My kind of warning signs

Obviously my favourite.....




And now a couple that Dad might find useful...

Very cool looking FS Bike

Trying to find out what this mad looking bike is, apparently made by someone in the UK, front suspension like BMW's telelever suspension. Any ideas?

Enter the Kung Fu Panda

Just back from our 20 week detailed scan at the hospital. As per our 1st visit, this one blew us away yet again. Everything appears perfectly normal, however there was a bit of a Homer Simpson "Why you little....." moment at one point:



The little B*$£^%!!!! is giving us the finger!!!!! Takes after it's Dad then. Anyway, here's a choice selection of the other scan photos:



Hands behind it's head, "Ahh, it's actually quite warm and comfy here, great place to relax. I can highly recommend it."



Now, let me see your SCARY face! What the doctors call The Halloween Shot.



Baby's spine. Looking like something out of Species?



Sucking it's thumb. AAAaahhhhhhh.

Nisank playing it smart

RDS horse show 2009

Live, from the Aga Khan.

Teddy will miss his Huggy Bear

Enter The Dragon

Looks like the little 'un is going to be a bit of a martial artist....

Great leg extension. Nunchaku and throwing stars are on order.

Overly Proud Parents to Be

World, meet Baby.

Baby, meet world.

Mmmmmm, Retro goodness

Three stories on Pistonheads this afternoon:
New Gullwing:


Morgan Aero Supersports:


Morgan Aero Supersports inside story:

Jekyll mock up

Frame mocked up with Lefty Speed DLR2 fork and Mavic/Cannie wheelset (M117 rims on Cannie Omega front and Delta rear hubs). Lefty being shipped to Thumbprint in the UK for a service and optimisation. Thumbprint are the UK agents for EightyAid who specialise in Cannondale's Lefty shock. Rear Fox Float RL being sent to Real Cycles, up the north, for a similar treatment. Also worth checking out are Mojo in the UK and PUSH Industries in the States for Fox shocks. Also checking out Dr. Cannondale in Germany for a number of small parts (bearings and bushes) to recon the frame and swing arm.

Change of heart - Actually going to send the rear shock to Mojo in the UK, just been on their site and have come away well impresessed with the process as described there. Sorry Real.

Judy

My beautiful fiancee. Joy.

Bike Porn #2 1999 Basso Loto

I'm really excited about this Basso. The frame is a 1999 model, bought NOS about a year and a half ago from a chap in the UK which I heard about on a bike forum. I also got my '89 Bottecchia frame from him as well. This's a lugged frame (except the seat stays, which are fillet brazed to the seat tube), made out of custom Dedacciai 18MCDV6 H.T. steel tubes, specially drawn for Basso. 18MCDV6 H.T. is somewhat similar to Reynolds 853 and is now marketed as Dedacciai EOM 16.5 or SAT 14.5, not really sure which. http://www.bringheli.com/dedacciaisteel.html. Course I'll probably get read the riot act by some bike nerd who'll tell me that it's nothing like Reynolds 853....
It's not a light frame by modern standards, however the Loto model was designed by Basso for the slightly porkier rider, i.e. Me, so is a beefy frame. As such, I want to get the finished weight as low as possible, within financial reason.
Anyway, frame & forks as purchased, came still wrapped in the Basso factory wrapping:



I picked up a carbon Dedacciai fork with the correct 1" steerer to replace the original and very heavy Basso steel forks:





Mounted with a Deda stem and Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels (taken from my Trek 1000, only about 200km on them):



FSA Wing bars mounted, along with a fantastic NOS 1" Campagnolo Record Threadless headset and 2009 Campagnolo Centaur Ultrashift brake/gear levers:





FRM CL2 billet aluminium calipers - a work of art and a whopping 100g lighter than Campagnolo Centaur calipers. Wheels currently have Conti Ultra Gator Duraskin tyres which I'll swap out for a set of folding tyres of the same model, saving another 160g weight:





Detail shot of rear of the calipers, showing the milled out sections to lighten the calipers:



Campag Centaur carbon rear derailleur, medium cage:



I bought the medium cage version as I'll be fitting compact cranks. I've picked up a carbon FSA SL-K crankset, which I've had a spot of bother fitting. I dropped the frame into my LBS to get the BB shell prepped, but when I assembled the crankset in to it, the cranks didn't turn smoothly at all. Back to the LBS to rectify, tapping and facing the BB shell again. However when he re-assembled the crankset to the frame he made complete shit of the self extracting crank bold and the spindle o-ring seal for the bearings. That was a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for him to source a replacement o-ring seal, before I can re-assemble myself.
That's all the progress for now, more as I make it. Next up is seat post (been through two already which won't fit, seems like a real odd ball size), fit the crankset, fit all the cables and it'll be nearly finished!

Wicked Sick eBay ad

Big ups to the chap who wrote this ad on eBay. Stylin' bike.

Here's the text of the ad before it expires on eBay:

This is a max wicked sick BMX. It's a Reliance Boomerang and it's done heaps of maximum extreme stunts. I have mostly done stunts on this bike since forever. Once I did a boom gnarly stunt trick on it and a girl got pregnant just by watching my extremeness to the maxxxx. Some details about sickmax BMX: Comes with everything you see including: TOPS AS SUSPENSION REAR FORKS!! 2 x wheels 1 x seat I will even thrown my sick BMXing name for FREE - Wicked Styx. Has minor surface rust on handlebars and front forks (easily removed). More rust on rear forks (as shown in pics). Tyres hold air but are pretty old. Basically, it's an old BMX, but it's radness is still 100% in tact. Tricks I have done on this BMX: Endos - 234. Sick Wheelies - 687. Skids - 143,000. Bunny Hops - 2 (Bunny Hops are gay and my brother dared me to do them, which I did because I'm Rad to the power of Sick). Flipouts - 28. Basically if you buy this bike you will instantly become a member to every club that was ever invented, worldwide, because you will be awesome. Pick up from Richmond in Melbourne. Throw your hands in the air like you just don't mind.

Questions and answers provided by the seller:

Q:
Dudu , thats the sickest description ive read to date . Had me and my family in stitches. If you reconsider postage for this bike im happy to pay you for your time involved as i collect stingray bikes . Been after a chrome boomerang for a while.Let me know if your interested as i would love to max out the skid record. Cheers man .
30-Jan-09
A:
Hello Radster. I suppose I could skid down to the postie and see what it would cost to post. I don't know where you live, but I might just try guessing. is it 64 McDonald Drive in Brisbane?
Q:
dude, does this bike come with contraception because i all ready have 3 kids.this is the best description i have ever read i think you should go into business writing for ebay!!thanks 4 the entertainment,i'm still pissing my self
30-Jan-09
A:
Thanks Sick Guy. It doesn't come with contraception, but I will include a photo of me doing a stunt if you like. It's pretty blurry, but it's still a wicked rad stunt. Let me know.
Q:
How long are the skids that this bike can do?
29-Jan-09
A:
Dear Mad Dog. The skids odometer shows 128,992 metres, but i think it might have gone round the clock. I once did a skid that went for two weeks.

Pure class.

New bike for Haaris

While Haaris tries to track down his replacement BMW bike, if it can't be found or is sitting, locked forever in Pat Keogh's warehouse, here's another BMW bike that Haaris can aspire to. Should be right up his street.

Bike Porn #1 - Ballyhoura Special

Actually this should be titled Bike Porn #5 or 6 even. But I'm doing up a summarised posting for bikes 1 to 5 which isn't finished yet, 'cause I'm lazy and haven't photoshopped the pictures for that post yet. So in the mean time, here's my latest acquisition......

It's a 2003 Cannondale Jekyll frame with rear Fox Float RL (remote lockout) shock. Tasty frame, and from a brand that I've always fancied. I can remember, as a young fella, being fascinated by the Cannondales that used to come through Shannon airport, normally accompanied by yanks, over here on their cycling holiday. Cannondales have always been a healthy step up from the more ubiquitous Treks and Giants which have become so popular in Ireland (case in point....I've got two Treks). This is what the completed article looks like once fully built up.

Need one of Cannondale's unique Lefty front shocks (so named because the shock is only one sided, there's nothing holding the front wheel on on the right hand side - click on the photo above to see what I mean). Some brakes, gears and small parts are needed as well. Then Ballyhoura here I come!!!

Bike Nerd? You better believe it!!

So it's time to out my other little fetish in life, apart from cars and dressing in neoprene rubber that is. Bicycles. I've gone through quite a few over the years, from my first, a metallic green Raleigh Chico, a Raleigh Bomber (realistically the first mountain bike style bicycle available in Ireland), through a Raleigh Equipe racer and then a Raleigh Mirage MTB. Since Raleigh Ireland went down the tubes I've moved to Trek for my follow-on bikes, with a Trek 6500 MTB and a Trek 1000 racer.

The current stable comprises the following:

• What's left of the Raleigh Mirage - not much really....The front wheel & hub, the handlebars & stem. Broke the original purple Mirage frame twice. The first time it was a simple crack around where the rear righthand side dropout is brazed into the chainstay. Simple re-braze and touchup paint. Second time was when the seat stay came away from the seatpost. This time Raleigh, after much cajolling replaced the frame & forks with what you see before you now. Over the time I've had this bike I've changed just about eveything on it bar the front wheel & hub, the handlebars & stem. And the stem is about to be changed to a nice shinny Marin cro-mo item. I even have some NOS Deore DX front and rear derailleurs to go on it to complete the DX themed geartrain along with NOS Deore DX front & rear hubs. Also love the Deore DX brake and shifter combos, so much better than anything at the time or than XT which replaced it (I have a spare set of NOS DX ones in the same cupboard as the other DX bits). I've upgraded the brakes to bling purple anodized Dia Compe 987 cantis. Funny thing is, I bought the Trek 6500 to replace this bike a few years ago, and it's this bike that I still prefer to cycle around on. Go figure. Steel is real!

• The 2006 Trek 6500






• The 2007 Trek 1000 (modified but about to give up all of it's goodies to my current project). I've changed the bars to FSA OS Aero Wing bars, ITM 100mm stem, Specialized Avatar BG saddle, Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheelset and it's got a Polar CS200 HRM mounted.

I've also built a bike or two from parts - a Concorde steel frame & Paganini fork combo (sold immediately after build up) and my current project, which the Trek 1000 is donating it's choicest upgraded parts to, a Basso Loto steel frame with a set of Dedacciai Black Force 2 carbon forks in place of the original steel forks. The next project after that will be building up my 2003 Cannondale Jekyll frame into a complete bike and I might change the Trek 1000 in to a Speed Bike/hybrid with flat bars :o)

Then there's my collection of classic parts - 8 speed Dura Ace groupset parts, 8/7 speed Ultegra groupset parts, misc. Campagnolo parts, mostly NOS, a NOS Bottecchia Corsa frame made from Columbus SL tubing:

A badly rusted Concorde frame, also made with Columbus tubing. The top tube needs to be replaced, but I'm loath to do it as the Concorde name is pressed into the tubing just ahead of where it enters the lug on the seat tube. So I'd obviously loose that feature on this frame by replacing the top tube. Fork crown has been badly taken down with a file to allow crown races to fit, unforetunately it's been taken down so much that the crown race just flops about in it's seat. Now I could get new metal added back to the crown and then have it machined to the correct size when I'm having the top tube replaced, but I might as well be honest with myself - perhaps a hasty burial in the local recycling centre might be more appropriate....