From the files of the Black Baron: Casefile #090908 - The P.C. Police have arrived.

In my travels I've seen many a strange thing, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser gate... no, wait, I've done that gag before...

The point still stands, however.

I've seen a myriad of strange, wondrous, and, sometimes, horrifying things during the length of my interminable existence and, while most are noteworthy, some are truly beyond the ken of mortal man.

Case in point, it would now appear that a local constabulary is taking lessons in manners and decorum.

I love days like this...

Took the Old Man out for a spin today for the first time in way, way too long and realized a few things...

Foremost among them is the fact I'm criminally out of shape and am in incredible pain at the moment, but that's only a temporary thing.

Secondly, most folks are still idiots... now I know this is pretty much considered standard knowledge but every once in a while I like to be reminded of the fact lest I get complacent.

From the "Wish I'd thought of that myself" files.

Ok, found this on Instructables and thought it well worth sharing as all good ideas should be.

Presented here are the steps necessary to quite easily construct a keyring capable of being used as a hex bit driver.


It's so damn simple you'd think it would have been obvious...

Considering the debris I have in my tool box I should be able to knock out a couple of these to keep handy.

All right... that's it, you can all go about your business now.

Apropos of absolutely nothing...

While in the midst of packing up my meager belongings for our recent move I discovered parts of various old collections.

Back in the day I used to collect things... comic books, certain flavors of collector cards, bits of shiny metal or brightly colored pieces of paper... basically just about anything that caught my eye.

While packing I found several binders of cards that I'd put together over the previous decade and while flipping through one containing a couple sets of Harley-Davidson cards I found this.

It's so obvious you'd think everyone would realize it.

Sorta makes one wonder who, exactly, the idiots really are...

From the files of the Black Baron: Casefile #080525 - North Jersey Rednecks

A sighting on a recent outing with my primary lab assistant and minion, Ferrette, brought to mind a subject of much conjecture and debate in years past, the North Jersey Redneck.

Now I'm not talking about your average Jeff Foxworty fan or someone that thinks Larry the Cable Guy is the pinnacle of humor... I'm talking about the ones that drive around pick-ups with the rebel flag decals on them that cover the entire back window and have "The South Will Rise Again" bumper stickers or fly rebel flags from their houses when they've never been further south than Hoboken.

This past sunday my temerarious lab assistant Ferrette and myself were taking an extended excursion to enjoy the weather before the onslaught of the Memorial Day festivities that would take up precious space on our roads.

Along the way we were passed by a large pick-up truck of fairly recent vintage raised to ridiculous heights and blessed with a set of tires usually reserved for the more obscure species of farm equipment along with an exhaust system that would be more at home on the average semi-truck, leaving behind the stink of diesel, an afterimage of the silhouette of a chromed naked female, the aforementioned rebel flag, and a slight ringing in the ears.

After a few more miles we came upon the home that could have only belonged to the driver of this pick-up, we deduced this from the fact that the truck was parked in the driveway along with an Expedition and a Hummer (can you sense the trend here?).

Now here is where the North Jersey Redneck really shines, along with the usual Memorial Day fare, such as red, white & blue bunting and an extensive picnic arrangement, he had also festooned his garage with, to the left of the garage door a very large American flag, on the garage door itself an equally large P.O.W. banner, and to the right of the garage door a rebel flag larger than either of the other two flags.

One thing I've neglected to mention was that the name on the mailbox was Steinmetz... not what one usually associates with the rebel flag.

I've seen this and similar sights most of my life and after all this time I still can't fathom why someone from New Jersey would feel the need to try and make everyone think they're from south of the mason-dixon line.

Now I know there's a troop of civil war re-enactors up this way, they're going to be at the Long Pond Iron Works in a few days, but I don't think that justifies dolling up a pick-up truck in redneck drag and playing like you're L'il Abner.

The Search For Truth... and Bike Info.

Lately I've been noticing a few folks finding this site while searching for information on various makes of bicycles.

Now while I don't mind people coming here and viewing this rambling mess I call a blog, I feel it's a disservice to those looking for information that's actually useful.

I've posted about my recent finds, a '78 Peugeot, a '76 Motobécane, '72 Raleigh, & a '70-something Ross, and the various mentions of these bikes have tricked folks into coming here from Google and other search engines.

1970?-something Ross Eurosport.

Update: To help save you some time, before you read this post go read this one.

And this is the Ross I picked up with the rest.

Despite it's having a nicely lugged frame I think I'm just going to part this one out since it has full Shimano kit from the brakes to the dérailleurs and use it on my primary beater bike that I refuse to ever part with.



Though you can't see it here, there's both an inner and outer pieplate on the front chainwheels.

I do like that bashguard on the rear dérailleur, that's part of why I want to put it on the beater.

Update - 4/22/08: I discovered today that this bike has what Shimano called their "Front Freewheel" system, where the rear gearing was fixed to the wheel and the freewheel was part of the bottom bracket.

The freewheel was built into the bottom bracket so that the chain would turn even when the rider was coasting. This was to allow shifting while coasting.

I'm hoping this will fit my old Huffy beater, mainly because it's weird.

1972 Raleigh LTD-3

Update: To help save you some time, before you read this post go read this one.

Picked this one up the same time as the Motobécane & the Ross and from the same person.

I'm still debating the possibility of restoring it instead of just stripping it for parts.


By my reckoning it just needs tires, cables, and a good cleaning to be ridable.

Now is that a sexy set of forks or what?

It still has the original Raleigh Record tires on it too.



This is the sight that greeted me when I rubbed some of the grime off the hub.

If you look closely here you can see the date code stamped sideways on the hub casing.

And it turns out that the shifter wasn't broken as I originally thought, the shifter body was just sprung a bit and a few lovetaps with a rubber mallet and a block of wood set it to rights.

The Baron's Latest Finds Part 2: Bike Porn

You might want to read Part 1 first...

As previously stated, I acquired yet more vintage bikes and bits related to them over the weekend.

Foremost among the latest finds is the 1976 Motobécane Super Mirage.

The Moto is, to me anyway, a gem found in the mud that only needed a bit of air in the tires and still needs a good cleaning but it's very ridable and I've already put quite a few miles on it already.

So, for all that may be curious or just bored enough to read my ramblings, here you go...

The Baron's Latest Finds.

Seems at though the fates may be starting to smile upon the Baron.

Today, while perusing the local craigslist listings in the free section I came across something not all that unusual, a curb alert listing a few bike frames set out for either pickup or disposal.

Now usually these only warrant a cursory glance before moving on, but in this case, that glance took several minutes as I read what was there and it slowly sank in, in this listing were:

Two-wheeled Weirdness: Up and Running.

The Footbike I've mentioned previously landed on the doorstep at 1pm looking like it had survived it's long trek from Nevada.

Looking to Trade Sharp & Shinys for Bike Goodies

Ok, I have a set of these still in their boxes, I bought them a few years ago and now I'm looking to trade them...

Samurai 3000 Katana
Samurai 3000 Tanto

...for these, which I would have more use for at this point in time.




If you do the math, doing it this way will get you the set for about $30 cheaper than buying it from the site and I'll cover shipping.

If anyone is interested, let me know here or in the Shoutbox on the right and we'll set something up.

Two-wheeled Weirdness Redux.

Two nights ago I got the shipping confirmation e-mail from DHL telling me my Footbike was on it's way.

So sometime between now and the 31st. I should be getting my new toy and then I can start the review abuse required to test such an item.

I've been informed by Moses that an assembly manual was not included in the package due to packer error but I'm not entirely sure if he was joking or not, either way it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which tab goes into what slot.

I think I'll just go back to their forums and prod him into sending me one by snail mail.

Geriatric Bike Porn

Ok, instead of going through all the hassle of getting pics into a post here I'll just give you all a link you can bang on to go see what I have to work with.

Linkage (warning: lots of pics, not dialup friendly)

I'm quite happy with it considering the price and all and I can't wait to get it back on the road again.

A veteran like that shouldn't be left to rust in storage.

Wish us well, I think we'll be happy together.

I'm taking in strays now...

Just recently I acquired a 1978 Peugeot UO8, this is currently the only pic I have of it but will add some more once the weather clears.


Found it on craigslist in the free section, of all places, someone was giving away this Peugeot, a Gitane frame I've yet to put a year to, and an old girl's huffy mountain bike frame.

So after finding the guy's place and dragging them home, I stripped the Huffy to fix my old Mt. Storm beater and then started in on the Peugeot, after a little research and a lot of help from Jim at Cycles Peugeot we got the year and model nailed down to a 1978 UO8 and I discovered that, aside from the missing shifters and dérailleurs, the bike was relatively intact.

It even has the original saddle and bartape on it...

It needs quite a bit of work, mainly cleaning and polishing as far as the frame is concerned, and there's a ugly kink in the front wheel along with a missing spoke or two.

The paint looks good aside from a bit of surface rust in spots and the decals are about 90% intact, and from a cursory examination the size looks right for me with just a couple minor adjustments to the saddle and bar angle.

I'm really looking forward to getting this 30 year-old veteran back on the road where it belongs.

Now, what to name it...

Two-Wheeled Weirdness.

For some totally inexplicable reason I should be getting one of these soon...


All because of a few forum posts and an e-mail I sent to someone that must be fairly high up with the company since he's giving away about $1600 worth of merchandise.

It all started with a forum post on BikeForums.net that turned out to be an unsolicited spam post by someone that was espousing the virtues of his Footbike and thought he was helping the company out a bit with some free advertising and instead garnered himself a modicum of abuse for his efforts.

After several pages of this enter Moses Aoki from Footbike USA, who explains what the original poster was up to and what his company was attempting as far as getting the word out about their products.

So after going back and forth a bit about the why and wherefores of forum etiquette and managing to keep his good humor about the whole thing, he offers first two and then four of the Footbikes to anyone that e-mails him with three reasons for wanting one.

So I sent in my reasons, which consisted of: I'd like to see if it can tow my BoB trailer, I thought it'd be useful for short local trips, and that it'd make a nice break from the norm once in a while.

After a few hours Moses posted that he would be contacting the ones that will be getting the scooters about delivery and all, so a few hours after that I had no messages and figured I wasn't on the list and posted such on Bikeforums.

About an hour and a half after that I checked my mail again and, lo and behold, there was a message asking if I was still interested in one, so I sent him my info and now I'm waiting to see if it gets here.

If it does, expect some pics and reviews to appear here.

The Triplets of Belleville

I found this odd little movie about a year ago and, while not anything like a fan of bicycle racing, found it to be an entertaining picture.

It starts out with a young boy, named Champion, left in the care of his grandmother, an impressive woman in her own right, after the death of his parents.

While trying to find some way to cheer the boy up she gets him a little red tricycle that sets the stage for the rest of his life.

After employing what has to be one of the most interesting training regimens I've yet seen he gets into the Tour De France.

But during the course of the race he gets kidnapped, and then the real adventure begins...

This is only a short preview but I think you'll find it worth the time it takes to set up a Veoh account to watch it in it's entirety.

Update-3/21/08: Veoh has removed the video from their servers, the link will be updated once another copy is found.

Update-3/22/08: Youku now has the movie in two parts, links below.

Update-5/29/09: There are now more permanent links for the movie below.

Update-5/11/13: You know what, nevermind... every time I find a place to host the file the site gets taken down, so you're on your own finding the movie. Good luck.

Watch it now: The Triplets of Belleville
Or download the MP4 for later: The Triplets of Belleville

Sleep is for the weak...

Once again I find myself sitting here in a silent apartment late at night unable to sleep, so I'm going to punish you for it since it's obviously not my fault and you just happened to be around.

Today was yet another pointless waste of time in a seemingly interminable existence except for the fact that I was able to plumb the mysteries of the indexed shifting system and finally get my bike-shaped object to shift into high gear and be able to get it into low without sending the chain into the rear wheel... that's sorta important.

Beyond that I managed to waste some beautiful riding weather, leave a few tire marks on the kitchen floor, and realize, once again, I desperately need a repair stand so I don't have to try to work on my bike one-handed while balancing it on one wheel so I can run it through the gears.

Skills like that could get me a decent job in just about any circus but I refuse to wear tights...

The Cyclists Special - 1955

Made by the British Transport Films, these clips show a typical cycle outing on Sunday, May 8th, 1955...

It almost makes me wish I owned something in tweed.

Part one:



Part two: