was able to get it running. Or so I thought, the next challenge has been to adjust the bobbin spacing to accommodate the new narrower needle gauge of 1/8th. As you can see the bottom of this machine looks like a lot of fun. With luck I should have it all tuned up soon, It’s been a adventure to get it to this point.
Custom BMX
This seat was made for a fellow rider back in Washington for a Xmas gift. Nubuck Oil Skin. Black and white contrast.
Strap for Samson SR850 Headphones
I bought some new headphones to save my poor hearing. The strap on the top was a really terrible plastic fake leather thing so I replaced it.
Singer 110W114 Restoration Complete
I finally got around to taking some photos of the finished paint on my 110W. I have another machine coming soon too!
The Heritage Post
A few months back I was contacted by the editor of The Heritage Post a mens journal based in Dusseldorf, Germany. The magazine makes a point to seek out unique hand made quality products and craftsmen and features their work. They are only in their second issue but their art direction and style is great. If you speak German feel free to pick up a copy off their website. www.theheritagepost.com
SL Tops
I'm starting to get a head start on some SL Classic tops. The first and second leathers in the image are brand new. The tan marbled hide will be the basis for a lot of my dyed leathers. These hides are beautiful, I bought 3 10ft half hides while visiting Seattle so I have a lot of it. I'm almost out of the Scotch Grain Coco so I will have to find another source. If you want a seat in that color be sure to jump on it quick.
Fairfield Textiles
I'm super exited to bringing a new material into the mix, I've been searching for a heavy weight wax canvas to use for a number projects. Fairfield Textile is one of the last large industrial canvas mills in the United States and has been making wax canvas fabrics since 1838. They kindly sent me a large package with a ton of samples. I've gone through and found 3-4 that I think you will start seeing on two tone seats and crossbar pads real soon.
2 Wheelers Mag
ChRobin of 2 Wheelers Magazine just released his second issue. 2 Wheelers features bikes of all sorts for all purposes, powered and not. Based out of Sweden and has a lot of great looking content with lots of interviews with bike builders/shops/craftsmen and riders. One of which is a 6 page spread and interview on myself and my seats. The mag is only in it's second issue most people in the USA haven't seen it yet, be sure to pick one up over at http://2wheelersmag.tumblr.com/
Here's a quick flip through of the magazine.
Nr 02 from 2 Wheelers Magazine on Vimeo.
Singer Paint Restoration
Right after I got my funding in from Kickstarter I went downtown and bought an industrial. My Singer 403 although very pretty was not up to the task of effortlessly carving though hundreds of seats. So I bought this Singer 110W124, made in Bridgeport, Connecticut probably between 1945-1950. It's possibly a war era casting, however it's impossible to tell. Records for W Series machines where lost in a fire.
This machine features a relatively simple single needle and bobbin. It is interesting because it has a double wheel feed system. This feeds leather through the machine at a constant rate instead of "walking" and allows for super smooth curved stitching. The 110 series was part of a group of many machines designed specifically for sewing uppers on leather shoes.
One big problem has been apparent since I bought the machine, Its really ugly paint. Singer only made industrial machines in this era in Black. This had two terrible coats of dripping cheap spray paint on it with a crooked over sprayed Singer stencil on the front. Those of you who know my brother and I know we have a heavy distain for the color Beige, and staring at the same color as a 93 Dell monitor all day was too much to bare.
Nothing a little Citristrip cant take care of.
Halfway done
After a good scrape down and a rub over with a wire wheel it's looking a lot better. I'm going to leave it raw Iron for now but I have plans ...
Herns Flite
Hern, gave me one of his old Ti Flite seats to redo for his race bike. I made some bar wrap to go with it. I won’t be making the Flite Seats anytime soon. But if you have one that is thrashed like Hearn’s was you can send it my way.
custom leather bike saddle
Custom leather bike saddles seats bmx cruiser
