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Yet another reason to back to back to France: You can rent this brilliant1928 Belgian Monotrace (see also Dalnik) from Classic-Rent
Friday, November 7, 2008
When in France...
Yet another reason to back to back to France: You can rent this brilliant1928 Belgian Monotrace (see also Dalnik) from Classic-Rent
Portraits: Was Roxanna Brown an Art-World Fraud?.
Brown on her motorcycle in New York in 1968.Her questionable death in federal custody means we may never know. Her full story here.
Lets go shopping: The Bike Chain Bottle Opener.
Via: nerd approved
"Sure, I have seen all those wannabe chain bottle openers out there. But they do not hold a candle to this one for two reasons. First, the chain actually moves on both sprockets just like it was on a real bike. Second, it comes with a holster so that can carry it around with you at all times. If that doesn’t seem cool enough for you, there is a guard that looks just like the chain guard on an actual bike. Oh yeah, it does actually open bottles as well. Can’t forget about that."
Art Major Builds 'Green' Motorcycle.
Media Credit: Chi Hong WongBruno Gallardo gets a warning from Campus police for charging his converted electric motorcycle on an outlet in the parking lot.
By Jacob Matthes Via: pcc courier
"If alternative energy is the way of the future, then this PCC student is new world in an old world environment.
Art major Bruno Gallardo transformed his white 1987 Kawasaki 2X750 into an emission free motorcycle that runs on electricity. After a few weeks of using an electrical outlet located in the motorcycle parking lot to recharge it, Gallardo was left a note from the campus police telling him to cease from stealing electricity.
"It could have been any electrical appliance. That electricity is owned by the college and paid for by the college, the outlets are available for campus maintenance use. Because these are not power stations…he was not permitted to use the outlet," said PCC police Lt. Brad Young.
Four months ago Gallardo ordered a conversion package from electricmotorsports.com. His next step was purchasing the motorcycle he was going to reinvent.
"I bought the motorcycle for $400. I took the motor out and sold it for $100. All together I spent about $3,500 making it what it is, " said Gallardo.
The bike looks like something out of a Star-Wars movie, something that would sit on the shelves of a Jawa sand crawler. It sprouts tangled wires and sat plugged into the wall, charging.
"No radiator fluid, no transmission oil, no motor oil, and most importantly, no gasoline. It's completely efficient," Gallardo said.
Six black RV batteries hang from the undercarriage surrounding the small electric motor.
The bike takes five to six hours to fully charge, and can travel about 50 miles each charge. Its top speed is 75 mph. Its overall weight is only 70 pounds heavier than the bike's original stock weight. The white gas tank on the top of the bike is still there, but remains hollow.
Gallardo takes pride in the fact that he now creates zero carbon emissions on his daily trips to and from school. He also seems to enjoy the amount of money it's going to save him in the long run.
"Each full battery charge costs approximately 17 cents," laughed Gallardo.
Gallardo isn't only out to save money though. He's just doing his part to save the planet.
"This is an example that change needs to happen. We can't wait for manufacturers to provide energy crisis solutions. If a 19-20 year old could do it, why not everybody else?" Gallardo said.
The campus police also recognize the direction transportation technology is heading. However, without any powering stations for electric vehicles anywhere on campus, rogue charging is a crime.
"As of now, we have no official powering stations for students, but it is something that is going to have to eventually occur," said Young."
Zen Moment-Craig Vetter's Energy Absorbing Fairing.
Via: craig vetter Via a tip from the UMTC
"Motorcycles don't have any energy absorbing equipment to help the rider in an accident. When a deer stepped out in front of a friend on his dual sport BMW and caused great damage to him and his motorcycle, I decided to design something that would lessen the impact and absorb the energy.
A traditional cow catcher would simply pull a motorcycle into the ground and be of no use. Something that would slowly absorb any impact of a big animal who was in the wrong place was needed. At a flea market in Oregon I found a big, two man saw and knew immediately how to solve our problem. I affixed it to the front of one of my new metal-armored KLR fairings and had it re sharpened. Then I designed an extra blade over the front fender and sharpened it too.
I was a little worried about the extra side area up front as the KLR does not do well crosswinds. However, it seems to have no adverse effects on handling."
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The obscure scooter club: The Dunkley Whippet.
Via: icenicamThis machine, described as a 'Scooterette', had first been exhibited the previous year at the Earls Court Show in November 1956, branded as the Mercury Whippet 60 and painted in Eggshell Light Blue. Though sales leaflets were printed and circulated to the trade, the machine never progressed beyond the show model under the Mercury badge; however Dunkley did sell a number of their early Whippets finished in the same colour, presumably using up the paint?
W H Dunkley established as a perambulator manufacturer at Jamaica Row, Birmingham from 1874. Versatility was the key to survival in Victorian times and a catalogue of 1880 illustrates their imagination, "Prams, rocking horses, see-saws, pedal tricycles, hobby-horse tricycles, mail carts, steam circuses & roundabouts with organ complete"! In 1886 they commenced production of a series of 'gas cars', which came equipped with a rubber tube for refilling off gas street lamps!
The Whippet's main pressed steel frame elements were of Italian origin, but it's difficult to be sure of the exact source since several manufacturers seem to have used them, Peripoli and Bianchi being mooted as favourites. Further chassis additions to adapt mounting of the engine and headstock bore all the hallmarks of Dunkley's industrial grade handiwork. The front forks and petrol tank were common parts to Mercury's Mercette, a moped powered by a variant uf the Dunkley engine, which appeared much earlier in 1955, though Dunkley continued using these cycle components after Mercury's collapse in March 1958, so presumably Dunkley were actually making them?
Dunkley's path was paved with bankruptcies, but the characteristic script logo plainly carries across history from the 1920s, through cars, motor cycles and prams, to the scooters and light motor cycles of the late '50s. Somehow, they always bounced back, until spring of 1959 when it was announced that Dunkley Products Ltd had been taken over by M G Holdings Ltd, who advised the further acquisition of Dayton Cycles in May 1959, and that Dunkley production was being transferred to the Park Royal site. Despite encouraging propaganda claims issued by the new management, it seemed little more than an asset stripping exercise and building out of stock, as the Dunkley range was dropped at the end of 1959.
There are very few known surviving examples of the Popular, the Dunkley register recording only 3 complete and viable machines, a couple of ruinous wrecks, and an odd few spare engines. Popular engine numbers are indicated by Glass's Index starting from serial 4036 and frame number 321 in August 1958. Closing records from production in Dunkley's disrupted final phase never seem to have come to light, so only register entries can give some indication as to how many Populars were actually made, the highest recorded engine serial being 4751, suggesting around some 800 machines completed."
The Architects of Inspiration.
saber one's pray painted R6Via: our pal Wes over at hell for leather
"Roland Sands Design is collaborating with Toyota Trucks and Upper Playground to create a large art installation that will be featured at each of the International Motorcycle Show stops this coming season. Called Architects of Inspiration, the participating artists have been commissioned to create works inspired by RSD's bikes and Toyota's trucks.
..a part of Roland Sands massive painting
The installation itself looks absolutely massive and should easily dominate the other displays at IMS. It's in that environment -- sitting amongst tacky aftermarket retailers and cheesy manufacturer displays -- that the project will excel, providing a beacon of creativity in an otherwise depressingly unambitious environment.
In addition to Roland, artists involved include: Sam Flores, N8 Van Dyke, Saber One, Estevan Oriol, Mister Cartoon, Jeff Decker, Jona Cerwinske, Karl Dreshen and pinstripper, Tom Clark."
That Roar in the Jungle Is 15,000 Motorbikes.
Pict by Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times
"TABATINGA, Brazil — This sweltering Amazon outpost is a border town on the move — on two motorized wheels, that is.
During the afternoon rush hour, Tabatinga’s main avenue is a sea of scooters and motorcycles. Whole families pile onto a single scooter, even families of five: husband, wife and three children. Mothers breastfeed infants while fathers navigate a road nearly uncluttered by traffic signals.
With more than 15,000 motorbikes and only 47,000 people, Tabatinga resembles a small version of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, another chaotic place where cars take a distant back seat as the preferred mode of transportation.
“I have never seen a place with so many motorbikes,” said Sabrina D’Assumpção, a resident of Rio de Janeiro who was visiting her husband, a military officer, at the army base here recently. “It is practically a city run entirely by motorbikes.”
Tabatinga owes much of its moto-obsession to its location along Brazil’s extreme western frontier. Nestled alongside Colombia and just across a narrow river from Peru, the town has evolved in the last quarter-century from a military town into a hub of cross-border commerce.
The open border with Leticia, Colombia, allows Brazilians to buy Japanese-made motorbikes there for about $2,000, half of what they cost in Brazil. Chinese-made models, which are less popular, can be had for as little as $900 on the river island of Santa Rosa, in Peru, said Ulianov Mejía, the manager of the Yamaha motorbike store in Tabatinga.A motorbike is part of the household for many people in the Tabatinga area, like this resident of the Indian village.Pict by Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times
“Here you can have breakfast in Brazil, lunch in Colombia and dinner in Peru because it’s a triple border,” said Mr. Mejía, a Colombian who is married to a Brazilian woman and has been living here since 2001.
In recent years the relative strength of the Brazilian economy and its currency, the real, has made it easier for Brazilians to afford motorbikes. Easy credit terms allow people to pay in up to 24 installments, and most people walk out of a store with a bike after putting down just 30 percent, Mr. Mejía said. For some, it can be even easier than that.
“If a fisherman from the river doesn’t have documents, doesn’t have a checking account, but if I know him, know where he lives, know his family, I will sell to him without a problem,” Mr. Mejía said.
The ease of acquiring a motorbike has helped fuel the growth of the city, which has doubled in population in the past 20 years, surging past neighboring Leticia, which has about 35,000 residents and about 10,000 motorbikes.
“There are families that have six or seven motorbikes,” said Joel Santos de Lima, Tabatinga’s mayor. “They are cheap and easy to buy, and they help keep the economy moving.”
For those who cannot afford their own motorbikes, Tabatinga boasts 500 two-wheeled moto taxis run by four companies. For one and a half reals, about 70 cents, a moto taxi will take you anywhere in the city.
The drivers are the model of efficiency and reliability, said Waldery Nobre Mesquita, a doctor who uses them daily to see patients. By law the moto taxis are allowed to carry only one passenger, said Anderson de Souza, Tabatinga’s public transportation coordinator.
But that seems to be where the rules stop and the lawlessness begins. Tabatinga does not require motorbikes to be registered or residents to wear helmets. The process of applying for a license plate and insuring a motorbike is laden with bureaucracy, and costs about $500, more than most residents can afford, Mr. de Souza said.
Since a helmet law is enforced across the Colombian border in Leticia, drivers stop at the border and pick up a visorless helmet from stands along the street. Vendors charge 75 cents for the rented helmets, which must be returned at the border.
In Tabatinga the issue is more complicated. City officials here worry that the border’s reputation for violent drug trafficking makes anyone who wears a helmet a potential suspect.
“Where you have trafficking, you have death,” Mr. de Souza said. “When assassins want to kill, they use helmets so they can’t be identified.”
For that reason, Tabatinga informally prohibits the wearing of helmets on motorbikes, though it is not a written law, he said.
That makes matters even trickier when it rains — and rain can be torrential in the Amazon.
Most moto taxi drivers simply don a rain slicker and continue working, some wearing helmets. Rain is the one time when actual four-wheeled taxis get a chance to get in the game. But good luck finding one without calling first.
Trying to cement the area’s motorbike culture, a decade ago Mr. Mejía and a friend tried to line up bikes stretching for five kilometers, just over three miles, from Tabatinga into Leticia. A representative from the Guinness Book of World Records showed up to witness the world-record attempt, he said. But in the end they could not pull it off.
“If it had been something organized by the city, with resources, we could have gotten into the book,” Mr. Mejía said. “Outside of Asia no one could beat Tabatinga and Leticia for having more motorbikes, no one.”Mery Galanternick contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Zen Moment-The wheelie machine.
wheelie ride-"the original wheelie machine" Complete fun for the unskilled, balance challenged, and people unafraid of public humiliation..."The day I passed through Francisco, Indiana..."
Via: moleskinerie"Bicycle Haiku is a reproduction of a sketchbook I (Kevin Kelly) kept while I rode my bicycle across the US in 1979. It contains an ink sketch and a haiku for each day of the three month 5,000 mile trip. A typical scene would be like the day I passed through Francisco, Indiana"
Model Art: Pere Tarragó's 1/6 scale bikes.
Via: moto scala tarrago
"In order to build a model on scale I always make it starting off from the original model, first I observe the motorcycle in full detail to become completely familiar with its general lines, otherwise it would be possible to lose any detail. I begin to copy or to trace the elements that take engravings, decals, etc. from the real motorcycle; these elements are the only ones that I do not do in my studio.
I begin drawing the frame and wheels with milimetre scale paper 1/6, here it is where construction and assembly of these elements begin. It is then when the motorcycle begins to have a general form, frame and wheels; from this point on I begin to draw the plan and begin the construction of the engine and the rest of the parts until I finish the model.
This it is the moment when one adjusts and check the operation of all the mobile elements of the motorcycle: brakes, clutch, wheels, transmission, etc. Then I dismount completely all the pieces and give them the finishing touch, polishing, nickel, chrome plating, decoration and painting. Then I begin the assembly process again, which takes me approximately between 250 and 400 hours, depending on the model"
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