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.