As I look forward to having more time to pursue MY interests, and consider what I want to do with MY time, I thought it would be fun to share these interests with others. I am an engineer by trade and have always enjoyed designing a better mousetrap, or understanding the details behind a design. I tend to have a wide range of interests and when I land on one I concentrate on it for some time, digging in and exploring, learning all I can about that subject, sometimes to the point that I am consumed with the subject. I eventually discover something about the subject that I think is lacking or can be improved upon and then I take off and build, test, and develop that better mouse trap. All are learning experiences, some are failures, but for many I think I made a contribution to the subject.
This website is a chronicle of those contributions. The subjects cover a broad spectrum and it would be rare to find someone that is an enthusiast for all of these subjects. But there are enough nerds, gearheads, geeks, roadies, cyclists, stargazers, etc., that some will eventually find their way to this site and find something to further their passion.
I'll use this blog to touch on the various subjects in the website, giving the background as to how I became interested in them and what I hoped to contribute.
I wanted to start the site with the bicycle frame couplings (BFCs). Ed, a cycling buddy of mine, bought a Ritchey BreakawayTM bike and took it to Europe and around the world. I was frustrated at not being able to find any off-the shelf couplings to convert my old Peugeot steel frame into a travel bike like Ed's. I looked at the design of the Ritchey couplings. I thought they were a pretty straightforward design, discovered that you could purchase the Ritchey coupling clamps, and so dug in and built my own couplings. I was so pleased with the finished bike (which I travel with extensively) that I decided to offer these couplings to other backyard bicycle builders. These couplings fit within my philosophy of what is worth sharing: 1) They fill a gap (no one else was offering BFCs to the public), 2) They are an elegant design (esthetically pleasing, light weight, functional, and economical), and 3) I'm proud to put my name on them. I'd love to see these BFCs on bikes around the world. So I will launch this site when I get my BFC section complete and ready for public view.
I am not a web designer, but Matt, a friend of mine, is. He guided me to Weebly to build my site and I am pretty thrilled with the results. Some of the editing tools don't work the way my mechanical background would dictate but it seems to be a nice tool and pretty versatile.
So in summary this site contains contributions I am proud of. If you find them useful please let me know. If you use them and see a way to improve them, please share. If you have made similar contributions then I really want to hear from you. Enjoy………..
Al James 150629
This website is a chronicle of those contributions. The subjects cover a broad spectrum and it would be rare to find someone that is an enthusiast for all of these subjects. But there are enough nerds, gearheads, geeks, roadies, cyclists, stargazers, etc., that some will eventually find their way to this site and find something to further their passion.
I'll use this blog to touch on the various subjects in the website, giving the background as to how I became interested in them and what I hoped to contribute.
I wanted to start the site with the bicycle frame couplings (BFCs). Ed, a cycling buddy of mine, bought a Ritchey BreakawayTM bike and took it to Europe and around the world. I was frustrated at not being able to find any off-the shelf couplings to convert my old Peugeot steel frame into a travel bike like Ed's. I looked at the design of the Ritchey couplings. I thought they were a pretty straightforward design, discovered that you could purchase the Ritchey coupling clamps, and so dug in and built my own couplings. I was so pleased with the finished bike (which I travel with extensively) that I decided to offer these couplings to other backyard bicycle builders. These couplings fit within my philosophy of what is worth sharing: 1) They fill a gap (no one else was offering BFCs to the public), 2) They are an elegant design (esthetically pleasing, light weight, functional, and economical), and 3) I'm proud to put my name on them. I'd love to see these BFCs on bikes around the world. So I will launch this site when I get my BFC section complete and ready for public view.
I am not a web designer, but Matt, a friend of mine, is. He guided me to Weebly to build my site and I am pretty thrilled with the results. Some of the editing tools don't work the way my mechanical background would dictate but it seems to be a nice tool and pretty versatile.
So in summary this site contains contributions I am proud of. If you find them useful please let me know. If you use them and see a way to improve them, please share. If you have made similar contributions then I really want to hear from you. Enjoy………..
Al James 150629