CDoherty95

Ok first things first. I'm 17, so I've always lived in a world with some form of PC. Secondly, General Lee owners have been using the flag on their own vehicles for 30 years, so presumably WB don't own the rights on the confederate flag. That means that, in theory, somebody could buy a thousand new General Lees without the flag on top, print a thousand mini confederate flag stickers, and sell the General Lees on. And WB or any of the toy makers wouldn't be able to do anything about it because technically it's already bought and paid for. Just my two cents on the matter.

Hey y'all After putting it off all summer, I've finally done it! I passed my driver theory test which allows me to drive any car so long as I have a full licensed driver with me, and have "L" plates displayed on the car I'm driving. After I've done 12 lessons with a certified instructor, and after I've had my first licence I'm able to apply for my full licence. That means I can drive alone and without "L" plates on the car I'm driving. I drove home from the motor tax center earlier (where I filled out the form to get my licence) and couldn't help smiling uncontrollably. I'm driving my parents cars at the moment, but I'm slowly saving up for a small Suzuki Jimny, or Samurai as it's known as in America. I plan to add big off road tires, lights and bull bars. Insurance would also be cheap, because technically it's classified as a commercial vehicle. The standard engine size is a 1.3 liter, which may sound tiny, but this would cause fuel,insurance and tax to be considerably cheaper than most other cars of that size.

I spent today cutting, bending, measuring and grinding. Whenever you need to weld something, the two surfaces have to be clean. I saved my friend the trouble of grinding down the areas to be welded. I also bent the back forks slightly to accept a 5 speed rear wheel. A quick mock up of how the frame should look when it's been welded. The pedals and seat are just for show.

Thanks Roger! I plan on using it just for cruising in, not for taking into town and finding small parking spaces! I spoke to my friend today who's going to do the welding for me. He's away at the moment but should be home on Monday. I spent about an hour earlier working on the frame. Since I haven't got access to a machine that can bend metal I've resorted to cutting small notches into the tubing and bending it into the desired shape. I'll weld the bends in the frame to give it extra strength. The forks I'm using to hold the back wheel fit perfectly over the tubing. I didn't have to do any cutting or shaping. All I have to do is grind the area around the joint down and it's ready to weld. I also made a start on the bars linking the front of the bike to the main frame. I just need to grind the front part down and it'll be ready to weld! Recognize these? Of coarse you do. The were originally on the recumbent bike, then moved on to the wheelchair bike, and now it's final resting place will be on this bike. I've just to grind down the area that needs welding and I'll be ready to go!

After building, modifying and generally working on bikes for the past few years I've decided to step things up a notch, and have a go at designing,fabricating and building my own custom bike frame. I went through about a dozen designs, before finally settling on this one. This is a cross between an American beach cruiser, and a chopper motorcycle. I've decided to use only materials I have in my garage for this build. Luckily I have some round steel tubing, which is ideal for the frame. I'm going to incorporate the rear fender into the frame, so will probably use sheet metal for the rear fender. The rear dropouts, where the back wheel goes, is going to be the front forks off a 1970's racer. The handlebars are from the lawnmower which donated it's engine for the lawnmower bike. The front end comes off the free blue bike I got last month. Before I cut the front end off the frame After I cut the front end off the frame

I finally got everything assembled. The majority of the decals worked out perfectly. One of the raleigh decals didn't stick, so I'll just order another sticker.

I discovered another rookie repair yesterday when I got a new junk bike. I had lights and reflectors that I needed to fit on the bike, but didn't have the appropriate bolts and nuts to hold the lights to the frame. So instead I used zip ties. They're one of the most useful and essential things I have in my garage. I've used them to hold things to bike frames, and two years ago also put them on my bike tires to add grip to the tires during the snow.

I think everyone has at least one bad neighbor in their lifetime. My neighbors might be worse than yours though. Have you ever heard of Jersey Shore? Think of the girls from Jersey Shore with an Irish accent and you have my neighbors. There's two girls, around 21 and 19, and a boy about 15. The boy is constantly in trouble with the law, and is only a matter of time before he's sent to prision for a long time. The two girls, although may technically and physically be 21 and 19, have the combined smarts of a newborn baby. Hardly a weekend goes by when they aren't fighting about something stupid, usually fake tan or drink. At first nobody in my family took much notice, but now if we hear them fighting my brother, sister and I will open the windows at the front of the house to hear them better! Their amazing intelligence level is also reflected in their driving. The older girl was having a fight with one of her boyfriends. The boyfriend stormed off past my house and the girl got in her car, and took off after him. However because she has the intelligence of a brick she floored her car and crashed straight into my dads car which was parked on the street. She then tried to back her car up and drive off, but myself and one of my neighbors ran out to her and confronted her about it. Needless to say I would have been better talking to a floorboard. They also have loud parties when their mom is away ( I'm not sure where the dad is). Usually these parties end up being broken up by the police. But instead of using their heads and dumping the empty bottles and cans in their own trash can, the girls use to dump them in my neighbors and my own front yard. We slowly gathered all the trash they dumped in our yards, and one day while they were out we dumped everything we collected on their front lawn. Needless to say they stopped dumping their trash in our yard pretty quickly after that. Just incase anybody is having a hard time visualizing these people, here's a toned down version (the girl on the left) of what they look like. I was going to say they had the same iq as Paris Hilton, but I didn't want to insult her haha

I got the graphics in the mail earlier today. They turned out better than I expected. I didn't get a chance to put them on yet, because I was busy selling and scrapping bikes. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put them on tomorrow. I also managed to find some rare Raleigh tires that came with the bike when I first bought it.The guy I got them from didn't realize their value, and gave them to me in exchange for two sets of handlebars.

It's been a while but I've been slowly tidying up all the loose ends on this bike. Hoss kindly designed reproduction graphics for the bike, and they're due to arrive around Wednesday of next week. I added another Raleigh badge on the top bar of the frame near the handlebars. And on a different note. While I was away I cycled home at sunset a few times, and just happened to snap this picture which I'm sure some of y'all will appreciate.

Hey Mom welcome to HazzardNet! Y'all may notice we do things a little different here

Congratulations Carlos!! An award long overdue!

Hey y'all! Since I started working on bikes, I've picked up a few tricks and come up with a few myself. Here's one that I tried recently. I came home from a months holiday down the country on Sunday. I left two parts bikes sitting outside, and when I got home nuts and bolts had seized on them. WD40 partially worked, but it was still a struggle. Then I remember hearing that cola is meant to be good at loosening up rusted and seized bolts. I was a little skeptical, but went out to buy a could bottles of various sodas. My dad suggested I try beer, because he thought that any carbonated drink would work. I set up four different containers with four different drinks. Cola, diet cola, beer and fizzy water. I let the most rusted amd seized bolts marinade for two nights, and tried to loosen them earlier. And amazingly, the cola and beer bolts worked! The diet cola bolts worked after a blast of WD40, and the fizzy water bolts remained the same. I'm not quiet sure why the cola and beer worked so well, maybe it was the carbonation process. Does anyone have any theories as to why they worked?

It's not really an official job but I've been making money for the past few years fixing, restoring, selling and scrapping bikes. I've also done a few background extra roles when the opportunity came around. I'd love to try out for bigger roles, but unfortunately I don't have the time with school.

Thanks Hoss. As the executive producer said it always helps to have an interest in who you're interviewing. The interview will be available to download on podcast, however it probably won't be available until this weekend.

Hey y'all! Sorry for the short notice but my show is being broadcasted at 1:30pm Irish time. If anyone is interested in listening to it then either go to www.dublincityfm.ie or www.tunein.com . The show is half an hour long, but is stuffed full of great information.

Thanks for the messages guys It's driving me crazy being housebound. I checked the General Lee earlier when I first woke up, and luckily he only suffered a burst front tire. Unfortunately that only took me 20 minutes to repair, so I quickly became bored again. I'm planning on walking down to the local shop later to buy a sketch pad to help me pass the time. The only flaw in the slaw is that the shop is down at the bottom of a steep hill, so I could struggle to walk back up the hill. I forgot to include pictures of yesterday. I only got two taken before my parents showed up. The pictures may not look bad, but I was going fairly fast when I stopped.

Hey y'all. I was cycling home from my friends house earlier after staying the night. The route I take is about 5 miles, and I travel on a main road, a few country roads with grass in the middle and a rutted track. It was raining hard, and I was probably going a little too quick for the conditions. Anyway I was going down one of the country roads when I clipped a pothole with my rear wheel. This caused the back end to slip and spin, and I ended up with the General Lee's front wheel and forks resting in a muddy ditch. Initially I had trouble breathing, but I just assumed that I was winded. However when the winded sensation didn't go away I started to get worried. I called my parents and they brought me straight to the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital I had gotten my breath back, but my mom still insisted on getting me checked by a doctor. After sitting around for a bit I was examined, and was found to have bruised ribs. The only logical explanation is that I must have smacked my chest into the handlebars as I went into the ditch. I still have a slight pain when I take a deep breath, so I have to take pain killers and can't do any physical exercise for a few days Luckily my dad went out and brought the General Lee home, so I'm going to spent the next few days watching Dukes episodes and tinkering with the General.

I just realized that Rosco's house was also Grannie Annie's house. I don't know if you're planning on mentioning this in a future post, but I remember reading somewhere that the Waltons also used a different, larger house. That house was also used throughout season six of the Dukes. A few examples of it's use are the house in the opening of Lulu's Gone Away, the Moffit house in the Boars Nest Bears and the Hazzard County Orphanage in A Boys Best Friend. I think it was also used in The Haunting of JD Hogg, although I can't be 100% sure on that.

Unfortunately I've run out of time on this build. I'm going away on holidays tomorrow for a month, and I don't think I can bring this bike with me. It's pretty annoying, since I only need to put a new set of cranks and pedals on it, and a slight gear tune up. My dad isn't going away with the rest of my family tomorrow. He's coming up next weekend. This means I might drop it down to the local bike shop and have the pedals and cranks professionally rebuilt. The owner and I have a good relationship. My dad and brother bought their bikes from him, and I've sold him and helped him source some hard to get parts that he needed for his own bikes. Anyway here are a few pictures of the bike in it's current state. I added the pedal and crank and cogs on the right hand side to give y'all an idea of what the finished bike will look like. The whole front end (wheel, handlebars, suspension,grips,brake and gear shifters) is from the black bike from a few posts ago. The back wheel is also from that bike as is the gears, brakes, pedals and cranks. The saddle and seat post are the only original parts from the old bike. It's essentially a brand new bike that cost less than $50. It's weird to think that my brother paid eight times as much for his new mountain bike two weeks ago.

Yes I've stopped using wood now. It is very sturdy if used properly, but it's easier to use steel tubing. The lawnmower bike is on hold at the moment. The engine I had wasn't powerful enough, so I'm on the lookout for a more powerful engine. The only name I've come up with so far is the "Wheelchair Bike". Unfortunately the project has reached a standstill because I'm going away on holidays tomorrow, and won't be able to take it with me to work on. I've already got a bike for the mud, the Fall Guy Bike! I've really got to stop building new bikes though, keeping track of each individual lock key is a nightmare!! Especially since all the locks I own have the same style of key.

Jaded if you want we could swap houses. The rain, wind, clouds and cold might suit your husband better! Haha

I was looking through pictures I took at Christmas earlier, and came across these pictures of the bike in it's pre restoration condition. Looking at these pictures and comparing them to the current pictures it's hard to believe that it's the same bike.

I repainted the seat post silver, and also repainted the seat post clamp black. I cleaned the wheels with WD-40. Now they have a nice shine. This seems to be a standard angle for most of the bike pictures I take.

The original Raleigh badge was stuck on using some sort of an adhesive. The new one I got had two small pins sticking out of the back of the badge. I had to drill two small holes in the frame to accommodate the badge. I got this off a scrap bike I had, so naturally it was a little scuffed. I had to use a little superglue to hold the badge in place. These two parts go on both ends of the headset. The paint had been worn away so I repainted them silver.