NickDG

"The cool generation!" NickD

Happy Birthday, "Phatbob!" NickD

Happy

It's sort of a play on something the Russians did some twenty years ago for military jumpers. Only they used real drogues and KAP 3 timers to deploy the main. The idea being you could drop freefall soldiers without them having to be thoroughly trained for freefall. The system in the vid probably uses a BOC pud (instead of a ripcord) to release the pilot chute and deploy the main. And that's probably backed up with a main mounted AAD. But that's what almost killed ol' Lutz . . . In any case it looks like another step in getting rid of Instructors altogether. Soon students will be going up with only a "doorman" dressed in tassels and a jaunty cap. "Your turn, sir!" Look for it soon at a DZ near you . . . NickD

Great find! Just spent a half hour going through the online HH catalog . . . Thanks, NickD

He throws a hell of a party, I know! NickD

>>It seems he has a good eye for the form AND function.

I remember that plane at Otay. It looked sort of like a flying football . . . NickD

>>The numbers are as follows

Shower shoes . . . NickD

>>Am I correct to assume there was a beer vendor there? Just guessing due to the "bucket"....

And (finally) LOL, I guess you have the flavor of it now . . . ! NickD

And . . .

And . . .

And . . .

And . . .

And . . . #16 is a guy selling a nice original Panhead motor and also a Knuckle Trans . . . #19 is a running Shovelhead for dirt cheep. I heard it run and it sounded strong . . . #20 might interest Jbird, it's a drag bike! NickD

And . . .

And . . . Number eight is something you'd see only in Southern California! Dig the "chain" leash . . .

And here's some general photography from the Cycle Swap Meet itself . . . NickD

I spent this morning at the Long Beach Cycle Swapmeet looking for parts I needed. This is a once a month deal here and I know how lucky I am to live nearby this event . . . It's been cloudy and rainy for the last week or so here in So Cal but today there was no rain and the temps were in the 60s. In addition to those vending parts there were a couple of hundreds bikes that rode in and the move toward baggers was very evident as these were definitely the prevalent ride. I scored a front brake rotor for $20 bucks. A Bates style headlight also for $20, and a decent set of Chubby Handlebars for $40. I also bought a "Bucket of Stuff" for $10. I had no idea what was in it, except for the few things I could see on top until I got home and looked . . . and it turned out pretty good. There were lots of bikes for sale, and some for rather cheep. While 10 grand seems the baseline price for an average 5 - 10 year old big twin, there were more than a few here even cheaper than that. Here's a few photos . . . The first five photos are the rotor, headlight, and handlebars I purchased. The next is the "bucket of stuff" and then a photo of half the bucket laid out. There is some cool stuff here, lots of chisels, about thirty good hacksaw blades, a bunch of punches and drift pins including a big honking brass punch that's probably worth the ten bucks alone . . . The remainder of the bucket is hardware (nuts & bolts), hose clamps, and a lot of metal fittings that should come in handy. NickD

Also in the late 1970s there was Bob Clark's DZ in Littleton, Colorado . . . NickD

>>Well... around SoCal, DZs I know of that have went in:

I didn't mention the B.A.S.E. coverage in my previous post, but of course Mike gets props for keeping that community informed when no one else was doing it. And I know it cost him some subscribers . . . Anyone remember Steve Nagy's letter to the editor in the early 1990s? He wrote "Print one more photo or article about B.A.S.E jumping and I'm canceling my subscription to SKYDIVING!" So long Steve, we all thought . . . LOL! NickD

LOL, I know Mike, I just haven't seen the thing for a while and forgot what they did. The original idea was to represent four different "eras" of the sport and to include "an old barnstomer type" but they went a different way . . . NickD