this is a nice touch. it uses a quick release for the stem tightening nut. on a normal bike this is an allen bolt. the quick release lets you lower the stem to make it more compact--or pull the handlebars out completely. the only problem is centering the bars when you tighten it back up!
posted by minhi @ 11:02 PM
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good picture of the rear spring, seat tube and hinge piece.
posted by minhi @ 10:39 PM
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this is a no-name chinese branded rear spring. this is one of the odd things about this bike. Typically Japanese brands take great care to use quality parts and in this case a lot of the parts are pricepoint parts. the frame is chinese made, it's steel (instead of aluminium), the seat is a fake brooks like springer model, the bmx wheels are no-name.
So it's curious what market they were aiming at with this bike. and maybe that's why i can't find anymore info, i guess customers couldn't figure it out either.
posted by minhi @ 10:38 PM
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and this is the hinge for the folding mechanism. it's a simple quick release, you unlock it and slide the pin up.
and yes, i already put an "In-N-Out" sticker on it. There are some scratches in the paint i want to cover up.
posted by minhi @ 10:00 PM
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here's a shot of the bike folded in half. the hinge is pretty simple but it feels strong and it's very easy and fast to fold the bike in half and then unfold it.
posted by minhi @ 9:59 PM
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Oh did i mention that this bike is full suspension :) Considering that it's a folder and full suspension, the 35lb curb weight is not so horrendous. There are also a few other things on it that make it so heavy. I'll get to those shortly.
posted by minhi @ 9:57 PM
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i recently bought this folding bike on ebay. It's from a company called erotic machine works--which makes for an awesome frame decal.
The only bit of info i can find is that they made bikes in the late 90's and they were based in Japan. The bike is actually very un-Japan as the build quality and parts are unremarkable.
I only paid $66 + 34 shipping for it. So for $100 i have a versatile bike that will fit in any trunk or a suit case for airplane travel.
I haven't ridden it yet, it needs a new rear derailleur, but i'll post a few pics and comments.
posted by minhi @ 9:55 PM
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Here's a shot of the lumbar area, it's the little curve in at the bottom. It must be for weight distribution because it reduces the size of the bag by a lot. You can buy strap on bags that clip into this area to give your more storage and external access to things.
posted by minhi @ 7:57 AM
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here's the bottom or back side of the bag. I think the newer versions don't have the orange padding (it's black). I kind of like the orange, you can't really see it once you wear the bag.
As you can see there is plenty of padding in the lower back. Surpringly the straps are not that padded, there are a few hook points and straps to clip things like bottles or strap on accessries on the straps.
I think they have a new accessory that lifts the bag off your back to allow for more ventilation. I can see that as a benefit in the summer when it's hot.
posted by minhi @ 2:22 PM
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Here's a profile to give you an idea of the shape, notice the hookpoint on the side. There's a number of them on the bag to allow for stretchy cord like i have here or to use the net sold by boblbee to strap down things like jackets, helmets, shoes etc.
posted by minhi @ 1:57 PM
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tighter shot of the included extras, the bag is pretty basic, basically for dirty clothes. The cell phone case is too big for most cell phones but works ok clipped to the shoulder belts. The waist strap works pretty well--boblbee sell a padded one with extra hooks (to clip things on) but i don't think it's needed.
posted by minhi @ 1:41 PM
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here's a shot of the bag with my ibook. The ibook is inside a north face laptop sleeve. I'm not sure i would do this normally, i have a neoprene case for the ibook and i think that's plenty of protection. but gives you an idea of the volume. This picture is a little misleading because there is some expansion between the outershell and the back of the bag--sort of like an accordion, so you can stuff the bag a little bit.
posted by minhi @ 3:34 PM
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I was suprised to find a few extras with the bag. A small cell phone case which you can clip onto the straps, a waist belt, a do-all strap and a gym bag were all included.
posted by minhi @ 3:29 PM
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like i said before, i'm a nut for bags. i've wanted a boblbee bag for close 10 years. Ever since they came out in 96? or 97? but they were (and still are) so expensive. They start around $130 for the smaller ones and get to over $200 for the larger ones and the executive models. And then that's before all the accessories you can get for them! padded waist straps, cargo nets, clip on bags etc, you can easily spend as much as the bag!
Even though I can now afford these bags, i still can't justify it. But then i find out that ebags.com is selling the "old" version of the megalopolis for just about 50%--well actually it was $90 - an ebags special 20% more. So after shipping i paid $82.10 and it came directly from boblbee.
So what's the difference from the "old" megalopolis and the new ones? As far as i can tell the only difference is an internal organizer. On some of the other models there's also a dedicated compartment for a laptop, but functionally they're still the same.
Now I admit i do have plenty of bags so other then the fact that I've always wanted a boblbee why did i buy this? Well I spent an afternoon walking around with my Timbuktu bag (which i've owned for 8 years) and the next day my back was killing me, even though it wasn't that full! Old age i guess.
The boblbees are famous for comfort. And it's true i spent an afternoon walking around and it is comfortable. Other side-benefits are you rarely see another one of these, most people give you wierd looks because it is pretty funny looking and you can put stickers on them!
Minuses are they don't hold all that much, about the same as a small backpack. There is only one small pocket in the top flap. The top flap clips over the mouth of the bag, so no zipper to secure it. And inside the bag there are no compartments or pockets so you have to organize things with mesh bags or no organization!
So of these things you can solve, they make bolt-on bags that clip to the outside and fit into the little curve on the back, this gives you somewhere to secure items you need quick access.
I'll post some follow up thoughts, if you want to see more, just click on the pic to go to my flicker set.
posted by minhi @ 3:25 PM
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Now underneath the mounting plate, there is rust compromising the circuit board. I think this is screwing up the camera's logic and there might be rust underneath the board.
Looking around there is also a green rust (copper oxidation?) on the ribbon cable from the LCD, not sure if the LCD is still functional, but even if it was i think there's no good data going to it.
I don't know how this camera could have been saved, i wasn't there but i have to take my sister's word that it didn't get directly wet. Oh well, it was a cheap camera--around $120 when i bought it a number of years ago but i hate throwing things away.
posted by minhi @ 8:28 PM
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Under the LCD is a metal plate that the LCD mounts to, you can see in the corner that rust has moved from the LCD frame to the mounting plate. What i don't understand is how water or moisture made it this far and then what exactly the rust is feeding off of? This plate is treated, it's not bare metal yet rust still was able to form.
The bigger problem now is that the rust on the mounting plate has migrated to the back of the plate---which is in contact with the circuit board.
posted by minhi @ 8:25 PM
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So my sister brings back my olympus camera (D-510, 2.1 megapixel a few years old) complaining that it was just beeping etc.
The last time it worked was right before a high speed speed boat trip (on the ocean) somewhere in thailand. I figured it got wet but she swore it was in it's case, in her bag. So it was dry when you took it out. Well maybe it was the humidity or sea spray, but i was surprised when i opened it up.
Opening it was easy, and then i find all this rust and corrosion around the LCD frame. There is no gasket between the outer plastic case and the edges of the LCD that you see here.
I'll dissect this picture by picture, for now notice the rust in the bottom right corner of the LCD
posted by minhi @ 8:22 PM
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and one more with it next to an old canon bag. this canon bag is typicalled used with older rangefinders like the canonet. It's a little to small for an SLR. It's the perfect size for a g3 (but nothing else) since a g3 is about the same size as a canonet--just with the extendible lens.
posted by minhi @ 8:12 PM
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here's a shot of the bag straight on, closed.
posted by minhi @ 8:10 PM
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i'm always looking for new bags for everything; bags for my computers, bags for my bikes, bags for walking around, and here bags for my camera. I wanted something small to carry cameras accessories, my camera (g3) and external flash. This bag just barely does it, and only if i take off the lensmate adaptor.
The bag itself is fantastic, i've owned bags from a lot of bag makers and crumpler makes great bags. The quality is top notch, it's extremely over built and there are small touches like hook and loop fasteners in places you need them but never expected to look for them there. Crumpler is an australian company, and their bags are on the expensive side--i think this bag is normally $50-$60 and I paid $35 from rei-outlet.com. But clearly there is value when you pick them up.
With everything in this bag it's pretty solid and all that ruggedness built in the bag empty it's still heavy :) !
posted by minhi @ 8:03 PM
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here's my current camera, and despite the size my favorite, even over a small sd500 i had access to recently. Even after 3-4 years it's still a great camera, only gripe is the poor viewfinder (still does not feel natural) and the slow auto-focus. I've been eyeing a dslr but this is till tiding me over.
yes it is gigantic with the flash on there, people freak out when they see the flash but it is totally worth it. The internal flash on these class of camera's are horrible. A dedicated flash makes a huge difference, the ability to bounce the flash off the ceiling is great for indoors stuff. You can make a dark photo much more natural looking. And with an index card you can adjust the fill for straight on shots.
Fast recycle times, and i picked it up for $140 as an open box item from B&H Photo.
Now my problem is fitting everything into a bag (more on that in next post).
posted by minhi @ 8:49 PM
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