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in response to discussion about percentage of bike cost in relation to value of bike:
I spent about £50 on making that bike plus parts I had knocking about, total overall <£100. I can't remember exactly, but I vaguely remember the lock costing about £20... er does that mean I win? It doesn't feel good.

@JPT: instead of a good lock i bought a shit bike yesterday. Cheers for trying to make it look like my fault though. Sheesh

OK it's pretty much this (see pic) with tiny chopped risers (bent these drop bars somehow).

I had locked it up to a lamp-post with some ABUS cable lock. The metal component that connects the two ends was totally broken in two...

Building another beater for the moment - ugly enough that hopefully no one will want to nick.

Thanks for the support guys!

My beater got nicked from outside the Zebra on Saturday night. Scoundrel smashed the lock to bits.

Not worth a lot, but would love to see her again. Raleigh frame sprayed black. distinctive features include:

• Halo Aerorage track rear wheel in horrible high-vis yellow colour (black hub and spokes, Surly 18t cog). Front wheel is some cheap 700c LB black jobby with rusty spokes.
  
• Gusset saddle in brown leatherette with white stitching, looks exactly like a Charge spoon (there is only one of these, so if you see it it has to be mine).
  
• Teeny-tiny chopped risers (about 30ish cm).
  
• Alloy Destructo plaque bolted to the brake mount on the back.
  
  

Would appreciate it if you keep your eyes peeled. Small reward for safe(ish) return.

Cheers

Almost where?

my bike has now got a neon pink rolls saddle with a thomson layback post, and neon green tape instead of the pink.

^1 million points for having a penchant for clashing neon colours.

Recent pictures of my bike and face. I went and got matching E-number pink rims now, but only because they was cheap. If I didn't so very enjoy getting a bargain I would have a splendid yellow one on the back again.

Caves of Steel by Asimov. Lovely.

What is the frome wheel??? looks unikack, be careful dont loose any ballbearing

^Haha special Maz build. Interpret 'special' as you will, but Maz is a genius.

I don't like the colour scheme personally, could have just left it with purple with that frame. But like Edscoble says, as long you have a bike, and enjoy riding it :)

^Glad you don't like it. Also notice how I have a braking surface on the BACK wheel! mwahahahahaha

It's a Halo rim laced up to a 16h hub.. I think.

^Correct.

My new frame...

new skateboard-related thingamy on my frame

Will there be a seperate colours vote? I've got so many black tees it's lame. I think that grey/white/red are in joint second, so I don't mind them but I'd rather some other colours.

Yellow would be nice, as would pink, orange, etc. All the "unusual" t-shirt colours, basically.

Actually, this isn't too bad an idea in a funny sort of way. I understand that printing in different colours of ink might be a problem as the screens would need some pretty special cleaning inbetween, but printing designs meant for white onto other light colours and those meant for black on other dark colours would be cool, and shouldn't be too difficult...?

Will there be the opportunity to specify what colour we would like the designs printed on in the second round of voting (e.g. the 'ordering' stage)?

The votes for dwight's (loads of cyclists in a stream) design get combined i presume, as there are several of the same design but in different colours etc.

Depends how many people voted for all of them just to be sure (incl. me)

^ thanks mate!

i like this and the machanism for attaching the membrane is good, it would be better if it dident have the intergrated seat post but just the rails for attaching a normal seat post, have you made any prototypes fully out of aluminium?

One of the future developments I am proposing in my report is also to develop a standard rail version! Thanks for being so insightful guys: now I can write in my report that you all informed my decisions for future development of the project, rather than just saying I made it all up:)

Just a thought but......

If say, you need jump off a curb or something and the leather snaps...would'nt that hurt :(

er, if that happened, the answer is yes. the key is making the leather tough enough to withstand 'abuse' (that's use in the real world...).

Yeah actually one of the future developments I am explorong is to make a ladies-specific saddle. this one is based upon data on the distances between the ischial tuberosities in men. Ladies' "sit bones" are further apart on average than men's, so the surface of the saddle would need to be wider to support their weight correctly...

constructive criticism

How do you generate the tension required for the removable membrane to support body weight - the brooks works because it is machine tensioned and a permanent fixture.

I can't see from your model a usable ratchet system for creating the required tension,

the method that is shown would require way too much force, a lever system is going to be inoperable for most people

That's some good criticism. Much better than some of the "worst idea ever" comments i've got so far.

Having tested the lever system myself, I am confident that the mechanism would work... The leather membranes would need to be made from 4-5mm thick cowhide, then soaked, pressed and kiln-dried in a similar way to the Brooks saddles.

I think my main criticisms of my own design are:

• The release mechanism will probably need beefing up a bit.
  
• The frame needs to go on a diet. During FEA I used a total load of 240kg, which led to the frame looking like it does. If I reduced this to 120kg overall it could look a lot more slender...
  
  

Overall I'm pretty happy with it for a student project. It's our job to have slightly more creative (ahem) ideas - if I had just designed a 'normal' saddle my report would have been about 2 paragraphs long and I would have died of boredom shortly after Christmas.

i like the fact that you're trying to redesign the seat post but you've got a long way to go. why so much plastic needed? given that most seats are moving towards being tiny things these days...http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/selle-italia-cflow-med.jpg

Yeah I know that most saddles are becoming tiny, and I sort of wanted to make a design statement contrary to that particular trend: There are alternatives, and not everyone wants a tiny saddle.

My research showed that most people don't consider saddle aerodynamics an important issue, that comfort is the most important attribute of a saddle, and that overall people thought that strength was a more important issue than weight.

Although the design seems a bit eccentric, that was kind of the idea.

Also, you've taken the worst part of a brooks saddle - the design. People mainly buy Brookses for the looks and the prestige of the brand, yours has neither. 99.9999% of cyclist don't use a sprung saddle, if they were necessary we'd all be riding one, but apart from brooks their popularity died out decades ago.

I think you're making a pretty big assumption there. Sure, Brooks has a lot of heritage, but the fact that people still buy Brooks saddles after over a century of using very similar designs is a testament to the strength of the original design concept. Personally I think that people choose to use brooks saddles for many reasons, including:

• Comfort of the saddle
  
• Durability
  
• The Brooks brand image.
  
  

And about integrated saddle/seatposts being a bad idea: I agree that it might be necessary to include different versions with different seatpost angles.

^depends which bit you are talking about.
If you mean the tweedy-looking membrane, snagging it on sharp edges would ruin how it looks but it would still be able to support the rider's weight, due to the support material still being leather or similar. That said, if the cover looked shit you would want to replace it, really.

Brooks-y leather membranes should be able to stand up to that sort of torment. I haven't tested the seatbelt one yet, but will let you know if and when...

the thing is, brooks saddles are affixed to the structure with rivets. anything less and you might, after some usage, tear the leather. the catch mechanism must be extremely strong.

Trying to redeem yourself after the brooks gaffe? ;)

I think if anything will go it would be the mecanism itself. Agreed, this does have to be very strong. I don't think the leather tearing is likely though... unless the mechanism is attached to the leather in a questionable way...

Also being integrated/fixed to the seatpost - is that good? Seeing as seatposts come in different sizes and all, what if I want to swap it from one bike to another?

Ah, the old 'integrated seatpost or not' chestnut.

You can use shims...

The frame weighs (ahem) quite a lot according to *Solidworks 2008 *but the complete saddle/post unit is comparable to a brooks saddle with an alloy seatpost.

The membrane is attached by the catch mecahnism which is illustrated in the (not very good) sequence I attached with the initial post. Having tested a working (think ugly) prototype it does seem to work, even with inferior, untreated leather of half the desired thickness.

I think it's totally do-able, but I'd also agree that it would certainly not be suitable for use on a BMX...

^no, but an added bonus. See also:

• doing a shit while biking along (although this would spray forward as it hits the back wheel)
  
• farting without getting 'vapours' on saddle surface
  and so on
  

have you ever seen a dursley pedersen bicycle

only in this picture^

even leather .. it won't make much diff. there needs to be something actually underneath the material to support it, not just air.

have you actually ever seen a Brooks saddle?