Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A Blog Is Born

 E-Mails and Telephones
The phone rings about sixteen times.  She always takes a long time to answer.  I’m used to it though.  At least she always answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Blondie!  Guess what?  That guy Roadie Ryan out in Seattle is sending me some bicycle stuff!  I just got an email.  Pretty cool, huh?”

“Didn’t he send you some stuff before?”

“Yeah, a bottom bracket and the tool but it didn’t fit.”

“Is he the one I had to go get a box and pack that lamp…”

‘Hey!  The lamp!  I forgot about the lamp.” 

“What’s he sending?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why is he sending it?  Did you write about something you needed or…”

“I don’t think so.  He says he had a vision or something that I was gonna get an old ten speed to fix up and sell, so he was sending me a starter kit.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah.  What happened to that roast venison you were bringing over?  I’m hungry.”

“Soon, Honey, soon.”

Ryan
Long-time readers may remember Ryan once wrote a Guest Post about a coffee run of sorts on one of his Seattle rides.  At the time I knew that he fooled around with old ten speeds,  but I had no idea how MUCH he fooled around with old ten speeds.  His work has frequently appeared over at Cameron’s Old Ten Speed Gallery (currently on hiatus, but still worth a visit.)  As all of you who have not been just skimming my stuff for the funny parts already know, I Like Old Steel Bikes and Ryan does too. 

A Blog Is Born
He likes them so much that he has succumbed to the dangerous vice of writing about them.  It was what I had planned on doing when I started this booger, but, well,  let’s just say the TPC evolved in a different direction.  Not Ryan, though.  His new Blog “Ryan’s Rebuilds” is the straight stuff about his many project bikes and the trials and tribulations of the world of the Vintage Bicycle Refurbisher.  That’s what he calls it and I am envious of his having coined a new name for a new trade doing good things with old stuff.

Here There Be Monsters
So I waited and waited in actual fear for this box of joy to arrive, afraid that one of the Whispering Pines Zombies would get to it before me;  plus I have never quite gotten over that thing from my childhood with the cereal box tops and the Woody Woodpecker hat.
As always with our transactions, e-mail took over:


me,Ryan:
Hey Ryan!  Should I have received a package by now, or was it all a dream?  I didn't want you to think it came in and I failed to say thank you.

ryan,Me:
It shipped a few days ago so I don't think you've missed out


me,Ryan
I’m just worried about the zombies.  There are zombies here.

ryan,Me:
We have them here in seattle, too, except here they’re called hipsters

 Then, the Next Day:
me,Ryan:
I got it, man!  Thanks so much!  Your generosity is overwhelming.  Now I gotta find a steed worthy of the new gear.  In the spirit of your action and thoughtfulness, the bike that will one day wear these parts will purposely be selected to NOT be a bike for myself.  It will be a refurb that will be a gift.  I'll find somebody to give the bike to...already I am envisioning a step-through...I can see it. 

 I can see some grateful college coed-type, her breasts trembling with gratitude as the tears of joy roll down her face, wetting the light cotton t-shirt...wait..ok, maybe I got carried away.  But you get the idea.

I gotta stew the free bike idea over...it sounds good, though doesn't it?  We will call it Ryan's Rides of Freedom...or, The Ryan Surface Foundation National Campus Bicycle Crusade...I'm open to ideas, here...but I've been out of booger material for a couple days, even though I have been getting in some twenty and thirty mile rides...so this will be the next post, definitely...

Is there any way you can e-mail me a picture of that lamp?  I want to show the world how my generosity compares to yours.  Actually, I really liked that lamp.  It would be really cool if every time you turned it on it played "Margaritaville..."
Thanks, Brother!

ryan,Me:
Hey glad the package finally arrived Tim Joe, and you are very welome.  Your description of the grateful coed made me laugh.

My initial thought was this might prime the pump for a little side, beer and pizza money, business for you of fixing up bikes to sell at a reasonable price and then once that was up and running you could "pay it forward" in some way, what was that you said in your post about small groups helping each other?  Coeds who pay for their very cool fixed up retro bikes are grateful too...

But of course your idea of making it a gift is a generous and thoughtful way to go.  On the third hand if a bike that fits you perfectly for the perfect price in the perfect color (Florida Sunshine Orange say) should cross your path then call it fate and build that sucker up for your own-self! 

 If you do donate the ride how about Timjoes Innovative Transport Systems?

Picture of very cool lamp attached.
Tailwinds Brother




Pro Starter Kit
So that’s it.  I got my box, carefully opened it and there it was: the perfect Refurbisher’s Starter Kit.  A pair of  27 inch Kenda gumwall tires,  new Jagwire Basic brake and shifter cables, a chain, some really nice cork bar tape that just screams out for an aged Brooks saddle, some tubes and rim strips and a full set of Crane Grey Matter brake shoes.  The inclusion of the rim strips, while the least dollar value of the starter kit, showed the most thought and care taken with this package.  More than once a wheel rebuild has been stalled because I forgot the rim strips.  This is the stuff.  Now I gotta find a new project bike.

That’s all for now, folks!  Drop by Ryan’s new site, say hello, but as always, keep coming by the Park!

yer pal,

tj
All Ryan Got Was This Lamp


Whispering Pines Trailer Park and House of Refurbishment
#103













12 comments:

  1. I like Ryan's idea of the reasonably-priced refurbished bike business, but if you decide against that, I'd definitely go with Ryan's name for the bike donation organization. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your description of the coed, TJ, had me smiling dude! And I agree with Sara on the name.

    BTW, that lamp is so me! I've got to find one.

    Good pavement, bro!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some fool left it behind when he moved out of a trailer in the middle of the night. Some people don't appreciate fine art.

      tj

      Delete
  3. "Coeds with trembling breasts." I spent 4 and 1/2 years of college searching for that holy grail!!
    And Ryan's name for your organization made me laugh right here in my office.
    I really like the re-furbish bike process. I am not sure I would have the discipline to go out to my garage everyday to make a business of it. Plus I am not that good of a bike mechanic!
    I have been inspired by the sites like OTSG and Hugh's and now Ryan's. It is a building thing, I started with the Univega for myself and now have two rebuilds that I need to start, one for my daughter and one for one of my yard guys. Plus , blogs to write about them. I am a bit time poor this time of the year with Basketball season going full swing. March is on the dockett for bike rebuilds, plus it will be warmer in my garage! It is a noble thing to rebuild an old bike to make it useful for somebody else. Good luck with finding the good rebuild out there TJ!!
    Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jim! The most fun part of the rebuild project for me was shopping online at night until I couldn't hold my head up.

      Focus on the team there's plenty of time for other stuff after the season. I'll be by your site in a minute. That ice-patch- dodging looked pretty scary on your post yesterday.

      tj

      Delete
  4. Thanks for the great plug Brother! hope you find a steed to work on soon looking forward to hearing about it. My selfish reason for sending the starter kit was to generate more posts on the TPC to read ;-)

    For some reason that lamp makes me really thirst for Margaritas.

    RR

    PS another side biz could be Tim Joes venison jerky in special bbq sauce. I would be happy to be a tester.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew a guy whose Dad got in the jerky business after he retired and did pretty good. He set up kiosks in malls around the Tampa area.

      I gotta tell ya...that is an idea I could get serious about...the problem I ran into with the sauce company was shipping expenses. I was letting you guys have it at shipping costs. It cost quite a bit to make, and our home-canning method wasn't gonna fly with the mass market. I had some pro's lined up and our first batch of several sample cases with FDA stickers and nutrition/calorie labels was gonna take a $3000 to produce. Costs dropped dramatically after that but Uncle Bill lost interest when he got his new girlfriend and I ain't gonna say where that $3000 went.

      But I was listening to a radio commercial for Firehouse Subs and they were bragging about their barbecue sub having Sweet Baby Ray sauce on it. Are you kidding me? That ain't even sauce! They make that crap with old oil out of Greyhound Buses.

      My sauce is the real deal, born in the Swamp, cooked by retired moonshiners (pretty much retired, anyway)and capable of making an old flip-flop worthy of any table in Creation.

      Hold on, I gotta write that down. That there is some awesome back label copy.

      So any way, I'll look into this jerky thing and if I make a million dollars off of it you can have a cut. If you can find me. The Pacific Ocean is a big place.

      tj

      Delete
  5. That lamp looks thirsty.
    Stay salty, my friend.
    Zig

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do I even have a choice? I wish I had a bunch of those lamps. I would send one to everybody I know. Now that I'm going to be a rich beef jerky manufacturer I'll probably have a lot of friends, so I'll need a lot of lamps. It never ends, does it...

      tj

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. deleted due to incompetence with key board buttons. But I bought the keyboard at Walmart so maybe I can blame them.
      tj

      Delete