End of the Line

The Chicago Tribune published their last Magazine on Sunday. The Magazine has been published in its modern form since 1953. I've been reading it on and off for almost as long. It ran a feature for a while about people and the jobs they did and a column by Bill (whose last name escapes me right now) I used to read all the time. It used to run John McCutcheon's Injun Summer drawing annually until 2000, when it was "banished by those decrying its description of Native Americans". It always had some nice photographs and typically an architecture, design or fashion story. And of course, it had the big crossword puzzle that kept me busy for a couple of hours while watching a football or baseball game. I usually couldn't fill in all the blanks but every once in a while I managed to complete it.

Some of the features are going to be included in the regular Sunday paper but I'm going to miss the Magazine. It's a shame that the newspapers are all on the ropes. This may be change but it's damn sure not progress.

I Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle

So why would a shop teacher who rides a bicycle need spurs, you ask? Why not?

A few years back I had some students who were doing some bull riding and we made some spurs. As long as I was involved I figured I'd make myself a pair as well. We do a dress up thing at the school every year and cowboy attire seems to be a recurring theme. Sometimes I wear the spurs and sometimes I loan them out. The original rowels that were on them were both a little rough looking and a little rough on the floor and furniture. I made these round ones the other day from a piece of 1/8" sheet brass. I have another job in the works that I'm going to be needing the spacer head for on the mill, so I used that to drill the holes in the rowels to get a nice layout. I drilled them with a lathe centering bit so I could get a nice countersink on the holes. I still need to put a chain or another leather strap on the spurs to prevent them from sliding up your boot. So technically the job isn't done but they look nice hanging on the wall.

Finishing , Fixing & StartingThings

I've been working like a madman getting things done around here.

The Angeles tricycle is ready to go. I got the everything painted, lubed and reassembled, including new hand grips. So that's finished.







The bushing is for the mower. I bought a couple of bushings for the front wheels, you may recall, but all they had were the outers. The axle was worn quite a bit so I didn't want to put the new bushing on until I could fix the axle plus I wanted to replace the inners at the same time. I made up a couple of bronze bushings instead of ordering new plastic ones. The grease fitting on the originals were plastic as well and the grease gun didn't fit real well. I welded up the axle, ground and filed it nice and round and reassembled everything yesterday. Fortunately, I only had to weld one side. The mower is six years old, so this should last me for the life of the mower.

The bicycle with the outrigger is the beginning of a railbike. I started on this a couple of years ago but as usually happens, I got into the construction phase and then got sidetracked. I put all the pieces together the other day to see where I was at and figure out the next step. The front end needs a guide to keep the bike from falling off the rail. This will have some skateboard wheels mounted on an arm in front of the bicycle front wheel. It needs to lift up so it won't fall into a gap if you have to cross a switch. I machined up the spacers for the skateboard wheels and did a little head scratching. I think I've got it figured out. While this isn't a pressing concern, I would like to get it finished just for the giggle factor. Be the first one on your block to have one, kind of thing. As long as I'm getting the rest of "to-do" list done, might as well make a couple of pieces for this outfit as well.

Bicycle Jig

I made a little progress on the bicycle building jig. The jig was originally for raking and building motorcycle frames. Surly and I bought a pile of bicycle tubing and lugs a couple of years ago. I made myself a bike but he still hasn't been able to find the time to work on his. When I made mine I made a quick and dirty jig but when I got done the bike was a little out of alignment. Not enough to notice when you ride it, but I can tell. I want to build myself a really nice bike, not that I need another one mind you, but one that looks like state of the art 1968. Fleur de lis lugs, small tubes, downtube shifters, nice paint with gold trimmed lugs. A classic looking bike for riding the occasional century or a nice Sunday morning group ride. Those are the Campy dropouts I'm planning on using in the photo. The rolled up paper is a full size drawing of the frame.

With a good jig, Surly and I both can knock out our frames easily enough. Since he already has his tubeset, cost won't be an issue. In my case, might as well spend the money on a bicycle instead of investing it in the stock market. That hasn't worked out too well lately. When we finish with the bicycles, I can finally build the 250 Ducati frame for vintage trials I've been thinking about for years. Or, I might just do that one first. I'm always thinking at least two projects ahead but I swear I'm not starting anything else until a couple of others get finished!

Motorcycles

I've been thinkin' motorcycles lately and what's better than a '70's Ducati? Maybe a '68 Spitfire.

Happy Father's Day.

Angeles Tricycle

From Tricyclefetish.com/angeles:

In 1958, Claude Tindell set out to build a tricycle which could stand up to the rough-and-tumble use of a nursery school. He opened a tiny shop in Los Angeles and sold his heavy duty trikes out of the back of his van.

Gradually, Angeles trikes became known throughout California as the trikes that would last almost forever. He developed other products and expand his product line. Some of these, such as the Wagon, became popular and are still produced. Others, such as the "Bug," never caught on and are part of history.

As the business grew, the demand exceeded Claude's resources and he sold his interest in Angeles Nursery Toys to Don Mitchell, and ultimately to Ross Sackett, a former CBS executive.

Sackett expanded Angeles into national distribution so that its products were available all across the country. It was during this period, 1978-1984, that school supply dealers began carrying Angeles trikes. (Prior to this, all sales were direct from the factory to customers)

In 1984, Ray Kelly decided to leave his position as Vice-President of Sunmark and enter the field of educational equipment. He acquired Angeles with the intention of building a higher quality company by setting new standards for product quality, service, manufacturing, marketing and innovation.

The Pacific plant was opened in 1986 with 15,000 sq. ft. and 8 employees. As the new standards began to have their effect, business grew and output was expanded. In 1988, the Los Angeles plant was too small to support the sales, and it was closed.

Angeles, now Angeles Group, has grown steadily in terms of products, facilities, people, and most importantly, in customer trust, by sticking to the basic original principles: Angeles will provide unique, high quality products which serve the user's needs better than anything else available. We will back these products with the best service in our industry.

So here's the next project in the clean 'em up or throw them out line up - the Angeles tricycle that the missus drug home last year. This baby is really cool. Built like a tank. It won't take too much to make this one a mover. Sandblast the handlebars/forklegs and paint them up. Same with the wheels. A little lube on the bearings or new ones as the case may be. New handgrips and it's a keeper. A couple of pinstripes would look right at home, also. I'll see if I can press Surly into service for that.

I'm not sure what the hell I'm going to do with all these things when they're done. It's just amazing that they're getting done.

Screamer Scooter

Here's another one of the projects the missus drug home. I got this one knocked out in short order. The brakes needed some work and the chrome was a little rusty but not much needed, really. I had a brake cable here so no trip to the bike shop necessary. It's grandson ready. Looks like it's going to be the summer of the human powered vehicle.