Are you sitting comfortably? The dad building bike saddles for vegetarians!
HOME / / Are you sitting comfortably? The dad building bike saddles for vegetarians!
Cycling enthusiast Evan Gray is originally from Yorkshire but came to Glasgow to study architecture and design.
After meeting his partner and having two children, he’s still in the Scottish city, which is where he started Frame Cycles.
Like many entrepreneurs and Transmit Startups customers, Frame Cycles is currently a side hustle for Evan. He describes the ride so far and how Transmit helped get the business rolling…
“Myself and my business partner, Matthew Macindoe, produce bicycle saddles made from cork – a natural material that is vegetarian friendly.”
My career has given me experience in graphics, branding, photography and website design, so I focus more on the visual side of things. Matthew works mainly on the engineering side.
The business idea came to me when I did a course at the Bicycle Academy in Somerset. After building my own bike frame I thought it would be a bit of a shame to use an off-the-shelf saddle. So I decided to build my own saddle as well!
I'd looked at saddles in natural materials and I happen to be a vegetarian, so a leather saddle wasn’t quite right for me.
I wanted something with that nice natural feel to it, but that was vegetarian friendly.
We first built a bicycle saddle two-and-a-half years ago out of 3D printed titanium and machine-cut cork. At the time it was just a one-off, primarily for my own personal use, but I've been riding around on it for the last couple of years, and it's weathered reasonably well and has stayed in one piece. During that time a lot of people have asked, “Where can we get one?”
So we decided to make a few of them and see what kind of interest there was. I contacted the trade show Bespoked, where a lot of frame builders exhibit handmade bikes, and got a stand in October 2022.
I was very nervous about putting it out there and inviting people to come and say what they I think of it, but it was great to get a bit of feedback and interest.
We made just 25 of the saddles for the show and they've all been snapped up.
The products we took to Bespoked feature some of the first cork parts off the mould.
The money made from selling those will be used to fund future productions and future research and development.
"I borrowed £20,000 from Transmit Startups, which has primarily been used for the tooling and production of the first 500 units of the product. It really helped us get the ball rolling."
I found dealing with Transmit really good. Morag Kelly was the business advisor who handled my application.
I read on the website that it would take four to six weeks but it was actually much quicker for me, which was useful because I think we would otherwise have struggled to produce the saddles in time for the show.
In the future I’d like to expand the range to create a few different saddles, such as specialised ones for racing bikes, and a few other bicycle components, such as cork handlebars or handlebar tape and bottle holders. It's nice to have that organic feel and a colour palette that matches across the bike. I’d be aiming for them to be vegetarian friendly and environmentally friendly too.
I am still working three days a week for a watch company, but owning my own company where I have a significant stake and more control feels great.
I've got a 10 week old daughter and a three year old child and then I've got the main job that I do as well as this. So finding the time and the energy to do it can be difficult. But if it's something that you're passionate about, then it's much easier to motivate yourself to actually do it.
Has Evan’s story got your wheels turning?
Transmit Startups can take your business from a dream to a reality, with a Start Up Loan and support to get started. Find out how we can help on our Start Up Loans page.
"We’re delighted to be the 2000th loan recipients!"