About A Toy.

Ok, so there's two posts today. I'm bored, you see. And this is as good a time to document my life as any. After all, I'm Still Not Yet Dead (TM).

I realised the other day while talking abt my bike to David, that all my toys have 2 things in common: wheels, and suspension.

I'm going to talk about all my toys in the sequence that I acquired them.


Toblerone

The first one. I've always wanted an off-roading radio-controlled car. And was too poor to afford one when I was a kid.







Named Toblerone because it ran smooth as chocolate. Tobs is a Team Losi Mini-T Stadium Truck, scale 1:18th. It runs 280 brushed/brushless motors and 2/3rdAA battery packs on an AM radio and it's a 2-wheel drive.

Features out of the box included independant swingarm friction coil suspension, a two in one electronics unit, the ability to run off 4 AA batteries, and a 2 channel AM radio.

Tobs has had several upgrades:

3Racing Aluminium Coil over Oil Shocks
3Racing SSG Carbon Fibre double-deck chassis.
3Racing SSG Bulkhead Reinforcer.
3Racing Titanium Turnbuckles.
3Racing Alloy Bulkhead.
Full ball-bearings upgrade.
Tamiya TEU-01 Electronic Speed Control and a Hitec AM Receiver.
Hitec HS-55 Feather Servo.
Nosram 6-cell 7.2 volts battery packs.
Topcad 5-spoke alloy wheels with tires.
Team Losi yellow plastic rims with Mini-Smashers tires (2 sets)
Team Losi Ball Differential (uninstalled)
Team Losi Volkswagen Baja Bug body (unpainted & unmounted).
GPM Alloy ball studs & ball-cup rods. (installed 2).
Numerous original spares (steering block, swingarms, etc, body extension posts, body clips, etc).

To date, I've worn out one set of rear tires, and burnt out 4 motors, broken 2 bulkheads and destroyed 5 steering servoes.

The sheer amount of breakage makes this thing a money pit.
But I love it loads. Wonder what it's worth now. I reckon I must have spent close to $600 on the entire truck.

He's been run in the rain, in fine sand, in leafy underbrush, and on slippery wet tiles. The best thing about him?

He's fast like a rat on fire. He's a miniature missile, a pocket rocket.

And he's in traction right now, because I've burned up yet another motor. Need to get a new one. Probably from HPI, the same one used in the Jack the MiniZilla.



Maurice/Herbs

This cute little fellow is a Kyosho Mini-Z Monster 20th Anniversary Edition, 2-wheel drive, 1:28 scale. Features out of the box included:

Kyosho Blue vinyl wheel nuts
Single Axle Suspension, sprung with Kyosho Coil over Oil Shocks.
KO Propo 2 channel AM Radio
Kyosho X-Speed 180 motor.
Fully Ball-raced.

When he's wearing this yellow beetle body (custom-made and shipped from the States), he's named Herbs.




This is the original silver Twin-Force body that came on the Anniversary edition. I call that Maurice.



I also added a set of night-driving lights from Hong Kong. They have:

- 1 blue pilot lamp that blinks fast when being driven, slower when stopped, and then turns off after 15 seconds of inactivity.

- 2 white LEDS and 2 amber LEDS in front,

- 2 red LEDs for the rear which work just like regular brake lights on a car :D




Upgrade history for Maurice/Herbs:

VW Beetle Bug body.
Topcad alloy 5 spoke rims.
GPM Alloy fore and aft shock mounts.
GPM 0 degree alloy front knuckles.
Atomic elastic coated antennae (orange).
3-layer FET stack.

Currently broken: Front chassis steering pod, Steering Rod, rear bumper/wheelie bar, battery clips.



The Monster was the most expensive out of the box, but parts are also cheaper and broke less. I reckon I must have spent about 600 dollars on it too.

Pricey little bugger. Because he was so tiny, I never let him out of the house. He's a house-monster.

Check out the articulation on him. I like to do jumps and stunts, hence the broken bits.




My Mini-Xs

These used to be named Herbs coz they came with a New Beetle body. But then I bought a new body and Herbs didn't make sense.

The Mini-Xs were the cheapest of the lot. I actually bought two, after I burned out the motor on the first one.








Features:





Upgrades:
Tamiya 1:24 BMW Z3 model kit (body shell replacement)

Total cost to date: $200

The best fun to have with the Mini-X is to drift it around the house, Initial-D style. Awesome. They run really fast too.

That covers the trucks and cars.


Cuba

It always starts like this. I buy a cheap toy and end up buying more expensive versions.

Cuba isn't the first tank I had. The first one had no name because it got broken in rather a hurry and I didn't have time to feel attached to it.

Cuba was a pickup at a toy store, and for 39.90, it had independant rubber tracks left and right, AM radio, and built-in sound, plus the turret swivels and the tank has to be started (ignition) by pressing the 'ignition' button.




The genius of the tank is that it allowed me to go over terrain previously impossible with my 2-wheel drive trucks and cars. And with a wireless camera mounted on it, my exploring joy finally knew no bounds.



Here's a view of what you'll see.



The only upgrade was to replace the original antennae with a longer one, which extended its range.

Currently Cuba doesn't run well if at all. I must have put it through more than 60 hours of running. Depending on your luck, he'll start up.

Don't count on it.


Hoagie.

With the demise of Cuba, I began to wonder what the logical limits could be for a moving camera platform. Suspension would let it travel over more terrain. Soon, I picked this up on Yahoo Auctions.

Hoagie, as I would call it, was a Marui Tiger.

The awesome thing about Hoagie, was that while it had fully working suspension via coil springs, a super-detailed model quality construction, and detailed plastic tracks, overlapping wheels with rubber rims, turret traverse, gun tilt and an aluminium barrel -- all great stuff, Marui is a collector's item in Japan -- the turret also contained a self-powered spring piston air-gun.

Yes, an air-gun. The thing shoots 6mm pellets out of its aluminium barrel, and it shoots them *hard*.

This was the most awesome thing since sliced bread. I immediately had thoughts on how I would make it even awesomer, as is my nature.












After thinking about it for a while, I decided to swap out the tank's electronics. It did not have proportational control, which made targetting with the tank gun pretty much hit and miss.

I needed better. I need 6 channels, 2 for propulsion, 1 for turret traverse, 1 for gun tilt, 1 to fire the gun, and 1 more for auxliary (read: for this channel, anything goes, from power saws to shovel blades to even a 2nd gun! the only limit is your imagination).

So I went and ordered a couple of IC controller boards designed for amatuer robotics.

I must have spent $250 dollars on these boards:



Each board had 2 channels main plus one auxiliary, giving a maximum of 6 channels.

Swapping out the electronics was easy.



I also purchased a Hitec Optic 6 6-channel FM radio and a micro FM receiver, and patched the battery compartment to the crystal socket so that I can recharge the batteries without having to take them out.





Did the idea work?

Hell yea. I sold my wireless camera, bought a new one (this one is smaller and comes with a sound channel). I was plinking army men and soft drink cans with abandon.

Driving around with a wireless camera is a lot like playing an Xbox simulation, only more fun.


In fact, fun and games went on all year round. Until someone lost an eye.

No actually, what happened was, I fired the gun so much, I stripped a gear in the firing mechanism. And just like that, Hoagie was dead to me.

Presently he sits on the desk with his innards all over the place. Until I can get a replacement gun mech, that's where he's staying. I'm aiming for December.


Hero

I got Hero to replace Hoagie. Hero is a VSTank Abrams.






The only upgrade thus far was plastic treads. I actually prefer rubber treads but they stressed out the drivetrain.

So much so, that I have stripped some gears inside.

It's time to replace the motor pod.

Ever notice how things keep breaking? Thank goodness spares are available.


I have great plans for Hero. I bought some ultra bright white LEDs AND infra-red LEDs. My plan is to mount a laser pointer on the gun, so that I can have laser targetting :P. And use the LEDs to make an FLIR (Forward Looking Infrare Red) optics system, all turned on and off by the 6th unused channel.

And a couple of proximity sensors back and front to detect edges.

Think of it. A laser-targeted, FLIR enabled, full suspensioned, 6mm remote mobile gun platform. And then the plan was to buy some ICs and program a self-roving robot that would shoot at laser-designated targets.

Watch out, cats.


How much will I be able to sell Hero for? My estimate places it near $700.

Thereabouts.

More when the modifications are complete.

Jack

"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack go under limbo-stick..."

Jack is my last purchase.



Jack is a HPI 1:18th MiniZilla, with 4-wheel drive, friction coil shocks and a Twin Vertical Plate (TVP) chassis.

There are absolutely NO upgrades. None. Zip.

I am too broke from maintaining the rest. I want an extended chassis TVPs and aluminium oil shocks upgrade though.

Bouncy little fellow. Also a house-truck at the moment.

Runs on the same batts as Tobs, so save a bunch on batteries.

This is what Jack aspires to be when he grows up:




The Rest

My other toys.

I play a lot of tennis. Tennis + bike + ipod makes my world go round.




And my dragon of course. Named him William, after William Blake. The girl's named Helen.




Racket is named Natasha. (russian players so hot.)

I like naming things.


Thus concludes the taking stock of life. I'm tired.

Oh yea, this is me playing with my toys.







I'm out of here.

Who ate 9?

Seven.

Because 7 8 9.

That was supposed to be a joke about my missing seatpost.

Now that the mandatory bad joke is out of the way, I want to say that I almost had an orgasm at Bukit Timah today. I got up early to have breakfast and then cycled on down to Bt Timah.

The hill was wet today, and as usual my semi-slicks refused to grip at a couple of the toughest steepest slopes.

Maybe I should shift to a bigger cog at those slopes so there's less torque and the contact patch will grip better.

I am happy to say that the inverted stem works wonders. I can actually climb all these slopes now with the ability to put more weight over the front.

I won't have to buy a new stem. Happiness. More money for a new wheelset, in other words. (ker-ching!).


Heck, even T15 was a joy this time around. I found myself doing bunnyhops off half-foot drops on the way *downhill*. And I managed to *bunny-hop* over a fallen tree.

Riders, know your limits. Don't try this at home.


I could never have done that on the old Moose-stang.


The Rockshox forks are really dialed in now and plush. I had to stop grinning so as not to eat those hovering gnats mid-trail. If you have always rode with rigid forks, you'll be amazed at what good suspension can do for your ride.

It was AWESOME. My hands didn't go numb (but that could be because of the inverted stem.) I was going so fast down the slopes I didn't care how much dirt I was eating.





Imagine the crud up my ass and back:






On the way to the Zoo, you have to carry your bike over a padlocked gate/fence.








How do people with full-suspension rigs do this?


In other news, I weighed my bike last night. Here's how you do it.

Find a pair of scales. Weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself carrying the bike, and subtract your weight from it.


The Moose-stang weighs a total of 12 kilos, or about 26 pounds, no thanks to the fat Tora fork.

Which also makes it an all-mountain bike, as described by Mountain Bike Action. Mountain Bike Action: The 5 types of mountain bikes


See any similarity between the frame geometry?







If I can shave about 3 pounds more off, it'll be a cross-country bike. New wheel-set! (ker-ching!)


Particularly muddy today. Satisfaction.

Last pics.








It was a great day.

I've always wanted to build a house along Mandai Road and live there.

I Miss My Fenders.

Q: What's reddish, smells like a fish, and you can hang it on a wall?

A: A red herring.

I'm pretty proud of this one. I don't normally write jokes but I can come up with some spontaneously. Like this one:


Once there was a yellow duck, a white duck and a brown duck waddling down a road. Suddenly a huge truck appeared from behind and barrelled towards them.

The yellow duck spotted a puddle, jumped in, and dived to safety.

The white duck took a mighty leap and flapped out of harm's way.

What did the brown duck do?

If you really need me to tell you the answer, drop me an email. filmlab*hotmail.com




It rained again today.


For best results: Wash in cold water separately, hang dry and iron with warm iron. For not so good results: Drag behind car through puddles, blow-dry on roofrack.

—Instructions on a Korean-made shirt

I awoke early today. I just had a nagging feeling that it was going to rain. And sure enough the sky was grumbling, like a chihuahua at a Taco Bell picnic sponsored by Dr Pepper.

I grabbed my towel, showered, brushed teeth and was out of the house in 10 minutes. Going out, dad said, you should bring your raincoat, but I was determined to beat the rain.

5 minutes later it started to drip. I had barely gone 300 meters. Turning back was not an option. So I stopped at a bus stop when it seemed like I would get drenched.

It turned out to be an hour-long wait. And when the rain got light enough to ride, I was spraying water up my ass and into my chin.

Because I have no fenders.

If you're thinking of commuting to work on your bike, seriously, fenders are worth it. Maybe I'll look for some that can be clipped and unclipped fast.


Why I was Eager To Ride

Last night, I did like I said I would. Inverted the stem. Took off the bar ends. Damn if it didn't feel like a whole new bike with the new handlebar geometry. I could even do bunny hops properly, and do a proper launch off a drop to land on both wheels flat.





Doesn't he look sharp? What a racer.

When I got home, I stripped the bike down even more. Took off the compass mount, the bell, the bottle cage, the topeak toolkit, and the rear reflector that I was never sure worked anyway.

All in, I must have shaved around 1kg off the bike.

I can't wait for my bike alarm to arrive.

If it doesn't rain, I think I'm going to do a spot of tennis later.

Alaska Is A State Of Mind.

The Volkswagen Moose-stang is a 1-person vehicle designed to take on the untamed terrain of the Alaskan wilderness. The blue is a reflection of the Alaskan Riviera, home to good hunting, great fishing, and the occasional elk. (I'd mention moose-burgers but I don't want to frighten the poor bike.)

Lately, I have been thinking of shucking the 'Stang's antlers (bar-ends), changing out the stem for a negative/zero rise (black, naturally) and making it an out and out race machine.



The stickers are what gave me the idea.

More Stang than Moose, in other words. Stay tuned on what happens next. If it does happen, this bike will truly nearly seen every mode of MTB possible: touring, commuting, road, off-road, and race. Free-ride? Urban assault? 4X? Dirt jumps? Downhill?

Just give it time.

The tubes are not gusseted but I only weigh 145 pounds at the moment. And if it breaks, it breaks. 10 years is a long time for a frame.

In other news, I clocked 2000 kilometers today, 1000 since 2nd June 06, which makes it 1000 km in 40 days.




Not a lot, but if I were riding across the island, I would have crossed it back and forth roughly about about 14 times.

Who has time?

Here's a random thought or two. I want to ride in a place where there's snow. I want to skid on ice. I want to cruise in Japan, crunch gravel in France and battle traffic in Paris. And I want to ride in the real Alaska.

Ok so that was 6 thoughts.

Time flies. Swat them.

Q: How long is a New York minute?

A: Approximately the amount of time it takes after the light turns green, and before a car behind starts honking at you.

I'm feeling blue today.

It doesn't help that I woke up and the sky was raining puppies and kittens. Taking the train to work is now de riguer when it rains since I upgraded my fork and brakes and besides, visibility is near zero even in a big stinkin' yellow raincoat.

I felt blue yesterday too, even though I rode in to work.

Why so blue?

Blogging cheered me up some.

I guess I don't know where I'm going.

But they do say that, when you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

I changed out the soil from Bishop. The plant has been doing poorly, but it is still not yet dead.






Just like me.

I Am Still Not Yet Dead.

Part I

Ok, so what happened was, the weekend after the last post, I went riding up Bukit Timah hill, full of delirious joy derived from my new-found passion for off-roading.

On the way up, I saw a monkey hump another monkey. And just like that, I knew my day was going to be good.

Here, two monkeys enjoy post-coital bliss:



Ah... sweet, sweet, monkey love. Not content to leave a tender moment alone, one of the monkeys then lit up a cigarette and made heart-shaped smoke rings.

Monkeys do weird shit like that. One time I went with my gf to the Zoo and we saw a monkey wank and then eat its own yahoo. Gross, but f'in funny, wot?

ANYWAY, tremendously cheered on by the unexpected monkey porn, I went on to attack the trail. I was pretty sure I wouldn't break anything.


Then shit happened, as shit often does when I'm in the grip of some new passion.








No amount of overhauling in the Kitchen was going to save that. Bt Timah 1, Moose-stang 0. I completed the ride, sans fenders.

I then rode to work for a week without the fenders and the rear rack, and felt free as a bird. Damn, that rack must've surely weighed a couple of kilos.

In other news, I got my monthly allowance and gleefully splurged on some new bike stuff.

Actually, a lot of stuff.





Oops, wrong picture. Poor Pikachu has to support my handphone charger coz, its kinda loose. Anyhoo, new stuff.



I love my bell. You cannot imagine how useful it is when you're trying to ride through Serangoon Road (also known as Little India). In summary, a new bell, new lights aft and fore, and a toolkit I can actually use (loves it).

And one more yahoo:




Beauty, ain't she? Blooming beautiful.

Yes, still no helmet yet.


Part II.

Apparently, my forks were crummy.

At least that's what I convinced myself of. After losing the fenders and the rack, I was sure that the 'Stang is one hell of an off-road machine.

Yet more remained to be done.

Like a typical male moron with too much pocket money, I started shopping around for a new pair of forks that would let me go flat out on a descent, skull, collarbones and ribs be damned.

Let me cut a long story short.



Bye bye, loyal Quadras. I never knew your model number. I shall keep you for a 2nd bike.



And don't worry, my lovely steed. I'm not cutting them off for good. I'm just giving you new legs.



Hello Tora. You look gorgeous. Is that.. is that a U-Turn on your shoulders? 80mm to 130mm travel on the fly? That's hot... And oh my... that looks like Motion Control damping with a lockout knob on your other shoulder. Sexy. And... external rebound adjustment? You make me go 'fwah', Tora. I want to marry you and make many baby Toras together.

Rumour has it that I'm in love with my bike. Tell no one.






Gorgeous, wot? They're a little porky though, but that adds to stiffness. The Quads, they loved to flex. And the geometry of my frame is somewhat changed, but still ok, though not at full travel (130mm!)



Just need to change out the stem (ker-ching!).

And I need to increase my rebound rate the next time I attempt Bt Timah, not quite the plushy heaven yet till I break them in.

Moose-stang loves his new legs.




Part III

The weekend after I got them new legs, me and the 'Stang took a ride out to the Zoo by way of Bt Timah and T15. Yea, home of the famous masturbating monkey.




Along the way, a couple of German dudes helped me carry the 'Stang over the fence and scratched me forks.

Was I cheesed off?

Yea. But not in a big way.

Because, my friend, that's what stickers are for.

I bought Mountain Bike UK magazine and got me a boatload of stickers. I love stickers. I feel like I'm 8 again. I remember when I was 22 and one of my university coursemates saw the 'Stang and said, "That's like something I would have gotten when I was 12." I hear ya. Ya-huh.

Anyway I got pretty drunk when I bought the magazine and hence the bike now looks like it rode through a sticker storm.

Here are the results.


This one here covers up the scratches on the right lower leg. Yep, I love this one the most.






This one covers up cable scratches on the frame. Works a treat in protecting it from more scratches too.



You ain't seeing the rest yet, coz then you'll think I'm demented. Honestly, there's not a lot of blue left on the frame.










I also placed an order for a bike alarm (ker-ching!).


Ducharme Bicycle Alarm. Advanced technology for people who love their bikes a little too much.


Like who'll want to steal this piece of junk anyway? I'll post a review when I get the shipment.




And I finally cleaned up, waxed and oiled the bike.






That's all. I'm getting bored. Why can't they do drag and drop for uploading pics into a blog?



Doesn't it look like a war horse? Now to get some body armour and some long, bladed weapons (ker-ching!).


Seacrest, OUT!