Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: I can show this now......

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I can show this now......

...... Since it was unveiled this afternoon. The lieutenant Governor, three senators, two county commissioners, forty seven square feet of ties, three reporters.... everyone but the partridge in a pear tree.

Our instructors, and some students, built this beast over the course of the school year. It's a turbocharged 1900 cc diesel motorcycle designed to run on bio-diesel. It literally runs off recycled cooking oil from the school cafeteria.

My role in the project was to document the process via photography, hold things occasionally, and make snarky comments every once in a while. Others did the grunt work on this.

More later.....

7 comments:

jon spencer said...: You might send a link of the bike to this site,
http://thekneeslider.com/; May 25, 2011 at 11:07 PM
East Of The Pecos said...: Sweet!

Can you give us any specs.?; May 25, 2011 at 11:24 PM
Earl said...: Very pretty, nice to see Masterpieces again.; May 25, 2011 at 11:31 PM
The Big Guy said...: Beeee-yootiful!

Just frimping beautiful!

Nice job... The crew should be proud of that masterpiece.

TBG; May 25, 2011 at 11:48 PM
Bryn, North Wales said...: That looks like fun! Although I'm not sure my spine would tolerate the hardtail for more then a few miles these days........... :-(
Whose engine did you use as a starting point? My instinct would be to look at the VW 1.9TDI - 158hp available in one of its standard incarnations.... wheeeeeeeeee!
And fantastic economy, vital to us here in the UK at US$9.50 per gallon, and increasingly important to you over there.
I would love to know if any company picks this up and runs with it.; May 26, 2011 at 5:07 AM
Unknown said...: Niiiice!; May 26, 2011 at 7:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Nice!; May 26, 2011 at 11:21 AM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.