Black

The 54 Velo was looking shabby round the arse end. Too many winters and not enough oil leaks (no, really). So before this years winter activities I thought that it needed a spruce up (meaning a liberal covering in black Smoothrite).

The back end now looking a lot tidier:-

Rear wheel also saw the lick of the paint brush:-

And most of the rear carrier has been painted:-

Chainguard bracket has been welded back on (more weld than parent metal but I do love welding and grinding):-

Box of bits to be refitted:-

Things to be painted:-

Black - the colour a motorcycle should be.

Mind the Generation....Gap

I love 70s skateboards and have amassed a small collection of fairly battered Alvas, Benjyboards and a Fibreflex, all completes with various ACS and Tracker trucks and Road Rider and Kryptonic wheels. All of which I lusted after back in the day. But what was attainable, but never was attained, was a Supa Skuda. I've seen em on Ebay fetching stupid prices (for a cacky old low grade skoot plank). Imagine my surprise to see this little beauty for only £8 BIN:-

It was collection only. Would they post? Yes they would and at a very reasonable rate. So deal done and I wait for the parcel to arrive.

What turned up was a very nice example of a Supa Skuda. Its been used but its not battered to death.

Skinny trucks:-

And loose bearing wheels:-

Now I know that I was a lot smaller when I was 11, but this thing is tiny. Here it is next to my current stunt plank (Creature Stu Graham):-

How the hell did we ride them back then?

And If....

....you didn't understand the reference in my last post, heres the answer:-

Random Weekend Shite

Karen and Scarlet were away this weekend. Off to Eastbourne (and yes they went to Brighton, but not Hastings).

So, Saturday Luke at ATBShop sorted me out some skate bits and I managed to spend my unexpected SNAPS windfall.

I was a bit bored of Strictly Come X-Factor I thought I'd build my new stunt plank.

Usual ripped grip job:-

I've used a set of 61mm Cortechs, dyed with RIT. I actually wanted lime green but total failure to investigate resulted in Kelly Green. I already had some red.

I got a set of Spitfire Burners from ATB too. They come in a nice metal box:-

I got some Indy 169s Stage 10, which strangely have baseplates drilled for new skool and old skool patterns. I also got some Bones medium bushes:-

Trucks on with 1/8" risers. Deck is a Heroin Deerman BA:KU jobbie, 9.5" at its widest:-

The finished product just waiting for a sticker job and some dry weather. Gonna be ideal for MSN and Churchdown:-

So, that was Saturday.

Sunday dawned dull and wet. After watching the MotoGP I had a wander round Swindoom then back to the house and into the garage. My 1954 Velocette MAC is starting to look a bit shabby so I decided to clean the back end and give it a spot of paint (the restorers choice, Finnegans Smoothrite).

Back wheel out and starting to remove 15 years of mud, oil and crap:-

Its gonna take a bit of time but it should protect the old girl a bit. Its the bike I generally use during the winter so it gets a lot of salt corrosion.

Back wheel and brake drum:-

After degreasing myself I went to the DoomRamp and put up the new lights I got from Great Yarmouth. Last time I put them up they didn't work as the wires had worked loose from the crappy connectors. Choccy blocks soon sorted that out.

I have three double strip lights in the garage now, and what a difference it makes:-

(Notice ATBShop sticker Luke;-))

So I had a skate. The genny is a bit noisy and there is a whiff of 2-stroke exhaust but after a bit you don't notice it too much. Managed to drop in and get up on the opposite coping for the first time but dropping back in from an axle stall position eluded me. I had a couple of shoot-outs so its not just jumping off this time. I'll get it. Not so easy when you are cooped up in a little garage compared to the great wide-open.

And now its time for Animal Chin...

Return to the Past

My quest to catch up with the ghosts of skateboarding past have led me to this little beauty (on VHS of course)

Mini Mal(function)

Bent the fin on my mini mal while I was in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago. I not only snapped the tail fin but pulled out a fin plug too.

In the box of bits that came with the board I found a tube of Solarez - UV curing resin.

The glass round the hole had split in places so I though I'd best fix that first.

The clingfilm lets you work the resin into the damaged area then leaves it glassy smooth. It only took five minutes for the resin to set once it was out in the sun light.

Next I got out the Black and Decker Powerfile and filed the fin plug back so it would go into the hole without snagging. I filed a lot of grooves in the plug as well so the resin had something to grip to.

I'd bought a new set of fins to replace the broken one:-

All that was needed was to fill the hole half full with Solarez, apply some to the fin plug and push it home using the new fin to make sure the plug was lined up:-

Once it had set I removed the fin, sanded the repair back a bit and put another coat of resin on to make sure there were no holes.

Ready for action this weekend.

Kernow Weekend

Cracking weekend with Whip, Bob and Antony. Beers were drunk, skateboards were ridden, fires were lit and surfing occurred.

St Ives beach:-

Nice surf in lovely clear water. Couldn't get parked there later in the day so we went to Tuckingmill skootpark. Antony and the little bowl:-

Sunday morning surf was at Godrevy, another nice beach and much better than it had looked at high tide the day before. I had a mishap with the mini mal:-

Got some fixin to do.

Breakfast afterwards at Hells Mouth Cafe and then a 200 mile drive back to Swindon.