About my trikes, the heart

Local letterbox, with decorative steel support, and

another one, and

yet another one. This style of fence and post decoration has been celebrated in the local Green Bins artwork on Hoddle Street, which is still there and thriving.

Letterbox and house number, now that's thinking!

Lego house number and letterbox, that's really thinking! 

Bluebower Letter box with diorama

Bluebower Letterbox with lego diorama.

Bluebower #3

Bluebower #4

What's with all the letterboxes, then?  It's really just showing off some local creativity and everyday playfulness in our neighbourhood, and to draw attention to their similarity to the ideas present in the Bluebower letterboxes and some of my trikes.

Just like in "about my trikes, the bones" on the structure of my trikes and lack of chain stress in the frame, there is an appeal to a higher theory here, and that is contained in Jules Pretty's "Manifesto for the Green Mind" which is an anti-sloth, pro-happiness, pro-learning and pro-environment wake-up call. It calls for regular physical activity outdoors, continued cognitive engagement  and socially based activities and creativity low in material consumption yet delivering health benefits.

After picking out photos of my own creations, a phrase welled up for some of the enabling tools (bluebower letterboxes, my trikes when they go on sale) for this creativity and that is "gifts that keep on giving".  That is, like learning to play the ukelele say, these are things that don't stop, and can be played with, learned about, and used to provoke satisfaction and discussion and interest and friendship.  A certain amount of vanity needs to be thrown away, your diorama, your ukelele playing, your bike side panel, your bike pedal will never be perfect and some of your friends might disagree but what the hell, life's for living. Or something.

That is probably enough rabbitting on for now, photos of some bikes and trikes and their customisation follow, which is just the same as my usual blog, but a bit of a summary and showcase.

Regards

Steve Nurse

Experimental speed trike, the seat is laid back further and the steerer is longer than usual

Wooden trike as seen at fringe furniture 2017

Timber trike with clear sides and internal lighting

Clear sides on timber trik tailbox.

cutting out clear panels

Cloth covered panel #1

Corflute panel internals

Plywood panel

Plywood panel internal

Decorated corflute at master's degree exhibition and celebration

In the wild near Melbourne town hall

Cloth panel #2 from an old cycling jersey I owned but never wore.

Sold this load carrying trike during the year.

Cloth Panel #3

In the wild with a trike including cloth panel #2, Audax 100k ride.

Pedal modification for recumbent bike, the red parts are 3d printed

Another Pedal Mod

My wife Christine at work on cloth panel #4

Graham Signorini's bike foreground, mine background at U.N. International Bike Day

With James and mike from Wecycle, U.N. International Bike Day