the absolute latest..."the cup noodle" *** a floating cup holder

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OMG Santa left for dead by the side of the road!

some things about my tandem project

here is a short video of my home-made tandem highlighting a few of the problems and solutions.

true story!

So I’m cruising around, looking for yard sales, trying to find some junk to weld and I’m at this trailer in a really sketchy part of town, when this really drunk chick drives her car across the yard and pulls up next to where I’m standing and yells, “Woozie!”

I look at her and she says, “aren’t you Woozie? We met last night.”

I say, “not the guy.”

She says, “you sure look like Woozie”

I say, “I was woozy but I got better.”

She says “I was woozy when we met, but I was on drugs.”

I decided it was time to go home.

        

Backpackin' with Tony

The heartbeat of America...Chevy truck

I'm just not sure how to react to this truck.
Here was an older (early 70's late 60's) truck, in not especially good shape with this elaborately crafted rear end.  Literally everything back of the cab and over the frame was wood.  The bed, the fenders, the bumper, the tool box, everything.
I mean whoever did it obviously had some woodworking skills, but really, this was just odd looking.  I wish the photo was better but all  I had was my phone.  Anyway you get the idea.

Junkasaurus

What do you get if you combine a broken shovel, a broken rake, 4 plow blades, some old chain, a few old bolts, some motorcycle handlebars, and some sprockets from an old bike?

Junkasaurus

after a few finishing touches...finish the tail, reposition the head and give it some ribs to make it look more skeletal...

Cast off Direct TV Dish Becomes Yard Art

Some things can become other things if you just think outside the box.  When my son had a new roof put on his house the dish left behind by the previous dwellers was removed in favor of cable (even at the risk of winding up in a roadside ditch.)
When he asked me if I wanted the dish (it was metal, and my new favorite paastime is welding junk into different junk) I said sure, not knowing what I would do with it but surely I could think of something. 

I originally thought I'd find a use for everything but the dish...then it rained, and the rest as they say is history.

I mean what is a birdbath besides a shallow dish on a pedestal.  Add a custom paint job to appease the wifey and...

How 1 day I set out to clean my shed and wound up with a Tandem.

So one day I was shuffling things around in and out of the shed and when I saw this:

One thing led to another and pretty soon I had a project: Why not build a tandem bike?  This is pretty much a step-by-step pictorial essay of that process



Just getting a feel for things, and getting the frames and parts
cleaned up



First cut.

Checking alignment.

Need a way to be sure the sprockets are going to line up. 

The boards were bolted though the crank holes on either side to keep them
aligned while I welded the top of the frames together.

At this point I was somewhat concerned about how
high the front crank was

Finally starting to get it together.

Two sections of steel tubing welded between crank hubs
for strength.

I finally decided not to cut off those cool curved pieces and
heated them and bent them down and in.  Probably not any
added strength, I just liked the way they looked.

At this point I put some wheels on and bounced around a
little just to make sure the welds weren't going to
break as soon as the bike got a little weight on it.

Add a little color...

At this point I still wasn't sure about how to get rear handlebars
on the thing but we had a little test run just to see if there were
any unforeseen problems.  That front crank is 14" off the  ground
and if it were any higher it would be a problem because that front
seat is about as low as it can go and at 6' I just can get a foot
down when stopped.

After a lot of thought I came up with this.  It's made from 2 of those rear carriers
that clamp on the seat post.  I cut about 4" off each and welded them together.
Worked great but, you need a heavier than normal goose neck or it won't fit.  The
good news is that because of the way the clamping mechanism on those carriers works
you basically have a "quick-disconnect" for the rear bars which means you can take them
off to make the mount and dismount easier for the front rider.

This is where it stands today, functional and enjoyable.

I think it turned out pretty well for my first attempt, and really my first welding project where the strength of the weld actually matters.  It's not finished though...I want fenders (there are some nice chrome ones on my wife's Schwinn but she won't give them up.) I also would like a chain guard, and probably need an idler sprocket to keep tension on the front chain, but I'm looking to change sprockets if I can find two that are compatible, and better brakes.

This is a conglomeration of parts from 5 different bikes.  All were scavenged at no cost except that aqua-colored one that makes up the rear end and the front fork, and that one has been mostly un-ridden for 15 years. (It was a present to my daughter on her 11th birthday, so that cost has been pretty well written off.)

So the total cost of the project:  

 $8.00 - new chain

$12.00- long cables for gears and rear brakes

 $9.00- 2 cans of spray paint

 $3.00- master links

$32.00

As I said...this is a composite of 5 bikes...that means there are a ton of bike parts that didn't make the cut for this project, so.............

My sister-in-law wanted a girl

Eyelashes are tedious, and shovels imitate life in that girl shovels are more trouble than boy (or asexual) shovels.