Friday, December 30, 2011

yard work

2 scoops of sand and 2 of gravel

middle yard gets xeriscape

first the cloth then gravel for drainage

lots of work


Her Majesty helped

it will be very nice when it's done

french drain for guest house

Friday, December 23, 2011

Golf course work continues

Did my shift at the Altadena course yesterday.  The driving range was shut down because then big equipment was pulling out the damaged structure.
loader removing tree stump

infamous tree on #2 marked for removal

marshals Joe, Lou and Bill and friend Denis







Monday, December 19, 2011

Back to electric bike

Drove to CoCo's Variety and rolled out on the L.A. River Bikepath.  It had been a few days since I had taken the bike out and when powered up, it still showed a full charge.  Made the first steep incline with no problem and rode silently under power.  It was no problem to maintain 20mph on the flat but that speed was too fast for me to pedal. I will change the gears up front to 52-42 like road bikes have instead of the smaller cogs on the Fuji folder. That should make it so that I can pedal comfortably at 20 or even faster.  The bike ran well all the way up the bikepath to Victory Blvd. where I entered Griffith Park.  Making a right onto the Park road, I rode past Travel Town and over the hill beyond.  Then down past the golf courses and all the way to the pony ride area near Los Feliz and Riverside.  The slowest speed was 10mph at the crest of the long climb above Travel Town, fastest was coming down same hill at 32mph.  All told, I'd say it was a good test and returning to my truck, the battery still had something left.
     I'll try to be more scientific in the future.  When I first built the bike I didn't have a cycle computer to put on it but it sports one now so I can start logging miles and do a proper test.  Pictures will come later...camera was in the shop for repair.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

restaurant roof

Spent much of this week working on the building in Old Town Pasadena which is soon to be a new restaurant.  Rain is forecast for tonight so we had to get painters Rick and Dave out early saturday to apply a coat of white roof coating.  I had pressure washed the roof last week and discovered a problem area that needed repair before the storm.




Had put significant time into cleaning all these surfaces, so I'm confident the roof is good to go!
Watch this blog for progress reports


interior remodel underway

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Altadena damage

Played 9 holes with friends today and we all saw the damage to the lovely mature trees on this picturesque course.  Golf carts are unavailable since the power is out.  Here are some pix:


This distracted me from the bike project temporarily, but I will be posting test results soon.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Big winds last night

Went to Altadena GC today for my marshalling shift.  Found the place locked after I had crossed town zig-zagging around numerous closures, but William was on hand with the grounds crew.  Bottom line,  I will be busy at dawn tomrrow.   That left me free to take care of an important mission with Her Majesty and to get the new electric bike tweaked at CoCo's.  The initial rides were good but after a few miles the rear wheel spokes seemed a bit loose.  Andrew, Matt and Peter helped me out....road tests resume tomorrow!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Ping battery is here!

UPS pkg arrived from China today.  Inside I found a 36volt 15amp-hour lithium polymer battery and a 5 amp charger which got the battery to ready state in about an hour and a half.  If I'm lucky,  I'll be testing tomorrow or wednesday.  Took a couple of pix:






Saturday, November 19, 2011

Lester Box Co.  Long Beach, CA.
This beautiful metal bldg is almost ready for final inspection.
The forklift is about to move one of the front gate panels into position.








Nephew Steve and master metalworker Karl
welding in one of the guideposts.







each piece is probably six or eight hundred pounds of welded steel.


These custom made gates just returned from powder coating.  This site is turning heads in West Long Beach.  Stay tuned for the opening.





Wednesday, November 16, 2011



     It's been a while.  I had to reconcile myself to buying a battery directly from the manufacturer in China.  Finally did so last friday.  I will be waiting for at least another week for the battery to arrive.  It is a 15ah36v lithium polymer unit which should be pretty much "state of the art".  Spent a little more time on the bike.  The fenders are plastic but they are not flimsy and I think they look good.  Got some Ritchey grips for it, too.  Still have some parts left over.  We will see how that plays out down the road.

Couldn't help adding a couple of items to the Trek.  Nephew Steve laid a computer on me so I installed it and a rack.  I really like this machine, too much time and money in it, but it fits me and rides real nice.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Not much to report,  but soon I will have a 36v15ah lipo battery from China.  We will then see how well I can get from Glendale to Long Beach without purchasing petrol.  Meantime, I did a little work on the Trek730 and installed the rack and fenders on the Fuji.  I didn't have a camera, so later for the pix.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Electric bike project-Fleury

600 watt rear wheel









rear spacing was about 20 millimeters narrow for the new rear wheel





 Simple tool for spreading the rear dropouts.








 went from 5 1/8 to about 6"spacing



Controls lay out well 







Brain box
Good first day