BLACK WATER UNION AT MOTHER'S TAVERN 9/29

We're playing at Mother's on Wednesday.  Git there.

AN ANTI-BELLUM BIRTHDAY PRESENT

My birthday is coming up on Sunday, and as an early birthday present, my wife bought me a pre-war (WWII) Slingerland arch top tenor guitar. I did some research and it looks like the manufacturing date is 1935 or possibly even earlier. I can't believe I own an instrument that is almost 80 years old. Of course, 80 years is a long time time to exist as a guitar without sustaining some sort of damage, and this guitar is no exception. The bridge was missing, and the set neck was separating from the body. This neck separation also came with a slightly loose dovetail joint which caused the neck to slop about 1/16" from side to side when the strings were taken off. The tuning pegs were falling off as well, and the whole guitar was filthy. I decided to take matters into my own hands instead of paying the hundreds of dollars it would take to have the work professionally done. Here's some pictures and some brief descriptions of the work I did:
Here's the whole guitar after I finished getting it all set up, homestyle. The body and neck are maple with a rosewood fingerboard, according to the 1930's Slingerland catalog I downloaded. It has a huge sound for a tenor- super loud and mellow at the same time.

Since the guitar was missing its bridge, I decided to just make my own rather than pay $25.00 for one on line and then wait a week for it to get shipped to me. I hand-shaped a block of "poor man's ebony" (poplar colored with black Sharpie) to match the profile of the arch top. I cut a kerf in the block, glued in a plastic saddle, and slid it under a new set of strings. The intonation is pretty good... way better than I expected, and I think the bridge fits the overall look pretty well. The action is great, actually- better than many of my other guitars despite the well worn frets, and the slight bow in the neck doesn't seem to matter at all.

I cleaned up the headstock and tightened the tuner plate screws (which, miraculously, were not stripped.) A little guitar polish really brought out the MOP work, and I'm particularly impressed with the green diamond in the middle. The inlay reads "Slingerland Songster." At some point I'm going to try to remove the red paint some idiot put on the tuning pegs.

The tailpiece is original, which is rarer than you might think; it reads "Slingerland Chicago, USA." I thought about taking a bit of steel wool to the rusty spots, but I kind of like the tarnished look.

Finally, I fixed the neck (sort of) by installing a trim head screw to pull the neck back into its original position. This took care of some of the side to side wobble as well, and the string tension did the rest- the neck is solid now, and I see no reason it won't stay that way. Thanks to my wife for a fantastic birthday present/awesome afternoon project!  I can't wait to play it with the boys tomorrow night.

SHOW TIMES

Come see us at Sally Loo's Coffee Shop this Thursday forthe Photo Booth Release party. Then on Sunday, we're gonna be at the Cal Poly Organic Farm fundraiser event playing some chemical-free old time to raise some money for old school farming. 

Next week, come out to the Clubhouse on Thursday, September 24th for the Blackwater Union, Zeb Zates and Anthony Roseli. It's gonna be Ta-Ta's last show as a bachelor! 

TWANG & BANG TONIGHT!

Come on out to the Frog and Peach tonight for a boot stompin' throat jawin' hullaballoo with the Blackwater Union and a bunch of other country/bluegrass bands from SLO.  It's gonna be a hell of a show. We go on around 5:30. Git there!

BOTTLE NECK SLIDE

Now that I have a sweet CBG, I figured it might be time to make my first authentic bottle neck slide. It was easy- all I had to do was find my glass cutter and chug a bottle of 2 Buck Chuck real quick. First, I scribed a line around the base of the neck. I ran hot water over the scribed section for a couple of minutes and followed it with cold water. Then I tapped the neck gently with a mallet and it broke right off. I finished it up by grinding the sharp edges down on the sidewalk (old skool, yo) and then polishing them with 100 grit sandpaper.

Next time I will probably use some masking tape to guide the glass cutter so the cut won't be so jagged, and I will also cut the neck a little higher up so the slide will be shorter. Overall I think it came out pretty good for my first try. I want to make a few different colors, so I guess my wine drinking is about to escalate. 

AMMO CAN 6 STRING

Today I finished the Ammo Can Guitar I've been working on. It's not as polished as the JR tenor, but it's got an amazing range of tone. I didn't run the neck all the way through this time, gambling on my ability to firmly mount the neck to the body, and it payed off. I think it's maybe a sixteenth out between the head and the end of the fretboard, but it doesn't seem to make any difference, and it holds tune just fine.  This was my first foray into the world of fretting, but it was easier than I had thought it would be- just a pullsaw and a hammer and some fretwire. The key was using a square to guide the cut. I laid out the fret positions using my '75 Harmony 3/4 scale acoustic as a template- the scale is 21.5" from nut to bridge. The hardest part was getting the bridge angle right so the intonation wasn't off... that took a couple hours of trial and error, and I ended up having to shim the nut with a jigsaw blade (whatever works, right?). I keep learning new things about the instrument the more I play it- for instance, I just discovered that if you turn the latch on the box lid by 180 degrees, it creates a rattle that sounds just like someone turned up the gain. It's natural distortion- amazing! And, since it is still operable as an ammo box, I can keep any number of things in it during shows: extra picks, a whole microphone as a pickup, or, best of all, 2 inches of ice and three cans of beer. Best Instrument Ever.

Specs:

-Poplar neck

-Mahogany fingerboard

-Ammunition can body

-10 speed rear cluster guard sound hole co

ver

-Simpson Strongtie neck bracket

-Old Fender Tuners (mismatched, all right handed)

-Maple table leg neck brace

-Abalone inlay drawer-pull bridge

-Light gage strings

-Total Cost: $24.00

J.R. CBG LIVE!

Here's a video of me more or less playing an old Doc Watson tune. I'm still getting used to the fretlessness of the neck, so I'm sure the viewer will forgive any bum notes. I tuned to GDGD for this song, which is how I also tune my fiddle. I think I'll keep the guitar in this tuning, since it also makes playing slide a lot easier.  Enjoy! (Also, for some reason my camera turns everything backwards, so the backwards writing on the headstock is actually correct in real life.)

INTRODUCING THE "JONNY REB" TENOR CIGAR BOX GUITAR

So here it is, finally! The Jonny Reb Tenor CBG, all strung up and ready to go. It's not the loudest guitar by any means, but it's got a really distinctive tone that I can't quite place... something between a crappy cello and a nylon string guitar you'd buy at the Tijuana border crossing. In other words, perfect. I originally wanted to put frets on it, but I kind of like it fretless now that I've played it. Also, due to the 19" neck and the strange bridge position, the first few frets would be pretty massive. It's playable though, so I'll either burn in fret markers once I figure out exactly where they are, or I'll just put cheater dots on the side of the fretboard. I think I might have to install ferrels where the strings come out of the tailpiece since they are digging in more than I thought they would, and I think it's causing the strings to go flat, but other than that, my design works pretty well. I strung it GDAE, tenor style. I have to admit that I was pretty sure the whole thing was going to explode or shatter or something when I was tightening up the strings, but it held together just fine. Next post will involve a video or recording of me playing it.  

Specs:

-Poplar neck

-Mahogany fingerboard

-2/25 mahogany cigar box

-Mahogany nut

-Steel T-strike bridge

-Nickel sealed gear tuners (mismatched discount set, 3 right, 1 left.)

-shower drain sound hole

-Mineral Spirits finish

-D'Addario light gauge strings

-Total cost: about $40.00

CIGAR BOX PROGRESS

Today I made some headway on the cigar box guitar. The project is taking me longer than I thought it would, but it's also coming out better (looking) that I had anticipated. I'm still not sure what it will sound like, but I rigged a pretty interesting floating bridge that I think will work pretty well. Here are some pics and explanations:

I finished shaping the neck and head (poplar), and glued down the fingerboard (mahogany). I'm pretty stoked on the two-tone grain of the fingerboard, and not so stoked on the accidental kerf left by the table saw on the left side of the headstock... poplar Duco, anyone?

For my bridge, I dug through a couple old tool boxes full of hardware left over from random jobsites. I found this steel strike plate and attached it to the tailpiece using two panhead screws to pin it down inside the mortise opening. The nice thing is that the tab (unseen in the pic, sorry) can be adjusted by bending it up or down. This feature, originally designed to allow easy door adjustment, makes it possible for me to adjust the action from the bridge side pretty easily. Also, since the panheads secure the bridge without actually penetrating the metal, I can pop the bridge out simply by loosening the screws a small amount.

I noticed in researching CBG's that some people have a hard time keeping the strings from digging into the wood.  I think I'll be ok behind the bridge, but I am a bit worried about the ball ends of the strings slowly working their way into the holes in the back of the tailpiece. I solved this problem (I think) by cutting out a piece of an A-? bracket left over from a house we framed last year.  Oddly enough, the layout of the holes is perfect for spacing 4 strings evenly across the fretboard, and they are smaller than the ball ends on most strings. 

I should be able to finish everything but the fretting tomorrow. I can't wait to play it, although I'm not getting my hopes up that it will sound good... at least it looks pretty sweet though. Also, any ideas on finishes would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking just some mineral oil might do the trick...

ADVENTURES IN GUITAR BUILDING

About a week ago I was searching Ebay for something I'm sure I didn't need, and I came across a cigar box guitar. Quite simply, it's a home made guitar that uses a cigar box as a resonator cavity. I got really stoked on the idea of owning one of these instruments, and I figured that, as a sometime finish carpenter, I should be able to build one pretty easily. I did some research, bought an assortment of empty cigar boxes from my local cigar shop, rustled up some poplar 1x3 and started planning. Somewhere along the way Ta-Ta's the banjo man got involved and decided to build himself a cigar box banjo. He came up with some close-grain mahogany crate wood (who builds crates from mahogany?) and we set up in the red house garage to build us some pickin' machines. Here are some shots from tonight's experimental session, in which we learned that tuning pegs are weird, jigsaw blades can actually light on fire, and, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to freehand a headstock on a table saw with no guide- super sketchy, but possible.

Necessary starting materials: Poplar, check. Cigar box, check. FatMax, check. Alcohol, check.

Ta-Ta's sanding out his neck. Obviously, our work area is conducive to safety and efficiency.

Me, prepared for flap-disking and mustard gas. 

GUITARCYCLE

We played a show at Mike Kaplan's Motorcycle Shop tonight, and I thought it would be a good time to test the instrument transporting capabilities of Skully the touring bike. This photo was taken on Ta Ta's the Banjo Man's porch right before the gig. I made good use of some bungee cords, and, other than a slight difference in cornering balance, I was able to ride around with no problems. On the way home, I had a guitar and a mandolin case strapped on the rack, and my tenor guitar in a gig bag on my back but I forgot to get a picture of it. Pretty awesome way to get to the show, though- Toddy rode too, solo on the tandem with his dog chasing us in the bike lane.

BEERCYCLE.

Getting ready for a Sunday evening ride to Zeb's barbeque with Scully and Simpler Times!  The beer got a little shook up on the way, but you gotta expect a little bit of head with a rack like this!

ALWAYS RIDE WITH A REAR LIGHT

Ok, so I lied. How could my bike be finished without the addition of a skull to the rack? The best part is that with a strategically placed rear Frog light, the whole thing glows red at night, putting me in compliance with city mandated bicycle light requirements. I completely forgot that I had this skull until the other day when I found it in the geraniums (why was it there?). It used to be mounted on the fabled Pirate Bike (RIP), and it joins the Shimano 333 shift levers (also left over from that bike) for another shot at glory here! I rode the bike around town last night and got some strange looks from a cop and an enthusiastic "oh sweet" from some little kid with an ice cream cone. YARRRRR!!!!

IT IS FINISHED (AND IT ALMOST KILLED ME)

The touring bike is finally finished, I think. Here are before and after pics. Today I finished mounting the ammo box panniers and cages. The only thing really left to do is re-adjust the rear hub that seems a little tight after my wheel randomly fell off while riding with the rest of the band to our gig last night. Fortunately I had a wrench in the backpack so I could at least get the wheel back on, but it was a scary experience none the less, especially on the way home, which involved an inebriated midnight sprint down a pitch-black Foothill Ave with Ta Tas in the lead with his banjo and a cigarette and Rog weaving around the tiny bike lane pulling a trailer loaded down with my guitar and the upright bass. At times like that you don't want a sketchy rear hub! I'll fix it soon, though, and then I'm gonna do some short 20-30 mile rides in the next couple of weeks to try to get in shape to ride Hwy 1 from Monterey to SLO. 

AMMO BOX PANNIERS

Despite the fact that everyone thinks I am crazy for wanting to use ammunition boxes as panniers on my newly rebuilt Schwinn touring bike, I have gone ahead with my insanity. I had to spend a few hours of trial and error in order to perfect the design, but I think what I came up with is pretty cool. Here's a step by step-ish breakdown of what I did.

1. I bought a Bontrager rear rack (50 lb max load) and installed it. About then I realized that in order to install the boxes, there needed to be some sort of shim to hold the box out from the rack at least 1/4" or so (this is because when the box lid is closed it overlaps the outside of the box.) I solved the problem by cutting up an old inner-tube, wrapping it tight around the stays of the rack in 3 places and securing it with electrical tape.

Next, I went down to the hardware store and bought some cable clamp U-bolts. These mounted easily to the rack stays; once they were secure I held the box where I wanted it to go, marked the position of the bolts, and drilled my holes. I used 2 U-bolts to secure the upper portion of the box- this turned out to be really strong, so I just drilled a couple of smaller holes toward the bottom and attached that section to the rack using heavy-duty zip ties.
I ran out of time to finish the other side, but I should be able to get it done today. The boxes are a bit smaller than I had envisioned (since I was originally going to use the more rectangular .50 cal boxes) but I really like how flat they lie to the bike. Plus I got them for $2.50 each at the army surplus store- saving myself a whole lot of money any way you look at it.
I will probably still buy a nice Trek bag to sit on the top of the rack, and I will need to somehow strap on my sleeping bag and bivvy sack, but if I need to I can always install a front rack too. For short trips, however, this is fast becoming a beautiful machine.

BLACK WATER UNION

Last week we played the Templeton Chamber of Commerce mixer. The venue was a huge art studio/barn that Ta-Ta's (our banjo man) built a couple of years ago in the middle of a vineyard. There was a photographer taking pictures, so he sent a few our way; they came out real nice, and you can see them here. No mics, no PA, just old time acoustic instruments and a heavy case of throat jaw- the way it should be! Honey played her first show that night, and she was sweet as can be. Come out and see us at the Clubhouse in SLO on Thursday, July 23.

ALMOST THERE

I spent the portion of the week that I didn't have food poisoning working on the touring bike. It's coming along nicely, and today I am planning on getting the gears and brakes set up. This bike has been really fun to build.  I'm proud of the paint job, which came out pretty nice considering that it's impossible to find an outdoor painting location in SLO that is free of wind at any time of day or night. Another highlight is the complete mishmash of components that have been commandeered to get this baby running.  So far the list includes:

-Schwinn (?) frame circa 1975

-Araya 27 x 1 1/4 wheelset (steel, of course)

-Original Dia-Comp centerpull brake calipers

-New Tektro levers

-New Campy Mirage crank set

-Soma Bullhorns set up with a combo of Oury grips and Fizik suede tape

-New Vittoria tires

I'm taking her to Big Sur on our annual camping trip this week to put on some test miles. Next week- Ammo Box Panniers.

MEET MY NEW HONEY

Last week I decided that I wanted a tenor guitar. I enjoy playing the mandolin in our band, but when it comes down to it, I'm no Bill Monroe. The tenor guitar is tuned in fifths like a fiddle in either C or G (the same as a mandolin). It has a nice tone that fits right between the guitar and the banjo, and it was quite a popular instrument during the middle of the 20th century, especially in country/americana bands. I put a 'wanted' add up on Craigslist one night, and the next morning I had an email from an old-timer in Cambria who
just happened to have one up in his attic.  Turns out it was a 1961 Epiphone with a solid mahogany top and neck. I bought it for $100. I named her Honey, and she lives up to the name, although adapting my mandolin leads to a new instrument with frets four times bigger is a bit of a challenge. After some jamming with the band, I strung her gDAE.  The higher G string where the low note should be takes some getting used to, but the inverted up-down rhythm that it provides is pretty cool sounding, as is the high drone note on open chords.  See Honey in action on Saturday, July 11th in Santa Maria when we open for Monte Mills.

INSPIRATION

Well, it's been a while since I posted.  Things have been busy with Hank, school, and some much needed early summer vacation trips. We spent this last weekend in Ventura with my wife's sister and her fiance, Uncle Dirty.  After a few rounds of Red Stripe Dirty poured us some whiskey and turned on the Tour de France.  Suddenly, we realized that our calling, as brothers in law, must certainly be long distance cycling. The problem is, neither of us have a touring bike. He rides a beach cruiser, and I alternate between my hardtail mountain bike and my fix'd. Oh what a glorious problem to have! Today Dirty bought an nice older Trek set up for touring, and I dug around in the shed and found an old steel Schwinn frame that I bought for about $20 a while back. I hooked up a free Araya wheelset on Craigslist, and bought a Campy 34/50 nine-speed crank set on ebay.  I have a nice wide set of Soma pursuits and a rear rack laying around somewhere too, as well as a bunch of random derraileurs, brakes, levers, etc.  That leaves a pretty small amount of stuff left to purchase, so I'm hoping to do the whole thing for right around $150. 

The frame needs a new paint job, obviously, so I think I'm going to recreate the legendary 'Kalishnakov'- one of my favorite bike projects whose life was ended prematurely by a stop-sign running BMW a couple of years ago.  More to come on this as the design progresses, but suffice it to say that .50 cal ammo box panniers are in the works.

Our first ride will be Santa Barbara to Ventura in a few weeks to test our bikes (and our strength), and then we're going to try SLO to Ventura sometime in September.  

NEW PAINT

Before Hank was born I wrote him a couple of old-time songs about trains, and they turned out to be prophetic; he came flying out like a steam train out of a tunnel, big and heavy as could be.  So now, four months later, I though it was only appropriate to get a tattoo commemorating the event, and what could be better than an old locomotive? Jake at Traditional in SLO sketched up the design and did a fantastic job, especially on the shading. It's about 24 hours old in these pics, so it's still a bit swollen and red. Any red or purple is just leftover swelling- the whole thing is black and grey. It's hard to see in the pic, but the placard on the face of the engine says "HANK". Jake also did the tattoo just above. I highly recommend him if you're looking to get some work done.

EXTREME BIKE MAKEOVER

After a week of great anticipation, my new wheelset finally arrived, and after replacing a bent spoke (thanks, USPS) I got everything up and running this afternoon. They are the Wienmann Deep V style rims with a track/track flipflop Formula hub so you can run 2 different size fixed cogs- pretty cool for longer rides with varied terrain. I got a good deal through Fly Bike Shop's Ebay store: $174 with free shipping. I also bought some new Vittoria Rubino tires (23's) and replaced my old Fizik tape with some black RAV-X Wrap. I have never heard of this brand (the guy at Art's said it's newish) but I have to admit that I am sold on its comfort and affordability ($14). My bike looks like a bumble bee. It's never had an official name before, but now I'm thinking of something along the lines of Buzz!Kill! or Stinger, etc. I put about 10 miles on her this afternoon and, apart from a 25 mph headwind, everything felt great!  It's nice to have new, good quality gear.

NEW PEDALS!

All the bike stuff I have been selling on Craigslist lately has started to pay off, and so I decided to invest in some new/higher quality components for the Peugeot. For some reason when I first built this bike about a year ago, I installed mountain bike pedals. They still work just fine, but I don't like how hard it is to get my feet into my clips because of the serrated cages. So after looking around for a while, I bought a set of Origin 8's in yellow, of course. These were relatively inexpensive (around $33) and after putting a few miles on them I have to say that I am pleased with their performance. They turn smooth and needed no adjustment out of the box, which is nice, seeing as how most other inexpensive brands seem to need an overhaul before you install them for the first time. Origin 8 makes pedals and cranksets in a ton of different colors, including this super sick "Anti-Freeze Green" color that momentarily made me consider changing my whole color scheme. The best prices I could find were at the Wheel and Sprocket online ebay store here. I also just ordered a set of yellow Weinmann Deep V rims with a track/track rear hub. Currently I'm riding a good, durable set of Windsors that I really can't complain about, but it was just time to make the upgrade if only for added style points.

FIXED = MACHISMO??

Today I was bouncing around on the intarweb trying to find a track frame for my dad, and I came across a San Diego Union-Tribune article from 2006, about a hazardous new cycling trend: fixed gear bikes. This article, written by one Hannah Karp, is totally unresearched, and I encourage you all to check it out in its entirety here. Here is a brief overview of the main points (and my commentary in response):

- "Fixed-gear models have pedals chained directly to the rear wheel." (Hmm, that sounds dangerous!)

-On a fixie, "because riders can't stand up in the saddle to coast, long rides can result in reduced blood flow to the reproductive organs, which studies suggest may lead to impotence." (What about all the time spent standing up in the saddle to climb hills?!)

-"Macho types... revel at riding a bike they can stop only with their own brute strength." (yup, if any word describes fixie kids, it's 'Macho'!)

-"Don't go ride it in traffic. That would be suicidal." (Ever driven 80 mph on a rush-hour freeway in LA? That's suicidal!)

Thanks, Hannah Karp, for that insightful look into the terrifying world of fixed gear outlaws and all those Macho kids chasing death on bikes with their pedals chained to their wheels!

The Mongrel SS

Today I finished the Ross single speed that I have been working on this week.  I had intended to sell it, seeing as the frame has just been sitting around gathering rust for about 6 months in my shed... but when I got it all together and took it for a spin I kind of fell in love. It's truly a mongrel of a bike- completely Frankensteined together from the mangled limbs of other projects.  There is something about the geometry of the frame that I really dig. It's not the best handling, lightest, or smoothest ride ever (although I would like to take credit for a particularly fine hub overhaul,) but it moves like some dark beast bred of forbidden bike love. 80's Ross Steel lugged frame, SR stem, short chopped Diamondback bars, Oury grips, Pyramid Cranks (44t chainring), SR racing pedals, blue KMC 1/8" chain, 16t Dicta freewheel, DiaComp Bulldog BMX front brake with modified calipers, wheels randomly selected from the pile in the shed. My buddy Rog is selling me a white seat to top it all off. I can't lie.  It's a beautiful creation.

USE YOUR SOLE BRAKES!

I included the option "Portland Stick Stop" in this week's poll on brake preference, so I thought I'd post a video demonstrating this phenomena for those of you who are unaware of the legal ramifications of riding fixt without the proper stopping mechanism, at least in Portland, Oregon.  So here it is!  Enjoy.

LOCK DOWN

Lately in SLO it seems like there is an epidemic of bike thefts. Craigslist is littered with reports of stolen bikes. All these disappearing bikes have got me worried, even though i am always careful lock mine up. The last theft alert I saw, though, was posted by a guy who had his cable cut in broad daylight, right in the middle of the Cal Poly campus. That did it for me, and I decided that it was time to ditch the decently sturdy cable lock I usually use in favor of something much more heavy duty. The problem is, I'm not made of money, and the burly chain/lock combos sold by companies like Kryptonite are pretty expensive- they run anywhere between $30 and $75. So I did what any man worth his salt would do: I went to my local hardware store and bought 3 1/2 feet of big ass chain, and then hit the fabric store to pick out something for a home made protective sleeve. Total cost, about 15 bucks. My wife is pretty handy with the sewing machine, and she stitched me up a chain covering that rivals anything you can buy at the bike shop. I took it on a test ride this evening and it works great, although I think I might shorten it by a link on each side so it fits more snugly around my torso as I ride. It already has some chain grease on it, which is the bike version of the champagne bottle on the bow of the ship, I guess. Also, don't forget to vote for your favorite braking system in this week's poll in the right hand sidebar!

OLD PARTS, DIFFERENT BIKE

Lately I have been thinking that instead of owning 2 fixies, maybe I should just own one really sick one. My wife has been telling my this for months. I know, it's crazy. But here's my plan. I've decided to sell my Azuki, otherwise known as the Black Plague. It's always been a bit big for me, and in all fairness I love my '79 Peugeot more.  So I decided to steal the risers and stem off the Azuki before I sell it. I made a trip to Art's to buy some Yellow Oury's and got a flat on the way.  As I was fixing it, the tire lever slipped and my hand slammed into the pavement.  I think I fractured my thumb- it's purple and swollen. Anyway, in the end I ended up with some really nice risers I can trade with my pursuits when I get the itch. I am also planning on upgrading the Windsor wheelset I am currently riding to matte black Wienemann Deep V's sometime in the next couple of months.

HAIRCUT, ETC.

I've needed a haircut pretty badly for a while now, but Hank has been taking up so much time that it's pretty hard for my wife to play barber and mom at the same time. So today I decided to take matters into my own hands and cut my hair by myself. I have never done this before, and it turns out that it is really, really hard to do. I actually stabbed myself in the corner of my right eye with the scissors at one point. However, I managed to give myself a sort of mohawk/mullet thing that more or less resembles the DIY do's of the popular kids these days and, strangely enough, matches Hank's style as well. Here are some pics of us showing off our matching hair and rocking out. 

In other news, the results of last week's poll were unanimously in favor of the Half-Link as the preferred method of keeping a tight chain on a bike with vertical dropouts. No one voted for the Chain Tensioner, which makes sense considering its hideous appearance, but I was kind of disappointed that no one chose to cast their lot with the Saggy Baggy Chain! I thought at least someone would be purist enough to let it sag.  Anyway, check out the new poll for the week and choose your favorite style of handlebars. Assert your democratic ideals and vote, goddammit!

HOW COULD I PASS THIS UP?

Yesterday I went to Art's to pick up some components to finish the Motobecane and I made the mistake of perusing the tool rack before checking out. Turns out they had just gotten a shipment of the new "Trixie" fixed gear multi-tool made by Pedro's. I couldn't pass it up. Hell, I didn't want to! The tool is made of forged steel, and features a lockring spanner on one end and a 15mm box wrench on the other. It also has 8mm, 9mm, and 10mm box wrenches, a 5mm hex wrench, and the requisite bottle opener. At $27 it's a steal. A lockring spanner alone will cost you that much.

I have to admit that the final selling point for me was the fact that the tool includes a set of wingnuts that can be used to attach it to the water bottle bosses on any frame. The style points alone on this one make its purchase a no brainer, but the really great part is that I don't have to carry all these tools separately with me on my daily commute anymore. My previous method of securing my lockring involved a mallet and a flathead screwdriver, which are completely impractical to carry with me, obviously. Now, if my lockring loosens as I cheat death skidding around the back end of a car driven by some douchebag turning right with no blinker at the bottom of the hill on Santa Rosa, I'm set. If you want to buy one of these, you should check with your LBS first; otherwise you can order one from my favorite online distributor, Ben's Milwalkee Cycle.

MOTOBECANE CONVERSION

Today I finally finished my latest single speed project, a late 70s Motobecane Mirage. I bought the frame on Craigslist about a month ago, and I've been slowly building it up using mostly spare parts. I'm happy with the way that it turned out, although there were some frustrating moments, such as the hour I spent trying to remove the cluster on the rear wheel only to find out after some extensive research that Maillard Helico Matic hubs have a weird spiral and lockring system that makes them impossible to convert to single speed. Also, don't ever use the bar plugs that come with Prologo tape. EVER. Rarely have I encountered anything so badly designed. They will shred your tape and the 3 part system is rediculous. I should have just bought different plugs for 50 cents, but I got mad and decided that this was a battle I was not going to lose. Turns out, nobody wins when plastic hex bolts are involved... in the end it was more like an uneasy truce. This is the first time I have used Prologo tape, and even though it's a fairly comfy cork feel, I think next time I'll spend the extra couple of bucks on Fizik. Anyway, I love the bike; it rides smooth and is quite light. Perks include vintage SR drops, cool integrated Pyramid SS crankset, and a pretty cool old Schwinn brake lever.  Total cost: $67.  Pics:

UPDATE 6/7- SOLD FOR $200 TO A NICE DUDE NAMED MARK!