30 October, 2008

Roadsworth

Since 2001 Canadian stencil artist Roadsworth (Peter Gibson) has been using stencils to adapt road graphics, mainly on the streets of Montreal.

It started as a protest against the lack of cycle lanes but gradually became a comment on car culture, oil dependancy and authoritarianism.

North American Footprint
If you’re from Bangladesh your “eco-footprint” is about the size of…a foot. If you’re from North America it looks something like this.



Life Support by Night


Bullets for Oil
Any time you hear a politician utter the phrase “our way of life” replace it with the phrase “access to oil” and things start to make more sense.

28 October, 2008

Deep into the Redline

More bling for the BMX... Back in the day (or BITD as it's known in oldschool circles don'tcha' know) Redline Flight Cranks were the epitome, the crank des nos jours, the most sought after crank you could have. What better than to mate them to a NOS 43 tooth Redline chainwheel.





The sealed bottom end bearings and their caps and washers various are beautifully machined, they have a precision and finish like a microscope or a very expensive camera lens, no wonder they were so expensive BITD (the price is pretty bloody salty still today). The twin-pinch cranks have a chrome finish so deep you could drown in it and have a weighty heft to them that you feel could be well employed to stun an intruder. Unlike the aluminium chainwheel which feels like it would float away if it wasn't tied down.

18 October, 2008

slow burner

16 October, 2008

bring out the gimp

In a cunning ruse to ensure that it doesn't rain on my first motorcycle trackday I've borrowed a waterproof oversuit to go over my leathers. The good news is that with the oh so popular high-hipped tailoring around the gusset I'll be sorted for an impromptu visit to a fetish club too.

04 October, 2008

fle fle fle Reflex...

More trinkets for the BMX arrive, harumble!

a New Old Stock (or NOS as its know in oldschool BMX circles) Elina saddle on a layback post still in the original wrapper! It does feel a little odd unpacking it after all these years - my inner geek collector rails against breaking the original packaging and tarnishing its exclusivity but this bike is for riding dammit...


The rest of the work on the bike this week has involved mostly elbow grease. Even though I intend to have a set of Skyway Tuff 2 Mags on the bike I decided to restore the existing wheels so I can have my main set with a coaster brake for freestyle, and keep the original set up with a freewheel for on the track.

Unfortunately they have suffered the indignity of brush-painted white enamel, so out comes the Nitromors


It does occur to me during the long, fume-filled process that I could get a set of new Mags for buttons, but there is something satisfying about reclaiming the old fellas, recycling yeah?

Out come the old axles and bearings - the axles have seen better days and I'll replace them with new - but the ball bearings can get re-packed with some nice modern grease - this stuff is dried out and useless.


Into the sink to remove any last traces of grease, you'll be pleased to see my sink boasts eco-friendly detergents alongside Tequila, Canadian Club, Angostura Bitters and Helmet & Visor cleaner - every situation covered.