Blog Moved

The blog has moved to a new location at:

http://www.idratherbeingardy.com

Park Jives

From Oli Z:
"2 days of riding skateparks with Louis Petridis"


 This made me laugh, Loui's a character. Editing is dope too, props Oli

First Batch Pickup

The guards, top line are Marmoset's, next is my drive side, then Ratchets, Sean's WTP's, Louis Hoffman, and final line are DJ's Marnold's and Flagz Odyssey guards.

I picked up the guards this morning from heat treatment, after returning last night from New Zealand. In total, I made 20 and have already starting distributing them; hoping to get them to people by the end of the weekend.

 My bike suited up with four guards, got an MDS too so never break a chain again (hopefully).

Off to be Treated

I finished the last of the guards today and they're sitting in the MTS warehouse ready to be heat treated this week. I return from New Zealand late Tuesday night, the 26th, and will begin to dispatch them to everyone Wednesday the 27th. 

I'm not without marks to show progress though, above are heat burns on my left forearm from burning hot pieces of metal from the lathe. I made 21 guards in total, for 10 people in total. To all those who have helpd me along the way, I am very grateful. I'll write up something longer when I get the guards back from heat treating.

Check back in the early days of May.

Guard Promo 2

second promo looking at the marmoset gardy guard handmade and designed in gardy 4130 heat treated chromoly super slippery (like your girlfriend), super strong & tougher than j pegs get on this joint. hit john on the hip

0431665220 you know what it is

The Gardy Guard - Heat Treated Prototypes

I just picked up these this avo after them being heat treated this morning. These two flix are of the first Marmoset guard which has been heat treated. Believe it or not, this was tested this morning to actually be stronger than an Odyssey J-Peg. The other one which got heat treated was an Odyssey Rear Guard, which is being currently ridden literally as I write this by Sean.

These two guards are the closest thing to the final product, and this is what should be expected. The strongest guard on the market, and if testing all goes well of this first batch then the second lot may come with a 6 month 'no questions asked warranty'. I can't stress enough how strong these things are, and I'm very much looking forward to all that has to be said about them my Oli and Sean; who are going to be testing these

To all who have shown interest in these, I am currently about to leave for Sorrento and will be returning on Monday. I plan to work solidly on these guards from Monday through to Saturday which is when I leave for New Zealand. In this time, I hope to make huge progress on these guards and if all things go as planned I hope to have them being heat treated when I'm in New Zealand for two weeks. This means I hope that they will be sent out to all during the early days of May. I know it's been a big wait on these, but as Grandma just told me; Rome wasn't built in a day.

Thank you to all those who have shown interest, and believe me, getting these made successfully and dispatched as soon as possible is my highest priority. To all those who want any, please be in contact with me this weekend so I know to make one for you next week.

Keep checking this space for more updates to come

The Gardy Guard Update - Odyssey Rear

I'd planned to get this done Friday but needed to get some work done. Just finished this this afternoon, it's the first High Speed Steel (HSS) rear guard for Odyssey Style hubs. It took a while to get done compared to the other ones but I was waiting for tools to thread them with. They now have a 14mm thread in them all the way through, completely one piece design.

I've been thinking about the best way to tighten these onto the hubs, and have drilled a hole to suit a 6mm Allen key (hex-head) in this one. Conventionally wrench flats (usually 17mm, 19mm or 21mm) are used, but it's rather tricky to put these on using a lathe. This design will give plenty of leverage to get them screwed tight enough, but isn't as convenient because it's not the standard.

Sean said he's happy to test this for me so it will get to him sometime this week, giving two weeks for testing before I start to make the first batch. I'm planning that this design will stay for the proper guards, but we'll just need to see how the testing goes.

Whilst I'm posting, all the other testing has been really positive - on all guards - and the general design will stay for the first batch. The only thing that will change is the size of them, I'm going to make them as large as possible (2.75"/70mm) in diameter; allowing as much of the hub to be covered as possible.

Keep checking for more updates during April.

Todays Street Roll...

Went for a grind with Louis and filmed some clips...

New Admin

Figured out how to make Oli an admin. So whenever he posts something now (which he's been doing a lot of on my account) will show up as being posted by him. Expect some different things, including lots of vids.

FUCK JORDAN CLARK

Clips Oli was never going to use for anything...mad

Rest in peace Rowan Membrey...

Stickers Run One!

The above sheet of a few is going to Oli tomorrow.

I also did up this album as a sticker. because it's by far the best album ever made. (it's Ritual of Battle in case you can't see). This and one of the Gardy stickers now find their place instead of a Dans sticker on my tripod.

Also, I'll use this space to say that the metal has arrived. And I hope to be getting the guards out to everyone during late April some time. To give you an idea of how much work is needed, it takes about two and a half hours on average to make one guard. Making twenty of them, plus heat treating times; you do the maths. 

Thanks to all who read this blog!

Knowledge Reigns Supreme

This pic is mad old but i wanted to put it up anyway

Flem Banks Edit - Nik HDR Efex

This is a photo I shot a the drains whilst waiting around for Toby, Flagz and Gonz. I tried an edit when I first processed the photos, but was never happy with the outcome. I read in a mag last night about Nik's HDR Efex which just finished downloading. These set of three bracketed exposures were what popped up in Bridge so I thought to give it a test run.

This is the outcome and after a 10 minute edit, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I could never get the outcome I wanted with previous HDR editing methods and the in-built presets make edits like this a breeze. If there's one program you try give this a go. I guarantee you won't be dissappointed

Toby Orchard Re-Edit

As soon as I edited this I knew that the stitch wouldn't work. I always thought a sequence would work better than a stitch so I decided to re-edit this shot of Toby's Smith-Feeble round the pole at Flem Banks.

Also, this has been uploaded under a different format/resolution so if you have any problems with download speeds or quality please let me know.

A Short Flemmy Day

Straight Bars whilst waiting for Orchard

What happened when he arrived...Smith-Feeble round the pole

Chills at the drains

After some chills. 360 Tyre Grab to Fakie. Off Pop

After Flagzy arrived+Train=Puss Puss!

Admit One at St Kilda

I shot these guys at St Kilda Festival earlier this year but have only just got round to putting these on the web. It was really good to shoot a band and I'm really pleased with the end result. Click the pic to view the album.

John's Gone

Johns on camp so im running this shit for the time being

But now I'm back!

A Day Edit, but still a promo

This is a quick day edit Oli did up which was going to be a promo for the guards, but didn't end up being so. Have a view.

Guards are on their way!

The Gardy Guard - Drive Side Ratchet

After working away on this first drive-side guard since 5pm this avo it's safe to say that this process is much more involved. As well as turning these guards I also have to mill out the inner (where the chain goes) and also cut out a section for the chain; all done by hand.

As with all the guards, these simply replace the hub hardware with absolutely no need to spread any frame. This one also accommodates my 10t driver which means these will fit either nine or ten tooth drivers.

 

Oli will be testing this fir me until the chromoly arrives, at which point I may make a very limited number of these.

I have also ordered the metal this week, and am expecting it some time this week. I am aiming to have all guards dispatched in roughly a six weeks.






Thanks to all those who read this blog!

Gardy Guard Promo #1

Thanks heaps to Oli for editing and filming this. Another video may be released soon. Also, for all those who have ordered guards I have officially payed and ordered the chromoly for the first batch of guards. I am expecting it some time late next week.

50 aint shit

Another Gardy Guard - WTP V2

So after Sean came over on Sunday to put the first WTP front guard on his bike I have turned up a new one with a few little improvements. As per his suggestionss, this guard is now as large as I can make it at 2.7", which covers  over 15mm over each side of the flange; more than enough to protect these hubs and your spokes. Also, I have made them so the guard goes past the hub shell, so you can see in the bottom photo it will sit closer to the spokes. This gives the guard more clearance from the fork leg (which was an issue with the first one). This guard isn't milled out to save weight, and I have kept as much metal on it as possible for maximum strength. Sean will be testing this prototype for me until the first batch of chromoly guards have been produced.

For all those interested, I planned to purchase the metal from Tullamarine stockists tonight but they haven't sent me through the invoice yet. They say they have a huge backlog, and are still trying to get orders out from January! Having to wait sucks, but means that I'm forced to wait and see how these prototype ones fair.

Also, this Friday night I'm going to be making a drive-side guard for the Ratchet hub which Oli will also be testing for me. Thanks heaps to Sean, Oli and Louis Petridis who have been such a great help.

The Gardy Guard - Ride Update #1

The New King

So Oli got his bike built up today, which is amazing. I don'y think it could have turned out better. He's also rolling on the real first batch of guards. These are the ones I've been posting about, and he's running the Marmoset and the Ratchet.

After riding todays Clifton jam I was keen to see how they held up so here are the flicks.

Seen the the left is the Marmoset guard, with his left peg shown so you can see how much wear that has. Also below is the Rathchet guard and also the peg for some comparison.

You be the judge, but from seeing it tonight I think these puppies are going to last a hell of a long time! Especially given that these are made from a steel which isn't nearly as strong and has to form of heat treatment. I'm very keen to get these made now.

After seeing how these have faired today, the first batch will be larger in diameter just to protect more of the spokes.

The Ratchet guard after a days wear

Here's also a few photos of the fork and frame details. Remember how clean this bike folks because it's going to get very, very cut up; very very quickly

I plan on posting again very soon (hopefully tomorrow) because I'm hoping to purchase the material tomorrow afternoon. Thanks to all those who read this blog!

The Gardy Guard - Update #3

So another week goes, more progress is made and two more test guards have been turned up. Shown to the left and below (mounted on my hub) is a Marmoset guard which Oli will also run for me (thanks heaps man). Again, it's made from the same High Speed Steel as the Ratchet guard is and serves the purpose of testing dimensions and the concept of steel guards.

Seen above and to the right is what the guard looks like when the wheel is spun. As you can see there's plenty of clearance between the spokes and the guard and the guard does not impede how the wheel spins. Spins like a dream! The guard does not rotate by the way...

Last night I also measured up and made another prototype  guard. This time it's for a WeThePeople Supreme front hub (bolts). Like the G-Sport hubs, and all other hubs it simply replaces the hub hardware. In the case of the G-Sport guards and also this WTP  guard it simply slips over the 20mm (G-Sport) and 14mm (WTP) axles. Hence, because these guards aren't threaded they will be a lot stronger than threaded guards.

Seen below is the three guards lined up next to each other, which puts into perspective the relative dimensions of each of the guards. In the centre is the Ratchet guard with the Marmoset guard on the right, and the WTP guard on the left.

To all those interested, below is the king of the shop. A 50+ year old lathe which still does the job like it was brand new! (Not like I would know though...) My Great Grandfather made these babies and sold them all around the world; they were held in very high regard as being one of the best lathes money could buy back in the day.

Keep checking this space for more updates before the weekend ends! Thank you to all those who have shown interest and I'm almost full on my 20 order limit for the first batch.

The Gardy Guard - Update #2

So after many quotes coming back and forth a few minor details have needed to be adjusted. Due to the immense cost of importing military grade 4140 chromoly from America all guards will be made from 4130 chromoly. Although slightly less resistant to wear than 4140 chromoly, these will still be more than twice the strength of the toughest of aluminium alloys (7075-T6). Due to available chromoly sizes the rear guards will now be made with an outside diameter of 70mm, still large enough to cover even the largest hub flanges of 58mm.

Instead of being pre-heat treated and tempered prior to machining, all guards will also now be heat treated and tempered to custom specifications to allow the precise properties required to be achieved. They will also be case hardened which can be thought of as forming somewhat a 'skin' on the outer surface of super hardened chromoly. The combination of such heat treating allows the ideal properties of the guards to be obtained, as well meaning the outer surface of the guard's Brinell hardness is at least doubled, allowing the guard to be much more slippery as well as them adopting increased wear properties as a result.

Moreover, because the metal doesn't have to be imported they will be finished much faster; and I hope to be sending them out to people within the next month. Also, because the metal doesn't need to be imported, the guards for the first run will now cost $20 each. More importantly, the first run will now be of 20 guards so please get in contact if you want any.

After this first batch has been tested against wear and strain, the consequential production runs may either be made from the same material using the same process or from a different material using different techniques. I am expecting and hoping, however, to make the second production run using the same material.

Thank you to all who have shown interest, especially those who have already started sending through payments. Please keep checking this space for more updates within the next few days.

So that's what all the new 7D's are for!

Get on it!:

The first in a series of mix tape style DVD's released every five months.

Riders featured are... Marnold, Daniel Johnson, Cooper Brownlee, Sam Illman, Big Salad, Lachy Swanton, Flagz, Luke Vandenberg, Jack Kelly, Mick Bayzand, Troy Jackson, Dylan Kneebone, Nick Harris, Kym Grosser, Mitchell McDonald, Codie Ryan, Phil Del Tito, Polly, Graham Stott, and Rhys Yeomans. 

Available in stores or online at www.focalpointbmx.com

Nathan Skopeletis Edit

This tank ass mofo has improved without doubt:

We drove around to a few parks on the Mornington Peninsula and then spent the last couple hours of the day at the local City Park. Hope you enjoy.

Filmed & Edited: Peter Schifferle

Song: 10 Crack Commandments - Biggie Smalls / J.Period Remix

www.clocknchills.com

The Gardy Guard - Update #1

So far, I have had lots of interest show in these guards so if you want one get onto me quick. So far, some of the people who might be riding the first batch include Marnold, Rhys Yeomans, Sean Falkenstein, Flagz and Oli Zeffert to name a few.

After working away from 4pm today till just getting in from the garage the first 'prototype' has been successfully machined. It's not the same size as the Ratchet Non-Drive Side will be, with the proper ones being .3 of an inch larger in diameter to protect your spokes more. In all other dimensions though, it is identical to the proper Ratchet ones which will be made from 4140 Heat Treated and Tempered Chromoly. This one is made from High Speed Steel, which although is not as strong or slippery as the chromoly ones will be, is a damn site better in both aspects compared to aluminium ones.

Seen with my hand in the frame are the respective front (above) and back (left) view of the hubguard. After completing this one, the non-drive side Ratchet guard is confirmed to be going ahead, as well as the Marmoset guard also going ahead. This is because these two guards share the same dimension, except the Marmoset guard is slightly smaller in diameter, as well as being slimmer in width.

Seen to the right is what it looks like when fitted to my rear Ratchet hub, it fits snugly and is pinched between the bearing and dropouts whilst slipping over the axle; replacing the original collar/cone.

Below shows how the guard fits over the hub axle. This combination of having a chromoly guard fitted to a non-threaded 20mm axle means that this is effectively the strongest guard/hub combination available.

To the left shows how it fits in between the dropouts of my frame and hub, leaving enough clearance to not rub on the spokes.

This guard clocks in at a sturdy 205grams, with the proper Ratchet guard projected to weigh roughly 250grams, and the Marmoset guards to weigh sub-180grams. Both guards will be the strongest combination of hub/guard available as well as being much more slippery.



This guard will be run soon by Oli as a break in test, before he gets his chromoly guard. For all who have shown ans interest in one, the G-Sport ones have been confirmed to be produced, and I will confirm the production of Odyssey style guards next weekend. Prices for the first run still confirmed at $30, with multiple orders already being received. The first production run is going to take about six weeks, because the grade of  material required needs to be imported from America; so expect guards in a month or two. Unfortunately, chromoly is not made in Australia. However, it will most certainly be worth the wait. Just try not to destroy your hubs before then!

Peep this blog for more updates soon...

The Gardy Guard

Been on my mind for at least a year now is why no-one makes a chromoly hubguard? After research into design, including thoughts from G-Sport's own 'George' the final stages of making Chromoly Hubguards are coming together. Aluminium guards bend, warp, crack, break and ultimately destroy your axle due to the poor characteristics of even high grade aircraft aluminium.

After exploration into the most suitable material, it's proposed they will be made out of 4140 heat treated and tempered chrome-moly; the same stuff pegs are made from. 4140 chromoly is more suited than other metals, especially after heat treatment, to this application due to it's superior strength and wear resistance characteristics.

They will slide better than anything other guard on the market, including being safer on your axle as well as being tougher than any other guard! They will theoretically be made to suit Marmoset, Ratchet (Non-drive side coming later) as well as Odyssey style hubs (front and back, with non-drive being made later).

Sale price for all guards, regardless of hub type, is $30. Projected weight per guard is roughly 340 grams.

Expressions of interests needed now, as if you're too slow they will all be gone. First production run is of 4 guards (custom made to suit specific hubs), so get your orders in fast!

Contact me either on Facebook, or on 0431665220

First gardy sticker on the move

Let me know if you want any...

Colour, on white sticker paper

The TV Ride

Just testing... 

(check the plug in the maccas cup)

Angle 1

Angle 2

⇩The Ice ⇩

This DVD's Gonna be Good!

Night of the Living Pegs DVD Coming Soon...

"Louis Teaser" from Oli Z on Vimeo.

Seaford+Flat Tyre=Broken Axle!

The highlight of the day seen below. Oli has a slow leak after tearing his back trye. And after a 5 minute ride at the park, Louis snapped his rear Odyssey axle in half! Didn't stop him rolling home on half an axle though...

Oli Z Reigns Supreme:

Moments before:

Moments After:

The Crib:

Brighton Sec Sesh, The Day of the Fisheye!

The Banga of the day, crispy clean dubs to crooks. Wanted to stitch this one together, but learnt my lesson; use a tripod!

Bring Da Ruckus?

"Did ya get it??"

The only disappointment of the day really, frustatingly crap late timing by me. Shame because this could have been really good!

Mugshot. Reward for whoever captures this fiend; Dead or Alive, but preferable dead.

"Nah I don't want to do a Rail Poppa, I do to many poppa's."

→Big Poppa→

The second Banga of the day, dubs down...which the devil seems to be enjoying

Quick 'N' Dirty PSI pic at the weirdest rail you can imagine. He loved it tho, props Oli. I'm still undecided on cropping fisheye shot though...