All things 2 wheeled

I love motorcycles, I possibly love them more than push-bikes but haven't owned as many as I've ridden. Bike Boy's little brother recently bought a 2005 CBR1000RR in the Repsol colours and I have had the priveledge of riding said motorcycle a couple of weeks ago. The memory is still fresh in my mind of how magnificent twisting the throttle on a "litre bike" actually is. ZZzzt Zzzzzt and you're going well over the speed limit on the freeway, and I'm not exaggerating. This bike will do 100km/h in first gear, my brother has done it!

My brief tour around Albury/Wodonga gave me enough of a fright turning onto the new section of the Hume they've cut through the region. A really nice place to get lost on a bike to be honest with Bulla and Hotham within spitting distance and some nice roads in between. I spent a brief time just around my brothers place and thoroughly enjoyed myself. These days we're about the same size so thankfully I can borrow his gear.

The Ruby Inheritance

Last month Bike Boy went on a holiday to visit his family. While he was away he got back into the BMX world and rode his cousins bike around town for a bit. Bike Boy learnt that a 20 inch BMX frame probably isn't going to do him any favours and thought he'll stick to SSFG roadies.

So it was with great joy that Bike Boy's Grandfather informed him of a little family heirloom collecting dust in his shed, I give you "The Ruby":



It was my Great-Grandfather's track bike. There's a little cycling heritage in Bike Boy's family and it looks like it started here. He didn't actually own a car, just rode his bike everywhere but this was the one he raced on. I missed the pedals and crank as I was stoked about the detail on the frame more than anything but it was a fixed gear bike with a really weird set-up on the sprokets and chain. Traditional bars with little rubber grips right on the end of the bars (my Grandfather was messing around with it so he's turned them over) and a rear brake only.

Anyway this is now Bike Boy's project for the next little bit so stay tuned for updates on the restoration process. I'd love to convert it and ride modern gear but if you look at the front forks you'll see that there's no way you'd get a brake on them. Besides which, my Grandfather told me it's worth more if you keep the original parts on it so I'll settle with being able to ride it a couple of times then put it away in the shed, or hang it from the ceiling in my flat somehow. I've spoken to one of the local bike shops and they've recommended me to http://shifterbikes.com/ to start with (watch the audio when you do get to the site).

Safe riding.

Urban Scum Poker Hand Run

I love poker runs, but this year was almost a non-event. The Deluxe Bicycle club that ran last years event folded and it was looking like The Cup Day poker run was going to be called off. Luckily some friends of the group pitched in and we all went ahead as planned and assembled the Pedal Monkey krew.

Getting there proved a little tricky this time around as I took us one stop too far and we had to climb a pretty gnarly hill to get to the meeting place at the Darebin parklands. Alphington is definitely the better option. After registration we scored our course map and were on our way just after 11. The route this year was a little shorter but we hit the cobbles on the first section out of the park. It was a good reminder of what we came for.

The day went off without too many dramas, aside from a drop-in straight onto a tree root and a fairly spectacular stack from someone in our group, it was great. Low scoring hands were had by most of us and I don't think anyone in the group got better than a pair. The winning hand was 3 of a kind this year where as the year prior it was Aces full of 3's. Bike boy's hand was pretty miserable but not the worst on the day.