Seatpost Ultimatum

As much as I enjoy my renegade bicycle lifting operations, one of the major downfalls seems to be getting the seat post high enough without it bending over time. It appeared this was happening with the San Antonio Smuggler as well (AKA Bicycle Upgrayedd 2).

I decided this would be the last seat post I should ever have to make for this bike, thus the most unnecessarily rigid and heavy. I figured since welding causes weakening of the surrounding metal, I'd make this one without any welding, which meant a lot of rivets.

Ironing Board Bicycle Rack

As a continuation of the "Bicycle Upgrayedd 2" project, I wanted to build a better rack for this thing since the previous one was flimsy and had a poor mounting mechanism.

The basis of this new rack was a sleeve ironing board I got for free at a garage sale.  I will admit, I had no idea that's what it was, but it definitely looked like the perfect shape to be made into a bike rack!  The design allowed me to add an interior compartment into it.  Here I am riveting some sheet aluminum to create the bottom.

Brooks B17 Saddle After 4 Years & Asymmetric Issue

The great thing about leather saddles is that over time they conform to your own personal pelvic bone spacing or something that makes it more comfortable the more you ride it.  It hadn't really occurred to me that my saddle has changed shape over the years until somebody with a newer version of the same saddle parked right next to my bike.  At first, I thought it was a completely different model because the shape was so different, but then I remembered that mine used to look like that when I first bought it. I will admit, I probably haven't been using that leather preservative as much as I should, but it has lasted well so far except for a little ripping around one of the front rivets.  Aside from the animal sacrifice requisite, still the best saddle I've ever used.

My saddle after 4 years

A newer Brooks

Lean Manufacturing

A book on lean manufacturing

Lately I've been learning a lot about LEAN manufacturing at Foundry Academy.  Basically, it's a manufacturing philosophy revolving around eliminating unnecessary work and wasted resources in the production environment (AKA common sense).  Since it seems like such a basic concept, it puzzled me why they waited so long to teach us about it since it seems that teenagers across America are already getting into lean at stunning rates.  For this reason, I don't think I will be getting a career doing lean since the job market will be already saturated by the time I graduate.  Besides, I saw this video on lean manufacturing, and it kinda turned me off to the whole idea altogether.  It also reminded me of a time in high school when I was actually accused of lean manufacturing before I even knew what it was; I was just trying to sell my friends Kool Aid mixed with Mountain Dew! 

Overall, I mean no disrespect any practitioners of lean, I just don't think it's for me.  Besides, it's also illegal.

Lean manufacturing