Monthly Archives: May 2011

New School Skatey complete


Some goodies for my new school skateboard came in the mail today.


All done.


Ready to skate when you guys are!

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Mia’s 1st B’Day


Mia (snobbies) turns one today!


Maxy’s getting some man face going.

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Gear


I’ve worn my blue Adidas sneakers into the ground and I’ve been looking for some new blue sneaker to replace them. When I saw these in Melbourne I jumped on them.


Attn: Fixie riders. I flipped the NJS logo upside down, it now reads SIN. You can buy this T-Shirt design at RedBubble (I’ve set the mark-up to 0% so it’s 100% not-for-profit).


“Power Oversteer” – A design inspired by Dean Poole of Alt Group who I saw present at Semi a few weeks ago. Click here for purchasing information.


Simple JDMST logotype design. Click here for purchasing information.

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Qantas rebrand


Qantas pulled a sneaky. I had no idea they refined the kangaroo again (I like the older one better, and this original design best).

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Melbourne Trip – Day 2 – JDMST EOMM


Thanks to Kyne (a very generous guy who we hadn’t met before) Christina and I managed to get a lift to the JDMST meet out at Doncaster. Turns out it’s the biggest Melbourne JDMST meet I’ve attended so far.


Melbourne guys have a great sense of humor which came through in all the decals I spotted on various cars.


Micra on fat meshies.


I see this decal all the time on Lancers in Sydney. I met Irving, the guy who owns this car (nice guy!), it turns out he also runs the Victorian chapter of Club CJ


Carey kindly offered us a lift back to the city for drinks and a bite to eat at the Little Creatures brewery (always great). He’s just launched his Tumblr site, it’s awesome so be sure to check it out: http://onepointeight.tumblr.com


The bill, very cute.


On the way back to the hotel Christina got busy on this water fountain (out the front of the Westin) with some Autumn leaves.

You can view many more pics here.

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Melbourne Trip – Day 2


In the morning we made a beeline straight for Degraves for brekkie. Middle Eastern Eggs with spicy meatballs and Spanish Eggs – delish!

Christina continued her shopping spree on Brunswick St. (during my meeting she did well on Chapel the day before), and for lunch we dropped into St Jude’s Cellars which looked really welcoming from the outside. We went all out and went for their $35 lunch special (2 choices + wine).


Love how the logo becomes the filler mark on their wine glasses.


Rabbit chips.


Pappardelle Lamb ragout was beautiful, so homely, such awesome comfort food.


Christina’s rigatoni, much like above was just so hearty and homely.


So much eating means more walking so we checked out the Rose St. Markets which are tucked away behind Brunswick St.


Later that night we had a quick drink in a lane we stumbled into off Little Collins St. This live Jazz trio were killing it. I love Melbourne, lots. Soon after this we got picked up by Kyne who put his hand up to take us to the [VIC] JDMST End Of Month Meet (EOMM).

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Melbourne Trip – Day 1


Christina chose to put us up at The Novotel on Collins Street and I think it’s the best place we’ve stayed at so far as it’s right in the thick of the city’s best spots. This was the view out our window, into the mall!

The meeting I had with the Cycling Express guys (see previous post below) almost killed me. A combination of not getting enough sleep the night before, catching a plane first thing in the morning then taking a crazy long cab drive out to the warehouse (which was out of town) for a 3hr meeting.

Despite being tired we both managed to check out the Tutankhamun exhibition which is now on at the Melbourne Museum.

The exhibit was pretty rad as far as these things go, some of the items on display from Tutankhamun’s tomb are over 3000 years old. The only thing that bothered me was that these belongings were dug out and put on display (these goods were buried with him so he could take them with him to the afterlife after all), that and the insane amount of bad consumer goods in the shop on exit, but if you do manage to catch it be sure to get the audio tour, well worth it.


CHINCHIN on Flinders Lane.


Drinks menu – nice graphic design language throughout the space.


The Mandarin Duck was awesome.


Roti.


They gave us the bug for free.


Liz, her guy Jan was too shy for pics, saying he even hates mirrors haha!

Later that night we caught up with Christina’s friends Liz and Jan who both now live in Melbourne. The initial plan was to go to MoVida, a much respected Spanish restaurant in Hosier lane (my fave Melbourne graffiti covered lane), but they were packed out. We ended up at CHINCHIN. We had no idea whether or not the food was going to be good (Asian with a focus on Thai) but the place was buzzing so we gave it a go.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, and once we were sat down we were moved onto a better table, but then we were getting orders which were not ours (I assume from a table of people who were moved elsewhere). Some of the dishes we ordered had sold out too, which was a little disappointing, but the entree’s came out fast and they were excellent. It was a bit of a wait for the mains and with all the stuff ups they decided to give us a free dish which was awesome (we weren’t even thinking about complaining as the food was so damn good!).

It turns out that they’ve only been open for 2 days (which explains all the cuffaful). I highly recommend the place though, what a killer find!

Posted in Food, Travel | 2 Comments

Melbourne Trip – Day 1 – Cycling Express


Got warehouse?


Goods on display in the showroom.


Verite concept bike (1 of 3).


Weird and wonderful.


I always pay respect to Reynolds tubing.


Intense power meetings call for serious fuel.

Around about 5 months ago I had a meeting with a couple of guys who were planning to launch a new Australian online bicycle shop to rival 2 of the largest International online bicycle shops in the world: Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles.

These 2 shops buy in bulk to pass the discounts on to online shoppers world wide. Their warehouses are massive. I’ve heard first hand from local Australian bike shop owners that they’re selling goods for what Aussie shops buy at. IE: There’s no way for local bike shops to compete.

Initially I was a little pessimistic about the idea of an Australian online shop being able to come anywhere near Wiggle and CRC prices but after last weekend all doubts I ever had about how serious these guys are have totally been put to rest.

The guys flew me to Melbourne last Friday for a meeting. I was given a tour around the warehouse which is already starting to hold some stock. I got to meet more of their team and over 3 hours or so we shared a lot of ideas. They’d like me to look after the social media side of the business and it’s looking like everyone’s on the same page. I’ve got to submit a proposal (I’ll be working from Sydney) and also a technical outline of functions I’d like to have in order to run it right.

I’m excited. It’s not going to be easy work (getting new businesses off the ground is rarely easy) but I’ve decided that so long as we meet eye to eye on a retainer I’m happy with I’m determined to give it 100%, and with that I’m confident that I’ll help them succeed.

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JDMST EOMM Video #2 & #3

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Kuwahara V2


FBS.


All NOS (new old stock) parts now on the new (genuine) black frame.


I bought these model/period correct V-bars years ago, just never got around to fitting them until now.


As pictured in this 80’s advertisement.


I also had this model correct NOS Suntour stem from years ago, never used it, such a shame to rip it out of it’s original packaging but I did it, and now I’ve fitted it.

I caved in after a bottle of wine the other night and got into a midnight build (as you do).

I still want to replace the rear brake caliper with a model correct MX1000 one (which Dia-Comp are now re-releasing which is great news). I liked the chrome frame a lot more than the black one, but this is the real deal (where the chrome frame was not a genuine Kuwahara). Ultimately I’d love to track down the same frame, but in chrome. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out.

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