Virtual tinkering

Well folks, it's another crap day in the Blane Valley. It was almost pointless drying off after taking the kids to the pool, what is going on with this weather?  At least the weather provided time to break out the virtual markers and start playing with the gBike or should that be guffBike? 

guffBike started life as the Rhino BMX above and has resulted in what you see below. This is the first colour test - a virtual spray of laquer over the chrome frame, don't you just love photoshop? I've used a considerable number of packages over the years during various stages of product development. The one that gives me the most joy is photoshop. Solidworks, From-Z, electric image (remember that?) are all fantastic tools, but there is quality in photoshop that is pure magic. My five year old daugther even enjoys it and ends up being more fun than most of the kid's paint apps available to download from your local istore. Anyway, back to the the colours. These are inspired by the cover of the The Rider, by Tim Krabbe. 


The Rider was introduced to me by Routemaster General and is everything he said. Rarely does a book provide such an emotional account of racing a bike. A post is long overdue on cycling books. There are members of cyclesguff that are far more eloquent than me and have of library of cycling books that would challenge my entire stock. I did recieve a copy of 'A Dog in a hat' the other day - thankfully there are pictures in the middle.


The discs are Mooneyes and pay homage to those fab SoCal machines and Bonneville beauties. 

The brakes require a strip and rebuild and the wheels could do with a check. There is a tange 1" headset somewhere in the garage, this should fit without any issues. I'm changing the headset due to the original bike being fitted with a gyro and what's left of the headset is not worth the risk of something going bang. Other than that there isn't much to it. Once it's tested and all dialled in the strip down and repaint will start. A few more colour ways will be explored prior to then.  All going well, guffBike will be up the hill and freewheeling down this week. Oh, I'll have to look out the leathers and moto helmet prior to any gravity antics.


Stay upright