I like big bikes, I cannot lie

Last weekend, Nenga and I found some nice scrap metal, I headed over to CBS to turn it into a briquetter for the charcoal we made last week. I probably should have took some in-the-process pictures, but my hands were dirty and I was trying to do the thing and be social and... Anyway, here it is, in all it's glory.











Isn't it special? More about it here.

We're really getting along, the CBS folks and I. We laugh and joke, alternately working for a bit and then sitting down for a minute of chitchat. They trusted me to know how to use and not to break their tools -which I didn't- whew! They didn't even try to teach me to do anything, they just assumed I knew how to do it. It looks like I still remember all this stuff-- last time I stick welded was a year ago.



















Ketot working on a carburator? carbuerator? carburetor. I asked him how long he's worked on bikes for, he said more than ten years. I asked him if he knew everything about bikes. "Everything? Naw," he said modestly, "but engine, yes."





















Pande, I learned from Komang, either means blacksmith or is a blacksmith name. And true enough, he showed me a part that he made by melting down an old aluminium thing and pouring it onto a damaged bike part. This formed a new part of the frame, that he could drill out to make something to replace the old damaged part.

Komang is amazing as usual, and I watched her make prayer offerings from coconut and banana leaves, using long splinters of bamboo as fasteners. She works so incredibly quickly and with such agility and precision, making wonderful 3D shapes from these long, thin leaves. No pictures, unfortunately. You'll have to trust me.



















Pande also showed me the upstairs room of the shop, where they've got a small lathe, and a drill press they converted into a small mill by using a movable table.





















He showed me these crazy hubless wheels: the rim (with the tyre on it) runs on a track formed by these little wheels that are mounted on these metal disc/rings. The disc is then connected to the bike's fork.











He also showed me this super mega chopper tricycle that he and a friend are building. This thing is off the chain! I think they built this thing from the axle up, bending their own tubes for the frame and everything. Pande says the transmission came from a VW bug.

I'm really happy that I get along with these guys so well after hanging out with them just a little bit. I feel like their wide eyed little cousin. They offered me a taste of some balinese palm wine. It tasted interesting, but was not very strong tasting for how milky white it was.



I really want to communicate with them better: their English is so much better than my Indonesian. I need to get my act together!