‘Cuz this is definitely worth forgoing a movie and, uh….a little time on the parking meter. Or, you could forgo a movie and a couple of watered-down sodas and a trashbag of stale popcorn and get two tickets…
Nine Frame Builders Collaborate
on Road Bike for NAHBS Raffle
JANUARY 12, 2007 —
Show (NAHBS) is inviting the public to buy a raffle ticket for a
handcrafted bicycle built by a team of nine esteemed frame builders.
The team, which will raise money for the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), includes renowned frame builders
Brian Baylis, Roland Della Santa, Doug Fattic, Bruce Gordon, Tom
Kellogg, Andy Newlands, Mark Nobilette, Richard Sachs and J.P. Weigle.
Selected based on quality, craftsmanship, reputation
and artistic impression, these famous builders will draw on over 290
years of combined experience to create a one-of-a-kind bicycle in the
first collaboration of its kind.
The bicycle, to be custom-fitted and built for the
lucky winner of the raffle, will include a set of Pacenti lugs, a
Columbus tubeset from Nova Cycles, Richard Sachs dropouts, a Campagnolo
Record group and Phil Wood hubs.
The undertaking was organized in honor of Tessa
Walker, daughter of NAHBS founder Don Walker, who contracted juvenile
diabetes when she was five years old. Now 16, she monitors her blood
sugar several times daily.
“I am touched that such a great group of artisans are
contributing their efforts on behalf of the JDRF. Their partnership in
this project to benefit the search for a cure to juvenile diabetes
means a lot to Tessa and me,” said Don Walker, founder of NAHBS.
Raffle tickets are now on sale at the NAHBS Web site for $20 each or $200 for 12.
The drawing will be held at the NAHBS show in San Jose
on March 3 at 4 p.m. The lucky winner need not be present to win, but
raffle participants are encouraged to attend to meet the world-class
builders and get fitted for the frame.
JDRF will receive 100 percent of the proceeds.
More evidence that Californians in general and I specifically are/am weather wimps.
Beth H (above) and Joe B (below) roll through the snow in Portland, while I take photos of frosty roofs.
(Note - this post was actually from a couple days ago. It contains “car” content, and pretty immediately upon posting it, something in the blog database went under the waves, and extensive error messages propogated. I’m hoping that it wasn’t a function of the content. I’m taking the big chance and reposting it. Hopefully if I add a subtitle, the software may allow me to make an auto-related post…)
Hmmm….anyone else hear that?
anyway….
Three of a Perfect Pair
- or -
“Why Cars Suck”
As I’ve mentioned earlier, these things happen in threes…
Had to run a car errand the yesterday (boo!), and popped the brake off to
roll back down to the road. Except, in this instance, it appeared that
someone had flicked off the “GRAVITY” switch in our neighborhood and nothing happened. While I paused to ponder this non-event, the possibilities included (a) a large animal had decided to sleep against the rear bumper of the vehicle, (b) the recent cold weather had frozen the tires to the concrete, (c) me, having not driven in a while, had forgotten something basic, like taking it out of a forward gear and (d) a non-round tire.
The answer was (d) a non-round tire. (Thing #1.)
So, in good iBOB fashion, I put on the “compact” spare with a minimum of fuss and lowered it back down. That tire had slightly more air, but not by much, so I slowly set off in search of a gas station. Cranked the air pressure up to the specified 60#’s, and then brought the other three tires up to spec. The last tire was the other rear. As soon as it was up to 32#’s, it suddenly began morphing into a mutant balloon animal shaped object.
Cognitive dissonance time. My ears wanted me to run away, while my hands were scrambling to grab the valve stem and relieve pressure. The hands won, and luckily moved quickly enough to get the separating sections of the tire back into reasonably proximity with one another.
This photo was snapped while back at minimum driving pressure, and you can see a bit of structural instability near the middle of the tread. (Thing #2) The cold and sun and lack of use had not been good to this tiny automotive tire. But, it
made it through gingerly erranding and then it didn’t im- or ex-plode overnight, and we all (well, me, the car and a bike so I could get where I needed to be - darned reliable, those bicyles…) limped over the hill to the local tire shop, where a suitable and inexpensive set of replacements were agreed upon. The service writer had jumped into the car and moved it a
touch closer while we’d talked. When I turned to go get my bike out of the car and head to work, I asked for my keys back. The SW said he’d left ‘em in the ignition. And there they were. Inside the locked car.
That’d be Thing #3…
While I’m calling the person I’d be meeting a little later than planned, the visibly-sweating-but-now-very-quiet service writer tried to figure out which one of the wrenches knew how to use the slim-jim set they had hidden in the back. I’m actually really trying not to openly laugh - and just to be clear, at the situation rather than the poor guy. The meeting’s not that big a deal, and I’ve worked too many years in retail to start being a retail creech. It really does strike me as funny, too. About 10 minutes later, everything’s opened and I’m riding (yay!) over to work on a crisp, clear morning.