Wednesday 2 May 2012

Monkey Bars

Just down the boulevard from The Bent Bar, is The Monkey Bar. Recommended in the Gok Wan look-book 'for the larger boy - or girl, whose proud of their curves...[and] welcomes swingers'.
My first love bar was modeled on Billy's Easy Rider bike. Then for the next 20 years my XS had a low drag pull-back - which would be on par with wheelbarrow Flanders for sensible flat track leverage. But nah, chopper racing is silly, so I need a silly bar. I've been hankering for some 'Z's for ages, but every other mofo has those. So I ended up at Honda Z50. Funny name for a bar.
Tech info: because I'm a cheapskate (or at least was trying to rebuild this bike to a tight budget) I went for Chinese rip-off metal bar. Initial comparison with OEM bar, was that there wasn't much difference in the bending. The welding was obviously worse. Truly cheap as chips. When I got home and mated the bars to the clamp I noticed a hairline crack in one of the locating teeth indents, and it ran around where the casting is heat-treated (or is that just some very hot CNCing!?) On closer inspection this bottle top sculpture (not a thing of function) was evidently as sturdy as a vinegar drowned chip. So I've now splashed out on a gen-u-ine Honda item from Monkey Bike UK (just down the road from the Dirt Quake track). It is truly a thing of beauty - and strength.
Apologies to Chalopy Ralph, I should have respected your wise Monkey words. BP

7 comments:

Harley said...

Can we expect an ironic tartan seat cover to match the monkey bars?

Diedre Greenshields said...

I smell brown suede.

Adriaan said...

Iconic, not ironic :D

Sideburn Magazine said...

I was contemplating some chav Burberry or possibly summery Gingham.
BP

Full Lock or Death!! #29 said...

You can keep your benders.. real men use clip ons! ;)

Looking forward to watching the carnage when you all pile into the first corner then suddenly realise you're not on your flat trackers but on raked out choppers of doom...

Nick said...

How's the 800cc race engine coming on?

WhitelinePsycho said...

Monkey magic . . . ah, Pigsy, ret's lace !!!