Every Day Adventurers

Mike Cobb is a Portland, OR based Xtracycle rider, mechanic and general suave dude touring the European continent as part of the Pleasant Revolution. These are his adventures.

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Speaking of Scotch, a couple days ago, I found a fifth of the stuff, decades old (?), 90% buried in the soil of our roadside hobo camp (Bratislava, Slovakia). Drank it up with water and honey (with abandon).

In Budapest currently, having a devil of a time repairing the (3rd) broken frame. For the first (2), I splinted, then found access to awesome DIY metal shops w/MIG machines in Berlin and Vienna, respectively. Tried campside brazing this morning with insufficient flux and insufficient lots of things. FAIL. Now seeking welding service….

I am more determined than ever to assemble tools and materials for SUCCESSFUL campside brazing in the future. Mark the words…

Vienna just caught on with the fixie craze 5-8 years ago and the tallbike craze just 1-2 years ago. The Bike Kitchen is opperated by a gang of bike punks who wear “colors” in the form of heavily adorned flourescent green safety vests. Aside from the safety vests (which I love), the Vienna bike punks have recreated a big chunk of the Portland bike punk scene. Strangely cozy and familiar.

Cool kid fixie panda

Hofi of Heavy Pedals, Vienna, Austria

My fixie for a day and Hofi's Heavy Pedal Express

My morning with Hofi – delivering high class sandwhiches and bread to business Vienna. We swapped bikes a couple times – a locally made 70′s road frame converted into a cool kid steel toeclip fixie and my favorite iteration of the Long John – Larry vs Harry Bullit. The custom Bullit box folds flat w/o tools (Designed by Hofi).

Dremel + Car Muffler = New Frame Lug

Cutting up a ground-score muffler for frame-repair lugs. Battery-powered Dremel – yeah!