We normally post videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but this week has been slow, so if you kids wanna see another vid, please share these two videos with friends and loved ones.

Once each video gets 200 hits each, we will post another one.

Later skaters
Stephen

To loosely paraphrase the great Louis Armstrong- if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.

Photo credit: Etienne Musslin

- Gyro

Working on “Let’s Jog” in the studio… this vid really showcases the insanity that is Xboxx…

Enjoy.

Trike In The Studio volume 8

Please comment below

Ok …here is the “Rocky on Trike”. We chose to use the Tennis Court for this video as Rocky is good at riding on a plain surface. Enjoy!!

Couldn’t sleep well last night.  Dominique offered me a coffee at 7:30pm last night which I happily accepted, only to find myself bouncing around at 5:30am while everyone else was in slumberland.  I fell asleep roughly around 6 or so… I think.  It’s also a bit chilly in the room, which I will have to take care of with an extra blanket one of these days.

Woke up and cleaned the room.  Cleanliness is next to Godliness, they say.  Perhaps it’s true.  From an atheistic/ agnostic perspective, my interpretation might be that cleanliness leads to a calm, organized mind and feels like a metaphorical clean slate, so that one can embark on the day, fresh and alert.

I’m happy (thrilled) with the last few weeks.  It is SO NICE to be in one place and not bouncing all over Europe, from city to city, couch to couch… So great to have a routine.  And a routine that revolves around recording vocals, percussion and bass for the album and making crazy little videos.  It’s so good to see that people are watching them.  Xania said that if we chose THREE days a week to post vids that people would start to tune in more often … like clockwork.  And it’s true.  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the last two weeks, and already the daily hits on our site are climbing.  And my videomaking/ filmmaking skills are finally being put to use, after four years of laying dormant while I pursued my dreams of making Trike a reality.

It’s always good to excercise all parts of your brain.  Visual, auditory, olfactory etc… I admire people like David Byrne who can juggle all sorts of art forms.  I think it’s important to have one main interest; the thrust of your work, but it’s always nice to see artists branching out and tackling themes and expressions through other means.  I think everything you want to express has its own medium that fits the expression.  Sometimes it’s a song, sometimes a little fluffy poem, sometimes a screenplay… Laurie Anderson has mastered all sorts of mediums and makes wonderful work, Joni Mitchell paints like crazy, Beck makes collages, Douglas Coupland is a sculpter besides being a writer and even one of the guys from Nickelback can … apparently … also tie his shoelaces… which is an art form in itself.

Xania gave me a nice compliment last night.  She said I’m way more grateful then I was when she met me, three years ago.  I was a selfish hedonist at the time… I won’t go into details but although I thought I was free and happy, exploring all sorts of pleasures, in the end I was deeply unhappy… deeply.  Now, I feel more balanced.  I feel more self-actualized.  It’s like Joseph Campbell talks about pursuing your bliss and when you do, everything falls into place.

It’s a theme that has become a constant in my life.  Ever since making a pact to make art and music and quit our day jobs 27 months ago, Xania and I have made it work.  It was freaky at first;  surviving off of peanuts, busking in the rainy Vancouver streets, entertaining people waiting for the bus at Commercial and Broadway, but here we are, in Brussels, working hard on our first real “pro” album with all these people helping us; planning to make us CDs, send them to magazines and radio stations, hook us up with booking companies… not to mention that we’re doing a music video with Tic Tac that is coming along… it’s nice.

And just the simplicity of everything right now is really great.  Wake up, make a coffee, go to an internet place, check email, work on a new video, play with the spazzy cat, work on backdrops for the images for the new album, record bass, go to the studio, record vocals, promote our videos, connect with friends online… it’s simple and it feels like we’re building something; building towards something.  Of course sometimes we go see shows or movies (last week we saw “The Lady Vanishes” by Hitchcock, which was WONDERFUL!  And quite old, too!  1938.  Watch it.  It’s a charming little piece of celluloid and funny too).

Not everything is roses, however.  I have been thinking a lot about this New World Order stuff, the Olympics, cuts to Arts Funding and stuff that is pretty bothersome to me – and I’m sure to a lot of friends of mine and like-minded people throughout the world (watch my video in our last post “Is Vancouver becoming an Orwellian Nightmare?”), but my deepest hopes are that good intentions will prevail and we will globally move towards a version of reality that is NOT like 1984, with its frightening, oppressive version of reality.  My hope is that no matter what is happening, humanity will prevail.  We have to save the globe and move towards peace and freedom.  Sure, I sound like a dippy hippie, but maybe deep down I am…

I’ve also been reading a lot which is so so so good.  Bukowski, Anthony Burgess, Iris Murdoch… and I’m about to embark on a book by W. Golding, who wrote Lord of the Flies (I saw both films as well… the 50’s/ 60’s version is much more powerful.  The 90’s version with Balthazar Getty just doesn’t cut it).  Food for the brain.  Reading a lot also helps my songwriting, which is nice.

Anyway, that’s me, gently ruminating on a Sunday afternoon.

I hope all is well in your sunny/ rainy corner of the world… love to hear your comments below.

We have a new video to post tomorrow … tune in.  It’s our first ever Infomercial… in a bathtub.

Love

Stephen

Okay, I don’t normally make vlogs like this.  I was quite passionate about all the bullshit happening in my hometown recently and I was inspired to make this one.

I hope you like it.  Please leave a comment.

And Vancouverites, remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the forces that be…

Love Stephen

. . . and you guys HAVE HAVE HAVE to watch this… this cat is absolutely batty… it’s hilarious.  We were doing the intro to our new video and Jean-Claude our cat-roomie, lost his lid:

A full MINUTE of kitties at the end of this one… after Stephen’s sexual predator bullshit.

The Taga Trike Baby Stroller combines the clunky utility of an urban tricycle with the darn useful convertibility of a baby buggy. So now mum can ride to the shops, get off, do a quickie conversion and push baby round the store without having to break stride. Almost.

The video makes it look almost too easy (note how they make a strategic cut during the switch) but there’s no doubt that it’s got a whole load of usefulness packed into the concept there. You can even stealth it onto a train or bus. The only thing missing is a funky basket for all the shopping. Priced at £1,495.00 and available in a variety of colours.

First, an update on a couple of modifications I made to the Soapbox.

1 – I put in a seat back to support the rider in those crazy curves:

2 – I had a friendly machine shop weld the freewheeling cogs so that they won’t freewheel anymore:

The reasons for the first of the above are perfectly understandable by anyone; for the second one they may not be so obvious: it’s all about control.

From my little experience with the Soapbox PoC so far, I have gathered two conclusions:

1 – the current controls are extremely non-linear; both the brakes and the accelerators lack proportionality in response and stability in behavior.

2 – even if the controls were absolutely linear, I doubt that any average human being is capable of controlling such a vehicle above very small speeds. Our neuro-motor capabilities are just not up to the challenge.

So, as fun as it is now, it is time to hack the controls of this trike to pieces and re-engineer them into something more usable.

Analyzing the real-world application brings up 3 main problems:

1 – Differential Steering: to steer the vehicle, we need to regulate the speed difference between the two wheels very precisely, and this difference decreases non-linearly with vehicle speed;

2 – Traction Control: the same old basic problem every kind of wheeled vehicle has – applying as much torque on the floor as possible while accelerating or decelerating without skidding – that’s why they invented ABS and ASR, to save us from the messy floors we put ourselves over;

3 – Stability Control: in such a vehicle where the center of gravity rests behind the only wheel axle, the probability of over-steering is quite large; therefore independent wheel torque control to counteract body rotation (also known as ESP) is essential for any real-world usage.

So yes, I’m trying to build what is probably the world’s first Trike with ABS + ASR + ESP.

There is another fundamental design problem which is also linked to the control equation: if the center of mass is located too close to the front wheel axle, the vehicle may flip over the axle during hard braking and land the rider on its head. If the center of mass is too far back, then the over-steering becomes a big problem even for low speed and long curve radius. To solve this delicate balance, I plan to locate the center of mass adequately close to the front and also rely on the ESP control above described, among other small details.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be hacking up a new electronic control system for the Soapbox. A digital one, of course. Firmware is a lot more flexible than analog circuitry.

This is why welding the freewheels stiff was an essential step: I want the electric motors to have full control of the wheel speed and torque, and so I needed a direct transmission. Exactly how this system will be made, I don’t know and is still under evaluation; but I do know what kind of control algorithm I want to run on it.

There will be a logic or virtual controller for each of the three problems stated above: Steering, Traction, and Stability. You can see them in the diagram below.

This diagram was built with Scicoslab (an open source alternative to Matlab/Simulink) and is a very simplified version of the full simulation I’m working on. The PID blocks are just placeholders, they don’t really have to be PID controllers; in fact, I intend to use Hysteretic control for the motor currents, and possibly Fuzzy control for all else. I hate PIDs.

I’ll be posting news about this later, when it has enough consistency.

Trike in the Studio #3.  This time it gets kinky!

Trike in the Studio #2

This time we’re not “actually” in the studio, but we hang out with cats, make music videos with cats, take bubble baths, read iris murdoch and oscar wilde and other fun shit.  Take a gander.

Here is our first vlog of us in the studio.  We are in Brussels for an indefinite period of time, working on vocals, basslines, percussion and violin for our album, tentatively titled “Trike and the Vikings”.

Take a look:

Here it is, at long last. The Soapbox proof of concept takes to the road. Actually, to the parking lot. It’s a lot safer.

I promised video, didn’t I?

First of all, a simple systems check:

Tonight I tightened the transmission chains, they were falling off on tight curves. Also adjusted the long board to center the mass a little bit more, the tail was way too heavy. And switched the sealed lead-acid batteries with some lead-gel batteries to increase power.

And after that, a few rides and cartwheels around the place:

Not bad, for an electric vehicle that is completely unballanced and has power controllers that run away in unpredictible manners…

This thing is very much like riding a go-kart. I bet that I can get the same thrill at a quarter of the speed…

Sometimes I see movies that just make me really depressed.

Last night I watched Basquiat with Anna and Xboxx and it made me kinda depressed afterwards. It’s the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the black painter from the eighties who dies at 27.

He became famous at 19, after sleeping in a cardboard box and leaving memorable tags all over New York. He was discovered quite young and became an art star and protegé of Andy Warhol.

I first saw the movie a few years ago but as usual, I forgot most of it. I have seen his art in Montreal at the Musée des Beaux Arts and I have always been a huge fan. I love his style; playful, colourful, crazy and very original.

The movie made me sad because you see his rise and fall from a struggling artist to achieving world fame, but in the end, he’s basically sad and alone and had lost everyone close to him. His mother was in an insane asylum, his only friend, Andy Warhol, died, and he had lost his passion for painting. He had lost focus, stopped painting and (I guess) started indulging more and more in heroin and eventually joined the ranks of famous people who died at 27: Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, Morisson…

I can’t help but wonder if when people die of heroin overdose, it’s a kind of suicide. It’s usually accidental, of course, but in the movie, he became so depressed at the end and he had lost all his passion for making art and none of the fame, notoriety or appreciation really meant anything to him. He had nobody. Almost as if heroin was his best friend. The only person he was close to; really close to, died. And to make matters worse, he had stopped speaking to Warhol because he had read an article where Warhol referred to him as his “sidekick”, so he stopped talking to him.

And of course we always read stories about the trappings of fame and how it causes so many downfalls. For those of us who aren’t famous, it can seem so glamourous: the adoration, the money, the notoriety, the autographs, the groupies etc. etc… but while watching the movie, at one point it just seemed like there was nothing else for Basquiat… almost as though he was ready to die. He was wandering the streets in his pygamas, miserable and strung out; appearing homeless just like in the beginning of the movie, before he got famous. He lost his friends, his mother (in the asylum), his passion for art (which was his life) and it just makes you wonder what else would there be for him? There was also a suggestion that he was no longer the toast of the art world: all that at 27, which is so so young! I can’t imagine being 27 and feeling washed up.

In the end, I was definitely feeling like he had chosen to die. Of course, heroin overdose is accidental, but when your life has lost all meaning, how accidental can it be? How can part of you not be aware that what you’re putting in your vein not be dangerous and deadly? You’re choosing to escape and it’s possible that if you’re not careful, it’s the final escape… and, sadly, in Basquiat’s case, it was.

So, in the end, I just felt sad. The downfall to watching a biopic is that you know that it’s real and actually happened. Much like when I watched “Control” and Ian Curtis hung himself at the ripe old age of 23, it left me wondering how much more life they could have lived, YET, at the same time, how much they had done in their few years on this little planet. Basquiat’s work has brought so much joy to this world yet, in the end, he was too sad and alone to really continue living.

I also feel the same about Michael Jackson’s life. He had everything one could possibly imagine but he also had incredibly low self esteem, he felt so alone despite all the love, adoration and fame and died at a relatively young age. He was famous, yes, but he also described it as a “nightmare”; the paparazzi constantly hounding him, the inability to be free, to the point where he glamourized normal people’s lives. He wanted so badly to shop like a normal person (for example) that he arranged to have a mall emptied and filled with friends and friends of friends who would pretend to be normal people so he could shop like a “normal” person. Isn’t that fucked up? Most people would love to be famous, but look at what it possibly brings, especially if the famous person isn’t “self-actualized”.

If there is a message in all of this, of course, it seems to be that fame is an illusion and doesn’t actually bring happiness. Of course we all, on some level, know that, but movies like Basquiat really drive the point home. You absolutely have to find happiness, self-actualization and self-satisfaction within yourself. He had everything. He was so talented, his work was so wonderful and he had so much potential but in the end, it wasn’t enough.

Watch it. It’s powerful. I know I gave away the ending, but the most cursory research into Basquiat’s life will tell you what I already shared here.

Peace out, homeslices.

I thought of getting a facelift but after discussing it with Xboxx, she suggested I get a brainlift.

Here is the result:

But not exactly functional…

The new brakes are assembled and tuned (as well as possible), the batteries are charged (almost), the tyres are full, and the curiosity is unbearable: will it work? there’s only one way to know: throw that switch on.

Ok, you can stop laughing now. Seriously, that’s enough. Seriously. Last warning.

It’s running in circles because one of the accelerators is producing a bad signal. It’s the one with a new Hall sensor we replaced, so it’s expected to need some tweaking.

I didn’t shoot it with a rider yet because the batteries are not supplying enough power to run the motors. That’s a problem under investigation. They should have enough power; I suspect the controllers are at the source of the mischief. At least when I take them out of the loop, the motors seem to behave with enough torque and speed.

The shiny new brakes work well enough, but my first attempts at sliding down a ramp while using only the brakes to establish direction reminded me why cars and any other vehicles with parallel wheels always have interconnected brakes: it’s nearly impossible to steer the thing by braking, we humans just don’t have the reaction speed to do it. 10 out of 10 times I ended up facing the slope; the center of mass is too far back away from the axle. Plus, the whole braking system is very cheap and unresponsive (but still reliable). Hmm… I bet I could steer it if I put in those Magura hydraulic brakes from my mountain bike… naaah, leave it alone.

If you notice the previous pictures, the frame has changed a bit; I had to replace the side boards with longer ones to accommodate the support bar for the horseshoe brakes. Now the trike weighs around 50kg with the batteries on. Talk about a heavyweight!

But before I go on with crazy tests, there’s a fundamental component still missing: the seat. Without something to press my back against, it’s almost suicidal to ride this thing. Although I haven’t managed to get past nauseated so far.

Ok, that’s just to give you a hint of what’s going on. Still a lot of work ahead, so stay tuned.

An Atomic Zombie fan says hi from Finland

We get some pretty cool emails from folks all over the world. Recently, Fredrik, who lives near Helsinki, Finland, sent us a message about his bike projects and why he loves being an Atomic Zombie.

“Hi to all my Atomic Zombie friends around the world. My name is Fredrik and I live in Finland. I am 28 years old. I build bikes all my life. Some choppers, some recumbents and some tandems. I ride a bike every day to work. I use my bikes all the time because it’s too expensive here to drive cars.

I found your site over three years ago when I saw a picture of Brad on that tall bike from years ago (the World Record SkyCycle). I am on the forum many times almost every day learning more about the bikes you build and what other people are making. It is very inspiring to someone like me who doesn’t have much money, but likes to make stuff himself.

My favorites are the choppers and trikes that Atomic Zombie makes. I like the Overkill chopper, and Warrior and Deltawolf bikes the best. Mine aren’t that good yet, but I am learning more thanks to you and the great people on the forum.

I just wanted to say thanks for all the things you do for guys like me who like bikes. My next bike will be like the Warrior trike, so I will send you some pictures when it’s done. I like how you make the plans and all the pictures, so anyone like me can build them. I love being an Atomic Zombie! You are the best.”

Your friend, Fredrik”

Thanks, Fredrik!

This month’s features include:

• Zombies protest chopper
• Garage News
• DIY camera mount
• DIY handle bars
• Builders Gallery
• DeltaWolf Trike Build – Part 2
• Ride Report – Warrior Racing Trike
• Graucho’s DIY stencil painting
• We remember

Enjoy everybody.

http://www.atomiczombie.com/newsletter/nov-2009.pdf

1. 1985 Suzuki GS 450A ( automatic) w/  5,098 miles.

2. 1993 Yamaha Virago 1100 w/ 7,994 miles

3. 1986 Honda Helix (freeway capable scooter) w/7,882 miles

4. 1997 Yamaha TW200 electric start w/556 miles

5. 1993 Suzuki Burgman 400 ( freeway capable scooter ) 1,682 miles

6. 1996 Royal Star Trike w/ 11,384 miles

7. 1997 Yamaha TW 200 electric start w/ 567 miles

8. 1985 Yamaha Virago 700 w/ 9,501 miles

9.  1993 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 w/ 8,603 miles

10. 1998 Suzuki Intruder 1500 w/ 26,453 miles

11. 1986 Honda Goldwing Special Edition ( fuel inj ) w/ Sidecar

12. 2000 Yamaha Venture Millennium 1300 V4  w/2,095 miles

13. 2003 Trike Shop ( now Roadsmith Corp.) Road Hawk Trike with 2,333 cu. in. engine and 6ft trailer to pull behind the trike w/9,843 miles

14. 2003 Honda VTX 1800R w/164 miles (that’s right onesixtyfour.)

15. 1999 Yamaha Roadstar 1600 w/6,635 miles

16. 1996 Yamaha Royal Star w/6319 miles

17. 1999 Honda Valkyrie Standard ( see photo above ) w/30,500 miles

18. 1965 Triumph 500 Daytona w/231 miles since full restoration

19. 1986 BMW R75/6 less than 10 K miles since full restoration

Contact Mac by email, at macmusick@gobrainstorm.net for more information.

The landing at El Nido was very smooth. The plane coasted across a strip of sea polka-dotted with giant white jellyfish, and dipped down onto a runway flanked by two low hill ranges. I should have expected it, but the sheer (lack 0f) size of the airport stunned me.

Everything was done manually because it was so darn small, from the steps for passengers to get on and off to the baggage cart. Incidentally, I was the only one getting off the plane and I offered to carry my own bag to the arrival hall but I was waved away with cheerful grins. I then trotted off to the arrival/departure hall.

It really was more open-air shack than airport hall. Low benches were the departure/arrival area. The check-in counter was but a rostrum with a manual weighing scale next to it. Both were covered with plastic canvas once check-in was done. It was lovely and relaxed chatting with the departing passengers, mostly western tourists. We exclaimed at how quaint and dinky the airport set up was.

Of course this wasn’t quite the whole airport. The VIP lounge was at the back. In reality just a hammock strung between two tree trunks. Much of the time airport staff used it for their siesta.

I gather that this here is the side gate of the airport. I don’t know where the meandering path goes to but it sure looks pretty.

Seeing that there wasn’t a road in sight, I worriedly asked the friendly folks manning the counter how I could get to El Nido town. No problem was the answer: I’d just wait till the plane took off and then they’d open the runway gate. A trike soon came rumbling in and I was off on the next part of my journey!

Vote on Terminator Chopper project – Atomic Zombie™ Extreme Machines Builder’s Forum.