Baby Sportster?

I saw an ad in the latest AMA magazine for this bike. It's from QJ Motors - a firm I'd never heard of before. The ad listed SSR Motorsports as the exclusive distributor for the SRV 300. At first glance it looked like another iteration of a Sportster, but it's only 300cc and $5,000. Too small and not near expensive enough to be a HD. QJ Motors and Benelli are both owned by the same company, QJ Group. I'm familiar with the Benelli name, but they're now Chinese rather than Italian. The link will give you a short update on the brand.

And speaking of Sportsters, I put the cam chest back together but neglected to install the rear brake pivot shaft through the hole in the cover. I'll blame that on the fact I didn't take it apart along with the fact I had the cable and shaft zip-tied out of the way - out of sight, out of mind. Fortunately, I bought two gaskets when I ordered, so no real harm done. Just a pain in the ass having to take it apart again. I finished up installing the lifters and pushrods yesterday, so the engine work should be complete now. 

Next up is deciding if I want to make a rack for behind the seat while I've got the rear wheel off. If so, need to get that completed and then I can install the new tire. I still need to get a front tire and decide if I want to replace the drag pipes, which I do. I just don't know if I can buy something like I want at a reasonable price or if I want to go through the trouble of making a set. I'm leaning toward fabbing up a set and then sending them out for the Jet Hot coating like I did on the jitney. A couple of short slip-on mufflers would be an easy improvement from a noise stand-point. Something else to think about.

And while we're talking motorbikes, The AMA magazine also had an article about the Royal Enfield motor bicycle from 1901. Basically, this is a brand new, hand-built machine to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the company in 2021. Interesting article. Royal Enfield has some sharp people in their marketing, as well as in their engineering department. I don't have any firm sales figures, but they seem to be selling a lot of motorcycles here in the US now. I'm happy with my Himalayan. It was fun riding it on my little road-trip last weekend. The 650 models are probably more in line with what riders here in the US are looking for. Most American riders think even a 650 is too small but I'd be willing to ride my 411cc Himalayan cross country, but I'm a guy who has ridden a good part of the country on a bicycle. 

And now for something completely different, I picked up a couple of loaves of sourdough bread the other day as payment for the repair on the cart at the CSA. That's one of the prettiest loaves of bread I've ever seen - tastes as good as it looks also. The bartering system is still alive and well and with the way things are going, might be making a real solid comeback in the not too distant future.

Baby Pickup

 

I saw this Hyundai pickup in the parking lot at the grocery store Monday. I saw one in Tulsa last year when I was out there, but this is the first one I've seen around here. It's a cute little thing but not much good for hauling. If you could put a trailer hitch on it, it might be pretty handy. I like the cover on the bed - good for securing things when you're parked and out of the elements. I don't know what kind of mileage it gets, but probably much better than my full-size Ford. I filled it and a 5 gallon can last night and the tab was $76.44. Probably much cheaper to fill up the Hyundai.

I was looking at the ass end of the Sportster trying to decide what to do about the two holes in the fender and I was struck by the thought a small rack would be handy. The license plate bracket is pretty stout, so I could make something that would bolt to the license plate bracket in the rear and the two holes in the front. It's a small area but the rack could cantilever over the bracket a bit. I wouldn't want it to be an eyesore, but it would be nice to have a spot to strap on a jacket or rain gear. I'm going to give that some thought. I did order a rear tire and tube, so progress hasn't stopped completely.

The grandson is now officially enrolled in college. He'll be starting welding classes in January. Very proud of the young man.

It's a Very Strange World

 

Master Jack came out in 1968, the year I graduated from high school. '68 was a very strange world, but in retrospect, nothing compared to what's going on now and the last couple of years. Obviously, you can't downplay Vietnam, but we've had riots, big bank bankruptcies, and if we keep the proxy war going against the Russians, we're going to have more than we can handle, maybe even on the home front. Let's not forget the pandemic, either. It's now becoming painfully obvious that everything associated with Covid-19 and the vaccines was total bullshit. In fact, some would say the whole deal was manufactured, both the virus and the "cure", to start reducing the population. Scary shit, right there.

I went to the doctor yesterday and, as I suspected, he cut me loose. However, since I'm not back to 100 percent, he said to keep doing my therapy and start doing some strength training. Since I actually did my therapy as he had instructed and he knew I was a boxing instructor, I think he figured I might actually do what he suggested. He explained the benefits of the strength training for my blood sugar and my overall health. He gave me the print-out "Barbell Training is Big Medicine" from Starting Strength. This fits right in with my plan of getting signed up at a health club. 

On the way home I stopped at the county park to check out the trails for our Sunday walks/hikes. The park focuses on farm life from around 1910 as well as an earlier section of the park with a log home and outbuildings. The trails are nice and we'll be able to do a 3-4 mile walk and it's close to home.

It's been quite a while since I've taken any photos with a film camera. I dug this one out a couple of weeks ago and put a roll of film in it. Since it's a box camera, there aren't any aperture or shutter speed adjustments. I used ASA 125 film, which is faster than what was probably used back when the camera was new. And the shutter might be a little slower than originally due to its age, which means the negatives might be over exposed by a stop or two. Only one way to find out and that's to get the roll developed. I shot the roll on one of our Sunday hikes and at the county park so no once in a lifetime shots. I'm going to load another roll in one of my good twin lens cameras and when I get that one shot up, I'll mix up some fresh chemicals and develop both rolls.

I installed the new trim on the shop window after I got home. One of the 2x4s was a little warped, so the joints aren't quite as tight as I would like, but that's what caulk is for. Depending on the weather, I want to get it caulked today and then paint over the nail heads and give it a second coat.

Busy day yesterday. I'm hoping to keep my momentum up for a while. I've got more to do outside and with the nice weather, it's a good time to do it. It's nice to be able to use both arms again.

Dream a Little Dream

 

Put on the Mamas & Papas while in the woodshop the last couple of days. Great group from back in the day.

I rode the Himalayan south Saturday for a funeral service for my cousin's husband. Beautiful day for a bike ride. In fact, I was thinking on the way down how nice it would be if I kept on going all the way to Kentucky or Tennessee. As it ended up, however, I put about 120 miles on the bike for the round trip. 

After I got home I made the pieces to replace the trim on the shop window. I painted one side after cutting them out and painted the other side Sunday morning before going on a hike. I'll see about installing them today after I see the shoulder doc this morning. I imagine he'll cut me loose after telling me to keep doing the exercises. My range of motion still needs some work but I'm a good 90% now.

Going along with that, my Medicare insurance provider has a health club deal. there aren't any in town here but down the road a bit there are two. One has a heavy bag and is open 24/7. I'm going to check it out and see if it works for me when the weather turns cold.

 

Bicycle Repair Man

 

I used to watch Monty Python every week on the local PBS station - don't know where they came up with their ideas, but definitely entertaining.

The seat on this aluminum framed bicycle is cantilevered out behind the shock mount. I should have included a photo of the whole bike to make it easier to see where the cracked section is located and better understand why it cracked, but I wanted to show the original weld and the new crack in detail.

This photo gives a better idea of how it all works as well as the finished weld on the right side of the bike. The seat post is the tube on the far left of the photo. 

The left side had a crack through the middle of the original repair, plus another crack that ran along the bottom edge. I ground the weld down and rewelded it. There was nothing wrong with the original repair. The material is just too thin for the type of service the bike was subjected to. The bike is now in the hands of a new owner who I would assume will take it a little easier on the jumps. I contemplated adding some additional gusseting but think it should be fine now.

Bicycle Repair Man to the rescue once again! 

Constitution Day

 Happy belated Constitution Day! 

As Ron Paul explains above, this is how things are supposed to be, not the screwed up mess we find ourselves in now. Hillsdale College offers a free course - Constitution 101 - if you wish to learn more. I've never taken it, but I really should. I do have the free copy of the Constitution they send out and their bumper sticker about loving the Constitution. The federal government ignoring the Bill of Rights is what concerns me the most. The first and second amendments are the ones that get the most discussion, but the 10th was designed to prevent many of the things Mr. Paul cited above. Most of the power is to remain with the states, not the federal government.

I don't classify myself as a conspiracy theorist, I'm more of the paranoid type. But that doesn't rule out being bat-shit crazy I suppose. 

I spent Constitution Day morning doing a 5K. They dropped the racewalk class this year, so I was contemplating doing a little running. I tried running a bit the other morning. I wore my "girdle" and I had a little chest pain later on in the day, but nothing serious. However, when it was time to line up for the race, I saw the 84 year old guy getting ready to toe the line. He beat me last year and I didn't know if he would show up this year, both because of his age, and the fact there was no racewalk class. He got a jump on me at the start but I closed to within a few feet of him at about the half way point. I think he got tired of hearing my footsteps and tried picking up the pace, but it looked like he developed a stitch in his side because he was holding on to his side. At that point, since we are in different age divisions, I could have passed him by running easily enough, but I didn't want to try and overtake him by walking. I've got a lot of respect for the old dude. Actually, he probably would've beat me anyway. He's a competitor. However, if I had picked it up a little I would have placed third in my age bracket and they were giving awards to the top three finishers. I got beat by six seconds. Coach Jen did place third in her age group. 

Lumberjacking

 

Now that the shoulder is serviceable, I'm tackling some overdue yard maintenance here at the shack. My neighbor has a bucket lift, so I invited him over to partake in the fun. He lopped off some branches that were rubbing the power line coming into the house and the feed for my shop. I got the ground man job hauling branches away and doing the final clean-up.

I also finished cutting up the downed tree as well - gave my shoulder a good workout, and the rest of me as well. It's been quite a while since I've done much physical work and I felt it the next morning. Not bad, but enough to remind me I need to get back to the gym and/or doing some more strenuous work around the shack. I'm going to rent a log splitter to take care of the wood in the photo as well as some other pieces I've got that need splitting which will help with that. I'm also going to take a tour next week of a health club nearby. It's a no contract, 24/7 place. I'm looking for a warm place for the winter months.

My former colleagues at the high school, Kevin and DJ, got the bushings for TVI taken care of. Thanks to both of those gentlemen, and congratulations to Kevin on the birth of his daughter.

I need to take a trip north to take care of some business/run some errands. 5K this weekend and some odds jobs on the agenda, like always. It's been nice working outside lately. Fast approaching my favorite time of the year, meaning I need to finish a few things before the weather turns.

Build Submarines

 

I went hiking on Sunday with Coach Jen and a couple of others. We put in 5 miles at a local county park. It was a beautiful day for it - sunny and 75. When I came home the Missus had the NASCAR race on and one of the cars had "buildsubmarines.com" on the side of the car. Seems the Navy is going to be building a new batch of nuclear submarines and the contractors are looking to find qualified people to help complete the mission. The build submarine page has an explanation of the mission and a list of job postings. 

I checked out the job postings, focusing on the welding jobs primarily. I can see where there is going to be some difficulty filling the positions after perusing the job requirements of several of the postings. One of the postings required an all-position test with 110-18 electrodes. That'll require some preheat, I imagine. That electrode has a tensile strength of 110,000 psi which will require tight control of the welding parameters.

 Other postings were looking for the ability to weld with SMAW, GMAW, GTAW on carbon steel, aluminum and titanium. Also, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting, blueprint reading and math skills. One of the listings offered a sign-on bonus and a relocation allowance. Most of the listings didn't specify the hourly wage but I wouldn't be surprised if the wages were low enough to keep highly skilled people from wanting to relocate. I wouldn't figure there are too many people with the desired qualifications that are currently unemployed, either. However, if you want to build submarines, check it out. Might be just the thing for you. 

Clever marketing idea. Hope it works out. 

Prepper Bike

 

I needed to get a couple of items from the grocery store, so I figured I take the motorbike. After thinking about it a wee bit I decided to take the bicycle and trailer - nice day, get my daily exercise and all that.

With all the "prepper" talk, bicycles are rarely mentioned. Likewise, the anti-fossil fuel crowd doesn't seem to promote them much either. However, now that gasoline prices are approaching $4.00 per gallon again, bicycles are an economical method of transportation and an extremely efficient method of getting around. When you add a trailer you can add to the versatility of the bike by adding cargo carrying capacity. 

My trailer is a copy of the BOB trailer that I made. Actually, I made two of them - one for me and one for my buddy that I rode with on a couple of long-distance tours. The material is Inconel tubing that was given to me by another cyclist buddy of mine. The rear wheel was acquired when the high schoolers were competing in the high mileage contest. The fender was taken off a junk bicycle and run through the shrinker to conform to the diameter of the 12" wheel. The only thing I had to buy was the little cheap taillight. An internet search of one wheel bicycle trailers will turn up several designs. I recommend a one-wheel trailer because it follows in the same track as the bike wheels and it's not any wider than the bike.

The bike itself is an old steel framed Raleigh, probably from the seventies. I bought it from a church rummage sale for $4.00. Since I've had it, I replaced the saddle with one that is sprung, new 700c wheels to replace the 27" ones, and a new rear derailleur. I also modified the front chain ring. I was going on a trip that was going to require crossing a couple of mountain ranges, so I needed a granny gear. I checked with a couple of bike shops and they told me I couldn't put a triple gear set-up on the bike, so I machined up a carrier and put a gear on there from an old mountain bike. Worked like a charm. With the upgraded components it's not a $4.00 bike anymore but I've ridden it all over the United States and I've only got maybe $300.00 invested.

Used bicycles are a dime a dozen. However, most department store bikes have cheap components. The nice thing about bicycles is there are all kinds and grades of components available to upgrade a cheap bike, or you can buy a new one. Lots of choices in materials and price. There are custom builders out there that will build you anything you want if you're willing to spend the money. I recommend a steel frame bike. A mid-grade bike like mine will last a lifetime and if by chance the frame becomes damaged, it is easily repaired. 

Of course, your usage and price range will determine the best bike for you. I bought mine with long distance touring in mind and after the upgrades it's been perfect for me. If you're planning on using the bike for trails, consider a mountain bike. There are one-wheel trailers with suspension for that usage. Obviously if you have a big family, using a bicycle to bug-out is not a workable solution, but a bicycle will still function after an EMP hits and if you're not using it on a regular basis you won't have to worry about a dead battery or bad gas. Air up the tires and you're good to go. 

Mandatory Retirement

 After watching Mitch McConnell freeze up again the other day, I got to thinking. Rather than term limits, what we need is a mandatory retirement age for our politicians. Now before anyone screams about age discrimination, think about commercial airline pilots. 65 is the mandatory retirement age because there is a justifiable concern for the safety of their passengers. If the FAA, and most of the international bodies in charge of air traffic safety agree, aren't willing to entrust the safety of 300 passengers to a pilot over 65, why in the hell should we entrust the safety of over 300 million citizens to politicians over 65 years of age. Especially when you consider the fact that these geezers aren't going to be around to suffer from the consequences of many of the long-term effects of their policies. More info on the age problem can be found here.

Those old guys need to go and the young ones need to understand the government has no money of its own. It's my money and your money, so stop pissing it away. It wouldn't be a bad idea for them to review the Constitution either. Especially the Bill of Rights.

Bicycling, Boxing & Country Music

 

Put some new handlebar tape on the old Raleigh. I like the look of it with the holes punched in it. I like the color and the padding, but the top layer is so stiff it won't conform to the curves on the bars without wrinkling. Not at all happy with that, so I'll have to get some new tape like I had on there before. 

If you look closely at the photo, you can see the odometer. I'm not on zero anymore. I'm planning on doing that 50 miler next month, so I'll be putting on the training miles. Need to do a couple more 20 mile rides in addition to my daily 8-10 mile rides.

I was shopping for tires for the Sportster but wasn't able to find what I was looking for. There are several vintage patterns out there but the size I was looking for was out of stock. I checked four different cycle parts suppliers and it was the same story at all of them. I did find a few that would be serviceable so I'm going to look again and get something ordered. 

It was hot again the last few days - temps once again in the nineties. Hot enough that I exercise my right as a retired guy to stay indoors for the better part of the day. I've got plenty of things that need to be done, but nothing that can't be put on hold for a couple of days.

The Binge channel had a show on tonight nothing like their usual programming. Usually it's older shows like Hunter and Renegade but tonight it was live boxing and country music. The show started with a country singer performing a few songs and then three fights. Intermission was a few more songs and then the rest of the card. I don't know who the singer was but he wasn't bad. The back-up band was really good, but you would expect that in Nashville. One of the first bouts featured a heavyweight fighter, Francois Russell, from my old hometown. He faced off against a young up and comer. The young guy took him out in the third round with a big body shot. Russell took a knee and made no effort to get up. I looked up his record and after tonight he's now 3 and 40, so it's pretty obvious the young guy's team was looking to pad the kid's record without any risk. 

Different type of programming than what you usually see on television. They had a few problems during the production, but if they do it again, I'll be tuning in.

Birthday

 

As I'm sure, most of you have heard of the passing of Jimmy Buffett at age 76. Yours truly hit 73 today, meaning if I use Jimmy Buffett as the yardstick, I've got three more to go. That being the case, I should probably start hitting it a little harder. 

Ain't that the truth. However, I really can't bitch about my station in life now or the years in between. I've done just damn near everything I've ever wanted to do - except the trip to Hawaii on my 50th anniversary. I'll lay all the blame for that on Fauci and the rest of the douchebags in charge of the covid fiasco. Regardless of what comes my way in the future, I'm hoping for a few more good years, enjoying my time with family and friends, and maybe even finishing a few projects. It's good to be alive.

And of course, happy Labor Day to all you working stiffs out there. Thanks for all your hard work.

Bicycling, Etc.

 

I went for a bike ride Friday morning. The odometer was 8.5 miles from hitting 1,000, so I wanted to ride enough to have it roll over and get a picture of it. Much to my surprise and disappointment, rather than showing 1,000 on the clock, it reset to zero. It went from showing five nines to three zeros. However, after Saturdays ride it's now on 18 miles at least. 

Before Saturday's ride I dropped off the repaired cart at the CSA and then hit the boxing gym for a bit of shoulder therapy. I was able to do a few rounds on the double end bag and speed bag without any pain. I'm a little rusty on the speed bag but I'm planning on doing it on a more regular basis. 

If I had a big shop, a lot of money and a lot of ambition, I'd try to locate myself one of these. And then I'd paint it red. 

I picked up a couple of new LED lights for the shop ceiling the other day. The two I replaced were also LED  - the ones that are supposed to be good for up to 50,000 hours. If my arithmetic is correct, if I was out in the shop damn near full time that would amount to 2,000 hours per year. That would give me a life span on the light fixtures of 25 years. Instead, I only got a few years. One of the fixtures was blinking to the point it was going to give me a seizure, the other one just plain quit. Always the optimist, I'm hoping at my age I'll never have to replace these two. Time will tell, I guess. 

I've got a wedding reception to go to today, but probably won't stay too long. It's an outdoor event and the temps are supposed to be in the mid-nineties. Plus, I'm little apprehensive about going to any event with a crowd of people. 

I need to do a little maintenance on my bicycle, a little chainsaw work, some more yard work and turn a wrench on the Sportster. Might be a little rain in the middle of the week, that'll be time to get the cam chest back together on the bike. I'm going to see about getting a rear tire and swapping that out while I've got the bike lifted up and can pull the wheel off easily. That and the fact the shoulder is back to about 90%.

It's a Curse

 

I went to pick up my veggies from the CSA yesterday and the owner flagged me down about a welding job. Seems they overloaded their cart and broke the steering linkage. He used to take his welding projects to a neighbor, but the guy passed away during covid a year or so ago. Looks like I'm now the regular welder. Not unusual for retired craftspeople to be sought out for doing little jobs. However, one of the best ones was the phone call I got the other night. 

I was giving Surly and the grandson a tour around the college the other night to introduce the grandson to some of the principals in the Weld Shop and show him the facility. When I got home, the Missus said I had gotten a phone call from the guy who's the Weld Shop lab tech in the mornings. Seems he has an aluminum framed bicycle that needs to be welded and wanted to know if I could take care of it for him. Seems pretty funny that a guy working in the weld shop needs an "outsider" to do his welding. I think the problem is that he's been a real pain in the ass to most of the instructors, so this is their chance to even the score. One of the instructors has been making a living TIG welding exotic metals, so I'm sure welding the bike wouldn't be a problem for him. Anyway, I'll pick it up next week some time and fix it here at the shack.

I bought a flag pole and mounting bracket for the garage barn. It's Chinese naturally but the flag is American made. The flag pole kit was only about $16.00 - stainless steel, powder coated and the flag mounts have ball bearing swivels to keep the flag from twisting up around the pole. I have mixed feelings about flying Old Glory in this day and age but I'm still hoping for a turn-around.