Meccanico di Veno

Aerotrack of the Day

2011-09-11T19:07:00.001-07:00

I change this bike around enough I might as well document it.

Klunkeresque

2011-08-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is the Schwinn cruiser I built for my stepdaughter Brianna. Dan the VW Man swung by again and dropped off some bikes and this was one of them. It had some beach cruiser bars and a coasterbrake on it when I got it. I stole the cranks and clover chainwheel off it for another project. I have plans for the Bendix 76 coasterbrake as well, it's drilled for 12 ga spokes.

When I saw that it had a brake bridge I decided to build it up as a 6-speed because I had a thumbshifter laying around, along with a long cage derailleur, and some cheesey MTB wheels. They had a freehub so I laced in a sealed low flange "Schwinn Approved" hub.

The shifter is from a Magna or something cheap like that, and despite that it indexes well. The levers are road levers that I straightened out in the vise between blocks of wood. I bought the used Schwinn grips for 5 bucks from Community Cycling Center.

I bought new cables for it and one of these derailleur tabs. Everything else is stuff I've collected, dumpstered, or freeboxed.

The only issue was that the rear caliper wouldn't reach so I made this little drop plate. I think that Schwinn used a 1080 reach caliper, I didn't have one of those laying around, but I did have a piece of 1/8" x 1" bar stock.

What I like about it, and what Brianna and her mom Mirand like about it is that it doesn't look like a girl's bike, no step-thru and no pink.

Label Whore.

2011-05-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about BMX that turns me into a label whore. Maybe it's the design of the parts, and the slick logos. I don't think it's the ads. I see these young little bastards going big, and it just makes me mad, because I suck in comparison. I don't know who they are, beyond Nigel Sylvester, Garrett Reynolds, and Bruce Crisman. Interesting, they ride for Animal, Premium, and KHE respectively. Okay maybe the advertising and edits are seeping into my skull.

I really think it's the parts themselves, though. They are absolutely beautiful. The are very minimal too, thanks to Taiwan's designers using the latest stress analysis programs to shave weight and material where it isn't needed. If riders like Sean Burns aren't breaking stuff, I sure won't. I'm still going to run a 48 spoke wheel out back, with a KHE Astern freecoaster and a Sun Big City rim. In front it's a Sun Big Baller. See, there's those labels here's few more: S&M leather and kevlar seat, Revenge Industries weed grips, Mosh Street Bars (rip-off of old Vision Street Wear logo), and lots of Animal parts. GLH tires in 2.25 and 2.1, Hamilton DX copy pedals, and Sprocky Balboa chainwheel. I'll probably do an Animal pivotal post soon with S&M P-guts so I can keep my S&M railed seat (so old school).

It's also the names sucking me in. As soon as I heard there was a BMX frame called Deathtrap, I had to have it. The bonus was that Premium is made by Haro, and the extra bonus was the Strawberry-designed seatpost clamp. To round off my old school labels I have GT cranks and a USA made Schwinn fork. I don't think Dorel Industries gets a cut from the USA made stuff.

So that's me the BMX label whore. I even have T-shirts to advertise these companies that I buy the parts from. So sad, I should just get a Don Ed Hardy t-shirt, and a Magnum Desert Eagle and end it all right now.

1952 Schwinn Klunker - Repainted

2011-02-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to repaint my 1952 Schwinn. I lost the flamed fenders when I put on the knobblies, and fenderless is a little more "Klunker". I was looking for a color similar to Dan's Dodge pickup , a reddish orange, or orangeish red.

Arizona Dave had this can of Krylon Pimento paint. There wasn't enough and Ace Hardware had that new Rust-O-Leum 2X cover paint in a close-enough color, Paprika. Friggin' decorator color names. One is reddish orange and the other is orangeish red. I dislike Krylon, it always wants to run, which sucks if you are painting tubes. I am now heating up my spraycans in boiling water every time, they don't want to clog when you do that. It's an old model car builder trick, try it.

I painted the fork first, and that's when I ran out. I went and grabbed more paint at Ace and got it on there as soon as possible, too impatient to wait for it to dry so I could sand it, and too lazy to rough it up anyways.

So you can see a little of the color difference, just like I was saying, just off enough to make me repaint the fork.

This is the rack from the Monark. It looks really nice on the Schwinn, it functions well and keeps most of the mud off your back. I had to make the stays because the Monark was a 24" and this bike is a 26". I made them out of seat stays so they are tapered.

This Bendix hub is from the 50's and predates the Red Band, so it is correct for 1952. Made in Elmira, N.Y. It has a screw-on cog and left-threaded lockring like a fixed gear, but of course they are a different size. That cone wrench is a regular wrench from a BMW tool kit ground down real thin.

I use automotive high temperature disc brake bearing grease for coasterbrakes for an obvious reason, they get HOT. That is why they named the most famous Klunker trail Repack. You got to the bottom and repacked your hub. I have had coasterbrakes hot enough to sizzle if you spit on them.

This coasterbrake needs new shoes desperately, they are oil-impregnated bronze and worn the fuck out. There's quite a distance to backpedal before you get brake, and the "slack" is annoying. This shot sort of shows how it goes together, and that you must grease every surface.

More vintage Schwinn stuff, Clover chainwheel and 28tpi bottom bracket from a 1965 American and Diamond cranks from a late-model Varsity. A lot of Klunkers used this crank because it was stronger than the round cross-section crank. Sorry about the fake DX pedals.

I don't have a bike stand, and I don't really like them anyways. Schwinn cups go in easy, I think the press fits were a little looser in the 50's

I've seen bikes built this way on the Japanese websites by frail-looking old men, it seems to be a western thing to clamp a bike in a vise. I've built bikes upside down since I first started building my BMX bikes by myself.

I like how the color turned out, and the yellowish tan seat, and orangeish-brown weed grips sorta go with the orangeish red paint. Now all it needs is a drum brake and a big Magura motocross lever, a Bendix 76 Mexico coasterbrake, or a 2-speed kickback. I want to use rims designed for a disc brake because they look similar to the prewar drop-center rims.

The handlebars are Suzuki RM 250.

Yes, that is a real Mongoose Gold Stem.

Clear Bench = Clear Mind

2011-02-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Rare in Portland

2011-02-03T10:41:00.001-08:00

My only beef about Portland is that not enough people love old cars. So many eco-conscious people here it's absolutely ridiculous. They are so blinded by their cause that they fail to see the beauty in old machines, and historic value and worth, or the simple fact that restoring and preserving an old car, truck, or motorcycle is recycling and reusing.

Would melting down that beautiful Land Rover to make Pepsi cans be a better use of its aluminum shell?

And what about that big Mopar "gas guzzler"? I don't know if Hot Rod Pizza actually uses this car to deliver their Pizzas or if it is a rolling billboard. The 60's style drag racing graphics rock and they show what race cars looked like in the golden era before the corporate takeover of the Drag Strip forced all the ingenuity and creativity of the privateer to the curb. Now it's just billboards on high-tech surface missiles designed by engineers and piloted by talking heads who thank their sponsors before they thank their own family.

Steampunk Goggles

2011-01-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is planning to attend the Steampunk Exhibition Ball and was thinking about buying some goggles, you know, pre-made "custom" ones. I wanted to spare her the horror of looking across the room and seeing someone else with the same 'custom" ones so I offered to make her some REAL Custom goggles. Really, they are nothing special, but sometimes less is more.

I started by accumulating hardware. There's a lot of brass and copper in Steampunk, but more important than that is using a slotted head and not Phillips, which only came into widespread use after WWII. The round knurled nuts are used on Presta valves, and the acorn nuts are from Dia-Compe brake pads.

Next I stripped down some brazing goggles, sanded the gloss off them, and marked and drilled some holes. I made center marks with the X-Acto, and then pilot drilled them 1/8", and then drilled them to size. Loving my new cordless drill with a keyless chuck.

So this is the new Rust-O-Luem paint, Ultra Cover. They've went to a Montana style cap and the shit covers fast and dries fast. I used Krylon Fusion for plastic on the lens retainers, in hammered copper. I taped off the threads and where the lenses rest against the goggles.

Always "clock" your screws, make them all line up. It's a neat little detail that motorcycle and car restoration nuts do, as well as nerdy chopper and Hot Rod builders.

SRSLY, fuck a hot glue gun. That technology was not available in the 1800's! Nuts and bolts.

There's always some decorative gizmoness on Steampunk accessories. Those "crystal" stars spin. I knocked the gloss of the hammered copper, but resisted the urge to add some "faux-tina".

Behold the Supreme Dorque of Beavertowne

Rain Bike

2010-12-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

It rained like a motherfucker Thursday and I got to ride around in most of it. I went over to CityBikes and picked up a used rear fender to cut down and fuck around with so it fits on my zero-clearance track bike. The day before I had picked up a couple of used front fenders at A Better Cycle. Tired of the skunk stripe and wet feet. I know they make these little fenders that fit on the back of seatstays and forks but the front one doesn't really do shit. I took two full coverage fenders and cut them down a little where they wouldn't clear the frame and fork. I had to drill and tap the rear dropouts and use some P-clamps up front, but it don't look half-bad. They wrap down pretty far so they should work as well as the fenders on my 52 Schwinn.

Srsly, I am not being a pussy about this rain. It was raining hard the whole time I was riding in the city, and then on my way home from the train station it started raining harder. I was wearing Burley rain pants and a rain jacket, and by the time I got home my Vans, wool socks, Levis, and hoodie were wet, just from water coming in the seams and dripping in around my neck. My gloves were soaked thru but they are not even water-resistant. I guess my backpack isn't either because it had an inch of water inside it!

They work pretty well although the rear one would be better if it went down to the chainstays, right now it is dumping water onto the Velo Orange sealed bottom bracket. Not having the little "nose" of the fender doesn't seem to make a difference. As a side note, Von Dutch did the same sort of thing on some of the motorcycles he built, he just rotated the stock fenders back to get a kustom look. Looks cool and works better.

I also decided to get rid of the lane splitters for the winter. These mustache bars came off of an exercise bike and have no drop/rise. I like cork bar tape in the rain the best. Seems counterintuive but the water just squeezes right out of them.

Deathtrap updated

2010-11-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

Yup, still trying to reach back to the glory days when I was a BMXer. My skill level is about the same as it was when I was about 15. Last weekend I managed to hang my bike over the coping and drop in, pretty stoked about that. Fakies are easy now with that KHE Astern Freecoaster. I think I finally have the confidence I need to really start improving, just in time for winter. Anybody got enough room in their basement for a mini halfpipe?

Frame: Premium Deathtrap 21" top tube Heat-treated 4130 CrMo
Fork: Hoffman 4130 CrMo
Headset: Sputnik integrated
Crank: mid-school GT
Sprocket: Animal 25t
Pedals: Primo meat tenderizer
Bars: Mosh Street Bars
Stem: Fit frontloader
Grips: Revenge Industries "Da Kine"
Chain: KMC Z Chain
Seat: S&M Bike Thin Rail
Seatpost: cut in half
Front Wheel: 36h Sun Big Baller Animal GLH 2.25 tire
Rear Wheel: 48h Sun Big City KHE Astern FreeCoaster Animal GLH 2.1 tire

For the amount of time I spend on this machine....

2010-09-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

....you'd think I would update my blog more often. Truth is I am working on a fixed/free hub I made and I don't want to post about it until all the bugs are worked out. Stay tuned.

Church of the Bicycle Jesus

2010-08-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

My home away from home, the Dead Baby Bikes Clubhouse, Seattle, WA.

14th Annual Dead Baby Bikes Downhill

2010-07-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Dropping the bomb on August 6th.

Forest Park Klunker Ride

2010-06-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

The organizers didn't even show up! Only two people besides myself showed up for the ride, one guy on a modern singlespeed and the other on a first year Specialized Stumpjumper. We rode up to Forest Park and went up Leif Erickson Drive. I had to leave them because my gearing was taller than what the dude had on the singlespeed, and needed to keep my cadence up so I wasn't "pedaling in squares" and tiring myself out. I made it up a little past the 6 mile marker and waited for them at the picnic bench. They didn't show, must have turned around. No worries, I just bombed back down, dodging flustered hikers and off-leash dogs.

I think Dead Baby Bikes Portland is going to have to organize a ride like this. It was enough fun by my lonesome, it would be even more fun with a group.

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

2010-06-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's green back there.

Hawthorne Bridge Up

2010-05-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

I love that what would be a minor inconvenience now turns into a photo opportunity.

The Monark SIlver King

2010-05-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well it's finally done. Big, fat tires and everything! They are 24" x 2.3 but they barely fill the huge fenders. I just fit with the apehangers and the layback seatpost. It cleaned up really nice. The front fender had some dents and it was painted with house paint, which scraped off without damaging the paint and pinstriping underneath. I'm getting good at popping out dents and took care of a couple on the "tank" too. The back wheel was really rusty, so I replaced it with a used rim and spokes taken from a 5-speed 24" wheel. I used the matching front wheel and then painted both rims semi-gloss black using the "spin" method. You just stick it in the truing stand and spin it, and spray away. No runs doing it like this, and it's fast. I also rebuilt the British Perry coasterbrake. It has sort of an odd design compared to the Bendix, but the cool thing is that it can only be assembled one way, and from one side. The fork was bent too. It was the steerer tube itself that was bent and it was quite a task straightening it, and it is still a little wonky. I'm lucky that I keep random shit like headset bearings as they were ground away to nothing, but I had a pair that fit. I think the chainwheel is from the Columbia. This bike is tiny, it's almost as cramped as a Stingray. Still fun to ride around on, as long as you don't mind standing to pedal.

Layback seatposts

2010-05-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

I made one for that Monark 24" that Dan the VW Man gave me. It came out so good that I made one for my 52 Schwinn too. It's amazing what you can do with a protractor, a hacksaw, some files, and a drill.

The Monark 24" is pretty much all sorted out except for needing some big fat tires. Pictures soon as it's finished.

It's that time again!

2010-05-05T12:21:00.001-07:00

Come out Ride and drink with the DBB on Friday to support the local service industry and stimulate this economy. We got drink specials lined up. Special surprise happy dead ending!

Dan delivers the Motherload.

2010-04-04T21:56:00.001-07:00

My friend Dan came by in his new truck. It a 1964 Dodge, straight off the farm.

He plans to leave the paint just the way it is. The 225 c.i. Slant-6 runs like a top. It came with all the parts needed to make it 4WD, which will happen sometime this spring. Then it will be a Power Wagon.

The early 1964 trucks had dual headlights. later 1964 trucks had single headlights with a big chrome trim ring. I can't believe that chrome bumper has made it 46 years unscathed. I hope I didn't jinx it.

The rear bumper is handmade. I love this kind of bumper, I've never seen two that are the same. Three different sizes of trailer hitch ball.

The hole for the stereo is kind of a bummer, but fixing it would destroy this amazing decal.

Both sides of the cab floor rotted away ages ago, and were repaired with wood. Dan would like to keep them, but he's getting annoyed with the occasional showers he's getting while driving the truck in the rain. In comparison the pickup bed is completely intact.

This was the occasion for Dan's visit, a donation of bike parts for the newly formed chapter of Dead Baby Bikes in Portland. The tank bike is a 24" Monark, which will be built up into a club loaner bike. The other paperboy frame is a Rocket by Monark which unfortunately has a frozen seatpost, a split down the back of the seat tube, and the seat tube is broken away at the bottom bracket. When I get oxy-acetylene, I am going to swap out the seat tube. It will be good practice, and it will resurrect a beautiful old frame that I will build up into a bitchen Klunker. The red, white, and rust frame is an old Columbia, back when they still made nice bikes. I plan to make this bike into a mutant Klunker, using a 100mm SunTour fork that was recently given to me. Columbia uses a slightly bigger headset than Schwinn, yet slightly smaller than 1-1/8 threadless. The headtube has a thicker OD than my Hoffman's headtube so I figure there is plenty of meat to bore the headtube out to fit the 1-1/8 headset. From there I'm thinking 3-piece BMX cranks, Renthal MX handlebars, disc brake front hub and a Bendix coasterbrake laced to Velocity disc-specific rims, and a Brooks sprung saddle. The girl's frame will get used to make either a swingbike, a chopper, or another burrito bike, I'm not sure yet.

Dead Baby Bikes is now in Portland!

2010-03-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Legendary Seattle Bicycle Club Dead Baby Bikes has just started a Portland Chapter! I have the honor of being voted in as an original member, and the responsibility of being Sergeant At Arms! Expect even more Bike Fun in Portland than there already is, but now, Dead Baby style! Our first Ride is April 3rd, we meet at 7:30 at The Pub At The End Of The Universe, SE Gladstone & 28th! Be there . . . . or be two-dimensional!

Bubble Visor

2010-03-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

Someone gave me these 2 bubble visors, they make re-upholstery kits for these ol' helmets don't they?

Non-Ironic Coffee Bike

2010-03-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Authentic American Iron - a 1952 Schwinn. repacked the coasterbrake today and replaced a spoke. Not bad for annual maintenance.

Enjoy The Trick

2010-02-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know much about Flatland these days. It has progressed so far that it is barely recognisable compared to what it once was. I remember when the change occured, when it went from balance tricks to rolling tricks. Now it's all about trick linkage, and it is mind-boggling to watch a rider go seamlessly from one trick to another, especially for me not knowing WTF they are doing in the first place. It doesn't translate that well to pictures, video is a much better format for it. I apologise for the quality of the pictures, I really need to learn how to use my camera.

The bikes of course are made specifically for flatland. The low gearing, short wheelbase and ultra-low profile frame make them almost useless for getting from point a to point b. Good thing all you need to do flatland, is flat land.

Some bikes @ Backyard Blam!

2010-02-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

The pump track was too soggy, but the street jumping contest kicked ass. So did the trick comp (subdivided into fixed gear and freewheel). In the evening there was an offroad slalom race in a local park. It was great to have people on track bikes, people on BMX, and people on DJ bikes all hanging out and getting along. Sometimes the different factions turn their noses up at each other, and it gets tiresome. We all like bikes, right?

Special shout-out to this guy, he fucking SHREDS!

Tweed Ride

2010-02-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

This was two weeks ago, but I thought I'd put up some pix from the ride. A lot more people showed up then I ever thought would, and everyone was really friendly and polite. Next time I want to see the girls in hoop skirts and wearing corsets, instead of dressed like the men did BITD.

A Dirty Buzzard from Seattle

Oldest bike

Swiss Army Bike

Me on my tallbike AKA Reverse Cowgirl. That Pennyfarthing had a freewheel.

Gabriel Amadeus' Retro-Direct

Trippy

METRO

2010-02-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

Rare to see something like this in Portland, it's all Subaru Outbacks and Toyota Prius'.

Hagakure: the book of the samurai

2010-02-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall, there was this one: "Matters of great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously."

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Bridgetown

2010-01-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

I had to wait for the Burnside Bridge yesterday. I've lived in Portland 7 years and I can still count the number of times I've had to wait for a bridge to go up and down on my hands. I figured rather than sit there and be pissed about being inconvenienced, I would take the opportunity to get some pictures. The first bridge is the Morrison Bridge, the last one is the Steel Bridge. I am slow at taking pictures so I missed the opportunity to snap a pic of the barge and tugboat as it passed under the Burnside Bridge. Yes, I'm still using the "easy" setting.

Bike Central

2010-01-20T22:01:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, I went into town to pick up a seat from my friend NeRf. While we hung out and shot the shit his tire went flat. He had skidded thru it and had it patched with a Knog glueless patch and the tire with a dollar bill, which held for about 20 minutes. So we walked to the nearest bike shop, and talked about his random meeting with Motoyan. It's kinda weird how this fixed gear thing is worldwide, which is old news for bike messengers, but even though it's so big, you can still end up meeting people from halfway around the world doing the same thing, just by chance.

We walked down to Bike Central, which always has some cool shit. That's a Cinelli, and a Bareknuckle with gold Thomson parts. And look they are set up as track bikes.

The case is full of crazy weird shit, both track and tarck. Bike Central also has a bunch of Keirin memorabilia, although I don't think the posters are for sale.

I could do without the space shoes but the titanuim coated teeth on the EAI cogs are calling out to me. Note the Barcons, and the Vintage Campagnolo stuff in the front.

There seems to be a lot of hate lately for NJS. Most of it stems from ignorance, expecting loose-ball hubs, headsets and bottom brackets to not require any maintenence or adjusting, which leads them to conclude that modern sealed bearing parts are "better". Not better, just different. Some of us don't mind paying some attention to a machine and getting our hands dirty. Some of us appreciate Keirin bikes the same way you would appreciate a vintage Norton Cafe Racer. Yeah, a GSXR will walk all over it, but so what it's plastic.

Bike Check: My Premium Deathtrap

2010-01-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Frame: Premium Deathtrap 21" top tube Heat-treated 4130 CrMo
Fork: Hoffman 4130 CrMo
Headset: Sputnik integrated
Crank: mid-school GT
Sprocket: Animal 33t
Pedals: Primo meat tenderizer
Bars: Mosh Street Bars
Stem: XS toploader
Grips: Revenge Industries "Da Kine"
Chain: KMC
Seat: S&M Bike Thin Rail
Seatpost: cut in half
Front Wheel: 36h Mongoose cheapie Tire: Primo Dirt Monster 2.2
Rear Wheel: 48h Taska FreeCoaster Alex rim Tire: Cheng Shit 1.95

Check out integrated seatpost clamp patented by and licensed from Strawberry Cyclesport Inc. in Portland, OR. Andy Newlands is the innovator behind this. It has removable brake mounts and gyro tabs, too.

It's the best riding BMX I've ever swung a leg over. The only modern BMX I can compare it to is a Sunday 2nd wave though.

BITD I had:

Huffy Pro Thunder 3
Schwinn Scrambler
Schwinn Predator
Panda Pro-Am
SE Racing LOOPTAIL "P.K.Ripper"
Torker Expert
Torker ProX Tommy Brackens model
Haro Sport (original)
Haro Master 3rd gen.(standing platforms)
SE Racing "P.K.Ripper" 2nd gen.
Haro FST
CW Stunt Vessel Ceppie Mayes model
Boss Freestyle Dave Van Spek model

Pretty much it's like the Boss or the later P.K. except it fits. Despite the head angle being so much steeper, it's less twitchy because the bars aren't straight up and down, they are in line with the fork. The top tube is 1" longer @ 21" but feels about the same for that reason. I love the shorter back end. I stopped BMXing before threadless took over, so to me this the the single-most important innovation to BMX, period. Nobody would be able to go big like they do without the bigger threadless headset, larger diameter steerer tube, and clamp-on stem. And integrated is even better. When a build my track frame and fork it will definitely be integrated/threadless.

I feel very confident on this bike. It's partly the way it rides, but it's also that I know I can toss this bike and not worry about trashing it.

Thanks to Shad @ Goods BMX for having cool shit like this at his shop. Support your LBS, Portland BMXers!

Jim Jarmusch riding a Schwinn Fastback.

2010-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

He's one of my favorite director's (Mystery Train, Down By Law, Dead man...) and if that's his Coppertone Schwinn Fastback I like him even more.

"As Built"

2010-01-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

This is an old, long MTB stem that I decided to cut up and make into track drop stem. I used to have a 100mm Nitto NJS 65 degree CrMo stem and I liked it except it was a little low. I did this one at 70 degrees which kicks it down 4 degrees from level, just enough to be noticeable. I also made it 90mm long. My Aerotrack is 52cm ST x 54.5cm TT, and it is a little bit long for me, no matter how much I raised the stem I always felt a little stretched out. Hopefully this will solve that problem.

I did the drawing first to map out where I needed to make the cuts, and I just scaled it off the drawing. If you can't tell, it fits on top of the drawing perfectly.

Just need to get it welded up.

Moving To Portland.

2009-12-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

I am laughing so hard, I'm crying! It's all fucking true, too! Can't wait to throw my hat in the ring.

Giro di Portlandia

2009-11-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

There was an alleycat last weekend, ironically named (I think) the Giro di Portlandia. There were only 4 stops, and less than 20 participants. You had to answer a trivia question about each stop. The first one was a song reference at NW 13th and NW Everett. It was a STOP sign that had been creatively vandalized to say "Don't STOP 'til you get enough". The next one I already knew about. It's a sign at the Portland Coliseum, funny that it's a track bike and not a BMX.

From there I went out to the Paul Bunyan statue on Interstate, but rather than slog up Interstate I went up to N. Williams from Broadway and rode that out and crossed over at Alberta. I could have humped it up that hill in my low 48x19 gear but I maintained a steadier faster speed by making that detour.

From there I went back to SW to the Ross Tower by the Tram Station. I got there by bombing Interstate to the Steel Bridge, which was UP when I got to it, and then dodged pedestrians on the Waterfront, and then went past the Cirque du Soleil site on Moody St. I should have done this one first or second. From there I went back down the waterfront to the Hawthorne bridge where a few kids caught up to me and passed me and headed up SE12th. Now I take this route all the time from the bridge to Col. Summers Park and the best way to do this is not to go up SE12th and then up Belmont, but zig-zag style thru that neighborhood, alternating climbs with flat sections and dumping you into the back side of the Park where the finish was. As I was getting there I saw the 2 dudes that passed me on the bridge coming across the park from the Belmont side, so I dug in and made it to the circle about one bike length before they did. For my efforts and correct answers I got 5th place! (more like 8th, but some got the wrong answers)
The prizes were some Hipster Cysts aka Knog Frog Lights.

Front and Rear

And a Knog hat

And a bunch of Knog stickers, that I guess I'm supposed to stick all over the place. I'm not sure I feel like doing their viral marketing for them. The were like little hipster cartoons with goofy hipster topical stuff written on them. The whole thing struck me as being insidiously cool, like one of their own had defected over to the dark side of advertising. Maybe I am projecting GenXs dislike of advertising onto the younger crowd, but I think if I was one of them I would find these stickers condescending, or at least an insult to my intelligence. Like they are going to suck me into their cool trip and buy their stuff cuz they are cool like me. Planet Bike doesn't resort to this sort of crap, but they have that "green" marketing angle. They are good lights, nice and unobtrusive, they don't really need this slick hipster marketing campaign to sell lights.

OK that was a bit of a tangent...Thanks to Miguelaron for putting this on, it was a fun challenge. And thanks for the Hipster Cysts!

NFKF FNFK

2009-11-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

My friend NeRf apparently got his picture taken by Tokyo Messenger, chopper guy, and No Future Krew member, Motoyan.

Motoyan's blog is a big inspiration for this blog. I try to get the same sort of mix of interests on here: bicyles, choppers, cool cars, good food, etc. Of course his is much more interesting, but Tokyo is like Bladerunner compared to Portland. He gets out a little more than I do, and is a much better photographer, but I try.

Winter Projects-Wheelbuilding and a BMX Project.

2009-11-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

Once again I will be doing a bunch of wheelbuilding over the Winter. The guy who does all my welding, Dan, needs a wheel built for his girlfriend's Schwinn Hollywood. I had a chance to get original Schwinn spokes but the cad plating had oxidized and I think they would start rusting immediately. I will use 14ga custom cut stainless ones instead, from Veloshop. They have a Phil Wood spoke cutter. I might re-use the original long nipples instead of the short ones available today. He also wants me to build a set of wheels for his mom's Schwinn Town&Country, just waiting on rims from the powder-coater. The labor will be tradesies for all the welding he's done, but he is a cool guy, so he's already flowed me a set of Mafac "Racer" brakes, and he might have a front drum brake for me as well. Good news for my 1952 Schwinn which relies on a Bendix coasterbrake of the same vintage, with a screw-on cog and left-threaded lockring for stopping. I was going to build up a B-43 for my Aerotrack, but I couldn't even get a red (or black, or white) 36 hole B-43 from Velocity, so I said "fuck it" and I will live with my Veep-D with a braking surface. When I built the wheelset I thought that I might buid a 29-er someday so I went with a braking surface instead of plain. Now I know that isn't going to happen. I rode a 29er, and I was non-plussed. I like my "26-er" better, probably because I rode nothing but a BMX until I was 19 or 20.

And speaking of BMX, if I can actually get my hands on a retro looptail "P.K.Ripper" I am going to move forward on a Buff replica. That will mean building some wheels with red or black rims and white spokes. Buff ran a coasterbrake in the back, and I have one, but I think that's just a little too goofy in this day and age, so I am going to go with a KHE freecoaster and 48 spoke because of my increased weight, and re-learning curve.

If I can't source one my plan is to get my hands on any 21" top tube BMX frame and just build that up and ride it. Right now I have a 20" top tube Hoffman, and it still feels cramped even though it is the same length as my last BMX, a Boss Dave Van Der Spek freestyle frame. Yeah that was a while ago. I missed mid-school completely while I while scootering around and getting fat drinking beer and eating Mexican food.

I think the reason that the Hoffman feels cramped is because these days you run your bars in line with your fork instead of perpendicular to the ground. This makes the bike handle better anyways. The modern steeper headtube angles used only work with your bars in line with the fork anyways, if you push the bars forward the bike gets all-twitchy and endo prone. I really prefer the modern BMX to Old-School, they work so much better than they ever did.

Back to wheelbuilding : if YOU need some wheels built I am your man. I've been doing it since I was 15 years old. I will do different lacing patterns like 3 leading/3 trailing, and 1x, 2x, and 4x. The most interesting the build the more likely I will want to do it, unlike most shops who shy away from "extra work/effort", so bring your hubs with different size flanges and rims with obscure ERDs. I can get spokes cut, so anything goes.

Meme of a Meme, Macro of a Macro

2009-11-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

Mike Buff

2009-11-10T10:52:00.001-08:00

Back in the day (BITD) this dude was the shit. Blasting mad endos with hang time, doing 1-hand, 1-foot kick turns twisted till he was facing backwards, the HIGH bunnyhops, and the roof drops. He rode a Looptail "P.K. Ripper" and so did I. My frame was polished aluminum with light blue and brown decals and I had a chrome fork. I had to drill the hole for the front brake. My brakes were blue anodized MX-900s. As buff changed parts I changed parts. He had a Redline Brute stem and GT pro bars cut down 1" and so did I, he went to CW bars and a Zeronine plate, and so did I. He had checkered pads and then SE camouflage ones and I made the switch too. He had Z-rims, I had Z-rims, and then he went to Tuff II's. Not just any Tuff II's but Graphite with the Campagnolo front hub and a coasterbrake. A lot of Freestylers ran coasterbrake (Bob Haro, Mike Buff, R.L. Osborn, John "Dizz" Hicks) and whaddahya know so did I. Modified in the same way it was layed out in BMX Action: Using Bendix 76 internals with the brake arm flipped and bent to line up with the top of the chainstay, and clamped with a hinged Dia-Compe seatpost clamp. But back to the Tuffs, Graphite with a coasterbrake was an inside deal and you had to "know somebody". Not a problem as I was on a trick team called Freestyle Force with Bill Curtin, who had set up some co-sponsorship (flow) with a few companies, including Skyway. Bill hooked it up and I payed about the same as retail for regular Zytel Tuff II's. In true Buff/Haro/Osborn fashion my tire of choice was Comp Stadium's in blue or red. Later I went the Haro style of a black skinwall Stadium in the front and a Cheng Shit diamond tread tire in back. Freestylin' with a coasterbrake burns thru back tires.

The reason I am posting this bike is because I plan to do a modern interpretation of it with a new retro looptail " P.K. Ripper". I am going with white w/red, cuz that is how I am getting it. My plan is to get rid of the v-brake posts and do under-the-seatstay removable u-brake mounts and cable guide like a street/park/trail bike has. I also want to do removable u-brake mounts on the fork. I want to set it up with some red anodized brakes and Dia-Compe Goldfinger levers, and of course a Gyro. I am going use a KHE Reverse freecoaster in red with white spokes and black rims, 48 out back and 36 in the front. For now all the parts that are chrome will be black. I don't think anyone makes Chrome handlebars anymore, but I could find some NOS GT pros and chop an inch off again. And believe it or not this build will piss off the purists (yes there are vintage BMX purists) because I am making it into a modern street/park bike instead of a retro tribute bike. I like modern BMXs because they are not all cramped and tiny. The "P.K." was 18-1/2" I think, and the retro looptail is 21.25", which is about the same as street/park bikes are. The rear triangle was/is a little long, but I am still getting used to short rear triangles so 14.5" sounds short to me compared to BITD but I know there are BMXs out there an inch shorter than that. I want to be able to ride this bike, and do the same lame tricks I used to. I'm not sure about kick-turn variations without a coasterbrake, but I do have a Bendix 76, and they still make Tuff IIs.

The Only Cool Shit At The Oregon Handmade Bike Show

2009-11-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Vulture Cycles

Tallbike loosely based on that one that was just auctioned at Sotheby's.

Vulture, AKA Wade Beauchamp said that his inspiration for building a tallbike was meeting members of DropOut Bicycle Club at the first Oregon Handmade Bike Show. Thanks Wade. As it happens you are one of my main inspirations for building "real" bike frames. Vulture is once again making frames after a short hiatus.

Wade has a sense of humor, only one in the building that day. Someone said his helmet looked Steampunk, to which Wade said "What's Steampunk?" Truly inspired.

This is Eugene. The unicycle has 2 gear ratios, uses a front disc hub, and is _____? OK Eugene, you've got me. "It's left-side-drive!" Well, it sure is. He used tandem cranks to pull it off right. In fact it uses all regular bicycle parts, no special unicycle parts other than the seat. He will make one for you if you want one.

This was the only other builder that impressed me. Keith Anderson. What a kickass little 24" cruiser. The fenders are wood and laminated following the curve of the tire. Keith had to create some special tooling to pull this off, by modifying a router to give him access as he guided his fender by hand to cut the inner recess. Then he shaped the outer fender by hand. No CNC, just mad hand skills, a true craftsman.

What drew me over to his booth was this rad old-school Pursuit Bike. The oversized tubing came pre-ovalized vertically at the head tube, and horizontally at the seat tube and bottom bracket. Carbon fiber bikes wish they had tube junctures that flowed as smoothly at these fillet-brazed joints do, and the seat tube/bottom bracket/chainstay gussets are the finishing touch. This is my favorite kind of bike, eye-catching but understated, and then the construction of it just sucks you in.

All the usual suspects were there with their entries in the Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge, which I had already seen. The design challenge was to build a (snore) commuter bike. Welcome to Portland. The results were some bicycles that were like Cadillac Escalades: utility in name only. Well, except for Tony Pereira's winning bike, and Vertigo's urban assualt bike, which didn't have fenders. Hey, we're talking about commuting in Portland, it's fenders or the dreaded skunk stripe.

Still Inspiring

2009-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

This piece of spoken word and film from Eric Darby still chokes me up. Makes me feel good about what I do even when I'm just chopping up bicycles.

I ride a bike not a bandwagon.

2009-10-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

This picture is from 5+ years ago, not long after I found this frame and fork at Citybikes for $75. One recently went on ePay for $530, ridiculous if you ask me.

A long time ago, like right after Quicksilver came out, I lost my desk job. I thought I would give being a bike courier a shot. I got a job with Choice Courier in Post Office Square in Boston, Mass. It was February at the time so I was biking in the snow and slush. I was using my MTB, a Trek 970 with some wheels I built: Bullseye hubs laced to Araya RM-20's. After some anxiety about losing my expensive wheelset I borrowed a friend's road bike, a Raleigh Technium. I liked the light weight and speed of it, and it was fairly comfortable. The only road bike I had before this was my Schwinn Varsity back in 8th grade.

There were some messengers in Harvard Square that rode track bikes. I knew this one girl messenger named Helena, she had blonde dreads, was slender, and as tall as me. I tried her bike out, and man was fixed gear weird compared to what I was used to, mostly BMX at the time. Just sitting while pedaling was almost a foreign concept that I had barely gotten used to in the short time I had owned the Trek. Needless to say that despite the pure beauty of a lugged track bike with Campagnolo/Cinelli everything, and knowing of a shop that could assist me in building one (Columbian Square Bicycle Shop, Weymouth, Mass.) they just freaked me out. I wasn't as open-minded back then, even though I thought I was, I was too fucking punk rock. I enjoyed punching and coasting and jumping off shit too much to give it up (or learn something different). I would have had to give up the Trek to get a track bike anyhow and I wasn't about to do that.

I lasted about two weeks doing this. I wasn't making enough money, mainly because I was out of shape and slow. I got another desk job and that was the end of that. I can't help to think how different my life would have been if I had got into track bikes back then. Bike-wise it would have taken me in a whole different direction. I wonder if I would have kept riding BMX (street-oriented freestyle) or if I would have gotten into riding fixed. At the time the two seemed very incongruous even though these days they are hopelessly intertwined. Just think how far ahead of the times I would have been.

1964 Triumph Trophy SC Kustom

2009-08-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

So this is where I'm at now, I'm pretty happy with it's stance and proportions.

Both exhausts will come up over the primary drive, scrambler style, and then dip down and meet up with that bracket with the speed holes. They will be equal length and slash cut, or maybe some turnouts.

My Mids Finished

2009-08-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

So here they are, a little higher and further forward than stock. Made the shift linkage and the engine plate too.

And here's the brake side. The kickstand has an internal detent.

It should be better for my back to be able to "post" over bumps.

From forwards to mids

2009-08-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of the first thing I built for this bike was this highway peg style forward control setup, along with the suicide clutch - on the left side and a stock brake pedal with a moped piston for you to mash down on. They were good leg extension-wise but I can't really take my weight off the seat if there's some railroad tracks or a bump in the road.

Basically I just cut the old pedal setups free and fucked them around a little. The I fabricated some mid hangers from flat stock and tubing cut from a handlebar. It uses the same bolts as the hardtail, which was bolted together and then welded on. Here's the right side:

...and the left.

My friend Dan welded it up for me, in trade for some vintage Schwinn cruiser shit.

San Lun Chee

2009-08-25T13:37:00.001-07:00

My first customer bike 5 years ago. Trike from Beijing, China. I found this out by finding an identical one in a book calling "Chasing Rickshaws". It came to me in need of brakes, which contsist of a cable woven around the headtube gusset going down to a brake that actuated like an oil filter tool. You either tugged up or tugged down on it to stop, using your hand or foot. The gear were operated by placing the chain on the desired sprocket by hand, which meant stopping and moving it to 1 of the 3 rear freewheels, or 1 of the 2 front chainwheels, which could be done on the fly, sometimes.

The idea behind the modifications I was making was to make it appear is if it were done in the Third World, with no welding, from whatever parts were on hand. So the first thing I had to deal with was a completely non-standard bottom-bracket size, smaller than Amercian (OPC) , but larger than threaded. The only other place I've run into it is on very cheap 16" kid's bikes. I got a bottom bracket shell from Sacha White, and found out there was still about 1/16" to take up on the radius. I got a piece of muffler tubing and sanded it to fit. Then it was tapped together with a hammer everything a fairly tight sliding fit. I drilled through all three tubes, tapped two holes m8 x 1.25 and put a short bolt through them.

Then I added a "modern" drivetrain form an inexpensive mountain bike. I had to modify the rear cluster, taking out "2nd" gear and having a spacer there, so that "1st" could be used to drive one of the rear axle freewheels. The wheelbase is adjustable, but the plate that holds the hub (now an intermediate shaft, if you will) is slotted so it can be moved fore and aft. The front and rear derailleur mount conventionally, and the bb is now threaded so better parts can be bolted up.

The band brake is now operated by a footbrake, and this one is similar to how it would be done in China. The lever itself was cut out with a jigsaw while bolted down to my bench, and then shaped with a big ol' bastard file. The foot pad it just a bolt with rubber hose over it. The rest of the hardware is just from Ace Hardware. The brake pad itself was replaced with a chunk of bald motorscooter tire, and now it will lock up one wheel, as one wheel spins on its own hub, enable the trike to turn without needing a differential.

This is the easiest way to work on one, just tip it up.

I also added a front brake, and regreased what I could. It works much better with these modern conveniences and safety features but it loses a little but of it's soul and simplicity. I guess that's the trade-off when a life is on the line other than your own.

My 2 Favorite Bikes

2009-08-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

My KHS Aerotrack and my 64 Triumph Trophy, still under construction. I've done tons of fabrication on it: jockey shift and linkage, suicide clutch, foot controls (originally forward, now mids, much better), passenger pegs, wheel spacers, brake linkage, fender support/butt stop, kickstand, engine plates, headlight bracket, exhaust bracket, remote oil filter/taillight/license plate mount and backing plate, a ton of threaded bosses, and assorted bracketry.Fabrication-wise, all that's left is the exhaust.

It's a 1964 Sportsman's Competition engine, one of 57 they made that year. There is a big nasty hole in it from throwing the chain but it is repairable and is in an area that doesn't hold oil. It needs a rebuild including new pistons and conrods. The front triangle is a Bonneville, and that's a 6" stretch Santee Industries hardtail, The front end is from a Moto-Guzzi 850T with an axle that I turned down to accept the Harley 21" front wheel. A dual disc setup is planned, can't wait to see if Harley rotors are gonna work with Brembo calipers. The rear wheel has a conical hub laced to a Harley wheel, and an interesting story (some other time). The tank is an old Paughco "Axed Harley". I got most of this stuff about 8 years ago, and you would shit your pants if you knew what I paid!

Every year I say next year it will be finished. The reason It's such a back-burner project is because people in Oregon drive so slow and inattentively, and you can't lane split legally like you can in California. It's actually much more enjoyable to ride a bicycle. I am also much healthier now cycling, and I worry that I might fall back into old ways and get flabby again, like when I moved to CA, got a Vespa, and then stopped riding BMX.

Dead Baby Downhill 13

2009-08-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last Weekend was the 13th annual Dead Baby Downhill, put on by my Seattle friends Dead Baby Bikes. Every year it seems to get bigger and better. There was also North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships , Rev. Phil was showing Bike Porn 3:Cycle Bound, and New Belgium's Tour de Fat was going on too! The Sprockettes performed at the Dead Baby Downhill and at Tour de Fat, and they are better than ever. It was a long weekend mostly fun, with lots of bike riding as opposed to the standing around and looking cool that usually goes on at bike events. Seattle is fairly spread out and finishing the race in Georgetown, staying in Beacon Hill at the Church of the Bicycle Jesus, going to Tour de Fat at Gasworks Park, and Bike Polo/Porn at Magnuson Park meant a lot of riding and some walking uphill. A big thanks goes out to Ryno aka Danimal for giving me a ride in his van, along with about 7 or 8 Zoobombers and at least 5 tallbikes.

And now some bikes from the race.

This bike has been around for a while, nice to see it's still together and being ridden. I like steering wheels on bikes. The anti-car fools can't stand it, which is enough of a reason to have one, but beyond that they work well to steer a bike with lots of hand positions, including a time trial style elbows-and-hands "aero" position.

Cargo-freakbikes are all the rage right now and this is J-Ryde's "Freight-0-Eight" in honor of Section 808 of the penal code which is "domestic disturbance caused by excessive amounts of bass". If you want to build one all you need is an old mountain bike for the back and a BMX for the front, and a little imagination and ingenuity for the cargo section.

Here's a really well-built front loader, I like that they used lots of bike frames and forks for tubing. To me it isn't a freakbike if it isn't made almost entirely of donor bike parts and/or salvaged junk. New tubing approaches being a "handmade" or custom bike.

This is totally out of control. It's a trike, and 4 people sit in the back on two tandems that drive the rear axle and one person sits up front to steer.

This is one of those bikes that hovers on the edge of freakbike. Tons of engineering going on with the remote steering done with cables and pulleys.

DropOut Bicycle Club's own Sysfail built this tallbike and trailer combo with a sound system. He hauls it almost everywhere. Future plans are for a serious re-vamp of the trailer, mainly to save weight.

My chopper, Suburban Rebel. It used to be a sort of a faux pursuit-style freakbike until I sawed the front end off, extended the frame with the front of a Schwinn Fairlady, and built a single tube extended fork. It looks deceptively simple, but there is a lot of internal strengthening going on.

SB to SLO

2009-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

I've been putting this off for a while, mainly because I have very little positive to say about the experience. Because of the train schedules I had to start my ride at about 11:30 am. That meant that right about the time that I got to the first serious climb it was about 80-85 degrees. I didn't have that much water with me, and the rack I used carried the weight too high, so I had to fight the bike trying to tip when I stood up to climb. My handlebars were a little too low but I figured that I should wait until I couldn't stand it any more and then move them up for some relief. This was about the only piece of strategy that paid off, other than putting my messenger bag on a rack, even if it was a shit rack. My bike has no provisions for a rack so it was my only choice last minute. The tough part of the ride was to Lompoc and pretty much most of the way to Guadalupe, except for the last bit on this boring farm road that I swear I could see both ends of from the middle. By the time I got to SLO it was dark, and it had cooled off, and I was in such a zombie-like state that the only emotion I could muster was relief. I found out where the nearest Mexican food place was and walked there, and stopped off at 7-Eleven to get a Newcastle or two.

This is the start of the "Bike Route" basically the shoulder of the freeway. Every Portlander who complains about cars driving too fast should have to ride this road to get some perspective on what fast is, the speed limit is 65 mph. It was fun to get sucked along by the trucks.

The first 20 miles was leaving Santa Barbara, and it was relatively flat, and I caught a lot of lights, so it was hardly even a warmup. Before I did this ride I would have considered this first leg a substantial ride.

Not sure if you can see it but there is a tunnel that you get to go through with cars about a foot off your shoulder. I turned on my blinky and went for it, thankfully it's a very short tunnel. There is a little "Share the Road" sign at the entrance.

This is where the hell hills start, the first one being the toughest, 8% grade for about 4 miles. There's about 3 or 4 more after this, shorter but as steep. Needless to say I stopped many, many times, and almost collapsed once. More water would have helped. I had some apples and bananas with me, I'm not one for those chemical gels and rubbery Power Bars.

This is the view down the hill from the first time I ran out of steam.

And this is the view up the hill. See where the road turns? That's about halfway.

And the view back down to that turn...

And up to the summit, but that's not really the summit. The downhill after this had me on the brake almost the whole way so I could keep up with my low gearing.

This is the view west from that never-ending farm road. A little past halfway mile-wise, but most of the effort was behind me. From this point on the ride just kinda dragged.

I stopped down the street and regained my composure before riding up to the Hostel. Thankfully the very last bit was downhill.
The folks at the Hostel were super friendly and accommodating. I went and got a burrito and brought back some chips, salsa, and guacamole to share. The Germans thought the mild salsa was spicy. I went to bed fairly early, and passed out before I could finish Newcastle #2. The next morning, after going for a short ride to keep my legs moving, I went and got a box at a bike shop, carrying it back under my arm. I boxed up my bike, and walked a block and a half to the Amtrak Station to check the bike in. The train ride was uneventful, and pleasant despite it being 24 hours long.

I'm glad I'm back in Portland or more accurately Aloha. I'm back with my family in familiar surroundings, ready to give Portland one more try. At least now I know that I was sort of idealizing San Diego, and how good I have it, especially getting around by bike in Portland. I've also gotten perspective on what "difficulty" really is, and what I can accomplish if I keep my cool and just keep going.

I'm back in Aloha, Oregon.

2009-07-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

The bike ride went OK, more about that in a later post. I got into SLO as it was getting dark and spent the night at Hostel Obispo. If you are ever in SLO I strongly recommend staying there, great group of people and a beautiful old house.

I decided to go back to Aloha because I miss my family, my Australian Cattle Dog, and my little garage. I spent most of the day yesterday tearing down an old Novara X-R and then painting it. This bike is worth painting because it's fillet-brazed Tange MTB chromoly. It's kind of an oddball bike, basically a mountain bike with drop bars, and oh yeah it's got indexed BarCon shifters! Unfortunately it was an ugly shade of 80's purple, with pink and yellow graphics. I wanted to paint it metallic brown but couldn't find anything that color, so I settled for a metallic green, that I shot over a black base to tone it down, and helped out the gloss with some acrylic clearcoat. Plasti-Cote paint dries fast, so after I took the dog for a walk I assembled it. THIS is the bike I should have used for my SB to SLO ride.

Goin' on a little ride...

2009-07-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Taking Amtrak to Santa Barbara, then riding to San Luis Obispo, and then boxing up my bike and taking Amtrak to Portland. I'm going back up there already, I miss my family too much.

113 miles that I need to bust out in one day. There's only one truly evil climb. I've got a new tire and some better pedals, and my brake pads are good. Yup, a century on a track bike. I'll take pictures along the way and blog about it when I get to Portland, my laptop is too heavy to take with me. Stay tuned.

SB to SLO
Find more Bike Rides in Santa Barbara, California

And here's map of the climb at mile 30, steepest part is 8%.

Evil Climb
Find more Bike Rides in Gavoita, California

Kinda feels weird...

2009-07-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

...to post these pictures of myself, but Autumn is such a great photographer. I had them taken for my girlfriend Mirand.

Laying Frame

2009-07-06T00:05:00.001-07:00

Damn I love slammed cars. There are very few vehicles that don't look good lowered, but certain ones look great slammed, just laying frame. I particularly like old trucks, almost anything big and American, and vintage VWs on the ground, although 30's cars tend to look "broken" when they are this low. This is the San Diego I knew and loved, rad cars like this driving around all over the place. Maybe they all got sold to Japan, or maybe gas still costs too much. Maybe it's because i'm getting around by bicycle and just not covering the ground I could on my Vespa or one of my motorcycles that I used to own.

I'm pretty sure this is a 1952 Ford, it had tubular A-arms and Air-Ride I imagine, and another disappointing SBC. I wish people would just put fucking Ford motors in Fords, you can't tell me they are any less reliable when the majority of Police cars are Crown Vics.

Sunday Funday bikes one last time

2009-07-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

San Diego has been fun, but I'm going back to Portland. So here's one more shout-out to the local fixed gear riders.

Noah's Eddy Merckx

Javier's "Cretin"

Laura's "La Douche"

Nathan's Leader

Jeana's Soma

My friend Mike's bike

2009-07-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Mike Stobbe, that is. I've known Mike since he rode a Vespa with the Night Stalkers Scooter Club. He did most of my tattoos, too. It's a Pan/Shovel, in a Panhead frame. I don't know much about Harleys, but I know what I like...

I love the way this bike sits, with it's 4" over front end. It's weird, in person it looks really small, but when you sit on it, you know you are on a Big Twin. The style leans towards Frisco, with the mids and custom-made Z/lane-splitters. I think the real influence is the movie "Wild Angels" cuz this bike could have rode right out of the movie screen in 1966.

Chopperdaves Casting Company made this neat bird-catcher.

Mike made this exhaust out of a myriad of pieces, including some ripple tube from Pep Boys. He welded it all together, smoothed down all the welds, and then had it all chromed. The bracketry supporting the cocktail shakers is as well thought out as anything you could buy out of a catalog, and Mike said he paid extra special attention to making sure it bolted right up, and that you didn't have to force it around to get it to mount up, which goes a long way towards keeping shit from cracking and falling apart. He also made those neat little fender supports from a Bung King kit, and had them chromed. He had a bunch of stuff chromed, and we all know what chrome costs these days.

I love open primary drives, it's the main reason I want to build a Harley. I will, if I ever finish my Triumph TR6SC. Mike modified the clutch pedal a little, so he could use the matching white rubber peg that goes with the footpegs, and then had it chromed. Very sixties, all this chroming going on.

I really wanted to ask him to ride it, but the combination of a 93" stroker motor, tall drive sprocket, and jockey shift/suicide clutch, made me think there was too much potential for disaster. It's for sale too, but if I broke it, I couldn't buy it.

More Sunday Funday Bikes

2009-06-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Rocco's
Kevin's

7th Sign of The Tarckocalypse

2009-06-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Pivotal seat/seatpost combo on a track(tarck) bike(beik)

I know you, and you cannot sing

2009-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Man has good taste. Vespa 150 Sprint, probably first year.

Hot Rod or Rat Rod?

2009-06-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure. It's pretty damn cool. 1930 Model A, with a fairly healthy chop. It's just channeled about 4" enough to hide the Model A frame. The undropped axle has a suicide perch sticking thru the 32 Ford truck grille. The engine sits kinda high but I guess that's better than scraping the oil pan, and bummer that it's an SBC. There's no windshield and the tires appear to used truck tires, just tall sorta square profile radials. It has a slight "Alhambra rake" and the trunk lid seems to open. Interior is the requisite Mexican blanket. There were no skulls or spider webs, but it did have a single Iron Cross taillight, but standard Model A's only had the one taillight on the driver's side. I think the top was chopped and the roof filled a long time ago judging by the depth of the bondo cracks and the rust down in them. Overall I really like it, but in a way I hope it's not "finished".

Tallbike up and running

2009-06-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

So it's complete and put together and working, but the chain still rubs. I rode it to Sunday Funday, it took about twice as long to get there as on my Aerotrack. Not a bad riding bike, and the coasterbrake gave me no surprises. The seat post could stand to be a little longer, I'll have fun finding a long 27/32" seatpost. I let other people ride it around, hoping to get others interested in building tallbikes. As far as I know the only place you see freakbikes is at Critical Mass, which I am not a big fan of. I haven't been down the beach, but the boardwalk is known for cruisers and weirdness, so there's gotta be some freakbike, burrito bike or chopper action down there.

I'm pretty happy with the paint job on the lower frame and fork. It's red spray paint, and then I beat it with a bike chain and rubbed a brick against it to simulate years of abuse. Then I wet down a rag with bleach and rubbed it on the new paint, so get some rust going. The idea was to match the existing state of deterioration that the rest of the bike has suffered. This is the second bike with some "faux-tina" on it, it's fun to do so why the fuck not?

Another Tallbike?

2009-06-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Sure why not? There were a couple of cruisers behind Andrew's house, so I decided to make yet another tallbike. Instead of the standard "bike on top of a bike" approach I just used the rear triangle of a girl's cruiser, and made an extended fork. It's all fairly straight forward, the bottom frame's seatstays sleeve over the top frame's seatstays where the dropouts were chopped off, and the chainstays hit up against the seatstays. The bottom frame's downtube was chopped about 6" up from the bottom bracket and mitered to sit against the top frame's bb. This required a fair amount of bending things around and a few trial and error cuts.

Mockup

So much fun cutting the fork dropouts off

Not the tallest tallbike

SunTour Coasterbrake

Being welded (flux core wire, no gas)

There are some issues with the chain hitting the chainstays, and this will be dealt with, with a big hammer. I have some plans for a rather unique finish.

Hipster Nascar

2009-06-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

At the San Diego Velodrome. The stands are almost completely full of racing fans and friends/supporters of track racers. Drinking is allowed and I get the impression that they are racing for money and beer. This is the second week I've attended and I've spent more time socializing than watching the races. I just like the idea that people who are riding track and fixed gear bikes on the street are interested in track racing, even if it is as a spectator. I don't quite know how to use my camera, so I apologise for the picture quality.

Spruce St. Suspension Bridge

2009-06-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

Well-known party spot for us old-time scooterists, but judging by the skidmarks the fixsters have found it. Rare daytime pictures.

View to the South

West entrance

Campagnolo Rims....

2009-06-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

...on a BMW 2002!

i Viva Lucha Libre !

2009-06-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've eaten Mexican food all over San Diego. Valentine's, Lolita's, every 'bertos you can think of, and Lucha Libre is the best. I like their build-your-own vegetarian burrito. Still in this day and age it's very hard to get a Mexican vegetarian option. It' also hard to get what you want when you special order. They work so fast and it's usually the same thing every time and of course there can be somewhat of a language barrier, especially if I attempt to hack up Spanish. I get what I want, which is fairly simple: beans, rice, guacamole, maybe some pico di gallo. Sooooo good. And they totally roll me a fattie every time- lunch and dinner. The hot carrots and chips were free.

They have also installed these awesome fold-down bike racks!

Keep an eye on your bike @ Sunday Funday...

2009-06-09T11:59:00.001-07:00

Don't let this happen to your poor innocent bike.

Bikes from Sunday Funday

2009-06-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

I went to Sunday Funday with my old friend Bhava Das. I ran into another old friend, Eddie Castro. I met these guys when they used to pierce at Dr. Jefe's and I worked at Envy Body Jewelry as a machinist. Bhava was always bikey, and when Eddie got into bikes, he started a bike club called The Kutters. It's nice to see the bike scene blow up in San Diego, and I'm stoked these two guys are in the mix. I had a great time hanging out with everyone, getting my bike nerd on with Jacob, talking about wheelbuilding, Jobst Brandt, Sheldon Brown (R.I.P.), commuting/traffic laws, and the problem with being anti-car. You see, as long as you are anti-car, and you project that image to car drivers, and this does nothing to get them to park their cars and get on a bike.

And now the bikes....

Affinity

owner-Gregory

Kiyo Miyazawa
owner-Aries

Ocean
owner-Jules

Murdered Out
owner-?????

Old habits die hard

2009-06-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at Gelato Vero typing this. This is the old Vespa hangout. I don't think it's even on the fixster kids radar but once again it's familiar and comfortable, and it has free Wi-Fi. It also has coffee from where I used to work, Cafe Moto.

I get to ride up Washington St. when I leave, it's not that bad, not like climbing out of the canyon where I'm staying at a friend's house. When you live in a flat city, you whine and moan when you get to a hill. In a hilly place like SD they are a fact of life and you just hump up them. Luckily I run a low gear, 48 x 19 or 68 gear inches. The bike is a '99 or so KHS Aerotrack. It has a Campagnolo headset, and some vintage 165mm Sugino 144mm b.c.d. cranks. I laced the Suzue ProMax hubs into the Velocity DeepVs (VeepDs) 4x rear and 2x front. I'm glad I built these because there are some craters in the roads down here. SRSLY reconsidering my "free pile" rear tire even though it is a Continental. I'm seeing fixster kids running around with no front brake, but I have yet to see one going down hill. I'm old so I play it safe. Also I'm lazy and resisting (the forward motion of the pedals) has gotten old after 6 years of riding "brakeless" in Portland. When I worked up in Seattle I put a brake on cuz I knew there were hills, and I just never took it off. I've grown accustomed to bombing hills and grabbing a handful of front brake at the last possible second. Panic stops are a lot less taxing too.

A dreaded sunny day...

2009-06-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

...so I'll meet you at the cemet'ry gates. Keats and Yates are on your side.

Wilde is on mine. Graveyard Park. I wanted someplace pretty and familiar to consume my 5 rolled tacos w/guacamole from La Posta de la Acapulco #8.

Cinco Rrrrrolles y Wacamole

I haven't had decent REAL Mexican food in 7 years. I have had nothing but Mexican food since I got back. On Tuesday Lucha Libre, on Thursday Taco Fiesta. I don't play favorites, it's mostly a location thing, knowing where the best ones are.

Tuesday,June 1st, 1:00am.

2009-06-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

I arrive in San Diego. Looooonnnnnng train ride from Portland, Oregon. In LA a dude gets on with a Surly Crosscheck, singlespeed. I see this as a good omen.

Some Stingrays

2009-06-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

I only had a Grants High Riser when I was a kid, so the Schwinn Stingray has always been an object of envy. I alway kinda hated Krates because I crashed on one, chipping my fairly new two front teeth, and killing them, so that they required root canals. It's why I don't smile much. Somehow in my adult life I've managed to own 4 of them, never paying more than $14 dollars for one.

Poor Man's Krate

This was the most recent. I got the frame in a trade for a low-end Italian frame & fork, a Garlatti. It had been sandblasted and left outside to rust. As an east coaster, VW nut, and Vespa restorer a little rust does not scare me. I tore off some strips of emery cloth and started sanding, and it took way less time than I thought it would. It got a nice coat of Rust O Leum flat black. I had a donor Slik Chik or Fair Lady that I had built years ago, so I already had a sissy bar, banana seat, ape hangers, stem, and hard-to-find headset & bottom bracket (28 tpi). As a condition of the trade I made him find me some Varsity forks, to go with the 16" wheel I was using. So basically zero dollars into it, because most of it was shit I had laying around. I sold it for $200 to a dude who is going to put a "replica" Whizzer kit on it.

1969 Stingray

I got this one at the Goodwill Outlet store for $14. It had been "converted" to BMX and repainted with an almost-matching blue spray bomb, killing it's collector value and interest. I guess they are all about original patina these days. I had a repro Stingray banana seat and sissybar from another Stingray, and some apes and a chrome Ashtabula stem, so all I needed was some tires, some 20 x 1-3/4 tires (not the same as 20 x 1.75/2.125) . I picked up some used Westwind tires at a swap meet for like 5 bucks. Does anyone get bargains like this on ePay? I ended up selling it for $140.

My Lowrider, "Lobo Negra"

This one started with a free frame left behind by some tweekers in a garage I was cleaning out. There was also a Harley Hummer, which I sold for more than I thought it was worth but less than it was actually worth. This Stingray is a 1971 and originally yellow so maybe a Lemon Peeler. I cut the head tube off and flipped it and bent up some tubes to rake it about 15 degrees and stretched it about 6 inches. This left the bottom bracket almost on the ground so I made some dropout plates to raise it up some and make it about 4" longer. Later on it got the "tank".

This was done the "Old Skool" Mexican way (as told to me by several Mexicans) where you cut a piece of wood out and maybe cut a shape in it, and then bondo it to the frame. Then you set about molding it in with more Bondo. I used about a quart. It's painted Rust O Leum Semi-gloss Black and has a genuine swap meet Zarape seat cover. There's little money into it, with the chrome and the Bendix Red band, but not that bad. The vintage Wald Springer, stem, and apes were a yard sale find for 5 bucks, all 3 items not each.

There was another one, a 1964, that I got for $8 dollars at Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store (DAMVets). At the time, I was a little Schwinn ignorant so I discarded the seat and sissybar, which were the correct Solo Polo style. At first I built it as a lowrider. Instead of a bent springer I heated up some Varsity forks till they were red and bent them in an arc, dropping the frame so far that I had to use 2-1/2" cranks. the back wheel was shot so I laced in an NOS chrome rim with stainless spokes, and shod it with an NOS Schwinn Stingray Slik that I picked up somewhere I don't remember (maybe in Poway). After I painted it metalflake purple (spray paint!) I sold it for $125, back in 1990. This was the first old bike that I fixed up and has a place near and dear in my heart. I wish I had a picture.

20 of the Freakiest Custom Bicycles on the Road

2009-06-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Two of them are mine: Reverse Cowgirl, my tallbike with a steering wheel, and my Burrito Bike.

Reverse Cowgirl was the first tallbike I built, but it really wasn't cool until Dingo Dizmal gave me the steering wheel that's on it. This is the most recent pic, it's being "murdered out".

And here it is at the PDX airport

The Burrito Bike made it's debut at Oregon Manifest (another handmade bike show that Drop Out Bicycle Club was invited to show at) It's the second one in, that's my Stingray Lowrider too.

And here is a more recent picture taken in beautiful Aloha, Oregon

SUICYCLE

2009-06-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

I had the idea for a fixed gear tallbike about 3 years ago. Not an original idea, I'm sure someone had done it, but this was when the "fixie" thing was first starting to really blow up, and I felt it necessary to poke some fun at it. Also the Drop Out Bicycle Club, of which I am a member was invited to have a booth at the first Oregon Handmade Bike Show. I was a bit dumbfounded when we were approached, as it was entirely professional builders, of which I have the most admiration and respect. I knew I had to do something special. I had Mizutani Seraph that I got at Goodwill and a Bridgestone Kabuki from a yard sale, so I had two lugged mild steel frames from which to build a tallbike. I always start with the steerer tube, and I set it up to both the top and bottom headsets, so the tube in between is more of a stem extension. Four bearings are sturdier than two, and once the neck extension is fabricated it acts as a jig, holding the top frame in place. I also did a monostay, and placed a substantial gusset at the bottom bracket. It also got track ends that line up with the bottom bracket for maximum chain adjustment. I finished it off with a big 52 tooth chainring. The most recent addtion is the bum bars, which a very comfortable. So here it is, the Suicycle.

Brakeless? Check. No foot retention? Check. No lockring? Check. (welded 5sp. cluster)
27" rear wheel & 26" front wheel (for teh barspinz)

Here you can see the sprocket gusset, and triangle gusset

The rather precarious monostay, made from part of a fork leg.

Seat lug with seat stays carefully cut away, cut and laced Brooks saddle.

Rear dropout cut from a Schwinn Varsity and grafted to what was a vertical dropout.

What's he building in there?

2009-05-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

For years I've been working on and building my own two wheeled vehicles: bicycles, motorcycles, and motorscooters. I figured I might as well document the result of too many silly ideas and too much time on my hands. Some of it will be from the past, and some of it will be as I build or rebuild it. My abilities are somewhere between home-made and hand-made, and there is definitely room for improvement. I prefer hand tools to power tools, although I do not say no to a nice lathe or mill. I can fillet-braze, but I have yet to learn to weld. I usually draw stuff before I make it, so maybe some drawings will make their way up here. The idea is to show some of the process, both creation and execution.