Alt Bike Culture - Tempest--The Grey Bike Grows Up

Good/bad news, minor.

I was puting a heavy computer monitor down and got too close to the Vetter windshield...Good news is that I figured out the windhild would've broke if the bike simply fell over...back to the drawing board.

I would say don't let the bike fall over...however at the pool yesterday I did not use kickstand but leaned my bike (Linear) against a short wall and the wind blew it over. Down kickstand.

I would say don't let the bike fall over...however at the pool yesterday I did not use kickstand but leaned my bike (Linear) against a short wall and the wind blew it over. Down kickstand.

The windshield was already cracked near the bottom and it seems to have been the natural progression for it. A lesson learned.

Medium sized update: Nate the LBS guy (who I didn't realize used to deliver Domino's to the the clinic's holiday and Monday Night Football groups) says he has the primer back on and is getting the dents out of the fenders and he says he is still looking for the right paint shades and told me I need to get naval jelly if I hoped to work on the rusty old fenders for my Schwinn's lights. I told him I had the CD player ready, needed 4 "40" lamps to finish the receiver and after new grille cloth and setting the phonograph up the system I as trading for his wowo would be ready to move but I have no JELLY MONEY :D until sammy slips shekels, sadly.

Passed the inspection, home for another year and only a minimal increase in rent ($5).

Got my gear 2/3 hooked to watch laserdiscs with 4 channels of stereo front and center. Watched Roy Orbison A Black And White Night and Xanadu and XANADU was WAY nicer sounding that at the old movie theater I first saw it in back in 1980 :) I celebrated by having the last 2/$7.99 t-bone off the BBQ and some small microwaved taters with fresh squeezed limeade FOR BREAKFAST...and hit the sack till 5PM that Thursday. Enough long nights for a few days. I wanted my gear running.

Living still, but trying to live more moving than still.

And now here's Frank in the Action 3 Weathercenter with the Pinpoint 10 day forecast and YOUR 3 degree GUARANTEE!...

Just a note to let you know I haven't dropped anything concerning Tempest or Germaine's upgrades...

Nate the LBS assistant has it down to primer again and is searching for better, NON-ENGINE ENAMEL paints that are as close to the original scheme as possible. He is also trying to de-rust two of the other fenders for the Schwinn and got all the Bondo off the Rollfast's fenders so he could take care of all the the dings. It's coming up on Monday and it's bill paying time and I have a lot to pay for, one of which will be some new OEM Paul Frank NIRVE blackwalls (not the flamey kind but like the regular ones on the John Deere bike and others) got Germaine, much needed after over 13 years on the original pair.

Speaking of OEM being replaced, the original left pedal came off the shaft yesterday and I'm going to take both the solid BMX style pedals and the dual kickstand and transfer them to the Schwinn, the kickstand for a while while I work to get a second one. Not bad for the original parts, 13 years is decent.

I still haven't found the chain guard nor the Columbia tank and have to wonder as I still haven't seen them. I could swear I never got them back but the last guy that had it says he never found them...

Where do I find a serial number for my Rollfast to try and date and better ID it? The tank isn't hard as a Western Flyer model should do fine as a replacement. The chainguard isn't as easy as the decal I got is just the right size and fits the two-tone paintjob too. So far I have not seen one like it online yet although I haven't really looked a lot. I expect I'll buy it from Memory Lane Classics but I would surely appreciate any help I can get from our Bike Forums experts :thumb:

Germaine will get a handmade tank soon and I talked to Gary about getting a template made to fashion the two halves from my sheet metal.

eBay is going to go Paypal only in October and that means I have precious little time as there simply is now way I will ever get an MC Visa or threaten the bank account that holds my checks as I'll lose the 1 cent minimum balance and the current is I think $100 which won't let me even pay bills well (or EAT). I don't like the way sellers are being treated either and some are good friends and also my life's blood for parts and gear...useless soon and probably the end of eBay if they don't get it together and quit trying to be Amazon.com.

Rant off but it means little parts progress and not many places left to go. I'll have more money when winter exits and I don't have heating bills left but it's a bummer.

Stay tuned or whatever you do with an Internet anyway and I'll keep poking my keyboard and posting pictures when they happen.

I am staying tuned, and am, as always, enjoying the updates. Hang in there!

East Hill

I let a post I was making sit a long time, finished it and logged it when asked of course then the server told me to go back as I was already logged in and re....whatever. I gave up posting a reply so if this works I'll be surprised.

I let a post I was making sit a long time, finished it and logged it when asked of course then the server told me to go back as I was already logged in and re....whatever. I gave up posting a reply so if this works I'll be surprised.

Tricked you, eh?

East Hill

Near the end of the month update thing and compendium etcetera

I'm in a three way stretch right now. I have to finish a lot of stereo gear, buy parts, try to get finished to a basic point with bike AND winterize/clean the house and yard.

Okay FOUR. Where the bike project hasn't factored in I fixed and updated a friend's 2 computers, I'm trying to transfer another to a new case with the front panel jacks and such too and build two more plus I've got three turntable in stages to nearly done and my Altec 12" woofer for the other Stonehenge I speaker came back from reconing while the grille came last week...after 4 years now I can finally finish them.

BIKE STUFF...I still have a new pair of tires, a liner left to get and some BMX pedals and a forked kick stand to go for now. I have to be very creative and today, on cue the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Fall is here.

BIKE STUFF...I still have a new pair of tires, a liner left to get and some BMX pedals and a forked kick stand to go for now. I have to be very creative and today, on cue the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Fall is here.


Felt like summer, here.

Glad to hear that you are slowly but surely getting the bike back to being roadworthy :) .

East Hill

Felt like summer, here.

Glad to hear that you are slowly but surely getting the bike back to being roadworthy :) .

East Hill

It is FALL now, the heater has kicked on a few times as this windowed corner got chilly. The flies didn't like the weather one bit as everyone got a bunch of them recently. Not being much of a swatter lately, I bought a can of RAID and used some controlled firepower and now they aren't happy. Could've used the Mr. Squishy outfit though.

I delivered the Pioneer receiver and CD player to Nate, the LBS assistant doing the paint. He said he was going into Boise when he had the chance as the paint around here isn't nearly as close to what he knows I'd like. Unfortunately for me two possible sales I had hoped to make did not get made and I'm scrambling to find a good price for the Pioneer SX-939 I finished up on a rush basis but the guy's son didn't want it. If I didn't need to finish paying the phone/DSL bill I would've let it sit as I had 999.99 other things that I needed urgently to finish and I have a beaten up spare that will definitely work as an amp once I can replace the volume control. I just had an SX-770 blow an electrolytic capacitor in the output stage I was about to give away as a gift and now I must fix it.

I am glad I got help putting plastic on the window LAST weekend...it is cold and maybe only good for keeping the tapwater nicely chilled.

PS I have NINE laserdisc titles coming and my folks gave me their old Panasonic 25" stereo television so I will set back some and watch some really nice shows, such as:

WOODSTOCK The Director's Cut 3 disc widescreen 225 minutes and stuff you didn't see before, of course!

A disc on how to optimize my audio/video setup called A Video Standard

Elton John World Tour 1992

David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour

Tommy (the Movie) 1975 Elton John, Roger Daltry and The Who, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson and a cast of loonies all told what to do by the English madmen par excellence, Ken Russell...smashing!

The Planets featuring the music of Isao Tomita (I love his Firebird Suite)!

Fleetwood Mac in a very rare Discovision (MCA) disc featuring live performances and Mick Fleetwood, I think John McVie at the board demonstrating how songs were created by pulling down tracks and adding them...possibly the first time I'd seen that done and a VERY late seventies or early eighties program that I believe may have aired on PBS as a pledge week special...PBS has been WONDERFUL that way for years.

The Jazz Singer--Neil Diamond acts! He sings! He becomes a star (already was)! He tries to please his disappointed father who wished him to be a Rabbi! He creates one of the best soundtrack albums of the 1980s! A crowd pleaser that may have slipped your mind, Neil Diamond IS...The JAZZ SINGER! PG Suitable for all ages.

And finally...Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts...a monumental video that made him More Than Just Another Monkee! Yielded a hit single and it's very rare also, probably rarer than the Fleetwood Mac disc.

Windy, it has been. Tired as a torn kite, would I soon be. Snow, it did, um-hmm, Boise the place. Creak, my house has done. Eerie, the sound...Yoda, your friend.

Love the old LD titles; I've got Nightmare Before Christmas, Fantasia, The Hunt For Red October, Jurassic Park, The Dark Crystal, and about 15 other titles; the LD player is still hooked up, too!

I haven't heard the word 'Laserdiscs' in ages...Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts sounds interesting.

East Hill

I haven't heard the word 'Laserdiscs' in ages...Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts sounds interesting.

East Hill

Hilarious.

Germaine got stolen last night.

My fault though. I've been so exhausted and sick I forgot I left it unchained Thursday night, got out there agin Friday night and saw it unchained, was going to get back to it. No I get lost in other things and went back after 5 am..

Same cold night, same fall, same time, same sitting less than 15 feet from the hitching post working on this thing.

Call the police, call mom. Not going anywhere anyway, back is messy.

Someone gets a Christmas present I guess. Probably the same one.

Bedtime now.

There's a special ring in Hell reserved for bike thieves... I believe it involves 45% uphill grades, broken glass, fixies, and flaming turds doused in diesel fuel.

I want the PPV rights.

Don't forget the mean bike chasing dogs and myopic SUV drivers busy with texting their friends.

That is a seriously rotten thing to have happen to you Rollfast. I shall offer up prayers for you and Germaine's safe return.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa276/Sianelleofavelorn/nunrosary.gif

Don't forget the mean bike chasing dogs and myopic SUV drivers busy with texting their friends.

That is a seriously rotten thing to have happen to you Rollfast. I shall offer up prayers for you and Germaine's safe return.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa276/Sianelleofavelorn/nunrosary.gif

Good catch, Sister!

Add: In 130 degree temps @ 95% humidity, while wearing fiberglass shorts & avoiding 12 lanes of senior citizens in '68 Caddies.
Add also: Saddlebags full of raw meat. And the Home for Misanthropic Rottweilers.

AND angry, drunk hillbillies in big red trucks, throwing glass bottles

Don't forget the mean bike chasing dogs and myopic SUV drivers busy with texting their friends.

That is a seriously rotten thing to have happen to you Rollfast. I shall offer up prayers for you and Germaine's safe return.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa276/Sianelleofavelorn/nunrosary.gif

They busted an 18 year old guy in Caldwell or Canyon County, can't recall but in Idaho who had a streak going there and in Malheur County and I could hope they find or link to it...it was a stolen cars and property and he got chased and caught after being spotted in a stolen car.

Still I've been trying to contact a guy in Boise about a Zep frame to build up but it occured to me that he doesn't like me for some reason and blocked me on eBay...oh well...so the choices are boiling down to Schwinn DX with most of the parts (can't afford with shipping) and one new cantilevered Schwinn like frame and a Spitfire I think is 26" but cannot fully tell in the pictures. I'm serious and I have a shed and the stereo and TV stuff is getting placed in here or getting fixed/adopted etc.

Curious, Sianelle...is the surfing any good down there yet or is the weather not ready yet? I would hope my friend Ben is out officiating field hockey around Wellington or Ian in St. Kilda/Melbourne can get to Surfer's Paradise and not shred himself silly on a reef this year...

Oh yeah...I rarely have dog troubles here. Not only do I chat them up nicely but they seem to know me and often stop barking when I speak. I notice when any locals aren't out or around. I haven't found one lately genuinely mad, in fact they all seem jealous of bikes and I can't afford to build them a recumbant. No good sidecars around this town! I'm always of the opinion most dogs are either confused or do want to say hello and the most of the others can be chastised to feel ashamed and go back to the yard.

Wish it were that simple everywhere. I might be a little naive or nuts but I simply like dogs and cats and I also want them out of harm's way in the street. If you can't get one, make friends with the others. Stand down the rest, it breaks whatever tension they created and turns it back to them.

It's gonna be -4 or -5C here tonight (20F maybe) and only hit maybe 58-59F while Boise gets 64-66F which means the natural temperature inversion is flipping.

Thank you ALL for your support and fury and passion.

AND angry, drunk hillbillies in big red trucks, throwing glass bottles

I'm pretty sure Treasure Valley rednecks don't have red trucks but they drink Keystone Light before Labor Day and their shoes clash.

And finally...Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts...a monumental video that made him More Than Just Another Monkee! Yielded a hit single and it's very rare also, probably rarer than the Fleetwood Mac disc.
"Her name was Rodan. And she lived in the oce-an, off Ja-paaaaaaa-aa-aaaaaannnn!!!":D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodan

"Her name was Rodan. And she lived in the oce-an, off Ja-paaaaaaa-aa-aaaaaannnn!!!":D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodan
PS. Did y'all know it was the winner of the first Video Grammy Award?
http://www.monkees.net/nez/jpg/elparts.gif

I remember hearing stuff about the awards it got but I was only 15, cable was just going in around our town, I recall watching Friday the 13th on The Movie Channel(?) and early HBO but MTV wasn't available on that system until at least 1986-87 so I missed a lot of stuff unless I rode across the bridge from Ontario to Fruitland, which I did to see LIVE AID. Ten years after (great name for a band by the way) it was just about over with and I had to say goodbye to Nashville Now! and Crook and Chase too when the Viacom Borg (Sumner Redstone) scrambled all his eggs.

To paraphrase The Dukes Of Hazzard, "COOT COOT COOT!"

PS I saw a lot of it on USA's "Night Flight". They didn't seem to care about clearances and put anything they liked on then.

Does anybody know offhand if a 30's Zep frame uses the same general sizes as a postwar Rollfast model? The frame is $70 and I can get at least the frame, have a seat post I think and I can go from there...

GREAT NEWS!

No, not the return of my Schwinn but I won a new chain guard, NOS WALD even! $9.99 and shipping...

One of my 1st cars was a Tempest. Probably late 60s early 70s. 6 cyl. overhead cam. Had a leak on the intake and used to whistle very loudly.:lol:

Can't wait to see the bike all done.

I bought a new bare 26" cruiser frame too, scratch and dent special, 53.40 total. Need a fork, stem, bars, crank, no seat as I bought a a Persons in pretty decent condition for $4.95/shipping, changuard for it, chain, rims, tires...

HEY! Genghis Khan had to start with pebbles before moving to swords and gunpowder or something...

My seat and the FRAME will be here in a few days! I should have the other speaker and the phonograph set up and ready tomorrow and they are the final parts of the system I traded for Tempest's paint.

I'd like to get out and rolling before it snows, I think.

Frame and Persons saddle, if I didn't post them already...

The Persons seat is here already and I'm surprised at how FIRM it feels! It's really a darker red not like the Meisinger I had on Tempest to begin with. The cover is is really good shape on the business side except for the two holes at the back corners, but those aren't all that bad either. The springs areattached at the top and then there is a cradle beneath them. Straightforward and they won't try to drop through. I think I could actually change out the springs and figure out something like a strut or an insert if I worked at it and actually needed to.

I am waiting for the new frame as I type!

The frame arrived safely and I took it to the LBS today to show Chris. He told me that there was a chance a customer would not be paying a bill and that he would claim a 70s or 80s Murray cruiser and it would cost under $130. to be fair, he called the customer one more time and they did say they would come down. If they do pay I still have all the parts ready there to build either way. If I bought it I could ride it a while then transfer the parts and save the frame. One of our members I talked to looking for parts didn't have much for a cruiser but gave me a neat pair of green glitter grips--that would be pastorbobnlnh and thank you, my bike will proudly wear them!

Lady is still stalling...not my real concern. A big concern is that my Infolithium 7.2V cell for my Sony Mavica MVC-FD73 is dying on me (It's NINE YEARS OLD amd original, after all, a pretty good run) and it's $59. I may have to go back to my stupid HP Photosmart for a while and it hates EVERYTHING (even Mikey). I have primer, dark blue metallic flake and hopefully white soon but no clearcoat on me today (it got SPENDY)! So if I can keep it above 45 to 50 I know how to handle that much and NO ENGINE PAINT this time! I have to have it ready for parts and time is running out on an already above average temperature fall.

I squeezed some life from the battery for my Sony camera and here's a shot for now of the new frame primered maybe 98% (I could lift from the head tube and tilt the frame a good bit, surprised that I didn't think of it the first time.

More later and if the temps hold out the blue will be applied tomorrow,

It did not stick as well to the bare frame as I hoped. It dripped off some underneath. I'll have to work on it again tomorrow.

I have a concern, and I haven't been able to shake it off.

I am not convinced this is a 26" frame.

It's just got too many weird things when I look at it and today I set one of Tempest's wheels up to the back. It looks weird. When I get the feeble battery charged and back in the Mavica I will show you.

The LBS is closed on Mondays in the winter. I already bought a complete set of Wald headtube bearings and races for $15. Not a killa and would likely need them. Had a pair of prewar Torrington handlebars in my sights. The seller I'm talking to is a longtime fixture and I knew and have trusted him a long time. I will finish the paint in case it's not right and somebody can buy it. This has really gotten to be old. I just want to ride.

Okay, it's finally figured out...

It's a LOWRIDER frame.

Well, the paint cans kept clogging for no good reason anyhow and I'll be getting a refund of those. In the meantime the seller said he'd contact his supplier and see if he could find a conventional frame (you can go ahead and blame me for not asking). The LBS owner is going home to the next town for Thanksgiving and will see if Tempest is done also. Some how, something will get finished.

If I had just asked mom and dad and we knew what was coming I would've hoped to get help winning a48-50 Rollfast DeLuxe without wheels or a full restored postwar springer in maroon and white for about 140-150 with shipping. The DeLuxe had the tank!

Mom bought a rusty bike for 10 bucks in Hermiston while at my sister's for the holiday...I have to wait, surprise. Still waiting for Tempest. Sold the lowrider frame PDQ to my neighbor, only lost $35 in the long run. Sold a B&O Beogram I was given to a guy in the stereo groups I'm in who actually was a Bang and Olufsen dealer and had the model sitting around, hope it does the trick and I think he'll pass the leftovers to others. +1 but I have to estimate it tomorrow first then it's diet root beer.

Working on a Christmas present for a friend to give a mutual friend. Yes, stereo gear. A refoamed pair of super-nice looking Realistic Nova-15s, Sony MDR-10 phones, a Yamaha dubbing deck with full logic and Dolby B/C plus dual autoreverse I was given and a Sony CD player all for (I hope) a Technics SA-410 receiver that fires up but no relay/no sound but it looks like either a relay or part of the circuit is bad, the rest is clean and like brand new...for $5.99 it was worth it.

I went and bought the very Harman Kardon that got me to thinking about eBay before I end up leaving next month...the CAD-5 cassette, same one I had to toss in 1992 not knowing what to do to fix it. Full circle, I guess.

Stories are supposed to be involving, not end up with six months of ehhhhh...

Ehhhhh is probably in a glut lately but I'll keep going.

Bob's glitter grips do motivate me some to keep going. I always wanted a pair.

Mom couldn't get the $10 bike any wheels right off, so now she got another rusty red old Western Flyer and I assume like my 50's bike. She said dhe's trying to get the wheels trued and a friend is doing it for free. One of my two seats will go on it and it has a bent-up front basket. She has to wait till Saturday or Sunday to come over though. It's supposed to be a semi-surprise and hey, she used to build be bikes from an old junkyard when I was younger. Thanks, mom!

Ladies are wearing shorts on December 3rd here! They oughta have icicles on goosepimples by now. It was over 50F.

The Western Flyer could be here TOMORROW!

introducing kayleigh

Don't compliment ME, compliment my MOM...she outdid herself.

(Not very rusty either :thumb::D )

I have a You Tube clip with Kayleigh now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKcmm7uXcc0

My first trips "ice biking" for winter 08-09 were Thursday and Friday. I ended up leaving the bike at Gary's and he repacked the BB for me but also freed the rear hub up dramatically with whatever he did. Kayleigh will be much fleeter in the future. Got a nice bell to put on but the bars I bought last month are much roomier to place it on. I am going to carefully leach all the grime of the WF grips as they are a lovely transparent red and it's worth it. People are a little unbalanced with the speed they drive out there. The subzero temps expected did not come when two fronts collided and broke up the arctic mass.

I have been very careful and am lucky that I am slow and steady at about 3 mph!

I saw a $10 paperboy set on Craigslist but they never got back to me. Darn. I'll have to go shopping for groceries in a week.

Kayleigh is beautiful!

East Hill

Kayleigh is beautiful!

East Hill

Like the video said, you gotta give the credit to Mom:love:

More bike stuff, this one is in the neat-o dept.

I bought a Delta fender light shell in usuable shape. no lens but I have that figured out. I think Tempest will use it and the fairing is moving toward having either no headlight or a small high beam just above it near the bottom of the front. Two motorcycle signal pods of recent vintage on each side near the top and thye front will have a vinyl decal of the badge design A Hemp provided the main work for (see WAAAAY back). The two 12V sealed lamps I got via Pay It Forward will do the trick perfectly. I also got the striping scheme figured out and the fairing will be done with vinyl wraparound graphics. The sign and graphic design shop owner has an extensive background with it and it very, very good at it.

I got the elusive BLUE badge on eBay!!!