Riding in the hood.

**Bikeguy Joe** · #**141** (**permalink**) 03-23-2008, 09:55 AM

Very nice.

**Bikeguy Joe** · #**142** (**permalink**) 03-23-2008, 09:57 AM

It was 16 degrees this morning!
Going to ride soon.
I swear I will.

deacon · #**143** (**permalink**) 03-23-2008, 10:04 AM

I was thinking when I scanned those images. If I was going to make a bike commercial it would be sunsets and country roads, but if you go to the downtown of most urban areas on Saturday there some neat things to see that you tend to miss riding through in a car. I might just do a series of these downtown Saturday morning shots from the seat of my bike.

And Joe thirty five degrees and sunny is my downside limit. I'm not as tough as I used to be.

deacon · #**144** (**permalink**) 03-27-2008, 11:16 AM

I am not sure this is a good thing, but I find that now I am not intimidated by the traffic any more. I still am very careful about where I turn and plan every move well in advance, but I'm not intimidated by the cars any more. That may be a bad thing but it's just a fact.

Familiarity does indeed breed contempt or maybe just cautious indifference. But I think now I would go anywhere I wanted.

I went to the post office to mail an electric motor, then I went to the home depot all on the bike.... Mine was meant to be and is now becoming a working bike....

**nogoodnic** · #**145** (**permalink**) 03-27-2008, 12:17 PM

IMO intimidation is not a good thing when ridding, fear makes for bad ridding. That being said, I ride as if every car on the road is going to pull out in front of me and I am very aware of what is going on around me but do not like ridding with fear. One of my favorite places to ride is also one of the scariest, it is a very scenic dune area where as I am rolling down the road within arms reach I'll have a 4X4 with tires taller than my bike frame

. In general most of those guys really like my bikes and are aware that I'm there but there has been a couple of occasions where I have had to knock on their door at 25mph before they notice me. A comfortable ridder is a safer ridder IMO...Kelly

Heres a picture of one of my bikes along side of a truck that I helped a buddy build to show a size comparison.

deacon · #**146** (**permalink**) 03-27-2008, 01:28 PM

I had a huge truck and trailer pass me on a two lane road today and he didn't even bother to go into the other lane. I swear my bike has some of his paint on it. Still it was okay because I just held my ground and he was gone in a few seconds. When I first started to ride this thing, I would have been looking for a place to go.

Same with the mirrors. Things are closer than you think with my mirror. If I see a car, I'm standing pat, but if I don't I'll look over my shoulder an go now. There are things I'm sure I will get even more used to now that I ride almost every day.

deacon · #**147** (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 11:21 AM

Being the thrifty (ie cheap) person I am. I have tired to use the parts of my bike kit each and everyone of them. So far I have had to upgrade from my pocket... The clutch lever (chrome garbage)... the throttle and kill switch. I broke those while trying to make the engine run. The chain because I couldn't find my extra links. Today I bought some gas line from the auto parts store. I expect that was due to the old line being on and off the bike so many times. Nonetheless I had to replace it. I hope the one from the auto parts store is more resilient.

I know there is a better clutch handle with some kits but the rest is pretty much the same er er stuff (note i did not say junk) Don't get me wrong i love my bike and the engine is really quite the surprise considering how poor th rest of the kit seems to be. A lot of the stuff I broke myself, but it would have been nice if it were a little tougher.

At least when something goes wrong it cost 2 bucks not 200 like on my car.

deacon · #**148** (**permalink**) 03-29-2008, 07:18 AM

It's going to be in the fifties sometime today and rainy. If I had to go somewhere I would go, but I don't. What I have to do is patch and paint the ceiling in my dining room. I had a major leak in my upstairs bathroom. Chunk of the bathroom wall has to be replaced and the downstairs ceilings and bathroom walls need to be replaced as well.

The plumbing is done now the ceiling work and the wall begins. Not to mention the bedroom closet floor. It was not the best of weeks but I rode my bike a lot so it wasn't all that bad rofl.

Now I have to pay for those fun rides by actually doing work. Oh well, into every life a few ceiling must fall. Mine are an inch of 1928 plaster so I have to be careful I'm not standing on a ladder under it when it falls. Y'all have a fun weekend and think of me slaving away.... yeah for about an hour or two lol.

deacon · #**149** (**permalink**) 04-09-2008, 03:52 PM

When I bought my bike it was so that I get around when they suggested that I stop driving. I wanted something a little different and i sure got it.

I wanted something I could ride to the bank or even to the grocery store... I got that as well...

Something easy to move around when I wasn't riding it was high up as well. I pretty much got that too...

I wanted something inexpensive so that I could afford to trash it if I didn't like it. That I got as well....

I also wanted something low maintenance.... Well now here is a bit of a problem isn't it. If you don't at least do a little maintenance you are going to be stuck walking.

I wanted something easy to assemble.... well the bike was infinitely doable but it wasn't as easy as I had expected....

And I got a little more than I anticipated. I got some health benefits... I got great expense control... but most of all I got a heckofalot of fun... So all in all it was a great investment...

Since I'm not into speed I hope my build with the more stable Ryobi engine will be as good for me...

This comes to mind because I rode the China bike to the bike store today and realized how much I enjoy the bike and it very practical.

deacon · #**150** (**permalink**) 04-10-2008, 12:28 PM

These bikes are the most amazing things... I had someone try to buy mine again today. I doubt he would have paid if I had given him the price that it's worth to me. But one day I will let someone hold it.

But someone flags me down about every third ride. I guess it is the retro look of the things that does it. They really are under powered if you consider a scooter with a smaller motor and smaller wheels will do 45mph or so they say.