Maybe I am crazy, but I am thinking of putting a Mustang 5.0 in Faye Valentine. For real. She needs an engine rebuild anyway (rather desperately), and I am not one to rebuild any motor back to stock specs. The Ford V8 would fit, just barely, is nearly as light as the B18 (with aluminum heads), and is very cheap to put together with a lot of HP. If I go this route I face a lot of fabrication to make everything work, plus flack from classic Volvo purists, but in the end mine would be the glory. And for most people, I would be the owner of the fastest Volvo they would encounter in their entire lives. So of course, those being the stakes, I simply have no choice...

Project XII

The Old Green Bike is once again taking me to and from work. Note sexy gold chain, single speed freewheel and leatherish grips. Very SE Portland.

The other changes (new front wheel, "new" fork, and fenders), though somewhat less glamorous, are almost as important as looking good. Oddly enough, they cost more too.

hey look! another bicycle!!

The newest member of the Imperfect'd stable: a 70's French Motobecane road bike, which clearly saw yeoman commuter duty in its past.  I stripped off pounds of reflectors, the unnecessary rear brake, brake lever extensions and other such nonsense.  Now she's ready for training duty as I try to get myself in shape for the Solvang Century in March...

Here's a few photos....(pay no attention to the background, yes projects take center stage in the apartment. 

 By the way, I ought here to put in a plug for the Park Tool PCS-9 stand, $79.99 from Amazon.  It's not overly sturdy and won't hold the bike from moving if you're really torquing down, but it's fabulous for adjusting derailleurs, general tinkering, and bike storage.  You can position the machine anywhere you want it at virtually any angle making maintenance a snap.)

(And I really have no idea how to format a page using blogger, so forgive the messy image layout)

Used Car Math

Used Car Math - by Scott Hart
Originally printed September 1993

...

As the price of new cars and insurance continues to climb, we’ve noticed a trend toward restoring and maintaining versus replacing. A new Volvo 240 will sell for $23,000 to $25,000 while late ‘70s and early ‘80s 240s can be had for $1800 to $2500. We recommend ‘78-82 models with Bosch K-jectronic fuel injection and Bosch ignition. Depending on the condition of the car you start with, you can invest $1500 to $3000 and restore it to a nice, safe and reliable car. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how affordable and easy it is to regain that new car feel.

Avoid all 6-cylinder models, the diesel, ‘82 through ‘84 4-cylinder models with Bosch LH fuel injection (air mass meter and idling problems) and all models with Chrysler ignition systems. Don’t panic if you own one of the models; just be aware that they may be more expensive to operate and maintain...

http://www.ipdusa.com/nl-26-194

Blue 3-Speed

After two years of living on two (powered) wheels, I'm beginning to see why people don't do this.

It's impractical. It involves a lot of mental and physical acrobatics to carry anything, to stay warm, to defend oneself from weather and from hurtling 4,000 lb mech weapons trying to kill you.

And it's not really, well, that much cheaper. I feel like a traitor to the cause when I tell people that for transportation they are better off buying a $1000 beater Escort rather than a $700 beater CB450. But it's true. For MOST people, motorcycles are and will be a pain in the butt. You're always buying tires or chain or a valve adjustment or repairing damage from tipovers, or something, and if you're not buying the labor, you're spending every living minute doing it yourself. And you have to own at least two , so that when one is broken you can still get about.

So it's not practical, but somehow, as long as I live where I can ride most of the year, I could never be without a motorcycle. I think the chief advantage of motorcycling is not practical but psychological. Riding is, for one thing, a means to evaporate all stress and problems right out into the wind after a hard day of running and cursing. But on the other hand, It's using Only as Much as You Need, rather than the wretched excess of four seats and a big trunk and a steel frame, to get yourself from here to there. It can be a work of simplistic art, a representation of ingenuity and willingness to think outside the box. And this last is very important. There are artists who represent impressions of sense experiences, and there are artists who represent impressions of the machinations of the mechanical muse...and motorcycles and bicycles are most uniquely positioned to be the canvas for such art.

So yeah I could use a car (especially now that the Rains are coming!) but could never sell the Motorcycle to get one....

Ride a Fixed Gear, Go To Jail.

This guy seems pretty cool:

he's a state senator in Oregon advocating for no brakes on fixies and "stop-signs-as-yields" for bikes.

Right on! I don't know about any of his other policies, but...

Back to Bikes

These are the two main bikes in our fleet. They've been road-worthy for a while now.

Modifications have proceeded slowly, piece by piece, with the goal being having the thing ridable every day. It's a whole 'nother world when your bicycle is your PRIMARY means of transit.


My utility bike is a 70's something low-end step-through with 27" wheels... Crappy pedals, threaded fork, yada yada...



My additions of course have been the 26" wheel, rear-axle mount kickstand (which desperately needs some modifications to make it more *reliable*:



The new "man-friendly" seat I added (Says: "$5, yay" on the bottom):



The rack, on which I am thinking about (re-)building a (reclaimed ancient) wooden crate:



The bracket for the bobike mini:



My new, crappy-ass shifters:





Today I finally got around to repacking the bearings in the front wheel -- though it still needs a proper truing. I'm going to try to find a used tru-stand somewheres, and get cracking.

I also switched the brake levers around to Right Hand Rear Brake / Left Hand Front Brake.

At long last, I have something to post concerning my beloved old Volvos! Today I bought a set of awesome 10-spoke Sirius wheels, something I have wanted for my 142 for months and months. I found them at a little dive of a repair shop off of HWY150 near my house while riding my bike this morning, and the price was right. For a more complete story, check out 140 Bricks. I'll post pictures when I have cleaned them up and put them on the car, which is finally licensed again.