THE CANADA BIKE

This photo was taken in Calgary,in Kensington.It is called THE CANADA BIKE...
and I remember it was invented for year-round riding, and deliveries.
I found one to fix up here in Vernon... there have been some improvements in the years since.

THE REVERSE TRIKE EFFECT

I have enjoyed this bike for about 5 years now-riding year-round. It is called a "reverse" tricycle because it has only one wheel in the rear, and two in the front. I tried the typical Trike and I can tell you that they are definetly un-ridable in even slightly slippery conditions. This is because only one of the rear wheels is being driven by the chain, and therefore it has only half the tractiont..and even less when the trike wiggles from side to side..so it just slips all the time. And when one gets off to push, the rear wheel bumps on your legs as you push up the hill that you couldn't ride up either!
The two wheels in front and the driving wheel in the rear completely changes this-it becomes like a snow mobile withFANTASTIC traction- I find it less slippery than walking.
And you can carry lots of stuff, and the trike doesn't fall over when you get off. no hassles with stands. It will also pull a trailer easily. Going up a hill is easier than on two wheels- because you can go slow and won't fall over.
www.feetz.nl is a company that makes a folding one that could go right into a store like a shopping cart- or stroller.
I am trying to find a way to test ride one of those ones.
Years ago in 1972 someone invented one in Calgary and called it "The Canada Bike", for winter /year round riding...it took me 30 years to understand that by having the experience myself. I wish I could just give these away to folks around town...

Category Archive for ‘Blogs’ at Sweetpea Bicycles

BICYCLE LOVE-NO HELMETS!

this picture fits in the previous page...

This is the front of the kilni I loaded well up into the area where the stokes land, and some pieces were...pieces!
However, some had some interesting heat cracks and fine color- but mostly on the undersides-not the ash covered tops!














Everything out now,under the tent














people have already taken some work home..
and so again I do not have a record of all that happened
- nor did I" add up" how many pieces were in there!
Which doesn't really matter to me, but people always ask and I don't know.
I don't know how large the interior is either- it is a catenary to calculate- if you know let me in on it!











unfortuneatly I did not get the tent taken down before the snow ..
. and so it waits till the spring to be straightened up again.

after firing , Steves pots are made of a dark clay














Isaos teapot on left , some of reg's cone 6 laguna sculptures on the right














after firing, the plate on top came out well,
it was wadded against the shelf














this was the front of the kiln,
see the ash line from the previous firing on the floor

after firing- cones 89 and 10 still standing














before firing , I am packing tighter now














after, cone 9 down















the next - a refire of Jims' jug

These are the before and after pictures of the Anagama firing
from the Thanksgiving weekend firing last year. It had been
16 years since the last firing! I took 4 days to load, with Kai glazing and
passing pots to me.
My knees were killin' me! Next time I plan to build a mock-up of the kiln interior
so that I can pre-plan the load by putting the work on wood shelves outside the
actual kiln, allowing time to think about it all... and get things placed better so that
the actual loading would go quicker I think.

At the back of the kiln a shelf stands on a single brick,
wedging against the kiln walls.
The pots are placed on shells that are filled with wadding.
some of Kais' tiles are on the floor, and Isaos' pots standing.
Some of these have Dons' ashes wedged into the clay.
It fires cooler back here- there are some mountain clay
pots here,and some shino that may fire blue.
After firing, ther are some blues,
although they weren't hot enough really...
and are too rough.
Before firing, we tried some straw from Michelles pampas grass...
it was a bit messy, should have been trimmed says Rikio.
It felt like I was not filling the space well,
just getting the hang of it again.

Dag

Here's Dag shovelling the driveway

snow shooing

After not being able to get to the cabin for awhile... I finally got the car from the shop and went up, just before the snow gets real heavy with a warm spell January 6 .
The tent at the kiln was half collapsed- but I was able to get Isaos' teapot out and save it for a refire in April. That's the plan sam, three months to pot up a load.
Dag was shovelling the driveway down between the two forks..enjoying the snow gym.
The snow going up was over my knees,but at the cabin I found my snow shoes and poles and with them on...it was till just below my knees- but even then it was easier to hike back down. I was tired from the hike, and didn't bother to shovel any of the white stuff... I wish I had of got up there sooner and taken the tarps off.
I am cleaning up the studio- I have to just put pots away as I have no room to even look at it in there- in spring I will set up tables outside and see what I have.

ICE POTTERY

It' s a New Year and I woke up thinking about all the things I half done, and then what I half to do I guess...

My latest Ice lantern style is to use ...(here comes the secret) balloons for molds. Nice big ones from the party stores-or dollar stores, where I found some 4 foot diameter ones which I may give a go in the next big chill.

Minus 10 is nice -it makes the cold more intetesting..