Steve McQueen

Made by Hand from Persol on Vimeo.

Great history lesson

Brought to you by Stock Tips and Designed by Killer Infographics

AMERICANA

Pittsburgh Banjo Club from The Banjo Project on Vimeo.



Damn do I wish I had one of these in town.  A real frickin piece of Americana!

Holy Grail obtained (or at least I think so)

Finally got one.  A Tesch 101 and 1 of five with a chrome base. When I was racing and doing a lot of long distance in the 80's I really coveted this frame but couldn't afford it. 

Lets see my "Dead men only" collection is growing (McLean and Tesch).  Now all I need is a Confenti.

TAHITI!

'Nough said.

The "ZEN BUILD" begins

I finally got the "PW" (stands for Pscycle Werks a local Laguna Beach builder) back from the anodizer. I was blow away what a job Dunham did. This is the last frame Roy Watson built sorry to see him get out of the biz.

So here we go the jewlery will be mostly green, Chris King etc. Roy still has his CNC business and has the laser etching for his "decal". For a fully suspended bike this baby is really light. Can't wait to roll around the hills of Laguna and throw some mud. blood and beer on it.  Stay tuned. 

Yosemite and the Pinot express

A great time was had by all last week.  Five days in the Sierras ain't all bad.  This one is for Gunnar, the Pinot Express was heavily ridden, the valley floor was the perfect place for this steed.  May be a first, a McLean in Yosemite.  Anyway marshmallow roasts, swimming in the river and the lot.  A great break from the city.

The Bike is Mightier than the Plane

The Roads Less Traveled

Eclectic 3.0: The Roads Less Traveled from Ross Ching on Vimeo.



I found this guy Ross Ching.  I think he is very good and will be big someday.

BARELY LA

Running on Empty (Revisited) from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

T. Boone Pickens | More on Natural Gas

HR 1380

If some of you are wondering why I posted a widget on this piece of Legislation, it is because my lively hood depends on it.  Yes it is a subsidy and we are all against them.  In this case we have 85% of the Natural Gas resources in the world and barely use them.

I am representing a Car made in china that we are converting to Compressed Natural Gas.  If the bill passes the car goes out the door for 9000.00 USD, and in the State of California it get a sticker to in the HOV lane with just the driver in tow, no passengers.  Here in Cali that is worth its weight in gold.  I will swallow hard and hope it passes.  At least we would stop 700B in foreign oil and you home fiill up to boot.

Here is the Auto it is called the Noble.  BTW on CNG it gets 60 mpg and if you use $5 a Gal. as your bench mark the equals a $1.75 per gal. for CNG.  Not bad.

www.shuanghuanautomotiveus.com

Comments and questions always welcomed.

TDF 11'

Tomorrow is the big day.  The three ring Cirque is off and running!!

How the Mighty have Fallen

http://tinyurl.com/3nlzjev

He sells the Company Jewels and everything goes to hell in a handbasket!!!

Les Paul Reprise

Google out did them selves with a very simple deal.  Stairway to Heaven.

EPO'hhhh

If we are really worried about the Tyler Hamilton accusation towards Lance and his gang.......  Well let's just get it out there.  Gunnar you're for drug legalization anyway aren't you?  Besides the Swiss (UCI) are on the take again.  Those bank accounts have a way of getting "in the way"

Long Cool Women in a Black Dress

The first song I heard in my car after I got my "DL".

New Digs

Well here it is the office (in the House in Laguna).  For starters the 80 mile round trip to Long Beach is history... Yahooo!  second after 11 God Damn years in that hole I now have three windows and all My bicycles near me.  Almost true nirvana.  Oh I forgot the dog (Roxy) hangs out under the desk. 

So to say am I happy....  What a total understament.  Anyway it is now time next week to get to the serious work of selling alternative fuel vehicles. 

This is totally cool!

Regret: New Order

Podium Girl

Now Barin this is how it is done!

Share the Damn Road

I thought this was a laugh a minute and great site.

http://www.sharethedamnroad.com/

Banner Sluts

Geez a two post day.  I saw this on Barin's FB, don't get me wrong some ink on people is pretty cool but on banner sluts this is a totally a NO GO!  I know this is the MTB scene but can we keep this old tradition clean and chic, or have we still no since of style in the USA.  Anyway this just rubbed me a little on the wrong side.  Finally were are the damn banners!!!

This one is for Barin and Garros

What is Mountainbiking about? from Filme von Draussen on Vimeo.




This what MTBing is about.

New Training

Bet you didn't know I had this one.  Yep dug it out of moth balls gave it a good wax job and away we go.  Now that the new profession is in full swing and in a month there will NO commute.  In the sunny morning at 6:am I can hop on the 133 and single speed for an hour and then head to JP's (The french Nazi's coffee shop.  God I can't wait!!!

ALLEZ!!!

The weekend awaits.  The weather is supposed to be dry I prefer a little mud myself.  the map above includes two new sections of pave.  It should a real circus.  Hopefully the grey old man Hincapie gets his due.


Allez!!!!

Paris Roubaix

Well gang it is that time of year, my favorite as the queen of the classics is upon us again.  I can't wait! 

BORN FREE!

I don't follow Kid Rock that much but this was good...
Great video and great song.

Brian Head

Well a gas was had by all.  The skiing in Brian Head (Southern Utah) was steller.  A 15ft base and nobody on the mountain makes for a great week.  And as you can see by the first pic the weather wasn't bad either.  combine that with $30 lift tickets and $100 nights stay I felt like I was back in the 1970s.  Pretty damn retro if I say so myself.

The photo below is the Virgin river gorge.  Sometimes called the "petit Grand Canyon"



"LEFTY"

This is my guy, my all-time childhood Idol, Sandy Koufax. This guy was the true meaning of Smoke! I loved Willy May's comment about Sandy's Curve ball. "It was the only curve I could here coming at me. I knew it was a curve ball right from the start but I still couldn't hit." Sandy was unique he had only two pitches, a fast ball and curve ball. His hands were so big that when he threw the curve the laces on the ball made a mad whining sound coming at you. I think it was Willy McCovey that said "He’s the only pitcher that scared the hell out me and he only had two pitches. “He was the best I have ever been up against.". Sandy was also a Gentleman something you rarely see in today’s game. A true Pioneer, when Jackie Robinson needed someone there were two guys there to back him up, Peewee Reece and Sandy Koufax.

Koufax wasn't even his real name; he was born with the last name Braun. But no matter the name he is still the best ball player I have ever seen.

If you want a great read get Jane Leavy’s “Sandy Koufax, A Lefty's Legacy".

The reason for todays post is because pitchers and catchers report this weekend for spring training! Hamachi get ready cause’ we’re comin after the dreaded hated ones. Next year is hear!

The Stranglers, Always the Sun

Kelly

Well sometimes you get lucky.  Awhile back the fam. visited the old country.  We did Demark, Ireland, and London.  Our visit to Ireland was not planned.  So when asked in mid stream, when we were over the great pond we decided to visit.  Our Neighbors is of very big Irish descent.  From Waterford.  It just so happens that their next door neighbor is SEAN KELLY!  yes of Paris Roubaix fame.  Well being a not so shy AMERCAIN I asked if I got one his jerseys would he sign it.  JACK POT.  It was funny everybody else was asking why anybody would want little Sean's autograph.  It is hanging in my little own shrine. 

After that the neighbor's whole Irish family decended on our house a year later.  A family of 14 Bros/Sisters.  All beer drinkers and singers.  Gunnar you should have been there.  Brian sang the Edmond Fitzgerald in perfect Irish Tenor.  It was a thing of beauty.

Cheers! 

Paris: Tour de France... The Frame

This caught my eye today when I was visiting and chatting on the net with Bob of Elliot Bay Bikes in Seattle.  This is an eye riveting restoration. I love the fork crown.  Below is the link to the story.  The question is where and when do ride this thing.  To the Moulin Rouge?

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders/paris3.html

Snake Oil

I got this for Christmas from a very good friend.  Still trying to figure out what it does.  A posted report on its "Elixir" qualities later in this blog.  The one on the right has me confused.  Is it for the bike or me?

OLD BICYCLES AND THE MEN WHO LOVE 'EM

OLD BICYCLES AND THE MEN WHO LOVE 'EM

{or HOW TO KEEP YOUR BICYCLES HAPPY AND YOUR FAMILY WELL-TUNED}

by Bob Hovey who shamelessly plagiarized and edited the original text of

Roger Welsch, (writing about his tractor collection) in order to keep the content

somewhat on-topic...

Over the past couple of years, I have collected advice along with my Gran

Criteriums, and I think it is only neighborly that I pass along to you what I

have learned. If you're married and are thinking about getting into the vintage

steel business, forget trivial things like chain breakers and crank pullers

and lay the groundwork for your new hobby by carefully studying the following

rules ... THE BASIC RULES OF BICYCLE COLLECTING!

RULE #1. Collect only one model and make of bicycle - nothing but Bianchis

or Hetchins, for example. When all your bicycles have the same decals (and

better yet, color), it's harder, if not impossible, for anyone (if you catch my

drift) to figure out how many bicycles you actually have.

RULE #2. Similarly, never line up your bicycles, ever. Nothing distresses a

difficult spouse more than seeing twelve old bicycles lined up, looking for

all the world like a burning pile of hundred dollar bills. Scatter the

bicycles around - a couple behind the shed, one or two in the shed, another beside the garage - so that it is not possible for anyone, if you know who I mean, to

see more than two or three from any one perspective. Your hobby will be less

"irritating" that way, if you know what I mean.

RULE #3. For much the same reason, don't number your bicycles #1, #2, #3.

Give them names. You'd be surprised how much less trouble you will have, if

you talk about "Sweet Wheels" or "The Celeste Queen" rather than "Carlsbad #014"

RULE #4. Somewhere fairly early in your collecting, buy a bicycle you don't

want. Sell it again as quickly as you can; don't worry about making money on

the transaction. The main thing is to get a bicycle and get rid of it. Then,

for years, you can say, "Yes, Angel-face, I do have six Cinelli Bs, and they

are in the shed while our car is out in the weather, but that doesn't mean

that I will always have six Cinelli Bs. Remember the one I got rid of a few

years ago? I'm thinking of selling another one any day now so we can put the car in the garage." If you are lucky enough to have a friend who collects

bicycles, make an arrangement for him to drop off a bicycle now and again. That way you can say - if anyone asks - that you bought it. Then have it hauled off again, and say you sold it. With this system, you can re-establish your

reputation for moderation every couple of years or so.

WARNING: About the time I accumulated my sixth or seventh Masi I thought I'd be smart, so I bought a lovely and extremely rare little Masi mixte. Beth

and our eleven-year-old daughter Silca were standing in the yard as I unloaded

this lovely little item that needed only some wheel truing and a new chain. "I see you bought yourself another bicycle that doesn't work" said Beth. "Guess what, dear?" I beamed. "I didn't buy myself another Masi. I bought you a Masi! She's yours, and ain't she cute?"I could tell by the look on her face that she was about as excited as she was the Christmas I gave her a new drain cleaner attachment for her vacuum cleaner, but I wasn't at all prepared for what she said next: "How much can I get for it?" "Er, uh, I didn't get it for you to sell, honey-cakes. I was thinking...if you don't want to ride it all the time, I can take it into town now and then just to be sure the brakes are adjusted and the shift cables are tight. It won't be any trouble at all." "Well, thanks, Bob, you're really too sweet, I don't deserve a darling like you. How much can I get for it?" I almost broke into tears at the thought of someone loading that great bicycle onto their trunk and driving off with it. I was thinking that I should have gone with my first impulse and said that it had followed me home and could I maybe keep it, but thank goodness, about that time my mind kicked up to the big chainring. "Actually, I thought that if you wouldn't mind sharing, it could also be Silca's bicycle. Right. That's it! Eventually it'll be Silca's bicycle." Silca leaped into the Masi's saddle with a squeal and started turning the handlebars and trying to reach the pedals. Beth snorted something about me fixing my own supper that night - that is, if I was intending to stay over - and headed back toward the house while I helped Silca bond with her bicycle. That was a close call, and my advice to you is not to buy your wife a bicycle. Better stick with a drain cleaner attachment for the vacuum sweeper.

RULE #5. Pay for bicycles with a cashier's check, postal money order, or cash, which leave far less evidence than checks drawn on a family account. Once you have gotten possession of a bicycle and paid for it, eat the stubs, carbon copies, or receipts immediately. Such things have a way of becoming an embarrassment later, take it from me. Some collectors like to point out to skeptical marriage partners that what with interest rates so low these days, buying old bicycles is actually an investment, a way of being sure the spouse will be "taken care of and comfortable should something .... something terrible happen." Doesn't work with my dear Beth. She thinks Masis are the "something terrible".

RULE #6. Now and then buy a junker "for parts," even if you don't need the arts, even if there are no salvageable parts. In fact, you might want to consider hauling home a Murray or two whenever you haul home a good machine - if possible, on the same trailer or roof rack. This is called "liability averaging." If your spouse says something about it being strange that you have money for yet another bicycle but not enough for a new refrigerator, point indignantly to the bicycles on the trailer - the beautiful restored one for which you paid $1,600 and the two rusted hulks you got for $30 each - and you huff (or whine, depending on what has worked in the past), "Snookums, I got those for a little more than $500 each and the one in the back is easily worth $2,000 just as it stands, a tidy profit of $400, more than five times what I paid for the other two." See? Doesn't that make you sound like an investment wizard?  Some collectors find it effective to add something like, "it's pretty hard to find a good refrigerator for $500!" but it has been my experience that a smart-aleck attitude can fairly directly lead to the purchase of a $500 refrigerator.

RULE #7. When things get critical in the household, you might consider

dragging home a bicycle without handlebars and saddle or minus the wheels. If there is a complaint, you say something like, "bicycle? What bicycle? That's not a bicycle! That's only a frame and a few parts. Not even close to a bicycle." Then a couple weeks later bring home a wheelset or whatever. "What bicycle?" you say. "That's no bicycle! That's only a couple of wheels. Not even close to a bicycle." Don't try this, however, more than once every couple of years.

RULE #8. Have Steven Maasland or some other collector/dealer friend call you now and then when you're not at home and tell your spouse, "Bob told me to keep an eye on the WB Hurlow going at the auction up at Centerville Saturday, but it sold for $1,200 and I know there's no way a financially cautious and responsible guy like Bob would pay that much so I didn't even make a bid on it for him."  Not only will this make you look real good, the next time you do buy a bicycle, say something like, "Lovie-bear, this beauty only cost me $300, which means we're $900 ahead of where we'd have been if I'd gotten the one at Centerville. If I keep saving money like this, we'll be able to go on a Caribbean cruise next winter." If you say it fast enough, it might work.

RULE #9. If your mate insults your bicycle work by referring to it as rustoration" or "tinkering", laugh a light-hearted laugh that makes it clear that bicycles are not to you what shoes were to Imelda Marcos.

RULE #10. In the event that your situation deteriorates to the point where your mate asks, "Who do you love more, me or your blasted bicycles?" whatever you do, don't ask for time to think it over.

Notes:

The above suggestions are not dishonest or deceptive, exactly. They are ways

to make life easier for your spouse. In fact, now that I think about it, these little acts of diplomacy are actually a kindness, a way to smooth the road for someone you love. Following these rules are a way of being a better person. People who follow THE BASIC RULES OF BICYCLE COLLECTING are good people. In fact, I feel so good about myself, I think I'll go out and buy myself another bicycle! It'll be a good investment. I'll haul it in at night. That way I won't bother Beth.

Bob Hovey (again, with thanks to Roger Welsch)

Columbus, GA