Weiss und Blau: R51/75 History Now Complete!

This choked me up. Glad things worked out the way they did. I know this old bike of my dads will live on. 


Weiss und Blau: R51/75 History Now Complete!: The life and history of my 1950 BMW R51/75 Until recently, I only new half of the story of my R51/75.  But through a random twist of fate...

Lot on my mind on a dreary day.

In March after a lot of reading over the years of various motorcycle sites and publications I decided I wanted a bike as in Motorcycle. Along the way. I have found a few Blogs/Forums I periodically read. Most are travel related. Some are "scene".
Few of them are:
http://thevintagent.com/
http://advrider.com
http://lecontainer.blogspot.com (some motorcycle content)
http://bmwcaferacer.com/
http://www.caferacerculture.net
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/
http://weissundblau.blogspot.com/ Blog of Scott Williams who has one of my dads old bike.
http://miles-by-motorcycle.com Enjoyed his Alaska trip and need to finish reading it. 
http://themotolady.com/ I ran across a Post she made about a friend of my parents, Dot Robinson and been following her and her Monster build ever since.
She recently turned me on to Jason Cormier's http://www.odd-bike.com

So I did end up finding a rough around the edges 1995 BMW K1100LT AKA Brick in BMW circles in March after quite a bit of shopping.

Here is is parked at The Barber Vintage Festival.

So today Ive been reading back posts on Jason site and this one got me thinking.

http://www.odd-bike.com/2013/06/in-praise-of-slow.html

 I'm very late into becoming a street rider. I dont have a full year under my belt with an actually Motorcycle license. 20+ years ago I rode dirt bikes often with Friends and occasionally take one of their Hurricanes or Ninjas for a lap around the block.
 His post makes me feel better about my approach to riding again. I'm really not fitting in with the Cruiser crowd that several of my friends are in. I'm sure not into the assless chaps crowd and they seem to have a propensity of parking at 10 under in the fast lane the couple rides I have taken with them. I have zero desire to try to keep up with anybody on a sport bike and honestly most of my friends are beyond that as well. I like the building part of the Cafe Craze but "Ton up" and racing from Bar to bar isnt working for me either so I find myself riding solo mostly becaeu I have as yet to find a group that rides how I do.

 My Parents rode and in fact that's how they met as they were both members on the Highwaymen MC Detroit (before they were a gang). My old man parked his 1961 BMW R69s not long after I was born. It was last tagged in 1967...I have its tag. It sat in the corner of the garage under a blanket till the early 80's after my father passed when it was sold expressly to keep me off of it (and I'm trying now to get it back). I guess that "I'm a parent now and have a responsibility to my Family" thing kicked in with Dad. He did have a couple wrecks, one he was very lucky to survive.

 Lord knows I spent enough of my youth running around with my hair on fire. Mom managed to keep me off bikes (to the best of her Knowledge) with stories of her bouncing off Guard rails with the scars to prove it that I was regularly shown and stories about their friends crashing like Bob Leppan crashing the http://www.gyronautx1.com/ at 274mph almost loosing his arm as why I shouldn't ride.

  How a World speed record crash was relatable to the street I'll never know but thats how I most ofter heard about it. The GyronautX1 was a BIG reason why I made the trip to the Barber Vintage Festival to see the bike that I had heard so much about in my youth.

 I also had 20 years of threats of divorce from my wife (her dad had somebody pull out in front of him and laid him up for a long while) if I ever thought about getting a bike. So in March I did the only reasonable thing (in my twisted mind) and bought a bike. It just finally came to a head and I despite everybody's threats and warnings. So far I have not been served by my wife. Shes letting me have my mid life crises just not very happy about it.

As I was shopping I was looking at a BMW K1200RS and after talking with the owner who was a well seasoned rider in his 60's he pretty well talked me out of it with much of the same wisdom as Jasons post story. "Buy a bike for how you want to drive. If you buy a bike like this your going to drive it like an idiot. Every time I get on it I find myself looking down and seeing that speedometer tickling 100mph. It just feels better and better the faster you go. Its not a bike you have any business buying for your first bike. It will get you in trouble".

So I mostly took his advice. Bought a Sport Touring bike instead. It better reflected my desires for a bike I could do some traveling on but still be fun in the twisty roads we have in the Appalachians just north of me without dragging floor boards. Yeah I probably should have got a smaller bike but thankfully age has brought me the maturity to understand my short comings as a rider and to take it easy and "slow" as Jason put it.
 

Time to admit it...I've lost that loving feeling

Ok, a lot of catching up on a dreary rainy day.

Its been over a year since I had a near miss on my bicycle that shook me up more then I realized at the time.

 On the way home from work I have a long down hill that if I peddle my ass off I can clear 40mph. A speed that has no business being done on a sidewalk (beside it being illegal to ride bicycles on side walks). Smiling at kids in the back of mini vans as you pass them in the chicane and the bottom of the hill always a hoot.  1/4 mile of mostly flat before I have to start climbing the hill out of the valley where I can keep up a solid 20mph before my legs and lungs start screaming. Then I switch to the side walk (yep illegal) and I peddle my fat ass up the hill at 6-8mph.

I time my trip through the valley so that I am between main pulses of traffic. It usually works out well. People who manage to get between the main pulse can change lanes and get past me without really having to slow. Everybody happy.  I'm not one of those jerks that filters at lights just to make 20 cars have to pass me in the next 1/4 mile. I let them get past me before I take the lane and try to get off the road to let people pass if they cant get around. 5 years and it has worked pretty well.

 So I was recently having more and more close calls always in the same spot in side of a curve just a few hundred feet before I took to the side walk to climb out of the valley. Had a complete JACKASS plumber decide to roll coal (floor their diesel to get it to pump out black smoke) on me instead of changing lanes. Speed racers going fast catch me on the inside of the curve etc

The one that got me shook up was a little old lady with a even older little old lady in the passenger seat in a white mini van. The lady really needed to park it. She no longer had the skill set to be driving.

She was fixated on the lines and staying between them come hell, high water or a bumper...on a Bicycle I had none of the above. So despite me using the right half of the lane she centered it. If I didn't see her coming who knows what would have happened but I did and I got so far over to the right I could no longer peddle because my right peddle would have hit the curb. I'm beating on the side of her van to get her to change lanes (there was nobody else around to prevent it) and she just kept on coming. I slap the mirror flat so it doesn't hook my handle bars as it comes past.  I look down and see this frail old lady in the passenger seat looking up at me like I was doing something wrong as I beat on the car and its over a second later. I managed not to crash despite her best effort to kill me.

I was so damn mad I was screaming. She didn't stop. In fact I bet if you asked her I attacked her car she was minding her own business,. It ate at me the rest of the summer and fall and Thanksgiving week I pretty well stopped riding to work. She ruined my love of cycling and my cherished bikes have sat collecting dust for a year. 

I need to ride. I rode to improve my health. It worked. I was in the best shape in the last 30 years. Ive gained 35lb since I stopped but I just cant get that desire back.

Some catching up to my neglected blog,

My lead for dads R69s Is solid. I have talked to John Landstrom, owner of Blue Moon Cycles in Norcross GA. John worked for George Wagoner of Wagoner cycles, the metro Atlanta BMW Dealer in the 80's who had bought dads bike in 83.
 
Seems John went to work for Wagoner cycle works in 1985. George was true to his word when he told mom "this is such a nice bike I'll be keeping this one for myself". It was perfect when it was sold.

John was nice enough to fill in the blanks between 1983 and now. 

At one point George crashed it on his way to an event in Chattanooga TN. John was following. Seems he went into a corner hot dragging the center stand and low sided it. The Tank was destroyed in the crash. George repaired it and kept it till he passed in 1995 (fell off a ladder). The bike was sold to settle Georges estate.

John ended up becoming the Metro Atlanta BMW dealer and set up shop in Norcross with Blue Moon Cycles.

 John continued to service the bike and was friends with the owner. Unfortunately around 1999-2000 that owner cashed the bike and died in the crash. His widow had John rebuild the bike and it became a shrine to her husband for 10 years. She finally decided to part with it and had John broker the sale.

I found what I believe is the ad is still floating on the internet.

http://www.motorcycle-house.com/Motorcycle-makes/BMW/1961-BMW-R69S-105209051.html

So john remembers everything right up to the point of "who has it now". I believe this may be more of a case of the following:
A. Bad for him to be passing out customer info.
B. I don't have the funds to buy it right now just want to know if it ever becomes available. Hes a business man and I'm sure he wants to be part of the transaction if it goes on the market.

I cant blame him for either. 

I'll pester John again soon. I do hope to get it back one day.

If by some weird chance of fate my very few readers comes across it the VIN is 655028. This is what it probably looks like today. This is from the above ad link John had placed for what I believe is the bike.

And the search goes on for Dads 61 R69S. Thanks to yesterdays events I have a lead.

Small world. I'm 99% sure I just found one of my Dads motorcycles.

http://weissundblau.blogspot.com/2012/12/r5175-racebike.html

Dropped this gentleman a Email a second ago.
Pictures I have the bike from the early 60's.

Ok one more about the Bike addiction

This is a Georgena Terry Gambit. 
No your eyes do not deceive, that bike has a 27 inch rear wheel and a 24 inch front. It is a very intentional design. My wonderful wife is 5ft tall. I'm 6ft. We look like Herman and Lilly Munster stand together. Finding small road bikes is a problem. Yes there is Lady's bikes but they have more flexible frames.
The founder of Terry is Georgena and she is Small lady. The story goes she could not find a proper geometry road bike so she built one. Well then her friends wanted one and it grew into a business. www.terrybicycles.com/ This is the same company as the widely popular Terry saddles that most people know about . They just don't know about the women's specific bicycles business. The majority of bikes are built for people over 5'6". Everything about a bicycle is built around that size. The Size of the wheels. The gearing to turn the wheels, Crank size etc. The problem with this is when you down size you get into problems like toe over lap where your feet and the front wheel can come in contact and cause a crash. So things would be done like changing seat and head tube angles to allow the front wheel to be moved forward. The problem is that messes with the handling. You can down sie to 24 inch wheels but then you start having problems with the gearing that is designed around 26-29 inch diameter. Georgena solved this by keeping the 27 inch rear wheel for proper gearing but going to a 24 inch wheel in front to keep better head and seat tube angles without the toe over lap problems. This is a very early bike in the Terry company history and as I found this bike it has maybe 50 miles on it. That is about to change this week. It is getting a set of RSX Brifters, 7 speed ramped freewheel to bring it up to modern standards. In a Older post I mentioned my 1995 Cannondale T700 that I picked up last fall. The 95 is a 58CM frame. Normally bikes come in 2cm increments. My Optimum bike size is 60-61cm. Cannondale made a jump form 58-63cm on the touring frames. You adjusted for the lack of a 60cm frame with long seat post and long stems. The Touring bike has a long wheel base so not really a problem but I always felt the 58cm was small especially since I am all legs I like my handle bars up as high as the seat. This 98 showed up on CL set up with straight bars but included the Drops it originally had and a set of RSX 8 speed Brifters. I decided to pick it up. I can flat foot the 35 inch stand over so it is within my riding range. I swapped the 9 speed drivetrain, fenders and stuff off the 95 and moved this up to main commuter.
You can see the Size difference and how much stem and seat post I had out to make the 58 work. Now I didn't get rid of the 95. I got rid of the 89 R600 and set the 95 up more like a Cyclocross bike. No fenders but it does have racks. I have the bars set low but not nearly as low as the R600 had. I use it as my "Sport Utility bike".

I love how the 98 looks with the racks off it. I may just get a handle bar bag like a "randonneur" and ride it this way more.

That is a 84 Corsaro Mixtee. This was the first small road bike I found for Janice. Neat bike with Suntour ARX and Diacompe 500 bits. Rode nice but Janice crashed this bike the first time she rode it and never had any love for it after that. She got hurt pretty bad and scraped up her face. This bike got the name "Gomme de Visage" (french for The face eraser). We ended up selling it.

This is my "Rat rod hipster wannabe" bike. It started out life as a 1988 Schwinn Worldsport. Pretty decent bike with a 4130 frame and Shimano SIS components. It was REALLY rough when I bough it for $10. I ended up parting it out to fix flipers. Held onto the 25 inch frame for some reason. Got looking at the pile of bike parts I had laying around and a can of satin black paint and this is what I ended up with. Skinny red label black anodize Araya rims wearing 700x23 Continental Ultra sports. The drivetrain, seat and bars are off a Trek 95 mountain bike. Crawls hills but has decent top end with the 48 tooth big ring.

I so wish this bike had been my size. It is a 1984 Fuji DelRey. Good midline bike. It rode wonderful. This was another garage queen like the Terry. This bike had maybe 50 miles on it. Cleaned it up and resold.

My $8 garage sale 1984 Fuji Touring III. Fuji builds awesome bikes. Very neat bike the was built for a tall person. It has a factory installed 48spoke tandem rear wheel. I almost cant flat foot this monster. The wheels are so strong that they are nearly perfectly true. better then some new bikes. The frame is scratched up badly and it will get repainted soon.

Before

After. This is a 25 inch 1977 Schwinn Super LeTour 12.2. Dorel is the current owner of Schwinn and they are largely responsible for disgracing the brand by putting the name on cheap chines bikes sold in box stores. It use to be you went to a "Authorized Schwinn dealer" to buy a Schwinn. Yes the built some bricks but they also built some very nice bikes on par with a lot of the better brands coming out of Japan and Europe. This was actually manufactured in Japan with a 4130 Cro Mo frame. It has a nice set of Araya rims, Shimano 600 derailleurs. Weighs in at 26lb. That was pretty light for a bike in the 70's. A 77 Varsity would be pushing 40lb.

I'll hold onto this one for a while. I have a 7speed modern freehub and aero brake handles on order for it.

That's my keepers and some of the nicer bikes I have had pass through my hands in the last year. There is about 20 flippers but not worth typing about.

Now I won't let this updating thing get to be a habit

The Hospitality Highway Century. www.400century.com How cool is that picture!!!!!!! I am in that picture. I am in the orange Jersey next to a guy in a Blue Jersey and yellow helmet right near the middle. That is GA 400 one of the most heavily traveled Highways in GA. Rush hour that road is bumper to bumper from Atlanta all the way up to Roswell GA.

This was a benefit ride for the Georgia Transplant Foundation. Again this was lead by Mayor Wood of Roswell. A video on his site of the event is available here. http://www.mayorwood.com/videogallery.cfm Something like 1500 people got to ride on GA 400.

I did the 34 mile ride and about half way through the ride I caught up the Jay from the GBR and we rode the rest of the ride together. At the End Jay got a shot of me at the finish line.

Filling in more blanks.

I got hooked up with a local bike advocacy named Bike Cobb. http://www.bikecobb.org/

Cobb county GA had no formal group that did any political advocacy and a gentleman by the name of Joe Seconder set up this group. Cobb is part of "Complete Streets" program and has has a SPLOST tax going for the past 5 years to fund this. It promotes alternate transportation like Bicycling and pedestrian. Any new or upgrade road work is supposed to include completing sidewalks (Ga is really bad about not having side walks or only having them on one side of the road if they do exist) and analyzed if there is need for bicycle lanes on the road.

One of the things the group took part in was the GA Ride to the capital event. http://www.georgiaridestothecapitol.org/ This event gets about 1000 bicyclist to show up on the GA capital steps to show support for Bicycle related issues such as the 3ft passing law that is about to be passed, complete streets and MUP (Multi User paths) for non motorized transportation alternatives. Bike Cobb decided to meet at the lower Roswell county Annex and ride 6 miles to meet up with Roswell Mayor Jere Wood leading the Bike Roswell group. http://www.mayorwood.com/

Mayor Wood is a big time bike rider and really a fun person. He has made Roswell the "Most bike Friendly city in GA" Considering GA as a state is considered one of the worst bike friendly states that is a pretty good accomplishment.

Now the Downer was it was a nice balmy 17f when we took off for the ride! MAN was it cold!

I am on the left in the blue helmet and Khaki's in the picture. We had a police escort to Fulton County. We ended up riding 52 miles that day. Fun ride despite the cold. Ended up catching up with Paul from the GBR and riding the last couple of miles in with him.

This blog thing is easy!

If you only do one a year! So here ins another big one to fill in the highlights of the year.

Still riding! 206lb this morning. About 20 bikes under my belt in the last year.

I like to tinker and started bike flipping. Pick up a neglected bike put a few hours into cleaning and fixing and sell if I don't fall in love with it. I'm not getting rich but I do make enough to cover the keepers.

I regret selling that Peugeot. Had some sentimental value for some reason. The Mountain commuter didn't really pan out all that well. The handle bars being the biggest issue. Lack of hand positions and the long top tube just didn't make for a real comfortable riding postion for long distance. I did put 1200 miles on it last year but shortly after my last post a 1995 Cannondale T700 touring bike showed up. Second I saw it I knew I had to have it. Little haggling it was mine for $220. Back wheel had a hop in it (bent) but not bad.

I have put about 1800 miles on this bike so far and still enjoying it. Picked up a closeout back wheel at REI for $35. It was for a 9 speed but with a spacer I could run my 7 Speed. Not long after I bought the wheel (and before I even installed it) I ran across a ad on Craig's for a STI set up that included a set of Tiagra 9 speed brifters, 105 rear derailleur and used 9speed 11-28 cassette, 26/36/48 Octalink cranks and for a few bucks more a Tiagra front derailleur. Never thought I would like STI shifters so much but I do. Fenders racks and this is what the bike looked like by the end of the year.

Janice and Mom bought me a Brooks Champion Flyer for X-Mas. The red bottle is the air tank for the Air horn.

I also picked up a 1989 Cannondale R600 road bike that I really liked. Full 105 groupo. 700x23 tires. FAST bike but the gearing was really tough on the hills around here. I bought it with the intent of being a Sunday rider or for riding in events and Centuries.

She turned out to be a cruel mistress. Looks so hot but made me hurt so bad! New seat helped a lot but the problem was the size. 58CM made for low bar to seat combination. GREAT for going fast but not so great for my achy back on long rides. I did put a taller stem on the bike and that helped but it was making the bike something it wasn't.

I had been looking at rides to take part in and noticed the Tour de Cure benefit ride for American Diabetes Association. This one hit close to home since one of the reasons I got back into riding was my blood sugar level getting up into the "Pre Diabetic" levels. My riding cured me of that but I am still at risk. http://tour.diabetes.org/ I decided to do the "Metric Century" or 100K (62 miles) ride. Farthest rides I was doing up to this point was 40 miles.

AT&T has a national team and since I work for them I decided to join that team. Problem was while they had a huge showing for last years rider there was no Team for 2009 showing. I dropped a e-mail to Dan Bariarti (sp) the National captain and before I knew it I was the Atlanta Team captain. What i didn't know at the time was why there was no team. The past team captain had taken retirement in the company merger Re-org that had been happening. The CWA was also in contract talks for renewal. It seems that the person that was going to take up the Captain duties was CWA and was waiting for the Contract to be signed. If it wasn't signed and they went on Strike was the reason.

Leading up to the ride I did a lot of training to get up to where I could do this 60mile ride. Much of that riding was on the Silver Comet Rails to Trails MUP on the R600. I had a chance to drive part of the course. They call it "The Silk Sheets", rolling in scenic. Sounded nice and flat. It was anything but that. Rolling or "Rollers" are a series of hills and in this area they are pretty steep. I soon realize that the tall race gearing on the R600 was going to be murder on me. I decided that the T700 was the bike to ride. It would be heavier by 10lb but it had lower gears to make the hills easier.

So the day arrives (May 17) I load my $220 Craigslist touring bike made commuter onto my $10 garage sale bike rack on the back of my $1400 1986 4Runner and drive down to the event. Rain in the forecast. I find a parking spot between a 5 Series BMW and a Chevy Tahoe with $2k worth of custom rims. Both with $2-3k+ Carbonfiber race bikes hanging on the back. The types of bikes that weigh 17-18lb. Owners in full team kit wearing $200 bike shoes. I put on my $35 REI scratch and dent shoes unload my bike that is pushing 32lb compete with MTX trunk bag with rain fly and go sign in.

Start is loose. Their is an official start time but it is optional. Once you have you wrist band you can take off. So I am sitting there with 100+ other riders who are mostly in full kit on $2k+ bikes. I don't like the start situation. this is not a race but these folks are lined up like it is the Tour de France. One person fall and it would be a mess of others crashing. I didn't want any part of it and took off about 10-5 minutes before the official start.

I set a goal of a 15mph moving pace. Decent speed for the hills but a pro rider would be well over 20mph. The course had SAG stops about every 10 miles. Just before the first SAG the "Teams" in matching Kit start catching me as to the stronger single riders. Now competition is human nature and you get a group of people and they are going to push each other to see who is faster. So these folks are keeping about a 20mph pace to my 15mph pace. We come to the the First SAG and the team is still dismounting. I am feeling good and decide to pass the first SAG and ride onto the second. Again I get about a 10 minute lead and about 17miles from the start the "Teams" catch me. This time the mob mentality is in full effect and I start getting Heckled about my "Touring" set up and in particular my trunk bag in its silver rain fly. Comments like "What is in the cooler?", "Where is the picnic", "Whens Lunch?" Good natured but still the Mob mentality that alone nothing would have been said. I took it in stride and returned a few comments like "coors" ect.

20 mile SAG and I catch back up. Refill my water bottles, Eat a couple bananas and a BP&J. Good fuel foods. Between the 20 and 30miles SAGs is a 3+mile long uphill grade. There is no flat spots to catch a rest, you peddle to you get to the top. Of course this is the point where it starts to rain. Now I have fenders and a bike with no fenders just soaks the rider. Back wheel slings water and what ever is on the road on your back. Front tire slings water at the frame where it sprays onto your feet. Some of the slings off the front tire and blows into your face. Riding a a group the guy in the front of you is slinging it on you. It is miserable. I have fenders and a lot of those problems do not happen. I get rained on but I don't get the road grime and my feet stay fairly dry.

So half way up that hill I start catching the weaker riders that dropped from their "team". I get to return the Heckles. "Ready for that beer yet?", Almost time for lunch, are you hungry" etc. Again in good nature and we all laughed. It was on this hill that I caught up with the oldest rider. I have not found out what her name was but she was easily in her late 70's if not mid 80's. She was on a Hybrid and keeping a good pace on that hill. She was an inspiration to see. I beat her to the 30 mile SAG and she had her own fan club waiting for her cheering her on. I had to join in. She was great to see out there toughing it out.

The rain did not stop. I pressed on and caught or was caught by a few other riders with better rain gear and fenders. We rode together for a while till we got back in the rollers. For some reason I attack hills and get to the top as fast as I can to keep momentum. I dropped the folks I had been riding with. That felt good to have that much energy left after 40+ miles. I ended up having 5 hours of saddle time and average 15.1 mph moving time.

Well I will fill in the rest on a separate post. This one has gotten pretty long.

Almost another year under the belt and a change in lifestyle.

Time for and update and a lot has happened so this will be long.

I go through phases and I guess I am a bit of an obsessive compulsive. When I get interested in something I am all in and often to a fault.

February I got on the scale and it showed 240lb. Heaviest I have EVER been. Looking in the mirror and I was pretty disapointed in what I saw. Fact is despite the weight I was the healthiest I had been in many years. Not being in a desk job anymore was a big part of that. That said I worked with a bunch of guys that like a GOOOOOOD Lunch. I had become one and we were packing in 2000 calorie lunches a couple times a week.

As I stared at the big old gut I had created the warnings of my Cardiologist, Dr. Crisco (what a name for a Card!), last check up echoed in my ears: "If you don't take off some weight and start getting regular exercise you are going to get diabetes and die a slow death or have another heart attack." It finally clicked.

Dieted the stupid way to start but it did get 10lb off quick. Basically starve and have diet shakes twice a day. After getting sick of Ramon noodle lunches I shifted to portion control. I literally cut the meal in half if a light meal is not available. The second part goes in a dogie bag and is lunch another day or dinner.

I plateaued out after 1.5 months and quit loosing weight with any speed. It was time to get the exercise going.

I'm a cheap guy by nature and I am tight financially becasue of being the only income for our family so that my wife can be home with the kids as both of us had as kids. Paying to go to a gym and then having to make time to go just didn't set well with me. I had to make permanent changes in my life that would incorporate exercise. We were coming up on bike to work week and I ran across some bicycle posts on Expedition portal of others that were participating. Decided that may be my solution.

I had a Walmart Schwinn mountain bike I had bought to ride with the kids not long after I had the MI. I also had my old Peugeot P8 from the late 80's that I use to ride the snot out of.

The Schwinn was not really a bad bike. It had ok parts for the price. It was reliable. My work was 4.3 miles away and sidewalks the whole way and even a bike lane for 1.5 miles of the route. I decided "I can do this" and I did.

The more you ride, The more you can ride.

Not sure who said that but it is 100% true.

First couple rides were hard! I have several good steep hills between me and work. Wobbly knees out of breath, thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest a few times was really common the first couple weeks. 25 minutes to make the ride. After a couple weeks of 2-3 days riding it started getting easier but I realized I had a problem, My knees hurt. I started researching why and came across Sheldon Brown's (RIP) extensive bike writings and quickly realized after reading Sheldons site that the Schwinn was WAY to small for me at 18 inches. I'm 6ft and have a 34inch inseam. Box store Schwinn for for somebody around 5ft 6.

I dug out the P8 that was 22 inch frame. You can see the difference in the top tube height between the pictures.

Peugeot was big in the US in the 70's and 80's before some bad buisness dealings drove them out of the US. Really they were pretty good bikes for the money. The P8 being a mid level model had OK parts. Shimano derailleurs Weinman brakes. Its down side is Mallard Helicomatic hub in the 80's.

Poor thing spent the better part of 20 years being neglected including living on the back porch for a while. Tried to sell it a couple times but tires were shot so the couple people that had interest were put off by it's current condition. I decided to clean it up and throw some tires on it and see how I did with it. It was fast..very fast... on the flat. It has tall gears and with the steep hills and my still weak legs it really wore me out to ride it. The lowest gear was still way higher then the gear I was riding on the Schwinn. I also found that in the 20 years of not riding it and getting fat that the Drops and somewhat tight riding position was painful for my old body. The skinny 90psi tires really transmitted a LOT of painful jolts on the concrete from my still very bad habit of riding on the sidewalk till I got to the bike lanes (I have since pulled my head out of my sphincter and ride the road now).

The more I looked at the P8 the more I realized that it had some problem$. The Helicomatic had a bent shaft, a common problem for them, that coasting you could feel the wobble. Brakes and cables were shot. The positions of the bars really aggravating my wrists, the gearing for my weak legs, my dislike of the position for my achy body. It all started adding up and though I loved the P8 it was going to take some money to get it up to snuff.

Early on I had promised myself if I can commute 3 days a week or more for 3 solid months to show real commitment to a lifestyle change that I would buy myself a new bike that was going to be my dedicated daily driver. That went out the window before the first month was up because of my fit problems with both of my bikes.

I started watching Craigslist like a hawk to find a inexpensive bike since anything NEW was out of the question and I still was not sure I could maintain riding daily. A 1998Cannondale M400 kept being posted in a 22 inch frame size. First post was $180. I researched the bike. It was the mid-line rigid mountain bike Cannondale had out. Aluminum CAD2 frame, Shimano STX derailleur TekTro V brakes. The owner kept posting the wrong for number for WEEKS. He did not answer e-mail requests for info or better contact info. Others were posting in CL for the guy to please contact them. Week after week this guy posted this bike and the price kept coming down from the lack of calls from the bad number he kept posting.

One Saturday 5-6 weeks after the first posting of this bike I was working in the yard. I came in for lunch and scanned Craig's as I ate. Saw a fresh post for the M400 was put up about 20 minutes earlier. Clicked on it and immediately I noticed a different phone number. I called...he answered! I got directions, put the carrier on the truck and I took off after it. He called me as I was in route asking "if I was coming? Got three other calls people want to come get it today". "I'm half way there" I assured him and he said he would wait for me.

Love at first sight. $120 and it was mine. Here is the picture from the ad.

Threw the wheels from the Schwinn on it (better tires for the street) and I was off! I Loved it! It is a very fun bike to ride. I couldn't wait to ride this bike to work in the morning every day. I Ride it in everyday that it doesn't rain. After getting street friendly tires for the M400 rims I sold the Schwinn to one of the guys at work that I had inspired to start riding some. The bike was a better fit for him then me.

Here is what I look like after loosing 25-30lb on 8/20/08.

Now anybody who knows me knows I just can't leave anything alone. So 5 months into my venture of Bicycle commuting here is what the M400 looks like now with commuter gear and swag.

What I have put on:

Specialized Flak Jacket tires, Hemisphere front and Crossroad rear.

Freddy Fenders to keep me dry. Topeak MTX Rack and trunk bag.

Plannet Bike Blazer headlight and Superflast tailight

Topeak Road morph pump Pitbull Ulock to keep it safe. Cateye cyclocomputer with cadence. Nashbar Trekking bars. AirZound Air horn to wake up cagers.

I have stacked stems to give me a place to mount lights and my GPS. I have drove this to work this year more than I drove my trucks. My commute takes 15-16 minutes now (full 10 minutes less then when I started). That is only about 5 minutes longer then it takes to drive in. I go on regular 15-20 mile rides on the hilly streets around my home. They are no problem these days. On the Silver Comet trail I can knock off 30+ miles pretty easy. Honestly I don't know what my upper limit is now. relaxed pace I can proably put 100 miles on in one shot. Not bad considering I almost landed in a box 5 years ago. Dashboard shot.

If you look close the Odometer reeds 999.4. Thats how many miles I have rode this bike in the last 3.5 months. I took this picture today for this post 11/5/08.

As of this morning I am 203lb. Thats the lowest I have weighed in about 12 years.

Where did the year go?

Time for an update. It has been a busy year with tight cash flow. That limited the traveling this year. Hoefully next year things will improve. Nasty rainy day today so stuck inside.

I have been doing a little tinkering here and there. Finally got my GPS Navigation set up complete with a used laptop, some software. I am running my Garmin GPSV as a receiver with a mag mount antenna on the hood. That keeps my Accuracy around 10ft. Problem is it only has 19megs of memory so I either have to reload often on trips or selectively load where I am going. Was sort of a bummer when you didn't have the nice stuff like Restaurant finder. From that I am feeding an old Compaq 7800 Armada I picked up from work when they sold off my old shop. Can't beat a $10 laptop. Only 8 Gig drive but it really does serve my needs. This laptop is only going to be used for navigation, some Internet access with a Aircard of data link from my phone and on rare occasions I might make a dump from the camera but with extra memory cards that will be pretty limited.

The biggest downs side is it is a heavy old laptop. That might me an advantage since it is obviously old it might make it less attractive to a thief. It had NT on it and that was causing me issues. I finally ran across a OS for the right price...FREE. Somebody I knew had a couple new copies of Win2000 Pro with the registration that were going to get tossed since they are out of date on the systems they were original bought for 6-7 years ago. I actually like it and it seems very stable. The GPSV came with Mapsource 4.01. It was Ok but is didn't have a few features like Keeping the direction traveling at the top of the screen. I got pointed at a free down load to Garmin nRoute. It fixes ALL the complaints I had with the Mapsource software. It also has the voice directions that the wife and I are having great fun with.

I used an old Gamber Johnson mount that came out of a decomed truck and was headed for the trash. http://www.gamberjohnson.com/index.php I had to abandoned the actual mount for the laptop becasue of the size and the location of the gimble mount on it. Because of my old laptop I needed to shift the forward about 2 inches and it simply didn't have the mount in the right position to do that without adding a second bracket extension that would also add another inch to the height. I went with a piece of 3/4 ply wood and some industrial Velcro. That allowed the laptop to sit almost 3/4 of an inch lower then the GJ mount. I plan to replace that with a piece of aluminum plate at some point and that will gain another 5/8's.

I had to pull the forward part of the center console to get to a place I could mount the assembly on. The 4Runner has a heating duct that blows under the seat for the rear seat passengers so that meant I couldn't mount off the side of the tunnel easily. The shift boots on that part were leather and in really bad shape after 21 years. I have future plans that made its days numbered anyway. Little clean up on the boot plate and paint and it won't look to bad with just the rubber boots the leather boots on the removed console covered. The GJ mount is nice in the fact that with no tools I can remove the head when not in use. I have a second one of these mounts I plan to put in our Suburban tow rig where it will be a lot less of a space problem.

Excuse the mess, We are in a major drought and outdoor water ban. My truck is a pigsty inside and out as a result.

The Inverter is my travel one for use in my work truck. I will be replacing it with one permanently mounted in the back so I don't have the cooling fan noise bugging me all the time. Temporary I ran a second cig plug to the battery to power this one. The factory cig plug is wired with 16 or 18 gage and simply not up to the draw of a inverter so I had to get power from the battery. I have some clean up on the mount as well now that I have the mounting points picked. The brackets will be painted black. The Gray bracket will be cut down and welded to the vertical tube. The place it is mounted on the side of the dash is actually where the factory screw is that holds the lower dash to a metal mounting bracket. It is a very sturdy point on the dash that required no holes drilled.

It's the little things

Got the front diff in. Did a couple modifications as well.

The front diff is a factory 4.88 from a 93 that had Auto tranny and the 31 inch tire option. It has ADD and while I could have easily swapped it to a solid driver side I decided to keep it. The reason is I am going to hook it up because it will allow me to kill the drive to the front wheels without getting out. So it will give me 2 low. If I need to cross some pavement then back into soft conditions a quick flip of the switch and the front axle is disconnected.

It will also allow me to do "digs". A "dig" is basically power breaking. Front wheels locked rear wheels spinning. What you can do is walk the back wheels sideways by steering with the front wheels locked if you need to reposition the truck for a better line. You can do it by unlocking a hub but now I can do it by flipping a switch. If I am ever stupid enough to lock the IFS front that will also help with steering in 4wd.

Next trick:

When I picked up the diff I notices two of the bolts for the half shaft were out. Asked the guy about it and he got a big grin on his face and told me why. In stock configuration if you bust a CV you have jack the truck up remove the wheel and unbolt the lower ball joint. That will allow you to swing the hub out enough to get the half shaft out.

With two bolts removable you can get the half shaft out by fully extending the suspension and turning the wheel to the lock. That will let you have just enough room to worm it out without even taking the wheel off. Just put the opposite side up on a rock to get the broken side fully extended.

The front wheels were on ramps so I couldn't crank the wheel but using the jack to extend the suspension I can almost get the CV past the flange so it looks like it will work.

I pressed two of the bolts out and filed off the knurls that retain them so they can be pushed out by hand. Just have to use a wrench on both the nut and bolt but no big deal.

The last modification may have been caught by the observant already. Here is a better picture.

One of the IFS weaknesses is the lower control arm mounts. Most people will never have a problem unless you really start to run big tires and wheel hard. 33x12.5 is bigger then the designers ever planned for and thats what I already have on the truck.

What will happen is the brackets will start to flex and fatigue and crack at the frame. Part of the problem is in stock form the rear lower control arms do not have a cross brace. Its a bad enough problem that the aftermarket makes a brace. http://www.downeyoff-road.com/SuspensionComponents/index.htm (little over half way down.).

If you still haven't figured it out I made a brace using a factory brace and salvaged brackets from a spare front suspension I got from a Buddy that did a SAS. All the parts are stock just welded on the rear lower mounts. ;) Had to notch the brace to clear the diff but still plenty strong. Eventually I will cut a skid plate that will also help triangulate the control arm mounts and make them even stronger.

Locker

I had to burn up some roll over vacation days. Bonus came in just in time so I managed to buy the parts I needed to re-gear and install the electric locker. I went with the 4.88 gears. It should put me right back at stock RPM's with the 33's and make my speedometer accurate again. Weather went bad on me at the end of the week and it took me a lot more running around to get the needed parts then I thought it would.

Didn't get as far as I had hoped last week but I did finish up with the control circuit and the gear install tonight. It worked perfect first try! :victory: Here is the two articles I referenced for this mod: http://carterswebsite.com/4runner/mods/locker/

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/electric_locker/

The control circuit is actually a little bit of a mix of the two main set ups from each article. I felt the control set up of the top link was the better design but I wanted the extra status lights of the second link. I really feel this is important because if you didn't get it fully unlocked you could damage the locker and without a disengage light you would never know.

The Green Status light comes on when fully locked. The red light lets you know that locker is in progress of locking and once fully locked the Red light goes off and the Green light comes on. The Yellow light lets you know that the locker is disengaging and once it fully disengages the light goes off.

I used a momentary switch but the circuit design uses limit switches and once it hits the limit of travel it cuts the power off by interrupting path to ground for the relay trigger. The dash switch triggers the positive. It should be fine with a standard single pole double throw switch. The Momentary (on) off (on) does add a little safety in that if you release the switch it also kills the positive to the coil. Still mulling it over. It would be nice to just flip the switch instead of having to hold till it completes its cycle but it only takes a few seconds to cycle. Tomorrow when I get home from work I will start yanking the axle out from under the truck and clean it up. If The weather holds and I don't have to work late I think I will have it all installed by the end of the week. Might even have time to swap in the front diff as well.

Update just to keep it current.

Not much traveling. Gaining more confidence in it after the rebuild. Truck is still in building stage right now and will be for a while. Have been making arrangements to buy the gears for the rear end to correct for the larger tires. That will get it ready for extended trips. Maybe a run down to FL in March. Still mulling over the light weight expedition trailer I plan to build. A big redesign has been made to make better use of the materials I have available. Its back to a sleep in design. Came up with my idea and somebody posted this on EXPO. http://www.pbase.com/rophoto/trailer Some great ideas but it will be a little smaller then that. Main body will be about 7ft long overall and about 50 inches tall. Some storage on the tongue. Shooting for a dry weight of 500-750lb. Just big enough to get my Lawn tractor in the back if I need to haul it to moms. Tomorrow is Zan's 6th birthday. We are going over to moms for a little birthday celebration this afternoon. Should be fun. Letting her pick where to have dinner. She said she wanted a quesadilla so looks like Los Reyes for dinner. Just fine with me. Good food. No pictures today.

Wanderlust

"Wanderlust (Middle High German: wandern, to wander, and Lust, desire) is a German loanword. It is commonly defined as a strong desire to travel, or by having an itch to get out and see the worldWanderlust (Middle High German: wandern, to wander, and Lust, desire) is a German loanword. It is commonly defined as a strong desire to travel, or by having an itch to get out and see the world."

Getting it bad.

As a kid my family traveled and camped a lot. 4 weeks a year we would wander somewhere. Colorado was a favorite destination. Riding in the back of a vw412 for 12 hours strait at the time seemed tiring. Living out of a camper small enough to be pulled by that car for 7-12 days at a time. Looking back on life they are some of my fondest memories I have. Watching the land change with every mile as I stared out the window as we left Detroit for somewhere new. No TV at all the whole time just the radio and Paul Harvey shows.

In 1979 we moved from Troy Michigan to Marietta Georgia. Folks had enough of the snow and rusted out cars. I even remember the day my Dad snapped and had enough of it. It was about 6:15 am on a Monday morning. It snowed all weekend. Shoveled the driveway several times. I was a paperboy at the time. I had to deliver to 56 houses before school. Streets were deep in snow so today I was walking it with a sled. Nope none of this throw it out of the window of your Camaro BS. I walked it up each door and put it in the paper rack on the mail box next to the front door. Yep even the mail man pushed a cart in those days. Some people would request the paper between the storm door and front door. It was extra tip money. I was 11 years old at the time.

So the Day dad snapped I was standing right next to him......I think I heard it....It was a low grumble in his throat as we stood in the garage and watched the door open and realized the wind had drifted the snow over 6ft and almost totally covered the garage. Dad looked at his rusty 914 Porsche and new he would be driving Moms equally rust VW 412 to work that day. I grabbed my Sled and drug it through the Laundry room to the side door to get out and go get the papers at the front of the neighborhood.

That summer we were vacationing south. Went to FL, AL, GA, SC. Dad was stationed at Warner Robbins in the 50's During the Korean conflict. GA and Macon in particular war places Dad knew. A year later we were in Marietta GA house hunting on or Vacation and my Dad had already put in for the transfer. We moved into our new home October 8 1979...My Birthday.

I think the more temperate weather lessened my Dad's wanderlust. Didn't seem to travel nearly as much. Went on a couple trips. 1 week in most cases and sometimes only once a year.

In November of 81 Dad bought a brand New VW Vanagon to replace the rusty 412. It was a stick shift. Mom kept driving the Auto 412 not wanting to deal with the hills and clutch. It was like the Taj mahal to my sister and I. We each had out own seat and could spread out some.

In 83 My Dad succumbed to a heart attack. Mom in fear of not having any money sold everything, The Vanagon, the camper, Dads 1961 BWM 69RS 600 for pennies on the dollar. Gave me the 412 and bought a Datsun 210.

Did very little camping since.So here I am married, 2 kids and wanderlust. My Friends scattered across the land. Somehow most have settled along the lower US. Phoenix seemed to attract several friends. My sister in San Angelo TX, Another friend In Dallas. Open invitations by Internet friends in CO.

4 Years ago We lost Janice's Dad. We inherited a 1959 Airstream Basket case. My wanderlust on the rise..we are slowing doing a frame off restoration for Family trips. Have a monster 454 powered suburban to drag it along at 10mpg. Visions of camping dancing in my head. Making pancakes on a Coleman stove for the kids. Daughters squabbling over something, Ivy aggravated over it with her hands wrapped around a hot cup of coffee. Seeing the sights just like when I was a kid just in a lot better accommodations.

I also have a 1986 4Runner that I am preparing for Expedition travel. Back country camping in places like Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods, Running the 4wd pass into Silverton Colorado, The Maze, Needles, Yellowstone and doing as much as I can on dirt roads and trails. Wife's fear of heights has her not wanting to make these trips. She won't do well on a 10,000 ft pass with a 500ft drop off on her side of the truck.

One Day I will set my camera on the hood of my truck and I will take a picture of myself exactly from this spot.

Why the hell a blog? An introduction

Honestly, I just thought it would be a place to put my travels and thoughts. This is actually my third blog. This one will cover my travels both alone and with friends and family where as my others are sort of personal space where I keep in touch with friends.

I don't have many pictures of myself. The lovely lady of mine has a few but not going to go digging for them. This particular picture is a few years old. I don't have the beard and mustache or even that truck anymore. Still have the gut though.

I'm a daddy of a beautiful little 5 year old girl. I have a moody teenage Step Daughter, two dogs and a Lovely wife that I have been married to for 11 years. She puts up with my BS for some reason so I can't ask for much more.

I had a big wake up call on 10/31/2003 at 6:25pm in the form of a heart attack at 37 years old. It's heredity rearing its ugly head. I'm doing ok now but it scared the hell out of me. I have 20-30 minutes of time that I can't account for. Three stints after it was all said and done. took me a good solid year to get back to where I felt good.

It taught me a big lesson about making the best of what you have. I feel I am a different person from the experience. I'm thankful for every day I wake up.

This is my little one Zan. According to www.howmanyofme.com she is the Only one in the last US census. My wife and I think that's pretty cool that we managed to come up with a totally unique name for her. We thought we were making it up but it is a name in some Asian cultures and it means "happiness". We have also found in Persian cultures it means "the mind", "knowledge,understanding" or "Reasoning and Logical Thinking". In Chinese it means "praise". They all fit her quite well. Zan's Big sister Melissa. She's a moody teenager that knows it all.

My lovely Bride Janice. Strongest person I know. She has to be to put up with me. We actually met on the computer through a local BBS called Hotlanta. Just hit it off and we have been together ever since.

The last two members of the family are Britney (brown) and Rusty (red) aka "The destruction twins" . They are half Britney Spaniel and half Llewellyn Setter.

I intend to document my life and travels. I have a great many interests and I thought it might be interesting to put them down and have something for my kids to read when they are a little older.