The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Rediscover Lost Knowledge – The Concrete Lathe

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In today's Internet connected world where practically every bit of information seems to be at our fingertips, it's hard to believe that some old and very unique know-how sometimes slips away. Lucien Yeomans, way back in 1915, invented a method to construct the beds of metalworking lathes from concrete instead of cast iron. Pat Delaney, who was trying to come up with a method to … [Read more...]

Garage Life Feeds Your Workshop Fantasy

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How many guys might define their ideal home as a huge multi-bay garage with a small living area overhead or off to one side? Many years ago I ran into a website for a magazine called Garage Life that seems written for the Japanese motorhead with the same idea, it's all in Japanese and I couldn't find any way to subscribe. When Mule wrote about his very functional garage … [Read more...]

Deliberate Practice on the Way to Being Great

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In my last post, provocatively titled How the Motorcycle Gods Ride, we examined Rossi's control, as demonstrated in that fascinating photo, as something beyond the levels most of us mere mortals can achieve. In the comments, SteveH, noted the 10,000 hour rule, made popular recently by Malcom Gladwell's Outliers, in which Gladwell pointed out example after example of … [Read more...]

How the Motorcycle Gods Ride

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While looking through the latest Motorcyclist magazine, I came across this image from the Ducati MotoGP test session at Sepang. It shows Valentino Rossi entering a turn at speed with the bike pointed in a seemingly impossible direction, impossible, at any rate, for mere mortals. Most of us, if placing our bikes in this exact same spot, would be about to make our way across the … [Read more...]

Getting (My) Back up to Speed

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Though I seldom post anything personal here, regular readers may have noticed The Kneeslider has been quiet lately. Some weeks ago, I injured my back, enough so that I've been a bit limited in what I can do. While recovering, I managed to pick up a nasty virus/head cold which was followed by a bad reaction to a prescription. Interesting experience. Things are improving, I'm … [Read more...]

Yamaha Virago Cafe Racers by Doc’s Chops

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It's always interesting to think about who first looked at any particular motorcycle and thought, "nice bike, but why not make it a cafe racer?" The Yamaha Virago has been done many times and as we've noted before, it doesn't come from the factory with any such pretensions, it's a cruiser. Well, once you look at these two Virago cafe conversions by Greg Hageman of Doc's Chops, … [Read more...]