Of biker whips and half chaps . . .

phar2slo said:

At one stage we also had one of those cars I just spent $400 dollars on repairs that week and my wife sold it to her sister and brother in law because they had just arrived back in NZ and needed a car for $400 bucks back in the early 90s.

I can tell you I was as happy as that Basel with the club. It lasted two more years and they sold it for $1200.

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Mine didn't last that long. It blew 2 core plugs and left the contents of the sump on Grand Avenue in Hove (actually). Stopped on side of road and walked to pub. Went to recover it 2 days later but Hove (actually) council beat me to it. Recovered and crushed and was no more. Mind you, I'd only paid £30 for it!

I wore full chaps in cold weather but the zipper broke on one leg and I haven't got it repaired. I did have to wax them after every rain though to keep them water resistant.
Those half chaps look like they would be good protection for dirt riding and keeping brush and cactus off your shins.
They do look stylish and I think they would go good with a Natuve American themed bike...

might go with the headers
but i would have to mod.

Joesmoe said:

And I like your new avatar - GAU-8 is one of my favorite arms.

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Whiteman AFB is home to the A-10 which is built around that gun. Its not too far from Kansas City and they used to do lots of flyovers at Chiefs and Royals games.

CrzystghndKC said:

Whiteman AFB is home to the A-10 which is built around that gun. Its not too far from Kansas City and they used to do lots of flyovers at Chiefs and Royals games.

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When I was a kid, there was an A-10 squadron stationed at Richards Gebaur AFB in Belton and we got low flyovers all the time in south KC.

Is that the plane they call the Warthog? If so I'll remember it from the AF museum in Dayton Ohio.

It was a heady time to be in the Air Force as a green, wet-behind the ears lieutenant (butter bar) in 1981. The cold war was in full swing. The country was waking up from the Vietnam defeat and drawdown, 21% interest rates, and Reagan had been voted in by a landslide. For the first time in history, the Pentagon went in with their inflated budget request, and were told by OMB, "Go back and put more in, you're not asking for enough." Acquisition was in full swing - most of the aircraft work was being directed out of Wright-Patterson AFB - B-1, F-16 (where I was), B-2 (though it was a black program at the time), F-117 (also black at the time), F-22 (black) and A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Jokes abounded -- and there was heated debate inside the Air Force that the A-10 represented a step back. Pilots joked it would be the only aircraft in the inventory to receive bird strikes from the rear. And so it went. But the book by Norm Augustine, Augustine's Laws was making the rounds, and the data that suggested by 2054, the US would only be able to afford one tank, one airplane, and one ship based on the ever increasing unit cost, was having some influence. The A-10 had no fly-by-wire, no fire-control radar. It did have its engines in a relatively protected position. It did have a titanium bathtub for the pilot that was explicitly designed to resist direct hits from the Soviet Zu-23. It did have fire-resistant fuel tanks, redundant control lines, and 10,000 lb ordinance, including 1,100 rounds of 30mm depleted uranium projectiles.

I was fortunate enough to spend time at Eglin AFB at the tail end of the development program for the GAU-8, and still have a practice round from that time. I have also driven past the shuttered plant where the A-10 were produced in Jamaica, NY.

And while the fly-high boys still want more of the latest planes (e.g., F-35), the economics and effectiveness of the A-10 have it on indefinite life extension (the B-52s still flying today last rolled off the production line in 1962 and are expected to be in service 80 or 90 years).

The A-10 is an incredible war machine. I was stationed with the 6920ESG in Misawa, Japan in the late 80s and used to watch the A-10s on the range. They appeared to be able to almost make a 90 turn. Then Col Mike Ryan was the 232nd Tactical Fighter Wing commander there at the time.

On the whips, they are to confirm that one who has a long piece of heavy leather affixed to the end of a handlebar and flapping freely in the wind is an idiot.

I still have an old pair of chaps that I've worn for many a mile on cold days. The advantage is that they can be removed an easily stowed when the day warms up

I was stationed at Kami Seya in 1968. One afternoon I was in a small second story one room apartment I shared with a very comely young Japanese girl when the small TV that was sitting on a small refrigerator shot straight up into the air. In an instant we were both standing in the street. I don't remember taking the stairs. Here's an account of the earthquake from a young man stationed in Misawa. They took quite a jolt.

"It's All About Me" : Anecdotes and recollections of my life.: May 16th, 1968:The Day the Earth Stood Still. (Not!)

@GPMAZ you mentioned the girl - is there more to that story ?

Enquiring minds want to know.