The gift that keeps on giving

When I was building frames in Southern California in the 1980s, I could not foresee there would be a future with the Internet and social media.

Therefore, as I built frames and stamped a serial number on them, sent them off to the bicycle dealer, unless those frames came back for repair or a repaint, I never expected to see them, or hear about them again.

There was never a second thought that I might be corresponding people about these very same frames thirty or even forty years down the road. Who could even imagine what the future will hold that many years ahead?

When I stop and think about what has happened, I am both amazed and at the same time humbled that I find myself spending much of my time corresponding with people, either directly, or though this blog and social media.

My online presence started in 2003, ten years after I left the bike business. I had written a novel, Prodigal Child, and created a website to promote the book. People started to write to me asking, “Are you the Dave Moulton who used to build bikes?”

People started sending pictures of their bikes, and I opened a bicycle section on the book website to post these pictures. This bike section grew, and I found myself somewhat “Dragged” back into the bike thing.

Two years later in 2005 I began this “Bike Blog.” Three years on in 2008 I quit writing for reasons I outlined in this post, “The Party’s Over.” The post received 88 comments, probably my highest score ever. It was mostly an outpouring of kindness, and thanks for what I had written.

Quitting was a huge mistake. I lost a huge following, one that I will probably never see again. Six months later I was back when a group of bike enthusiasts, (Some of which I had never met.) got together and presented me with a “Tribute Bike.”

I was so touched that I had to at least write about it. Once more I was “Dragged” back, but this time with a new resolve never to quit again.

It is still difficult to come up with fresh and interesting stuff each week, but I look on it as exercise for my brain, which as I age, is just as important as physical exercise.

When I started out building bike frames, I was trying to build a better bike for myself. I achieved that goal, then set about building frames across the entire range of sizes, even though I could never test ride most of the larger sizes myself.

However, feedback from people who rode my bikes told me I was on the right track. I often went against what was fashionable and stuck with what I believed was right.

I remember turning down an order for 10 track frames in 1975. The order was from the Canadian Olympic Team. It was lucrative and would have carried a lot of prestige.

The problem was the team coach, sent drawings for each frame and insisted I build to the exact specs. I could have built the frames and took the money, but I would have hated it knowing that I could have built something better.

The same happened when I resumed building custom frames in California in 1982, some thought “Custom” meant building to their specs. I always said “No.” Had I built the frame, and they later sold it, it had my name on it, and it was my reputation at stake.

I went for consistency, every frame I built will ride, handle, go around corners, and feel stable on fast descents. People constantly tell me, “This is my favorite bike, my go to ride.”

And that for me is the gift that keeps on giving.

AKG, AAKG, and my Parkinson’s

It has been six years since I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. (PD.) I am fortunate that the progression of the disease has been slow, and I like to think that this is largely due to my paying attention to my diet, exercise, and certain supplements I take on a regular basis.

The only medication I take is the very basic Levodopa/Carbidopa that has been around since the 1930s. It is relatively inexpensive compared to the latest treatments, probably contains more natural ingredients, and has less side effects. I also take a natural supplement, Dopa Mucuna which is a plant-based form of Dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that the body normally produces naturally, but sometimes as we age the body stops producing dopamine, which is the cause of Parkinson’s. Unfortunately, one cannot simply take a pill to replace the dopamine.

Most of what we take orally, never makes it past the gut and our digestive system, let alone make it to the brain where it is needed. It is better we exercise, eat healthy, and encourage the body to take care of itself.

In 2017 I started taking AKG and AAKG, supplements that are relatively safe, and are used by body builders to improve muscle mass, and endurance. At some point around 2019 I stopped taking it, I guess I felt there was no benefit.

About six months ago I came across a container of left-over AKG capsules. The expiration date was still good, so rather than throw them away, I decided to take them. This coincided with a disturbing development with my PD.

The only adverse effect with my PD up to that point was a tremor in my right hand, and the medication and supplements seemed to be taking care of that. This new development was in my facial muscles, my mouth would make involuntary movements, and my jaw would lock. This was somewhat painful and made it difficult to speak.

However, after about a week of taking the AKG capsules, I began to see an improvement. My wife even noticed and asked. “What are you doing different?” I got back with the manufacturers named “Simplesa,” and found that since 2019 they had improved the “Protocol” to include:·       

• ·         AKG,
• ·         AAKG,
• ·         Ubiquinol,
• ·         GABA,
• ·         Niacin.

Linked to the above list are articles explaining each of these ingredients. You can also do your own search, there are plenty of reliable online resources.

I eat a plant-based diet, I have not eaten meat since 2017. Fish, cheese, milk and eggs are my main source of protein. I eat a lot of fruit and green vegetables. I find as I grow older, I can get by on less food. I eat only twice a day, breakfast around 9 am. or 10 am. Evening meal is usually done by 6 or 7 pm.

This means I am effectively fasting 14 hours a day from 7 at night to 9 in the morning. This means my gut and digestive system gets a break each day.

I do not ride my bike as much as I used to, now I am in my eighties I am concerned with falling. I walk regularly, at a brisk pace for an hour or so. So far the Parkinson’s has not affected my walking. There are some nature trails near where I live, that are hilly and quite challenging. I also have a weight machine at home and do weights every other day.

As usual I must point out that I am not qualified to give medical advice, but I am simply stating what I have found to work for me. I know the Simplesa Protocol is working. I take three doses a day at six-hour intervals, and if I get off schedule, or miss a dose, I soon feel the facial seizures returning.

If you or someone you know has PD or possibly some other neurological condition, I hope you may find this useful. The human body is a wondrous thing, and for the most part will heal itself, but you must give it a fighting chance to do so.

Believing half of what you see

My mother always told me. “Believe nothing of what you hear or read, and only half of what you see.” In this age of fake news and half truths I find that sound advice.

Just this week the Sun Newspaper reported a US Government 1,500 page inquiry. An excerpt from the article states:

One document included in an Acquisition Threat Support report, sets out how to categorize "anomalous behavior" - with encounters with "ghosts, yetis, spirits, elves and other mythical/ legendary entities" classed as "AN3".

Seeing a UFO with aliens on board would be "CE3".

Poltergeists, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, alien abductions, and other paranormal events are also categorized.

Studies into advanced technologies such as invisibility cloaks and mind-controlled robots are also included in the document cache.

The Sun is a British newspaper that now has a US edition. The term “Newspaper” should be taken lightly as it implies this is a publication with actual “News,” when it is along the same lines as “The National Enquirer” familiar in America for outrageous stories that most read for entertainment value rather than a legitimate news source.

I have never had an encounter with Ghosts, Goblins, or Creatures from another Planet, but I try to keep an open mind about those who have. When all is said and done, who am I to doubt what someone sees, or think the see? It is their experience not mine.

Let me share with you an experience I did have around 1992 or 1993. I do not usually retell this story but do so now to illustrate a point. My framebuilding business was winding down, my marriage was over, and I was searching to find myself, and decide what course my life was about to take.

One weekend I drove to Sedona, Arizona, turned off the highway and followed a dirt road about 12 miles into the desert. I parked the car and walked towards one of those rock formations that rise from the desert floor like some kind of monument.

As I approached this rock, I saw a pure white cougar climbing what appeared to be a natural pathway that led like stairs to the top. I ran towards it and followed, and the cougar kept stopping and looking back as if it was waiting for me.

When I reached the top, I became scared for the first time. I was following a wild animal and I could no longer see where it was. I pressed on cautiously, to the flat top of this rock formation. The cougar was gone, nowhere in sight.

I stood and took in the view. There was a silence that I can only describe as “Intense.” I slowly turned and I could see a complete 360 degrees and I every direction there was just desert, pure nature, not a single thing was man made. Even my car was parked out of sight beyond the rim of this rock.

I am not sure what happened that day, but it was truly a “Life Changing” experience. I began to see my true self for the first time, and my relationship to everything else. However, when I returned home and retold the story, I was met with anything from skepticism, to outright ridicule.

“Maybe it was a white feral cat you saw, and it was closer than you think.” Was a suggestion that was put forward, but I know what I saw. I soon stopped telling of my experience for fear I would be labeled a “Crazy” person. Also, this was “My” experience whether it was real, or I imagined the whole thing. I did not need to share it with others.

Soon after this I left the bike business and l later moved to Eugene, Oregon. It was several years after this incident, I met, and became friends with a Native American, from a local Oregon Tribe. One day I told him this story of the white cougar, and he said, “That was your Spirit Animal.”

He explained that when a Native American man reached a certain age a pure white animal or bird will appear and lead that person to a place where he connects with the “Great Spirit.” This statement just blew me away because at the time of this incident in the early 1990s, I had had no exposure to Native American culture, that this Idea could have been placed in my subconscious.

It matters not one bit to me what people think, if they think this story real or not. It is real to me, and more important it was “Life Changing.” Sadly. anyone having a similar encounter today would be so intent on capturing the whole incident on video that they would not have the final outcome that I gained from the experience.

I am not expecting that by reading this story, it will be “Life Changing” for you. The best I can hope for is that you have been entertained and have been given food for thought.

The whole point I am trying to make is that my own encounter with the White Cougar is no different from a meeting with Big Foot, or Aliens from another Planet. The big difference is this encounter happened just once thirty years ago. I do not have these encounters on a daily or weekly basis.

Therefore,I am not writing about these experiences continually, thus adding to the shit-pile of fake news and conspiracy theories.

Brass vs Silver

Joining metal by brazing became the method of choice when the bicycle was invented in the late 1800s. Early bicycle lugs were in fact pipe fittings, but greater strength was needed, so brass was used instead of lead base solder.

Soldering and brazing are pretty much the same process, flux is required to allow the solder or brazing material to flow. The difference is the melting temperature of the different materials.

Soldering takes place at 427 degrees centigrade and below. Brazing between 593 and 895 degrees centigrade. Different sources will give a slightly different range, but as silver and brass will both melt within the range for brazing, that is the correct term. Brass brazing or silver brazing,

Silver is often known as Silver Solder, but strictly speaking it is not soldering because the melting temperature is above 427 degrees. Silver brazing rods come in soft, medium and hard, the soft being at the low end of the temperature range, progressing to a higher melting point for the medium and hard.

Silver is more expensive as it is for the most part silver, alloyed with other materials such as cadmium, or nickel. The price of silver brazing rods, will fluctuate with the price of silver on the Precious Metals Market.

Brass is already an alloy of copper and zinc, other materials will be added to give desired characteristics, like flow properties and workability. Brass melts at the higher end of the brazing range.

Often silver brazing is quoted as being best for lightweight bicycle frames because it melts at lower temperature. However, in the hands of a novice it is just as easy to overheat a joint using either silver or brass. In fact if you overheat a joint using silver, the silver will no longer flow, and the joint will have to be torn apart, thoroughly cleaned and start all over again.

Most framebuilders become proficient in either silver or brass, but my guess is, only a few totally master both. I became proficient with brass, but never built a complete frame using silver. The only time I used silver, was for brazing water bottle bosses, and top tube cable guides. The reason: Using the higher temperature brass would put a slight ripple in the thin un-butted part of the tube that would show after painting.

The traditional front and rear drop-outs, (Campagnolo for example. (picture left.) The type where the front fork blade, chainstay and seatstay are slotted to take the drop out, have to be brass brazed.

Silver will not fill in the gaps, or fill the hole in the end of the tube. So even a builder who uses silver for the main frame will use brass for this type of drop-out.

Silver requires closer tolerances for example where the tubes fit in the lug. My method of altering the angle of the lug with a small hammer as I brazed, could not have been done with silver. The steel lug had to be at a bright red heat in order to be malleable enough to reshape. This would be too hot for silver.

Brass historically has always been used in Europe, which of course includes the UK where I learned to braze using brass. As a framebuilder becomes proficient at brass brazing, he learns to braze a joint cleanly, and not spill globs of brass over the edges of the lug. If this happens the builder will spend hour’s hand filing the excess brass away. Possibly leaving behind ugly file marks.

Silver on the other hand is softer and the excess can be sand-blasted away, or even scraped away with a small penknife. The fine and intricate, sharp edge lug work carried out by the late Brian Baylis, could not have been achieved using brass. English builder Hetchins did some fine elaborate brass brazed lug work, but on close inspection the corners and edges are not as fine and sharp as one can achieve with silver. (Baylis below left. Hetchins below right.) 

Silver brazing bicycle frames on the scale it is used today is an American development that can be traced all the way back to the Schwinn Paramount. Read the history here. One of the reasons the Schwinn Paramount was built using silver, was the easy clean up.

The intricate Nervex lugs used (Right.) would have been a pain to brass braze cleanly.

Many of the early American builders were influenced by the Schwinn Paramount, and a few even apprenticed there.

Brass or Silver? Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Both require different skill-sets.

I could never have done what Brian Baylis did, and on the other hand, he could not have built the number of frames I built using the methods he did.

Brass is more suited to production, silver is more suited to the artisan builder, custom building frames one at a time.

In my opinion, brass in many ways is more forgiving from a workability standpoint. For an absolute beginner, don’t be misled into thinking silver is easier.

Try brass brazing a few pieces of scrap metal together. You will have a lot of fun for not too much money. And a lot less heartache, than spending a ton of money by plunging straight in, and trying to silver braze a frame with little or no experience.

  To Share click "Share Article" below  

The Joneses

Do you remember the old expression, “Keeping up with the Joneses,” where if your neighbor got a new car, then you had to buy a new car? It would seem kind of douchey in current times to admit to this kind of petty jealousy, and yet I believe it is as rampant today as it ever was.

Today there are millions of Joneses and they are all on social media and the Internet, and everyone is trying to keep up and fit in. Anxiety, depression, suicide is on the increase, along with drug and alcohol use.

Looking back at the changes during my lifetime, as I see it, it all changed after WWII. Before then if you were born working class, you stayed working class, you knew your station in life, and you were for the most part content with your lot.

Men returned after the war, with the attitude, “Hey, I laid my life on the line, I want a piece of the pie.” In Britain a socialist government was voted in with a huge majority. This also happened in other European countries. Much of the world went Communist.

Communism would appear to be fair in theory, sharing the wealth amongst everyone, but it eventually failed because without the incentive to “Get Ahead,” no one wants to work. Those ambitious enough to get ahead in the Government, held that position by force and corruption.

America resisted communism to extremes in the 1950s with McCarthyism, when there was never any danger of communism taking over, because the US had something unique called “The American Dream.” Someone working class could work hard and become wealthy.

In my lifetime it seems we had two glorious decades through the 1950s and 1960s, then went into a drug induced haze through the 1970s and 1980s, to head slowly downhill after that through the 1990s. Accelerating out of control in the last twenty years which coincided with development of the Internet and social media.

Now capitalism has developed into corporate greed, where the working man is paid less and less, and kept even poorer by high rent and constantly being encouraged to buy more and more stuff.

There is no longer the American Dream there once was, and many young people are losing their desire to work. Which only makes a bad situation worse. Hence, sadness, depression, etc., etc.

Something must change; the current system cannot sustain itself. Capitalism requires a working class to not only produce stuff, but to buy it. In the meantime, I am reminded of this:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.

It is no use waiting for the world to change, it will probably not happen in my lifetime. Learn to adapt, be content with less, live simply, and spend less. Develop a habit of working hard, make yourself irreplaceable and you will always have a job, and you will probably get paid a little more.

Save money, invest wisely.... Oh and screw the Joneses.

  To Share click "Share Article" below