Buck Owens & his Buckeroos/ Truck Drivin' Man

Yihaaaa!

Glue.................at last!

Steely Dan/ Jack of Speed

One word.............sublime

@ shop.......

Desmond Decker

This is the latest artist to enjoy an extended residency on Jeff's CD player*.........
*The one in the 'Toaster' (Scion xB)

meanwhile back at the shop..........

Hyper/ We control

If I hadn't been so dog tired and if Jeff's retro Ford F350 had a cd player this is the track I would have blasted out on our drive back from the 'Couve.

Toolpathing: the ninth circle of hell........

Never again will I utter the phrase "something that we can cut quickly & easily on D's awesome CNC machine....". Not because it isn't totally awesome (which it is) but because of the Tron era software required to program the toolpaths. In excess of eight hours were required at the computer to enable four hours of cutting. My hunch is that the designers of this software went on to write the federal tax code or perhaps the terms & conditions of your medical coverage. A more utterly opaque and unintuitive interface would be hard to imagine, however, hours of slow torment paid of big time. Once everything was set D's Multi-Cam fairly tore around our sheet of 6mm Russian birch ply (check the video below). We cut out our proof of concept! High fives all round! Admittedly we had a few do-overs (depth settings seemed to challenge us) and a couple of parts that failed to stick to the particle board and were thus munched by the cutting tool. At one point there was a voltage fluctuation that shut the machine down. We had to unscrew the collet, manually push the gantry back so that Jeff could crawl under the machine with a flashlight & a voltage tester, check and then reset the machine.
But it was all worth it........at just after midnight we beheld a pile of plywood parts representing the sum of our efforts so far. I have to say that my first impression was; 'is that it, did we forget some parts?' and then 'are we seriously going to make a bicycle out of this pile of scraps?' It just seemed so physically insignificant but as we started slotting the parts together the form took shape. The accuracy of the machine is impressive and all the truss frames slid with reassuring firmness into the slots. Obviously our work here has just begun. Next we meet at Jeff's shop for the long process of sanding, assembly, jigging and gluing. Some of the parts, particularly the blocks that house the bottom bracket shell and the head tube, are still to made and we haven't decided yet if we will CNC the dropouts or just cut them by hand. And don't even get me started on the steering. One of the interesting things to discover in the weeks to come will be how light & how stiff? Ideally we have a target weight of 80lbs for the fully assembled bike and currently the dry weight of the frame parts (minus glue and epoxy) is around 14lbs. If it turns out to be excessively 'noodly' then we will have to add material and re-assess how we mitigate lateral flex.

Right now we are the are the happiest wooden cargo bicycle builders this side of the Willamette......

CSS_Let's reggae all night

My favourite trash-pop-punk band from Sao Paulo, Brazil

All change..........

A month long hiatus of intense development and deep exploration of process and purpose. The last time we went to the shop we decided to put the fork-less steering system on the back burner as it was clearly proving to be a distraction. The more we delved into it the more we realized that we were heading down a rabbit hole of cause & effect that would end up draining our will and focus. Fork-less steering was a concept, we agreed, that could be more profitably explored further down the road when other more fundamental issues had been resolved. Instead we shifted gears and strategy and brainstormed the fastest way to create an all wood proof of concept. Basically a down & dirty sheet material form that slots together and could be cut quickly & easily on D's awesome Multi-Cam. A long couple of weeks followed at the computer bringing the form to fruition in Solidworks with many stop, starts and revisions in response to Jeff's woody worldlyness.

But a funny thing happened on the way to creating what we always thought of as a stop gap, a stepping stone to Renovo-esque fluidity. As we started to look beyond our proof of concept to model #2 there seemed to be an enormous disconnect between the formal volumes we were envisioning and the functional realities of what we were trying to achieve. I had always imagined that the CNC'd monocoque, fluid, sculptural & organic was were we were headed but the further we dug into it the more the proof of concept started to display an elegance and simplicity that we found compelling. Conversely my sketches that tried to marry the various hard points via the monocoque process became cramped and unconvincing. Clearly I had hit a conceptual wall. As the Dude famously said;"My thinking has been all uptight about this....". Something had to give.

On the night of the Oregon Manifest Launch Party as Jeff and I slowly weaved our way home from the Lizard Lounge via the Springwater Corridor (that HUB organic lager is quite strong!) we discussed the different approaches. Considering what we were building, was the Renovo way the correct one? Was our flat-stock, slot-together idea more suitable? How realistic was it to try and combine both construction techniques?

A couple of days later I sat down at the computer and started model #2 but within an hour I was stuck. Nothing about it produced that 'aha' moment. I deleted the model and started again pretending that I had never set eyes on a Renovo and knew only of 6mm birch ply. It is at moments like these that I want to kick myself because the model came together with such ease and inherent consistency that clearly this was the direction we should have pursued all along. I was gratified when Jeff had the same reaction when I showed him the model that evening. Suddenly it was like the log jam cleared and a torrent of ideas followed. Forkless steering was firmly back on the agenda as was cable steering, an idea I had floated previously but had abandoned through timidity. A bunch of problems we had envisioned evaporated with the new direction and ideas came tumbling out faster than we could sketch them. It was exhilarating!

Of course all of this euphoria will have to surmount the obstacle course of reality but right now we are stoked! So this is what we think it might look like...........

Phillip Glass/ Vessels

What was & what's next........the story so far

So first comes the forkless steering proof of concept prototype. The image on the left shows the basic idea: take a steel frame (in this case an old Raleigh MTB) and weld on an extension to mount the forkless steering. Originally I had scrounged up some 1.75" tubing from a child's swing set. However Curtis pointed out that mitering the tubing accurately, especially with our $40 Harbor Freight tube notcher, would be extremely difficult so we sprung for some 16ga, 1"x2" steel tubing. The rectangular section will be a lot easier to cut, weld & fixture. It's probably overkill for our needs but it's better to overbuild than have the thing fold on the first test ride. One challenge will be welding the stout rectangular tube to the relatively light gauge down tube.

In preparation for all this we created 'frankenjig' to secure the frame. With a lot of tweaking and applying of spirit levels we can achieve pretty good alignment (or at least good enough for our purposes). The process of building the jig was a lot of fun and we now realize that we could have created something much simpler. The collision of concept and reality is always illuminating. Before this project Jeff & I had never worked on anything together so it was gratifying to see the level of synergy and cohesion in our collective efforts. As I start to learn the layout of the shop and discover where everything is kept this will only get better.

The next stage is to cut, prepare and fixture the rectangular tube and the components needed for the steering mechanism. The steering will require some head scratching. I understand the principle of how this works but I imagine reality will intrude and require some changes. One of the features I have incorporated is the ability to change the 'head angle'. My feeling is that the steering geometry should work just like a conventional bicycle steering where the interplay of head angle, fork offset and the resulting trail should be broadly equivalent but that is just a notion uninformed by experience. The ability to alter one of these parameters will allow for some experimenting without having to grind and weld. The other concern I have is the do with the fact that steering to the right will not feel the same as turning to the left as the plane of the wheel is offset to the right of the head tube. I have no idea if this will be a factor or not. All is yet to be discovered........

Song of Complaint

I have a hangover, the weather is shitty and I am unemployed............what's your problem?

Why wood?

As I've mentioned previously this project is about creating a wooden framed cargo bicycle. As we are enamored and familiar with 'bakfeits' style, two-wheeled, cargo-in-the-front cargo bicycle that is the pattern we have chosen to follow. While 'longtails' and tricycles all have their merits it is the front loading, two wheeled (in line) type that we feel has the most potential in terms of function and aesthetics. I list aesthetics because our goal is not to create a 'better' cargo bike but a more beautiful product that resonates on an emotional level. That is not to say that function is not our concern. On the contrary it has to 'function' in a way that would merit the term 'cargo bike' (i.e haul loads safely & efficiently). We just feel that function has a subjective component that can never be fully met and that the aesthetic of utility bikes, bar a few exceptions, has been given a back seat in the development of this form and type of transportation.

So why wood? Well, first of, let us be clear that we don't come at this from some half baked notion of creating a 'sustainable' or 'green' product. Every time we drive out to the shop we burn hydrocarbons and the tools we use to rip, saw, shape & weld material to our will are powered by the coal burning Boardman Plant and the salmon killing monolith that is the Bonneville Dam. The meager wind powered portion of this metric is merely a salve to our guilty consciences and another derivative of hydrocarbons. Construction of this project will involve volatile organic compounds, exotic glues, paints and epoxies not to mention waste material that might or might not be recyclable. Wood products contribute to deforestation, habitat loss, mono culture and global warming. They require the burning of more oil to log, process and transport them to where they can be sold at maximum profit. So, no, our wooden cargo bike will not be saving the world anytime soon.

So we chose wood out of happenstance and a genuine fascination with how this material can be applied to a human powered vehicle. We foresee no business model here so it is unlikely that this will offer any 'real world' solutions. In other words this is a selfish project that sustains deeper needs and desires that have nothing to do with notions of utility or sustainability. This project is, at its root, about process. It is about the minutiae of the journey from concept to manifest object. It is about the day to day discovery and how we adapt and deal with the limitations imposed by both our aspirations and the tools & materials we hold in our hands.

From a straight forward technical standpoint wood is an excellent material for a bicycle. It is, as Ken Wheeler of Renovo stated, natural carbon fiber comprised of cellulose (the fiber) and lignin (the binder). High performance aircraft and boats are still fabricated from wood as are bridges, buildings and furniture many of which have stood for decades if not centuries. In many cases properly engineered wood can out perform steel, aluminum and even carbon fiber. The question is not whether wood is a viable frame material but rather why aren't more people building wooden bicycles?

David Lindup Orchestra......The Zodiac

Olli Erkkila's cool bicycle & a visit from 'Dirty Curty'

.........so one of the ideas I have been pushing is the forkless steering system as demonstrated on Olli Erkila's Forkless Cruiser. Looking at the images on his website (worth a visit) the thing is crying out for a cargo bed. Why forkless steering? No reason whatsoever other than it looks great.......

I happen to have a stub axle wheel from a sidecar kiddie carrier that would work. After figuring out the steering mechanics we decided it might be prudent to create a rough proof-of-concept by welding together some defunct bicycle frames. Neither of us are great shakes at welding and that's when we were saved by Curtis who happened to be in town (he hails from Rhode Island). If anybody can fabricate in steel it's Curtis. He graciously came by the shop on his last day in town and gave us a welding 101 for idiots. He also looked over our plans for the proof-of-concept and suggested some changes that would save time & frustration. Way to go Curtis. While he was doing this he was also showing another fellow (Jeff's friend John) how to build a pedal powered Jacobs Ladder (go figure).

On a tangential subject it appears that being associated with Portland has improved Curtis' chances of hooking up with the opposite sex back home......who knew that's all it took?

Homeboy

This tune is the theme for The Craig Charles* Funk & Soul Show on BBC 6 Music (one of the BBC's internet radio stations)........well worth checking out. Every week I look forward to hearing what Craig has dug up out of his 'Trunk of Funk'. Jeff doesn't have it on his computer and I can't stream it being that the shop is way out in the inky black woods perched at the runt end of the West Hills. But if I could I would.

*and yes....fans of Red Dwarf will be delighted to hear that Craig Charles has found a new career as a DJ.

in the shop.......

After a day spent at the computer sending out resumes and chasing down contacts it cannot be overstated the satisfaction of making something manifest with your own hands. Words are few and deeply focused, actions are predicated on results and lead to more insightful actions...............deep joy

......and we always have the music playing

in the begining.........

.....there was me riding my cargo bike past Jeff's house in Brooklyn. The house had almost been lost to fire and there was Jeff, day after day, resurrecting it from the ashes. Framing, plumbing, wiring, sheet rocking and the whole nine yards. We got onto nodding terms and then cheery greetings as I wheezed up the hill carrying Nathan & the groceries. As the summer progressed it became a good spot to pause and shoot the breeze often lubricated with a cold beer. He was impressed with my commitment to living car-free; "you help offset my massive carbon footprint" he said indicating his two decrepit trucks. Jeff and I became fast friends. He was the first American I had ever met who would call round my house unannounced (a common practice back in my country) plus he uttered the word 'Malthusian' without a touch of irony.

Later he got a cargo bike of his own and just like me he traded it for his skills (cabinet making for him, conceptualization & CAD models for me). I think his plan was to ride it to work with Essie (his dog) which I thought was a long shot as work was way up on the Columbia River and that's a long haul on a cargo bike even for a car-free nutter like me.

Then Jeff went to the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend and returned with news of Renovo. The Portland based fabricators of high end wooden bicycles had a stall at the festival and Jeff was much taken by the originality & craftsmanship. I had also been following Renovo and had even spent an afternoon with the founder, Ken Wheeler, talking wood & bicycles.

Finally came the Oregon Manifest and the Constructors Challenge.........and slowly the wheels started turning in my head..........master shipwright.........industrial designer and bicycle nut........what would happen if all this came together to create a wooden cargo bike? I wasn't sure so I proposed it to Jeff one day in early October and he said, "sounds like fun, let's do it". Just like that. So after the usual round of procrastination and thumb twiddling we finally got going.......