This blog is dedicated to both kinds of bikes and the people who ride, repair, and tune them. Whether you think of bicycles and motorcycles as peanut butter & jelly or cats and dogs, both machines create the same kind of supernatural mobility.
Pick a direction, lean, and turn. Tuck into the wind and accelerate. Smell the air. Bikes are a bridge between the human mind’s “will to move” and the physical world, and anyone who has dragged a knee in a corner, shifted into the big-ring in a tail wind, or found the perfect climbing rhythm knows the magic I’m talking about.
The phrase “mechanical husbandry” was something that occurred to me when I was making a living with a bike, like the “animal husbands” that eat, sleep and work all day in the mountains with their herd of goats. Bike messenger, bike mechanic, mountain bike tour guide, motorcycle courier, and motorcycle tuner were all jobs that paid very little but allowed me to live in a close proximity to these miraculous, dirty machines.
Now I’m in law school and no longer depend on the bike to pay the bills. Although my posts will probably be less interesting, hopefully my writing improves. To anyone who has read a post, made a comment, or sent me a pdf file of a rare KTM repair manual (thanks again, Zoran), I’m grateful. See you on the road, and I hope your chain stays clean.
i like it. i agree with it. i’m glad that i found it. i look forward to more. i forgot how funny you are.
give yourself more credit. one can probably get a better perspective of things going on from a motor messenger than from the so-called experts. if someone has to be an expert to understand the writings of these elite professionals, they’re not doing their jobs. rational layman’s terms win every time.
Well, after seeing your blog, I still think you’re a jerk! (Ha Ha) It adds a new dimension to the personality that am just coming to know. Good work, good luck, and looking forward to riding together in the future.
Ron T.
Good to see you’re out there thinkin’ Forest, I agree with Steve however, give yourself some more credit. All us dirtbag messengers (or former messengers turned “writers”) see the world from a level that many only could dream of. Good to hear your kickin’ ass!
Hoping to hear more my man – keep it up!
Hey I’d like to subscribe by e-mail but don’t see the link for that anywhere (or maybe I’m not looking at the right place). Can you please direct me?
Hello,
I think I had that subscribe button turned off, I just reactivated it. Thanks for reading!
I was looking at your photos of the CL175 engine. I have a ’71 and was doing a little work on it. Where did you get the helicoil, or whichever type of thread repair insert it is, that you put in one side of the cylinder heads?
Hi Patrick, thanks for reading. I usually get helicoils at a local “bits and fasteners” shop called Tacoma Screw. I imagine Grainger would also have quite a few sizes and selections. Have fun with your CL!
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Hey – I stumbled across this while reminiscing about my old Bicycle Messenger days in Seattle (before your time – I think) I have all the back issues for Volume 1 of the Iron Lung if you’d like them.
Molly
Hey – I stumbled across this while reminiscing about my old Bicycle Messenger days in Seattle (before your time – I think) I have all the back issues for Volume 1 of the Iron Lung if you\’d like them.
Molly
Holy mackerel, email sent!