Bike S.O.S.

 

Screen grab from Car S.O.S.

Hi

A few weeks ago, my binge TV of choice was the British Car restoration series, "Car SOS", in which front-men Fuzz Townsend and Tim Shaw and helpers restore classic cars for owners who have become overwhelmed by a car restoration to the extent that progress has halted. The show helps to lift the spirit of the car owner. It is in its 12th series, and I have seen the first 10 of these which are available on our free local streaming service, ABC Iview.

Car restoration is often a big thing, and Fuzz and Tim, who have a well-equipped workshop with well trained workers, still go out to specialist (turbocharger reconditioners, seat trim restorers, roof trim makers, windscreen makers, engine reconditioners, parts suppliers, sand blasters, soda blasters, campervan fitters etc) companies and individuals to help with the restorations. This is part of the show, and the various trades - which keep people practicing their skills and happy - are displayed and lauded on the show. 

Near the beginning of the show there is a stock scene in which Fuzz and Tim are on their way to pick up the derelict car in a large SUV towing a trailer (or sometimes in a bus sans trailer). It goes something like this:

Tim: Well today we are on our way to North Hampshire.

Fuzz: Yes, and today we are going to pick up a ......

Both in raised voices, almost singing, they would embrace if not driving : 1972 Ford Capri GTHR phase One!

Voiceover Guy: Yes, Fuzz and Tim are picking up a 1972 Ford Capri GTHR phase One. 

(Description of the car make follows with film and ads of the car in its heyday. Towards the end of this adjectives like glamorous etc. are used)

Voicover guy: but there's nothing so glamorous about the phase one that Fuzz and Tim are going to see! 

After that, Tim and Fuzz see the usually dilapidated car and talk with the relatives or friends of the owner about the car, and how it came to be in the state its in, and there are general reassurances that the car will be brought back to life and back to its owner, and generally that at least as far as the car is concerned, everything will end up a bed of roses.

That is probably enough generic Car SOS description for now - it is interesting to contrast Car SOS with my own practice of bike SOS, and a recent example came up so I will have a go.

On Hodgkinson Street, which is on my usual route to visit my son or go shopping, there are often dead bikes left out, and I am in the habit of rescuing and restoring them for donation to Wecycle. This has happened recently with one, (A Malvern Star Slap) already fixed and donated. The other more recent one is a (raise voice, almost sing, embrace) Sportsworld Essence. From here, the Car SOS template takes over.

Voicover Guy: "And today, Steve is going to pick up a (drumroll) Sportsworld Essence! Yes, if a 90's Mountainbike were to be a stepthrough it would be Sportsworld Essence! This is a fine shopping bike with 26" wheels and fat tyres, but there's nothing fine about the one as Steve found it. For one thing the wheels were missing! It has quite good cables etc, but without the wheels its not going anywhere!

The brakes aren't the cantis of the classic 90's MTB either, they're just manky old calliper brakes. But they proved to be quite capable of stopping the bike, and look quite cool in their own way."

Ok, that's enough! Pictures follow. The bike hasn't found an owner yet, but its at my bike Shed, Wecycle who's motto is "We fix bicycles for people who need them", and should be passed on soon. There are a few 90's mtbs included for comparison. The ones with the blingy paint jobs are the most desirable I think. Jacarandah time (December) and a wet Melbourne Saturday at Wecycle.

 

Cruzbike Tailbox

 Hi

 For the last few weeks, I've been building a tailbox for my Cruzbike. This was designed from the start to fit the Cruzbike, but much of the design comes from the light, aero tailbox for my Nurse Leaning trike which can be found here.

As an intermediate step towards this design, I had already mounted and used a heavier tailbox on the back of the same bike,see pics below.

 I was due to go on holiday riding for a week, so used the time as wait time - I managed to get an order in for NC routing with Sean and Horn before I left

Cruzbike used to pick up routed pieces, and on a day tour near Wodonga

 

daohho;

High Coutry raid, day six Myrtleford to Wangaratta

 

 

 

 

The last day of our high country raid was a ride from Myrtleford to Wangaratta. Our train at Wang did not leave till one forty four so we were able to dawdle, and ate at a bakery before a comparatively late start at 7:30. The rail trail to Wangaratta is along the Ovens valley but climbs for a few meters at Gapstead. The way from Gapstead to Wangaratta is almost all downhill or flat so the whole ride was comparatively easy. This was also Chris's home turf he leaves about 10 kilometers the other side of Wang.

We were in Wang in plenty of time and I was able to settle up finances with Phil. The cost of the whole trip was modest as was the environmental impact of our travel. But we stayed in local hotels drank and in local pubs and bakery and experienced a fairly gentle way of travel.

We had lunch at the Wangaratta performing Arts Centre before saying goodbye to Phil and heading for the station. The train was fairly full with many bikes on board. I carried mine only partly disassembled onto the train before splitting it and this seemed to work well. It was I relaxing trip back to Melbourne. Many thanks to Phil for the organizing and to Steve Michael and Chris for the company on the trip. I really like the mix of traveling between towns and staying in one place to get to know towns better. Plan to be back in the high country with a bicycle or contraption soon.

There were lots of aging, decaying concrete and steel railway signal posts on the line and I photographed a few of them!