04-08-2026, 09:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-08-2026, 09:07 AM by Gone in 60.)
Right now, Mrs. G is in Washington working for the week, so Sterling and his brother Cyril (guess what cartoon they are named after) are basically looking at me saying "You are not Mom. Feed me anyway."
We have a Chang Jiang with a sidecar at the Petersen... one of those oddball vehicles that I'm sure someone donated that they really don't have a place for, but they recently took in a BMW with a sidecar, so it's a sort of cool juxtaposition to show the original, and say "Russia copied it, and this blue thing is a Chinese copy of the Russian copy". It's usually tucked in a corner, and not in easy view, but sometimes someone will take me over to wherever it is and ask what the heck it is.
Speaking of BMWs, my current project with work is to apply the decal kit to the recently-acquired member of our medical delivery fleet. This one is a 2015, a bit shaggy looking with 50k miles on the clock. The boss has been impressed with the detailing I've done to clean up the bikes I've been riding - I've made it clear that I can't ride a dirty bike - but not much I can do for this one. Faded plastics, scratched up windshield... I ran a buffer with some heavy compound over the windshield but that didn't make a dent. I can still see through it. The side stand is a little worn and she leans over far enough that I can't fit it between the garage door and the very soft, vulnerable back bumper on my car. So, I fashioned a very Rube Goldberg extender to the bottom, and I'll need to figure out a more permanent solution than a salad dressing bottle cap drilled and zip-tied.
But so far, she's the smoothest riding of the bikes I've been on so far. I actually think I want to keep this one as my permanent bike. Maybe at 50k, she's "broken in nicely" for a BMW?
The decal kit really is something to behold as far as the intricacy of its construction and packaging. The kits are made in England to order for the bike, company and use (blood bike, police bike, etc). The kit is packaged in large brown paper, folded and taped with each package representing a different section on the bike. It's like a big mosaic. There are two layers for each part, a base neon yellow decal, with a reflective decal over the first one.
Each decal, even those as small as your thumbnail, is stamped with a number and "NS" or "OS". Looking at the diagram of where they go (The whole thing is detailed on one side of one 8.5x11 piece of paper... need a magnifying glass to see it clearly), it took me a while to figure out that NS and OS mean "Near Side" and "Other Side" if you were standing on the right side of the bike trying to figure it all out. I guess "Right" and "Left" would have been way to easy.
I've been doing a section at a time when I get home from my daily runs. So far, my priority has been to finish the front end, what a driver can see in the mirror. This breaks up the "Cop Bike" look, and will keep people in front of me from slowing down. Lots to go still with the tank, side bodywork, and the pannier boxes.
We have a Chang Jiang with a sidecar at the Petersen... one of those oddball vehicles that I'm sure someone donated that they really don't have a place for, but they recently took in a BMW with a sidecar, so it's a sort of cool juxtaposition to show the original, and say "Russia copied it, and this blue thing is a Chinese copy of the Russian copy". It's usually tucked in a corner, and not in easy view, but sometimes someone will take me over to wherever it is and ask what the heck it is.
Speaking of BMWs, my current project with work is to apply the decal kit to the recently-acquired member of our medical delivery fleet. This one is a 2015, a bit shaggy looking with 50k miles on the clock. The boss has been impressed with the detailing I've done to clean up the bikes I've been riding - I've made it clear that I can't ride a dirty bike - but not much I can do for this one. Faded plastics, scratched up windshield... I ran a buffer with some heavy compound over the windshield but that didn't make a dent. I can still see through it. The side stand is a little worn and she leans over far enough that I can't fit it between the garage door and the very soft, vulnerable back bumper on my car. So, I fashioned a very Rube Goldberg extender to the bottom, and I'll need to figure out a more permanent solution than a salad dressing bottle cap drilled and zip-tied.
But so far, she's the smoothest riding of the bikes I've been on so far. I actually think I want to keep this one as my permanent bike. Maybe at 50k, she's "broken in nicely" for a BMW?
The decal kit really is something to behold as far as the intricacy of its construction and packaging. The kits are made in England to order for the bike, company and use (blood bike, police bike, etc). The kit is packaged in large brown paper, folded and taped with each package representing a different section on the bike. It's like a big mosaic. There are two layers for each part, a base neon yellow decal, with a reflective decal over the first one.
Each decal, even those as small as your thumbnail, is stamped with a number and "NS" or "OS". Looking at the diagram of where they go (The whole thing is detailed on one side of one 8.5x11 piece of paper... need a magnifying glass to see it clearly), it took me a while to figure out that NS and OS mean "Near Side" and "Other Side" if you were standing on the right side of the bike trying to figure it all out. I guess "Right" and "Left" would have been way to easy.
I've been doing a section at a time when I get home from my daily runs. So far, my priority has been to finish the front end, what a driver can see in the mirror. This breaks up the "Cop Bike" look, and will keep people in front of me from slowing down. Lots to go still with the tank, side bodywork, and the pannier boxes.
You know what? I actually would like a pickle.