Old Guys Simplex moto-peddle bike

Long night...two separate tornadoes & thankfully both missed us by a few miles, one to the South and another even closer to the North occurring less than an hour apart. Trailing storms kept us all on edge for several hours. We were very fortunate, but a neighboring town took a hit on it's outskirts with injuries and one fatality and great property damage, 100 homes lost. May is typically our worst month for tornadoes here in Oklahoma. Hail damage associated with these storms produced grapefruit sized ice stones which went right through roofs & into the living areas of homes. Vehicles parked unprotected outside were totaled. The only secure place is underground during these weather events and early warning. Natural catastrophes put our normal daily activities in proper perspective. Rick C.

It is a sobering event Ludwig & one that even natives of Indian Territory never get comfortable with. The early estimates of the force of last nights tornadoes are an F-2 (a relative baby) event with F-5 rating being the strongest, over 200 mph winds, the worst winds ever recorded on earth were in one of our storms on the edge of Oklahoma City in May 2013 topping 295 mph. Imagine being hit by a steel beam or a brick being propelled at 295 mph in the debris cloud. This was also the largest tornado in width ever recorded at 2.6 miles wide and stayed on the ground continuously for over 15 miles. It is common to have close to a hundred verified tornadoes during the month of May alone, in Oklahoma, but they can occur at any time of the year. The small town (2,800) I live in was hit in Oct. of 2001 by an F-3 and it destroyed a third of the town. It was 1/4 mile wide, but with early warning there were no fatalities and only a few minor casualties resulted.

I've seen a few small tornado resistant above ground homes and quite a few above ground safe rooms, but I wouldn't want to be in one during a direct F-4 or F-5 strike if I could instead be underground. Even dugout homes, buried partially in hillsides are not sure things if hit directly by a big twister. A friend of mine lost his home and a nice car collection during our Oct. 2001 storm...none of the vehicles were ever found, but some personal effects were returned to him, found over 35 miles away. His family was almost sucked out of their underground shelter when the door opened part way and this was just an F-3. Thankfully the door chain held.

I hope to never experience another, but there is always that chance. I've ridden out 2 hurricanes and one tornado, both quite different experiences of course and difficult to rate which are worse, but one thing is certain the wind speeds are much greater and more highly concentrated in a twister. Of course a hurricane can also spin off relatively small in land twisters as well; a double whammy! Rick C.

Thanks for the concern my friends, as those hit in the Elk City tornado are being helped by "neighbors" from not only Oklahoma but also residents of Texas and Colorado who have also experienced the devastation of these powerful forces of nature or grew up hearing the stories of past storms, of how people helped each other at these times to recover and rebuild. Without being asked hundreds of individuals have and will continue to assist in the process, trucks and machinery will be donated to the task of hauling off the debris in the city but also cleaning the rubble strung over the 25 mile long path the storm traveled through the country side. Hundreds of volunteers will manually accomplish this, walking the fields and collecting the debris for removal. Tradesmen of all categories, many retired, will assist with the more technical aspects of recovery, donating their time and resources to the monumental task at hand. The areas of greatest destruction were relatively affluent and thus insured, also the state has declared this a natural disaster area and that paves the way for Federal grants for restoring City infrastructure and also low interest individual loans. It's a long drawn out process but this will give some idea of how it begins and the good news is it's all been experienced by other Okies in the past and they got through it with help from others who "run toward the sound of gunfire" and these folks will too!

Many lessons to carry away from tragedy Ludwig and high on that list is to enjoy the sunshine and the rain.

Harold the good people of Ada and Pauls Valley are safe as of this writing, as is my little village which didn't even get a good rain from the near miss. Strange thing about these mezzo cyclonic events is the randomness of destruction created, one house taken completely while the one next door is left relatively intact. Your Mother's reaction to violent storms I believe to be common and, in some, a form of traumatic syndrome often replete with flash backs of varying significance. I am sympathetic to those so afflicted and have known some who have relocated in order to adjust.

Those who tour on two wheels should always watch the weather, the one fatality of this storm was a middle age man fleeing his rural trailer home in a car. He called 911 prior to the storm reaching him so rescue teams might be able to locate him. I'm quite sure he doubted he'd survive.

Steve one of those vehicles never found was a Delorean & one would think the shiny thing could be spotted from afar by a blind man. Chaining the cellar door is accomplished with a length of good grade, heavy log chain, double fastened to large bolts plated into the concrete structure, in case one failed. In the case of my friend one indeed failed and an additional 250 lbs. of young muscle was also applied. His young wife, two children and Mother were reason enough to not let go!

Forecast for next three days includes tornado warnings for this part of the state, climatic conditions are conducive to violent weather events and that's just the reality of living in "tornado alley".

Thanks again for your concern. Please keep each other in prayer. Rick C.

Butch I haven't heard any reports of damage from the Edmund area,but you might want to check as we had another round of super cell tornadoes yesterday afternoon. With more activity forecast for today.

My home town took a hit from a tornado as well with extensive damage to the entire city. Straight winds of 100 mph and baseball size hail,heavy rain along with a brief touch down of the twister. I doubt any structure in town escaped some degree of roof damage & many windows blown out. All vehicles left in the open suffered heavy damage, motor homes and travel trailers turned over and pretty well trashed cosmetically. Lots of electrical infrastructure damage, but fortunately only a few homes or business structure are initially seen as total loss and no known fatalities and only a few minor injuries.

It was the second storm of the day that caused most of the damage, the first also went directly overhead but did not touch down, though hail and extremely high winds must have done some damage as well. My property fared well, some roof damage but I'm not complaining. One of my buddies lost both his home and his gun shop, though they were located a couple of miles apart, but he and his family were spared and the firearms were all recovered.

Power came back up at my house early this morning. It could have been so much worse. Pray for those effected, please, as this storm hit many families that didn't have much to begin with & no insurance. Rick C.

I finally got around to checking my vehicles this morning, including the bikes and all was well. All were under cover but I feared flying debris might have struck those under the canopies. Nothing damaged inside the buildings either. Shops held together well. Service station across the street didn't fare so well as a large fuel pump canopy blew over. Lots of big signs also toppled. Stuff that doesn't belong to me showed up on my property as well. I suppose someone will eventually reclaim them.
Rick C.

Took a few days of cleanup and straighten up Butch but back to normal I'm hoping. Continuing some long put off changes to my bikes mostly small stuff, but things that please me and help make a better ride and or visually improve the bikes.

Trial on photos without resize. 1965 Mustang GT K code 271 hp, 4 speed I restored a few years back.

fasteddy said:

That was the car I was working on ordering in 1965 when I was in the car accident and the plan went away. White with blue stripes. Often think about what could have been.

Steve.

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Steve I totaled a 2 week old 1965 Chevy SS Impala & replaced it with a 1965 Mustang 2 plus 2 dark blue with blue interior
not a GT, 4 speed 225 hp
so I've had a thang for the stangs. The one shown is the second of two I've restored both fastback, K code, GT's in red (original color). If either had been in blue I don't think I would have sold it.

Butch that's a pretty rare pony & meant she was pretty hard to catch!

indian22 said:

Butch that's a pretty rare pony & meant was pretty hard to catch!

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Back to bikes. If you recall I earlier posted I'd bought a fuel tank,built for a straight bar Schwinn, from an individual. I've casted about for a Panther frame and found several that mostly fell into two categories - extremely nice originals and absolute junk. Since I won't destroy a nice bike to build what I want in a motorized cycle; I instead decided to order a new Chinese, aluminum frame instead. Since I have more than 8,000 miles on my 4 year old aluminum Grubee frame without a crack, I'm willing to take a chance on an unknown frame, built of the light stuff. I will run a 66 cc on her...decided against the KTM motor. I'm hoping the measurements of the frame will allow the fitment of the tank in hand tank.

I am not saying this is a good frame as I don't have a clue as to it's quality, but I promise to fill you guys in, one way or another after I've finished and lived with it for a good long while. It will be badged as a Schwinn.

Still working on the design for the Simplex Copper Gator sidecar, about the time I think I kinda' understand the principals involved with the articulated leaning wheel concept, it becomes obvious that I don't. It's a plan in progress and progress is stalled! Rick C.

Veterans thanks for your service on this day of honor and celebration to those who sacrificed.