Author Archives: bowtie6

Shame on You Triple A Roadside Assistance

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Shame on you Triple A Roadside Assistance.  Shame on you…

You know, there was a time when corporate pride meant something.  I remember a day when companies would go out of their way to make their vehicles look in tip-top shape.  Examples of buses, 18-wheelers, and everyday delivery trucks.  Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.  Drive on any Interstate Highway and you will see filthy trucks with “wash me” written on the sides or better yet, totally banged up examples like the one in today’s post.  Take a look…

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I saw this truck on my way to work this morning.  This is an “Emergency Services” Triple A (AAA) Battery Service truck.  Take a closer look.  This poor Chevy truck has been driven hard and put up wet.  Pretty much every panel on this truck was nicely banged up – I suppose maybe AAA is into NASCRAP racing with their emergency trucks these days!  There was definitely some “tradin’ paint” going on here.

Remember the movie “Days of Thunder” (it sucked)?  Remember the part where Cole was told to “go out and hit the pacer car” because there is still one corner of the car that is not dented?  I guess somebody told the driver of this truck to do that very thing.  What a shame Triple AAA.  You have hit a new low.

Adding insult to injury, take a look at that rear bumper:IMG_1617

I am not a card carrying member of the Triple A network, but if I were stranded on the side of the road and had this lousy truck show up I would wonder who needs who?  Know what I’m saying?

Triple A, tell you what:  you need to pay close attention to probably the last of the vehicles that mean something.  Love it or hate it, but the South Carolina Highway Patrol goes out of its way to keep their aging fleet of Crown Vics in excellent shape.  I have never seen one of their cruisers banged up or even scratched up.  Matter of fact they even go to the trouble of using zip-wraps on the hubcaps to keep them from making a premature high speed departure.

So yes, Triple A – shame on you…

Missing Spare Tire

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On the way to lunch today, I saw the following vehicle with a missing spare tire…

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This gives new meaning to not having a spare tire.  I mean, take the trouble to hang the rim back on the hanger, with no tire?  Oh well.  You see all kind of things on the road these days.  But just to highlight how irresponsible the driver was…  When we passed this vehicle, the driver/operator was busy texting.

I’m a big supporter of technology.  The more the better.  But when it comes to texting and driving, that is just unacceptable.  This driver gave new meaning to irresponsible.

Bad Muffler…

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We’ve had a ton of rain around my neck of the woods these days and this pisses me off.  I haven’t driven any of my toys lately:  bowtie6 as awesome of a ride as it is unfortunately leaks in the desert; and my pristine S2000 is just too refined for rainy days.  Yeah, she is way too pampered…  :mrgreen:

But I digress…

Today, the sun was out (for a change) and the humidity was tolerable so I took the S2K to work.  On the way there, I saw the following driven-hard and put-up-wet automobile, sporting dealer tags in early rush hour traffic.

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Please forgive the picture quality but my iPhone as nice as it is, has limitations.  At any rate I thought this was a pretty pathetic used car on the road.  Check out the bad muffler, within an inch of the road and its life.  Prior to reaching this intersection the highly capable driver went over a bump and sparks flew off the muffler very much the way vintage 80’s F1 cars would when their titanium skidplates would contact the deck.  Except in this case, the sparks came off a much abused muffler.

What did this poor car do to deserve this?  Adding insult to injury, the ubiquitous South Carolina dealer tag.  Makes you wonder what poor minimum-wage earner (the prime target of the unscrupulous used-car dealer) will fall prey to buying this much abused car for basic transportation.

Used car dealer: 1; Used car 0.  🙁

LSx in a Honda S2000

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I found today’s picture while randomly surfing the web: an LSx in a Honda S2000.  Holy crap on a Ritz cracker.  Damn!  This is what I am talking about.

Don’t take me wrong, Honda’s S2000 is a mighty special machine it its own right.  I know; I own a pristine example.  The F20C engine is – in my opinion – the only “true” engine on the S2K revving all the way to an astonishing 9000 RPM’s.  As good at the F20C is however, torque is not exactly what I would call one of the S2K’s stellar features.  Instead, one has to keep the engine high in the rev range to enjoy a spirited ride.  And when I say “spirited” I mean this as a kick-in-the-ass kinda ride.  It is awesome.

But… What would make this ride even better?  Turbo?  Supercharger? Meh.  Boring…

If you are going to do it, do it right.  Just like the photo above.  Now we are talking!  I have no idea if handling would go to hell with the extra weight of the LSx lump but note that even with an LSx the majority of the engine is still behind the front axle plane.   The dude that owns this blue S2K certainly did a top-notch job.  Note how incredibly clean that installation is.  Very hard to do.

No.  I am not proposing cutting up my very special S2K.  She stays stock.  But…  Who knows.  Finding a high mileage, decent body would be an excellent platform for something like this.  Wow.  Possibilities are endless!!

Restoring a Vintage Bianchi Road Bike

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Ever since I started the sport of cycling back in the 80’s I always dreamed of owning an Italian Bianchi frame.  I remember back then these frames – just like today – commanded a high price which was way out of my budget.  It took a few years, but I finally got my wish!  The photo above shows the finished product:  a vintage 1984 Bianchi Limited frame fully built with nothing less than Campagnolo components.  However, it took an obscene amount of work and effort to get it this nice.  This is the story…

The following photos show what the frame looked like when I bought it.  The frame was listed on Craigslist of all places, missing many pieces and painted an ugly Grapette purple from a rattle can instead of the classic celeste.

Purchase price on the frame was quite cheap – an example of a prior owner not knowing what they had!  The frame and fork are Bianchi with lugs stamped with the Bianchi logo.

After carefully removing all components, I had a local media blaster remove the old purple paint.  This was very carefully done because of the thin tubing.  I then shot the frame with a light coat of epoxy primer and started sanding.  A few small imperfections required a small dab of automotive body filler and then covered with another thin coat of primer.  After another light sanding, the frame was ready for paint.

This is where things got interesting!   After all, it is not like you can walk up to a store and buy Bianchi celeste paint and paint away.  To get the correct color I bought a little bottle of Bianchi celeste touch-up paint.  Then, I used an airbrush to paint a small square of primed sheet metal.  Once the paint dried I took the sample to a local automotive paint store and had it scanned in a spectrometer.  Needless to say, the folks matched the paint perfectly.  By the way, this is the non-metallic, basic celeste shade.

This is my first attempt to paint a bike frame.  It took some doing!  I ended up using a small paint gun normally used to paint jambs on a car.  Since the tip is fully adjustable painting horizontally and vertically (and everywhere in between) is no problem.  Finally, the paint I used is single-stage acrylic and this required no clear coat.  The trick is to apply several light coats, building up to a high gloss.

Since the frame is Italian the groupset had to be Italian also:  a 2008 Campagnolo Veloce with Campagnolo Chorus shifters.  I did not like the feel of the Veloce shifters, so I bought a set of carbon Chorus shifters and changed the levers to match the silver look of the rest of the components.  Why?  Because I can!  Wheels are Mavic and the celeste tires are Vittoria.  Saddle is a special celeste Fizik.

The pictures above show some extra work I did on the little details on the frame.  These were carefully filled with blue paint to accentuate the “Bianchi” and “B” engravings on the lugs.  Finally, the seatpost has three flutes which I filled with green, white and red – the colors of the Italian flag.  I know, this is overkill but then again I really wanted to make the old bike look the part.

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Decals were all sourced from a fellow in Australia.  They were not cheap, but they are period correct and add pop to the frame.

How does it ride?  It is not super lightweight but it has a fantastic feel.  After all it is a vintage steel bike.  However, this was “the real deal” back in the 80’s and is all I ever wanted in a vintage Italian Bianchi.  All the work, effort and time sure made for a nice looking bike.

Update:  I have written a new article with more details about the build – CLICK HERE to jump to that article.