~77~

My fork ears for the Benelli from eBay Germany showed up. So...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:50:09 -0500

My fork ears for the Benelli from eBay Germany showed up. So cool and the color match is perfect. The sad part is that with shipping included, the price for the pair was cheaper than one -decent- fork ear for a Honda CB750. My bike only has 1100 original miles on it, but someone cut and welded the ears so they could mount some sort of stupid windjammer to this bike. I’m going to attempt to get piston rings made for it and hopefully get the bike running and on the road this summer.

I picked these up on ebay. New old stock Iron Age steel toe...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:25:37 -0500

I picked these up on ebay. New old stock Iron Age steel toe boots with interesting double leather caps on the toes. I wanted something to beat up when I’m in the garage so I don’t murder the boots I wear to work. These may be the nicest boots I’ve ever seen for twenty bucks. Dare I say, they’re nicer than Iron Rangers?

I’ve off and on followed Ezra’s photos on flickr...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:19:06 -0500

I’ve off and on followed Ezra’s photos on flickr since I first got on there in 2004. It’s weird to see and hear him in a video because I only know him from his photos, text, and a few brief back and forth comments over the years. I watched him go from dance instructor to bicycle builder to receiving the shitty hand of cards when he was diagnosed with cancer. I always love seeing that he’s out doing amazing things. It makes me feel like if the same medical condition struck me I’d feel like I’d wasted my life. But he addresses that in the video a bit talking about how irresponsible the whole “live like there’s no tomorrow” thing seems to him. I hate knowing that some great people get sick and some really shitty people just get a free pass in life. I really enjoyed the video even if he was maybe feeling a bit jaded at the time it was recorded.

My friend put a Lifan 125cc engine in a Honda Passport frame. ...

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:05:00 -0500

My friend put a Lifan 125cc engine in a Honda Passport frame. Capable of 60+ mph. It’s a torquey little bastard.

This is what it looks like a year and a half after sewing plain...

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:26:27 -0500

This is what it looks like a year and a half after sewing plain veg tan leather to the chin strap of my motorcycle helmet. Past time for some peroxide.. nasty.

Panorama photos from today. A great day to be on two wheels.

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:34:28 -0500

Panorama photos from today. A great day to be on two wheels.

Finally, dry enough to mow. A beautiful Sunday in Iowa.

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:21:51 -0500

Finally, dry enough to mow. A beautiful Sunday in Iowa.

Forgotten photos from north central Iowa, January 20th,...

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:24:25 -0500

Forgotten photos from north central Iowa, January 20th, 2007.

Voigtlander Bessa R3A, 15mm Heliar f4.5

Fomapan 200, Kodak D76

Already found a good use for the FrostInHisBones hanky. It fits...

Sun, 05 May 2013 23:58:08 -0500

Already found a good use for the FrostInHisBones hanky. It fits around my neck as a wind block into my motorcycle jacket. It was about 45F tonight so it worked great.

Wednesday when I got home, my wife had picked up the mail and...

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:32:49 -0500

Wednesday when I got home, my wife had picked up the mail and there was a package waiting for me. I’m one of the chosen few product testers for Frostinhisbones’ handkerchieifs (from here forward referred to as a hanky.) He’s taken the time to sit down and think about things such as proper fabric, design, source of his materials, and other things people laying in piles of rubble in Bangledesh wish we’d think about.

I’m grateful he was so kind as to think of me to take his new item out for a bit of a field test. I plan on carrying it with me when I am out and about.

I’m sure i’ll end up blowing my nose, staining it with grease, and using it to grab hot spark plugs out of cylinderheads. It’s double the thinkness of a bandana so I’ll be using it as a face mask with my motorcycle helmet. It’ll have character once the snow here finally goes away. But for now I’m going to use it to keep my nose from running. If you’d like to purchase one of these fine items, head on over to his Etsy shop and pick one up.

As for now, I’m going to figure out what pocket my grandpa carries these things in. I’ve been a ‘wipe your nose on your sleeve’ sort of guy my whole life. I’ll be reporting back as things progress.

Paul and Shad came up to town after work last night for some...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:54:13 -0500

Paul and Shad came up to town after work last night for some food and riding. Perfect weather and then a thunderstorm for the ride home.

Christian Petersen’s 1933 Dairy Industries Building...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:44:51 -0500

Christian Petersen’s 1933 Dairy Industries Building Installation.

September, 2009

Hasselblad 503cx, Kodak Tri-X, Kodak Xtol

Warm weather means motorcycles. Always motorcycles.

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:15:44 -0500

Warm weather means motorcycles. Always motorcycles.

Trying to improve upon the Davida leather face mask. Better...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:56:02 -0500

Trying to improve upon the Davida leather face mask. Better breathing holes so my glasses don’t fog up and about 2x as thick to block wind better. I also incororated a little flip-down chin flap to block wind from underneath. This was just an experiment because it was raining tonight. I had no real goals when I sat down, but it ended up turning into something I can use. I am trying to come up with a design that fits inside 3/4 DOT rated helmets like a Bell 500.

I spent all of today going through this bike by the book....

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 01:55:03 -0500

I spent all of today going through this bike by the book. Cleaned the carburetor, set the float height, shimmed the needle, set cam chain tension, set valve lash, etc… It still doesn’t run that well, but I’ll get it sorted out. Otherwise it’s solid, all the electric works, and nobody has messed with it too badly. 3800 miles is what the odometer says. This is going to be my summer wander/commuter bike.

Somewhere on U.S. Highway Six.

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:30:46 -0500

Somewhere on U.S. Highway Six.

I picked this 1956 Montgomery Wards Airline radio today at the...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 23:40:40 -0500

I picked this 1956 Montgomery Wards Airline radio today at the antique store. The fix was quick given it only had two electrolytic capacitors to replace. It’s a pretty simplistic, 5 tube design. I cleaned all the contacts and took the crud off of the tubes. It works just fine. People are asking a lot more for the more interesting ones nowadays, so I’m not sure how many more I’ll be able to justify fixing up.

A week of ebaying has been fruitful. I have enough power and...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:26:03 -0500

A week of ebaying has been fruitful. I have enough power and output tubes to last me several years now. All of these arrived crusty and dirty. I cleaned them all when they arrived. I’ve noticed a lot of people online leave their tubes dirty, probably out of fear of rubbing off the delicate labels. I was just careful. More importantly, I used Caig DeoxIT on the contact pins to get them looking as close to new as possible.

Here’s a Zenith H615 I fixed over the weekend. I bought...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:13:33 -0500

Here’s a Zenith H615 I fixed over the weekend. I bought this radio for my wife in 2000 for her birthday. It was her first birthday, living with me. She should have known what was to come based off of this gift. It never worked and it’s just sat on the shelf for years and years. Lo and behold, the thing is really sensitive and sounds great now.

I’ve outgrown or worn out enough of my work pants that I...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:43:25 -0500

I’ve outgrown or worn out enough of my work pants that I needed to stop by GoodWill to get some more. Within ten minutes, I had found three pairs of like-new Banana Republic pants. They all cost 10 bucks total which is why I don’t ever need to step foot in a mall again. Meanwhile, I won’t say how much my jeans cost… About as much as three pair of Banana Republic mall pants.