update

Got a talkin to from the cops again tonight, no lights and we blew several stop signs. Whoops. I seem to be on a streak this year of running into Johnny Law at inopportune moments. Last friday I was sitting shirtless at my pals house and suddenly a cop was asking me if I lived there. The weekend before that Tom Eric and I got a talkin to for driving our trucks in a construction site. A few weeks before that the cops showed up at our house for a noise complaint regarding fireworks. It’s been this way all year. A week goes by and I talk to the police again. Fortunately I’m off probation in a week or two so things won’t matter so much in the police run in department…

also . .

I have a new thing called a tumblr? It's easy to use and take 2 seconds to make post. All of the crap I find on the internet that I think is cool I'll post there, meanwhile bike related and stuff worth taking a blog over still be updated on this thing. Anyway, here is the link to my tumblr. Check that thing out. I had to play with the html to make it look like that but I like the layout. Like I said it's way faster to post stuff so hopefully I'll update it more than twice a month.

bikes bikes bikes

I finished up my sting ray the other day. . . or at least got it rideable. I've got some other plans for it but it's set for now. Kevin, Matt, Sam and I did some testing on it the other night and all I have to say is that sting rays are bad ass. I now understand why folks who grew up with sting rays are so nuts about them.

Getting nostalgic with the sting ray made me reminisce about my younger years on bikes and inspired me to get out my old bmx. For my tenth birthday (July 1995) my dad bought me my first real bike, a Baja blue Dyno VFR. At that time the bike was a little big for me (the vfr has a "pro" length top tube) but that didn't stop me from riding it everywhere. Eventually I discovered dirt riding and my friends and I would ride atv trails down by the river all day and come home covered in mud. As I got bigger I learned how to wheelie and jump. I rode the hell out of that bike. I broke chains, freewheels, brake cables and my collarbone. When I turned 14 I got a set of 180mm 3 piece cranks to replace the stock 1 piece cranks. The longer arms meant more leverage and a larger sprocket. (45 tooth GT Overdrive!) This was handy for hauling some serious ass. When I turned 16 road bikes were the new bees knees. I got a Cannondale roadie and the Dyno got taken apart and put away for a long time. Well, the Dyno is back, resurrected from my mom's basement. I replaced the broken spokes, cleaned it up, threw on an original 1 peice crank, some tioga comp 3's and hooked up a modern v brake. I doubt I'll rally it like I did back in the day but it is awesome to have it back together.

Here are some unflattering pictures:

update

truck works and tanwalls are totally in this season.

random

The truck is in working order again. New transmission, clutch, main seal and front driveshaft are all in business. I also finished clipping the fender and got the bumper back on. She is a champion. I also got my sting ray up and running. I need to make some changes but it rides so smooth. Pictures soon . . . .

update

Kev's, Matt's and my trip down south turned into a short lived tour of KC skateparks. We hit our first one on Sunday afternoon in a suburb north of KC. Kev and I wrecked some little kids and Matt wrecked his ankle. After a few hours we cruised to a hotel and wrangled up some McDonald's. Monday we got up and checked out a park in southern KC that had an enormous and very scary bowl. It was really awesome but none of us had ever ridden anything like it and couldn't do much more than pump around and try to hip some of the transitions. It was really fun but took so much energy we were done for after a few hours. At that point Matt's ankle was seriously messed up so we decided to save some money and head home a day early. Here are some pictures:





In other news - The truck is getting some love on sunday - new front drive shaft, new transmission, new clutch, new shifter seat and bushing. it's going to be a busy day but my truck will super solid and ready for heavy summertime crushin.

bikes bikes bikes.

-The Stingray came back from the powdercoater and it looks awesome. There are a handful of parts i need to get for it before it's ready to cruise like wheels and bars. Soon enough . . .
-I painted my Cannondale's rims yesterday and it looks worse than I ever could have hoped. Purple on brown hubs with mismatched spokes on a bright yellow bike? Oh and blue tires. Ick. It will look right at home outside the college of design building.
-My FBM got a new brake set up last week consisting of a drilled out cable hanger with spokes replacing the straddle cable. Knarps secure the spokes to the brake. It's a slick set up.

random

I got a transmission for the truck today from a fella that runs this website. He had two really bitchin rigs and an overwhelming amount of toyota knowledge. Hopefully I'll get that tranny, a new clutch and front driveshaft put in next week sometime. Then the truck will be ready for 33's and crushin.

In other news, I traded sam my rat cruiser for the stingray in our kitchen and got it over to the powdercoater in boone today. My plan is to build it up like the early stingray bmx conversions kids rode in the 70's. Chrome Tange forks, 6" 1 peice cranks, slammed banana seat, rim brakes and some moto style bars.