Category: Uncategorized

Part 1 of my bike restoration project – Pulling it apart

First off, what I’m doing is simply stripping the bike down until I’m left with just the frame.

Pictured above, is me early on in the process. Also yes, you don’t need to say. The room is extremely cluttered and messy. And no it’s not ideal nor does it make for the best photos! But it has to do.

So, as you can see (i hope) I have removed the saddle and the seat post as well. The wheels are simply done and for anyone who has ever had a bike and have had to change their inner tubes, which should be anyone who cycles will know how to do.

Removing the seat post, fortunately for me wasn’t the headache I thought it might be. As the seat post and the frame in old bikes can fuse togother making it a pain in the backside to remove. For me though, mine was amazingly easy to remove.

Next I’ll be removing the break callipers. These again is easily done. I used an adjustable wrench.

All you need to do is remove the nuts which hold it to the bike. You will also need to cut the ends off the cables as well. Dont do what I did and use cheap cutters which couldn’t do the job properly. I was left wrestling with wire for 30 minutes until I had finally gave up and headed to my local B&Q.

Thank you for reading, to be continued.

Post Boxing Day Walk

After this Christmas, my father, brother and I went for a walk up to Brecon, starting in the visitor center and walking left from there. Unfortunately my geography fails me, and that is all I can say. Our plan was to walk and take photos. Each of us went out with our entry level cameras, mine being the Nikon d3400.

Walking into the distance, my brother and father walk ahead, as I stop constantly to take photos, with most being dissapointingly rubbish. By the end of our couple hour walk, I had taken over 200 photos.

For Christmas, I recieved a new lens, which doubled my lens collection from one, to two. My first and only lens being the one that came with my camera, the 18-55mm lens. The new lens deffinitely allows me to take a good portrait photos without jamming the camera into people’s faces.

With the fantastic new zoom that the 70-300 lens brings, it also brings the ability to shoot macro photos. The lighting today wasn’t great, overcast and clouded, so a lot of my photos were noisy, especially as I didn’t use a tripod.

The 70- 300 lens, definitley has its advantages. Here is probably the best photo I took on my walk. This guy is trying to see what gear we have, with the rise in crime in brecon, it’s important not to let them see how expensive your camera is.

Spot the difference. Here is another portrait I took of my father.

Consulting the map, my brother and father debate whether we have enougth time until the sun goes down or wheter we should turn back. We chose the latter.

A new technique, pioneered by my brother, whether it will take off is yet to be seen. I can tell you however, it did not work on this occasion as you can tell by the look on his face.

Our return journey, our walk lasted a couple of hours although we didn’t get far due to repeated stops to take photos. We decided not to wait for sunset, which proved a mistake as it was a fantastic sunset. Fortunately the sun sets every night, so plenty more opportunities to come.

My Goals and Ambitions For this Blog

My goal starting this blog, is to simply improve my writing. Not that I have ambitions become the next J.K Rowling but for personal growth. As I am currently having to relearn skills which I had lost since leaving school now that I am doing evening courses on history. I hope to write interesting articles on the things that I enjoy and hopefully you will like reading them as much as I enjoy writing about it. Who is going to be my audience? Most likely my audience is going to dad. So, hello dad, I hope you’re enjoying my blog!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. This will hopefully be the first of many posts on my new blog. I do not have a plan for my blog yet, it will likely evolve on the go. However, my hobbies include Photography, cycling (when I am not being lazy) and I have an interest in history. Which I have been studying at evening courses since September and will be studying more later this year. I’m also a Cardiff city fan and season ticket holder, so this blog will likely be focused around these topics

At the start, this blog will probably following my targets and goals which I have set for myself. So if anyone fancies reading a tubby, twenty year old, Welshman’s escapades through life, the this is definitely going to be your niche.

Thank you for spending the time to read my blog, when there are millions of others just like mine.