Saturday night in SoHo

We'll just leave these here in the bike lane.

Commuter

this used to be a Felt F70. I guess it still is, but it now survives the streets rather than trying to rule them. fatter or xc tires and some fenders are next.

this can become that

It's pretty amazing how something that looks pretty cool, but just OK can turn into something that looks really great. crusty to lusty. old pics that I've probably put on the blog before, but not together. work has been busy so haven't had time to explore and snap many new photos.

so gangsta

it doesn't matter if you've already seen this. you need to watch it again. and listen. because it is amazing....

especially the BROWNSVILLE part!

Under the BQE

my original plan was to ride into Manhattan, visit Allan at Self Edge and then go 'cd' shopping to find the full length Uffie album 'Sex, Dreams, and Denim Jeans' as my mission for the day. Just something to do. But Allan is no longer working there and is now over here at Nutty Rice only on weekdays (congrats on getting weekends back!!!!) and the sky started to look unhappy.

So instead I rode around Brooklyn to enjoy the 40+ degree weather. Hit up Frankels in Sunset Park, Music Matters in Park Slope, and then just rolled around Gowanus and Red Hook making noise. It's always interesting how different the streets look and are accessible on powered 2 wheel vehicle vs riding my bicycle or walking.

The shorter excursion turned out to be OK, since I got a call from some of the boys, headed to the deli, grabbed some 40's of Colt 45 and started our night at 6PM. Happy Birthday Comp!

Chris "laaaahd 'ah mercy' Collins

Chris Collins can be a man of very few words. Usually happiest sitting in the back corner and observing rather than being at the center of attention, he's always thinking....He really truly is one of the style masters when it comes to building bikes for me. He has more knowledge than most when it comes to motorcycles, but doesn't flaunt it or really even want to talk about it. Unless you get to know him.

Lately, he has sort of disappeared off the blogosphere with his lack of postings, but his site still has one of my favorite blogrolls out there so I'm constantly on there clicking his links. Check out his Natty Dread Blog here at 70moto.

One of my favorite things about Chris when it comes to bikes is his personal philosophy that his bike is "never done". We have a unique crew of characters that we would hang with in socal and sure enough, Chris was always thinking about what was next for his Panhead. In the time I've known him, the bike has taken on at least 3-4 incarnations and I just got an email from him saying he was already thinking about what was next.

His bike was also the first foot clutch, hand shift bike I've ridden. He just said, you need to just ride it to learn how to use it. BUT I had to kick start it first. Did that, then struggled my way through the gears and onto the roads. It was fun. First time riding without a front brake, first time riding with this shifting, and first time riding with mid pegs so high, my legs barely bent far enough to get on them. He wasn't worried about me, he wasn't worried about the bike. He gladly let me take it away from him.

He was probably thinking about how the bike looked.....and thinking about what was next for it.

(for the record, he's not rastafarian.....but I fully support everyone assuming he is and telling him that he is until he cuts his hair)

there's something happening here...

received a little package from Kim last night. Opened it and within was this mug. This morning's coffee never tasted so great. There's a lot of excitement going on in good ole Carlsbad right now....

....and it reminded me to listen to this song by the amazing Buffalo Springfield.

(you can feel free to ignore the smothers brothers weird interruptions)

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down