My bikes

[savarin]

I just thought I would post 4 of the bikes I built (and rode) when I was a contributor on the original Atomic Zombie site.
Gee how time has flown, I cant believe how long ago that was.
Unfortunately my hips and knees will not allow me to ride these days so my bike building days have finished now.

My fave was the long wheelbase one, it was so stable and handled superbly but the tall bike was a real hoot to ride.
The springer forked chopper was cool and the green trike was for my wife.
Hopefully this is a better pic of the finished long wheel base one.

 

[Radical Brad]

It seems like just yesterday!
I still have a pic of you on the lowracer someplace in my archive folder. If I remember, you had flip-flops on at the time!
Will see if I can dig it up.

 

[savarin]

I thought the pic links would have inserted the image rather than having to go there

 

[Radical Brad]

I thought the pic links would have inserted the image rather than having to go there

Fixed... just needed to drop the url in the box after pressing the insert image button.

 

[savarin]

Thanks Brad yep, I just pasted the link in the text rather than drop it in the url box.

 

[Radical Brad]

No prob.
I always liked the look of the pool noodle seat!

 

[savarin]

Thanks Brad, it was very comfy, I got the contour of my back from nestling into a bean bag, gently rising and copying the resulting curve onto a pattern to place the cross pieces at the correct height to get the same contour.

 

[jonrev]

That's a really interesting collection of bikes you've built. They look to be very nicely built too. The pool noodle seat looks like a work of art which would be a bit uncomfortable in use but obviously it conforms better than it looks at first glance.

Aint it a shame that many of us have the resources and spare time to build only when we reach a certain age and soon find we're struggling to use our bikes because we left it too late.

I have put on a lot of weight and now have problems with body parts I didn't know existed til a few years ago. My saving grace is that the e-bike has come of age and I can afford to play with that power source to assist the tired legs. For me that means even more interesting building and fettling.

Thanks for the pics and all the best.

John

 

[DannyC]

That's a really interesting collection of bikes you've built. They look to be very nicely built too. The pool noodle seat looks like a work of art which would be a bit uncomfortable in use but obviously it conforms better than it looks at first glance.

Aint it a shame that many of us have the resources and spare time to build only when we reach a certain age and soon find we're struggling to use our bikes because we left it too late.

I have put on a lot of weight and now have problems with body parts I didn't know existed til a few years ago. My saving grace is that the e-bike has come of age and I can afford to play with that power source to assist the tired legs. For me that means even more interesting building and fettling.

Thanks for the pics and all the best.

John

I am in the same boat as you @jonrev. I'm currently 14st 1lb and I probably ought to be the 10st 7lb I was at 18-30yrs.
It is lot of lard to carry around all the time. e-assist has been my saviour though, and it keeps me in the game.
I enjoy the building & fettling as much as the riding so its an all-round win. I think Savarin's creations all look splendid I am often disappointed with the fit & finish of my creations. I don't have the flair for neatness (definitely a missing gene somewhere)

 

[savarin]

Ha Ha, beat you guys, I was 22 stone and type 2 diabetic so had to do something.
I went full bore keto to shake the lbs and get my sugars under control.
I'm now down to 13 stone and sugars under control.
If you really want to lose weight and feel better all round follow the real keto diet. Carbs are the big killer in our society not fat or salt.

 

[DannyC]

Ha Ha, beat you guys, I was 22 stone and type 2 diabetic so had to do something.
I went full bore keto to shake the lbs and get my sugars under control.
I'm now down to 13 stone and sugars under control.
If you really want to lose weight and feel better all round follow the real keto diet. Carbs are the big killer in our society not fat or salt.

I couldn't agree more. I have been dabbling with the Keto diet. I did it just before the pandemic and dropped from 15st 7lbs to 12 st 7lbs.
Struggling to get the same thing to happen this time around.

 

[savarin]

I first went keto about 8 years ago before it became a fad. My doc went ballistic stating I was killing myself.
I had read the research papers fro the university of Newcastle showing how brilliant it was.
First time for 6 months easy, 18 months later did it again not too difficult and again for 6 months.
Both times christmas menus and desserts ruined it.
This time around I'm struggling, no real reason its just a mental thing.
I'm semi low carb but not keto.
I will get there eventually though but I adore fresh baked sourdough and thats difficult to stop.

 

[DannyC]

I first went keto about 8 years ago before it became a fad. My doc went ballistic stating I was killing myself.
I had read the research papers fro the university of Newcastle showing how brilliant it was.
First time for 6 months easy, 18 months later did it again not too difficult and again for 6 months.
Both times christmas menus and desserts ruined it.
This time around I'm struggling, no real reason its just a mental thing.
I'm semi low carb but not keto.
I will get there eventually though but I adore fresh baked sourdough and thats difficult to stop.

I think the trick is to be really rigorous about what you put in your mouth and log everything and stay within your calorie budget.
If you can run your intake at a deficit, once your body gets used to burning fat as fuel that's where it grabs the needed calories from.
Diets that suggest just cut carbs and eat as much as you want of anything else are just wrong.
Fat has 9cals/gramme and protein has 4. Like you I sailed through my weight-loss first time, and this time I am struggling.
As you say there is a mental component, and shortbread with belgian chocolate chips is just too hard to resist.

Like you my wife is a type 2 diabetic (25 years) and she's come on this journey with me, her diabetes nurse could not believe how good her bloods were at her last review. We are hoping she can come off metformin or at least drop the dosage wayyyy down.

 

[jonrev]

Both you guys put me to shame. From around age 18 till 50ish I was 13 stone give or take. Guess you tend to slow down a bit as you approach the 60's and I had a couple of health 'episodes' which forced me to become less mobile for a while. Weight started increasing and I was 17 stone and rising by the time I was on my feet proper again. Sadly I'd learned how enjoyable chocolate and crisps and salted peanuts were (not together of course) and they had become part of my daily diet.

I did manage to knock off about a stone but in the last few months it's back and I'm feeling it for sure. I was hoping this summer would see me biking more seriously but life has got in the way.

Right now my ancient and invalid dog is a problem and I can't leave him alone so am not able to leave the property at all without sending him into panick mode. Hopefully things will work out soonish.

John

 

[savarin]

Loosing your dog is nearly as bad as loosing your partner.
Over the years we've lost 3 dogs and 4th probably wont be with us much longer, he's 14 and struggling to walk. gee it hurts.
We took on a rescue greyhound 6 months ago when the last guy went, A greyhound is the dog if you don't want to exercise, 5 minutes of zoomies then 12 hours of sleeping. Gee they are lazy but hyper friendly.

 

[jonrev]

Yes I have heard Greyhounds are great pets. I can't see me getting another dog after Ben goes. Too much worry and way to much heartache. Recently lost a younger dog. She was a little gem and died because my local vet prescribed steroids to treat a wound on her paw. She had a bad reaction and died as we rushed to get her back to the vet. Ben misses her as much as I do. A couple of months earlier we lost one of our cats and a couple of months later my wife died. Just me and Ben and Milly our second cat now. Three old cronies together.
The only life that's really thriving here now are the slugs. Never seen so many and they've completely eaten about twenty tomatoe seedlings I planted out last week. First time I've tried growing anything as it was always my wife who was the gardener with me just digging the holes and mowing the lawns for her. Probably better I stick to metal bashing where I know what I'm doing

John