Q&A

Greetings and sultana's my illustrious reader. It is a pleasure to welcome you back. This weeks class was not on due to another stupid school holiday. So I thought it would be a good time to address some very important questions I've had whilst building a p-far.

The top five questions asked when someone finds out I'm building a p-far.

• Is that the bike with sorta the big wheel and small wheel? Yes
• Why are you building a P-far? It seemed like a good idea at the time.
• I'm sorry did you say you were building a penny farthing? Yes
• Really why would you do that?  It seemed like a good idea at the time.
• Are you mad? Yes

Now these questions are to be expected when you are awesome. Unlike Q&A on the ABC I don't have a Slovenian Philosopher debating with an Egyptian Born Democracy Activist it was just me, myself and I, but don't fear the debate was long and fierce. 

I thought I'd address in more detail the main question the why is it so? When I was first considering enrolling in the course I did a list of pros and cons I feel it's time to share that list.

Pros

• Excellent for apple picking.
• They are rad.
• I finally get to buy a tweed outfit.
• I can head-but magpies when they swoop.
• I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles.
• Incredible in the moment focus whilst riding. 
• I can grow a beard/moustache.
• The satisfaction of building your own bike.

Con's

• Not so good in the McDonald's drive through when buying a hot apple pie.
• They are rad, so you'll get stopped by everyone any time you go in public. 
• Tweed itches. 
• Low hanging branches.
• I can see my whole life flash before me as I crash.
• Incredible in the moment focus whilst crashing. 
• I can't grow a beard/moustache so will be mocked by a whole new group of people.
• The satisfaction of building your own bike, and being the only person who can repair it.

Today I was reflecting on what I've got left to do in the next 5 classes. I then spent 20 minutes in the foetal position breathing into a brown paper bag.

• the bearing holder thingy to be brazed to forks
• my handlebars ends/grips brazed to handlebar
• headset bolts etc
• rear forks brazed to frame
• Backbone cut
• steering yoke brazed (I haven't shaped this yet properly either)
• foot step brazed
• rubber put on wheels
• front wheel trued
• The seat mounted
• Braze the plaque on 
• Heaps more polishing and filing and sanding
• Paint it
• learn how to mount and ride the thing
• Build/modify a rack to transport it
• other stuff I've missed?

I asked Brett about all the things we needed to do. He indicated that it 'Should be heaps of time as long as you remain uninjured' so not to mince words I have no chance. 

  

This image was sent to me from an un-named class mate she felt it suited me for some reason so thanks Janine. Needless to say the next 5 weeks of class are going to be busy really busy so I'm going to need to prioritise my work flow and using JIT (Just in Time) principles will make it. So first things first I'm gonna grow a beard.

Rusty hands

Greetings gentle reader. Recently I noticed that a lot of the things I made for the p-far were rusting faster than a mongoose on heat. Upon mentioning this to the 'hood' aka the 'p-fars'aka the 'bretheren' they mentioned I must have 'Rusty Hands'. This perplexed me as I'd never noticed my hands being made of metal before but they explained in very clear terms my hands were the cause of the rust. Guess which forks are mine...

Yep the ones on the right.

This perplexing phonomonononon explains a few things...
- my ability to turn a P76 into a pile of rust in a couple of hours (although some may argue that is the natural state of a P76)

- why post-apocalyptic Salad Fingers has been following me around asking about my spoons...

- why my friends in the class all keep their distance from me so I don't touch anything metal of theirs. Even to the point of locking themselves in a cage... It's good to have friends.

Look at them in there trying to ignore me, little do they know that my rusty hands will turn that galvanised metal into dust in mere seconds. Wmahahaha!

This week there was no class but I've been working hard to build a truing jig for my big wheel. Since Park Tools very short sighted business model means they don't make a truing stand for a 52.5 inch wheel I had to 'Brett one up'. It's not what you would call sophisimacated but with a bit more tinkering it should do the job. I've put an initial tension in and so far the wheel is looking pretty good.

Pity when I go to true it there will be nothing left of the wheel thanks to my rusty hands.

I know it's hard to get a real perspective just how big the wheel is. So I thought I'd use the international standard of measurement it's a smidgen taller than 1 WESYO (Wide Eyed Seven Year Old).

 
Considering my rusty hands I might make a heavier duty version bike next year that will last longer.

 

I bet no one's going to tell him he can't get rad. 

Big wheel you are beautiful

Today's blog starts with a multi-guess question

Which class in 'Aaron's top 4 classes he's been looking forward to' did we do this week?
1. The first class
2. The class the bike is together
3. The class where we ride it for the first time.

4. Building the big wheel.

Have you worked it out yet? It's my most fiendishly cunning quiz to date, so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a fox. Don't mind me I'll wait while you think about it......... for those too thick to work it out the answer is at the bottom of the blog.

I was so excited about this class I couldn't get the smile off my face.

Thanks electro smile! The twitching is hardly noticeable, the convulsions on the floor however have been arousing suspicion, I've found since I'm smiling while frothing at the mouth people think I'm joking around...

Now it wouldn't be class without some silliness. This week was Rooke's turn with the mini-farthing I believe he's building for his mini-Rooke. *insert evil laugh*

I recently composed two poem's that may help answer the multi-guess question...
We're on a mission and we're wishin',
someone could cure our lonely condition,

Lookin for wheels in all the wrong places,
Not big wheels just 700c,
Some frustration first inclination,
Is to become a monk and leave the situation,
But every big wheel has a light of hope.

If you are looking for the rythem to read it to your friends and family try this song for the timing Bust a Move! 

Whilst I was on a role in baring my soul here is another poem for those interested
I like big wheels and I can not lie,
You other brothers can't deny,
That when a bike rolls in with an itty bitty frame,
And a round thing in your face,
You get sprung.

Also able to be timed to a Sir Mix-alot song. It took hours of painstaking work I guess in all modesty they are so awesome they're multifaceted!

Since I've been playing with My Movie Maker lately this week is another montage. I know, I know, you don't have to tell me it's awesome (and not at all over done) but I hope you enjoy all 40.6 seconds of building the big wheel I've had to reduce the quality to post but enjoy.

So this is how big my wheel is 52.5inches without the rubber.

For those interested we used a 5 cross pattern for lacing the wheel pretty unusual but partly possible due to the nature of the wheel (meaning you go over 4 spokes on the same side then under a spoke on the other side creating 5 crosses I hope).

So the wheel is laced but needs to be trued now so I decided to take it home. One thing I failed to consider when doing this was fitting it into the car. I thought there would be heaps of room. Until I found it'd only just fit one way in the car. I think when I get the rubber on it won't actually fit in the back.(this photo is a bit deceptive the hole for the back door is smaller than the inside)

Oh well that will be future Aaron's problem.
Ps. The answer is number 4- building the big wheel.

Wheely good time

Welcome back friends it's always good to have you come to my little blog. Would you like a cup a tea, a bex and a relaxing time? Well you've come to the wrong place! This week was an action packed pun filled class. I hope you won't be two-tired by the end of it but us cyclists have heaps of wheel-power.

Now of course it wouldn't be a class without some weird stuff happening first. Janine got her handlebars back with brand new shapely pears (handles) and it appeared all her Christmases came at once! So she partook in some EWR (extreme wheel-less riding) around the workshop!

Then Daryl showed us a jig he made to attach the yoke/steering plate to the steering pin. It'll make attaching the two together much more accurate. Thanks Daryl.

Very importantly recently Shane did a fantastic diagram of the parts of our P-Far. Thanks Shane I'm sure my reader will be pleased to know the proper names for the parts instead of the thingy that attaches to the thingy. My copying is a bit rough but you get the idea.

We'd been in an uncomfortable holding pattern for the past couple of weeks, like a wobbly fixie rider track standing at lights in front of a line of traffic unsure when they could take off head first into traffic. But Spoke-Master Brett recognising this had us working together this week like a well oiled chain to build our small wheel. I was so super excited I got spinderella to cut it up one time!

Brett had kindly cut the spokes for the rear wheel to length and put the thread on them. Then it was up to us to build the wheel. Instead of photos with written commentary this week I've curated a photo montage to music. It's just how I roll.

Wow!... I heard you say in your head. But wait there's more! To improve on that I'm harnessing the awesome power of moving pictures here it is just after putting the spokes in.

As a special offer to our readers tonight it may seem like I've gone crazy but we'll even include the next video with music! This offer is only valid for the next 50 readers.

Taa Daa! After spending 2.5 hours going cross eyed over making the wheel true it is mostly there.The lump you might notice is a low spot from where the wheel was joined not much you can do about that.

Ps. If anyone suggests getting a camera that saves video in .MTS file type feel free to calmly take their suggestion then tell them to cram it with walnuts! Unless you enjoy doing the following...
- to play these videos from my Panasonic I had to download a MTS viewer to watch them as the Panasonic software didn't recognise the file type,
- then download an MTS converter to convert into a readable format for those occasions say, when you want to watch it on any other device in the world?
- editing in Windows Movie Maker.
Easy peasy. I think I'll take that bex now.

Rocky XXIV

Ladies and gentlemen! We have the Ultimate grudge match for you this afternoon. This is the fight you've been waiting for! Not since Rocky XV111 has there been this much anticipation of a fight.

(Sorry about the quality of the one below)

You'll be able to tell your grand kids that you were there the night when these two ferocious competitors stood side by side locked in an epic no holds barred battle to see who will win. Lets check with out ringside reporter on this fight...

So we are ready to introduce the competitors.

In the red corner we have weighing in at 90kgs and 186cm we have the challenger Aaron 'The p-far' Wray. In his last match against Steelie 'the hammer' Hammer he lost on a TKO but he's looking to make up for that humiliating defeat this afternoon.

In the blue corner weighing 40kgs with 4 arms we have the defending champion Hills 'The hoist' Clothesline.

Now 'The hoist' has a massive reach of around 2 meters but tends to use the same hook technique that 'The P-far' could use to his advantage if he's smart enough. The referee is about to ring the bell....

As the two foes eye each other off it's Hills 'the hoist' that swings first.

Oh no Aaron 'the p-far' has gone down in the first punch of the match. There is no point even counting it out he's not getting up! It's a huge and resounding victory to Hills 'the hoist' who triumphantly continues hook punching.

Anyone would think that he just walked straight into that hook punch. He'll never be able to hold his head high in the back yard again after this humiliating defeat.

Now we've got some time to fill lets look at why they were we locked in a battle. With the eminent arrival of the spoke machine I was working on spray painting the front hub.

Here it is in the buff.

 

With it's undies on

 Now it's dressed ready for action.

As you can see it's suspended from Hill's 'the hoist' who was lowered to exactly eye ball height.... as it turns out....

This weeks class I had a lot of dithering around and not much actual work. I did however work on the thing that holds the bearing case

This took longer than expected cutting it out of a square piece of pipe I'll drill the hole next week to bolt it on. 

Then I also cut out and tapered the brass fitting that holds part of the headset in place and acts as a bearing.

As the inside of the headset is tapered it needed to be cut to fit. 

It'll all make sense when I get the other bits back to show how it fits together with the backbone of the bike. Unless that smug bugger Hills 'the hoist' Clothesline has another go at me.

To take you out from this weeks blog I bring you some trick riding on p-fars I can hardly wait! Danny MacAskill eat your heart out.

Now with added disclaimer

After last weeks dodgy blog with no discernible point I thought I'd keep to the facts and nothing but the facts so help me Lob *. Tonight I got to class a bit early when one of my learned eager beavers told me about a wooden bike that he was informed that Good King Brett had made was in the library. So being goodie two shoes teacher pets we went and checked it out. It certainly is a beautiful bike.

For those interested here is a close up of the text about the bike.

I assume that is straight from the most reliable source of information in the known universe wikipedia.... I'm hoping there is a class to make it. But I think Brett might consider early retirement rather than have another class with me.

Speaking of information recently (nice segway hey!) I happened upon this sign from my friend bikesnobnyc, I know we are friends as I once emailed him something for his blog and he emailed back that makes us BFF's! 'Email' for those not of the twitbookplus era is sort of like carrier pigeons without the smell.

It's obvious what has happened here. The safety bike propaganda machine is trying to overthrow the strangle hold that p-fars have on the cycling industry. Bikesnobnyc agrees saying "I don't understand German, but I'm pretty sure that says that pennyfarthing riders are not allowed to get rad". Well I won't sit uncomfortably and ever so smugly 5 feet in the air for it! We've got to fight, for our right, to p-far!

So *ahem* back to the blog, we wandered back to class just to find it start off like a lot of other nights with some bike shenanigans. This weeks was EMBR (extreme miniature bicycle riding)

EMBR is poised to be a worldwide phenonmomenen (pretty sure that how to spell it) we are getting in on the ground floor.

Ok so back to p-far building. Well I'd like to say tonight was a stellar night of achievement but it wasn't so instead I'm going to talk about my forks. I spent a lot of time on the weekend and ekka holiday working on my rear forks and frankly I'm sick of them. Here is a photographic history of the forks.

They started out a a bit of pipe cut in half then a reinforced top was brazed on. 

 

I then cleaned them up and carved out enough space for the wheel a bit with MFTF (my friend the file), MFTPF (my friend the power file) and most importantly MFTG (my friend the grinder)  

 

I then cut out the inserts and shaped them using the aforementioned devices. 

This was a mock up

  

Then many hours later I got to help braze them together. 

Then they were a mess and needed cleaning one again *sigh*...

Many many many many hours later with all sorts of files, sanders, grinders etc I got a relatively finished product. 

 

All ready for attaching to the frame then paint. 

Easy poesy so they say. But they would be fricken liars.
* Disclaimer there are no facts in this blog it's just my ramblings I'm sorry. 

Story time

Hello boys and girls and welcome this this weeks show. We have an exciting show today with Mr Squiggle, Blackboard, Gus the snail, Bill the steam shovel and Rocket Ship. 

'So in this weeks show we are....
'Hurry Up'!
'What's that blackboard? You have something to say'?
'Yes I'd really like a story.'
'Well boys and girls what should I do about this winging blackboard who has been snorting too much chalk dust? I know lets tell Blackboard a story! What could be better than one about building a Rocket Ship? Since he's already halfway to outer space from snorting chalk dust we don't even have to make sense!'

Once upon a time in a far off mystical land called Bracken Ridge there was a class full of eager beavers and they were fearlessly headed up by Good King Brett.

'Oh Good King Brett what magical and supremely hyperawesometothemax things can we do this week' the eager beavers would say.

'Ho ho ho eager beavers this week I have a story to tell you about building a rocket ship like this one. This Rocket ship has magical powers to attach the frame to the thing that holds the bearing on for the headset' said Good King Brett aka GKB.

'Hooray' said the eager beavers 'you are so wise, smart and handsome'.
'Now now eager beavers you bunch of sycophantic lunatics that is true' said GKB. 'However even as all knowing as I am I'd like to pretend to need your help'.

'What help could GKB possibly need boys and girls? Johnny get that finger out of there!! Where was I? Ok lets read on'.

'Now eager beavers to get help to make a rocket ship we must seek out Trevor's magical mystery pockets'.
'Now Trevor' said KGB 'I am having trouble working out how to make a rocket ship can you check your magical mystery pockets for me'?
'Well' said Trevor rummaging around in his pocket. 'I just happen to have this jig in my pocket especially for making Rocket Ships with', said Trevor. 
'Yippee thank you Trevor you always have the most interesting things in your pockets'.

'You put your tube on the wooden dowel then scribe the marks to make a rocket ship' said Trevor.
'Thanks Trevor GKB is pleased' said GKB (worryingly using the third person narrative one of the first signs of egomaniacal tendencies).

'Now boys and girls what else do we need? That's right rocket ships aren't any use without fire. Lets see what we can find'.

'Now eager beavers we all know rocket ships need fire I've got a little story to tell you about GoldiAaron and the 3 flames'. (Wow a story within a story within a blog, we are cracking a new low here)

Once upon a time there was a boy named GoldiAaron. GoldiAaron was an oafish brute with two left thumbs and three right ones and pyromaniacal tendencies. He loved fire but only a certain type was good enough for brazing. One day he was lumbering through the forest quietly hitting his fingers with a hammer when he came across a fricken huge workshop full of flames. 'Wow he thought I wonder if they have some fire in there' (GoldiAaron wasn't the brightest pyromaniac around). He walked in and found fire (big fricken surprise there hey boys and girls?) 

He went up to the first one 'that fire looks too big'!

Then wandered around and found another 'That fire looks too small'.

Finally he stumbled across a third fire 'that fire looks just right I might use it'.

 

So GoldiAaron used it to do his first ever brazing.

GoldiAaron used the flame without setting the shop alight nor burning himself and this resulted in some rear forks (thanks to the expert guidance and support from Rook).

 

Once GoldiAaron had finished the three firemen returned to find the workshop mysteriously ablaze. Whilst they were distracted GKB sidled up to GoldiAaron and distracted him with a shiny object and took the flame to complete the rocket ship. So GKB defeated the oaf GoldiAaron and he and eager beavers lived happily ever after.

So boys and girls did you like that story? Yes that's right it did suck but luckily there is no more time in this weeks show.
Goodbye boys and girls and watch out for that oaf GoldiAaron