Show your bicycles, sans engines!

[Ulu]

On 5/16/2022 at 6:51 AM, Plymouthy Adams said:

did anyone ever slow down and wonder what happened to the original poster and question his absence from the thread....his number did not answer my call.

So I finally drove down to Reedley and left a message on Paul’s door. He has not been in great health. He called me back this morning & evidently he’s feeling much better, and asked me to come and help him put the engine in his car.

[Plymouthy Adams]

thanks for the update....the man must be feeling mighty poorly not to come to the forum.  Tell him best wishes from me if you will...last word was he gave up on the V8 in the truck....I am guessing it is the truck with the bad rod he is working with.  Also, thanks for taking time to run and check on a forum member that was MIA

[Ulu]

No problem. I have been meaning to go down there for a whole month.

[cheesy]

I haven't been around much lately, my employer has been trying to get as much out of me as possible before I call it a career on June 30th. I managed to spend 25 days in Mexico working on what we, in my After Sales Service branch call, Factory F***Ups. It's real bad this time.

 

Told you that to tell you this. Every other morning, since I got back home from the best of the best Mexican food, I've been riding my fixed gear track bike into town for a cuppa and maybe breakfast. Days without breakfast is about a 5 mile round trip. Days with breakfast will be 7 to 17 miles. Burning calories and losing weight. I feel a whole lot better, too. I'd like to get back down to my 80s and 90s racing weight but without the racing part. I'd prefer not to wipe out at my age.

 

 

[pflaming]

This one i have never seen. Interesting.

[Ulu]

I rode all 4 complete bikes this AM before the heat.

 

Alltogether I did 7 miles.

In order I rode the Sting-Gray,

 

 

The Mongoose,

 

The black Green Manhattan townie,

 

and my wife’s Nishiki Blazer

 

I have not been on the Blazer in a long time, and it needed a serious service job, so I tore it all down. I didn’t put it back together till midnight tonight.

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Ulu

[Ulu]

It was 105

I worked inside the air conditioned garage today, servicing the Nishiki, instead of outside welding.

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

I have been going bicycle riding every morning, but every afternoon has been getting very hot.

 

It’s 110 out there by my shed, so there’s no Volkswagen welding going on today.

 

That mongoose is a monster bike. I am really happy with the way she goes. It has so much rolling inertia that you push it up to speed and it just wants to keep rolling forever.

 

Of course all the parts are like new and I just greased everything.

[Ulu]

It has been over 100° every day in the afternoon so I have not been inclined to go to Reedley. Paul does not have an air conditioned garage And I don’t wanna see him drop dead from the heat out there.

 

I’ve been avoiding the afternoons, just working on my bikes and riding in the early mornings. Working in the welding shed on into midnight.

 

Riding around my neighborhood I counted 105 American flags and patriotic devices. I took a photograph of every one.

 

I live in a neighborhood that is 1/2 mile x 1/2 mile and 25% of it is devoted to park lands and a fancy gated community that I don’t belong to, so I couldn’t photograph there.

 

These are only a few of the 100+ photographs I took.

 

 

This is what my garage looks like when my wife is gone.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Ulu

[pflaming]

Pflaming update: I’ve been in my shop every day this week, mostly about 3 hrs a time. I’m working on my sportster, The electrical took some time but is now in the tidying state.  Today i installed the transmission, Monday likely the engine.  

[Ulu]

Well you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but maybe you can make it into a chew toy.

 

I am very surprised to see that you’ve been this far on the car. My wife made a bunch of plans for me this week that I didn’t find out about until the last minute.

Unfortunately my wife has plans for me tomorrow as well, being the Fourth of July, so I’m not gonna be going to Reedley before Tuesday.

 

It is usually about 105 here on the Fourth of July but this year it is only projected to be 90°F. Yippee! Tuesday should only be 92, so much nicer than working on the car when it’s over 100.

 

[pflaming]

Tuesday or beyond will work. Our primary task will be to install and start the engine. If I can weld the tunnel and get to the brakes, then maybe we can go for a ride.  Will be a lot of fun to drive our two kit cars to some outing, maybe we can go to the big trees in Sequoia National Park.

[Ulu]

Did you actually get a license and registration for the Volkswagen?

 

I checked and it cost $35 now to get a park pass to the Sequoias.

 

They don’t wanna take cash at the gate either. I guess the employees have been stealing too much.

 

Looks like the temperature Tuesday has been revised down a couple more degrees, so it looks like a winner as long as I manage to get some sleep on Monday night.

 

 

[Ulu]

Oh yeah, bicycles.

 

I put a bigger seat and handlebars on the mongoose.

 

[Ulu]

I need to take the upholstery off the new one and add some real padding to it but it’s much nicer having a longer seat.

 

 

[pflaming]

The Sequoia park pass is $35 but the annual any and all park pass only costs $20. Figure that on out. I bought the annual pass. 

[TodFitch]

5 hours ago, Ulu said:

. . .

I checked and it cost $35 now to get a park pass to the Sequoias.

. . .

 

20 minutes ago, pflaming said:

The Sequoia park pass is $35 but the annual any and all park pass only costs $20. Figure that on out. I bought the annual pass. 

If you visit any federal land areas with entrance or parking fees on a regular basis you might want to look into the senior lifetime pass. It is good for entrance to all lands managed by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, Army Corp of Engineers, etc. If you are into camping, it often gets you a 50% discount for the campsite too.

 

I got mine a few years back for $10. The price has gone way up to $80 now. But it only takes visiting a few of the bigger national parks to pay that back and then you are in for free for the rest of your life. For instance, a year or so pre-covid my wife and I visited Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon and Zion in southern Utah. That one trip would have recovered the recent higher cost of the lifetime pass.

 

In Southern California the national forests usually require an “Adventure Pass” fee at the developed (i.e. have toilet and trash) trail heads. $5 for the day, $20 for a year for that pass. The federal national passes, including the senior lifetime pass, covers that too. We go hiking in some USFS fee areas at least twice a month so that senior lifetime national recreation pass has saved us money there too.

 

 

[Ulu]

I thought the $20 pass was just for walking or bicycle customers.

[TodFitch]

1 hour ago, Ulu said:

I thought the $20 pass was just for walking or bicycle customers.

There is a $20 senior one year pass listed: https://store.usgs.gov/senior-annual but if you plan on going for more than 4 years you might as well get the $80 lifetime senior pass and be done with it: https://store.usgs.gov/senior-pass

 

Edit: I should read the stuff on the websites I link. Looks like you can use your old expired 1 year senior passes to pay for a lifetime senior pass. So if you are not sure you will be going to parks for four years, just buy the annual pass but save the cards when they expire:

 

Quote

 

When can the Annual Senior Pass be exchanged for a Lifetime Senior Pass?

Save your passes, even if they are expired! The physical cards for the Annual Senior Passes may be exchanged in person at any time for a Lifetime Senior Pass at the following exchange rates:

1 Annual Senior Pass card plus $60 for Senior Lifetime Pass

2 Annual Senior Pass cards plus $40 for Senior Lifetime Pass

3 Annual Senior Pass cards plus $20 for Senior Lifetime Pass

4 Annual Senior Pass cards plus $0 for Senior Lifetime Pass

 

 

[pflaming]

I bought a lifetime pass for $20 some ten years ago. I had it in my billfold,(mistake) and lost my billfold. “Ops, there goes a million dollar dam”. 

[TodFitch]

4 minutes ago, pflaming said:

I bought a lifetime pass for $20 some ten years ago. I had it in my billfold,(mistake) and lost my billfold. “Ops, there goes a million dollar dam”. 

Should be only a 80 dollar damn.

 

Save your expired annual passes, the federal website says each one is good for $20 toward a new life time pass.

[Ulu]

Light gage TIG welding.

 

Ugly nose before reshaping:

Whacking it on a wrench.

Nose reshaped:

The slots were really destroying the seat and once I trimmed off the ragged edges it was even worse. I welded up every one of them.

22 holes filled.

[Ulu]

“Say Tommy, does your mother have a large carving knife? A really sharp one?”

 

There you can really see all the holes that I welded up.

I roughed out the foam and then shaped it with sandpaper.

 

I still have to finish grinding the base and paint it. I might add a tab for the tail light. I could now carry a substantial battery under the seat.

 

Before it was rather weak and I was sure it would crack under me in less than a year. I really needed the practice TIG welding and it was a good experience because by the time I got to the 22nd hole I was fairly good at it.

 

Let’s give her a Hollywood nose job.

I got her down from a Jimmy Durante to a Bette Midler.

 

 

[cheesy]

I can quit anytime. And this isn't showing what's in the attic.

 

[59bisquik]

This is my Phat Cycles beach cruiser. I have had it for many years but felt it needed some gears. Today I swapped out the rear hub for a Shimano Nexus 3. It's now a 3 speed and I just need to tinker with the sprocket sizes a bit more to get her perfect for the hills around here.