CSC Offers New Electric Bicycle Line

CSC recently announced that it is bringing a new line of electric bicycles to America, and as they have done with their motorcycles, their dealerless path-to-market is allowing them to do so at prices well below any of their competitors.  I’ve seen and ridden the CSC ebikes, and they are a lot of fun.  Here’s the CSC press release that came out yesterday.

CSC Motorcycles, renowned for its exceptional customer service, brings its smart sourcing and innovative delivery model to electric bicycles with the new FT750-26 and FT750-20. Both fat-tire bikes are specced out with quality components and desirable features that deliver unmatched value in the e-bike marketplace. Delivered to your door for only $1,688.

“I became frustrated when I was shopping for an electric-assist bicycle, trying to sort through the cheap junk and the expensive stuff that costs more than our motorcycles,” explained Steve Seidner, CSC’s president. “After doing extensive research, I was able to source the exact componentry to build an e-bike that is the perfect balance of quality and value.”

The FT750 is built around a lightweight aluminum chassis rather than heavier steel frames, and it uses a battery pack that fits integrally into the frame’s downtube for an ultra-clean appearance compared to the tacked-on battery of lesser competitors. The battery uses high-quality Samsung lithium cells to deliver 653 watt-hours of energy, enough to help power the bike for 25 to 40+ miles, depending on the amount of pedal assistance provided by its rider.

The lockable battery pack sends its energy to an intelligent brushless controller and then to a first-rate Bafang motor mounted in the rear-wheel hub that delivers a healthy 750 watts of power. Pedal-assist rates can be adjusted to five levels, while a thumb-operated throttle can power the FT750 to 20 mph (max speed for Class 2 electric bikes) without even pedaling. Adding pedal power can boost maximum speed above 25 mph.

Like the Samsung battery, Bafang motor, and 6061 aluminum frame, the rest of the FT750’s components are also premium quality. Some bicycle brands use primitive cable-actuated brakes, while CSC chooses Shimano hydraulic brakes biting on huge 180mm stainless steel discs for superb control.

The esteemed Shimano brand is also found on the 7-speed Freewheel gear set and Tourney derailleur that provides adaptable gear ratios to tackle everything from steep hills to urban road speeds. The Shimano index shifter clearly displays which gear is selected. A dual-sided front sprocket guard ensures the chain remains on track even when ridden over rough terrain.

Rider comfort is aided by a front suspension with 3.94 inches (100mm) of bump-absorbing travel, able to be fine-tuned with 8 levels of damping adjustment plus a lockout setting, as well as spring-preload adjustability. Fat Kenda Juggernaut tires look brawny and provide additional bump absorption.

Lightweight aluminum is also used for key components such as the pedals and crank, wheel rims, and tapered handlebar. Instrumentation is via a 2.6 x 3.8-inch LCD display that monitors speed, pedal-assist rate, battery charge, trip information and even ambient temperature.

Thoughtful convenience and safety items are part of the FT750 package. LED headlights and taillights enhance rider conspicuity, as does a handlebar-mounted bell. A handy USB port is provided to power electronic devices, and a water bottle holder enables riders to stay hydrated. A protective cage is fitted over the derailleur to prevent drivetrain damage, and frame tabs are ready to mount rear fenders or racks.

In addition to the FT750-26, CSC offers a version with 20-inch wheels (FT750-20) that reduces the step-over and seat heights but retains all of the features of its bigger brother. CSC’s electric bicycle lineup will be growing in the coming months, and a range of convenience and comfort accessories will soon follow.

The FT750’s modest $1,688 price is due to CSC’s innovative business model of selling direct to consumers, and the price includes free shipping anywhere in the contiguous 48 U.S. states. CSC’s bikes include a 12-month warranty backed by a company dedicated to outstanding customer service.

The FT750s are available in Gloss White or Matte Black and are simply ordered via CSC-ebike.com.

Like I said above, I’ve ridden these bikes and they are pretty cool.  You can set up the drive system so that the bike acts just like a regular bicycle with no power assist, or you can dial in a pedal assist system at up to five different levels.  What that means is that when you pedal, you get an extra boost from the electric motor.  I really like it.

RIP, Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer passed away yesterday.  He had a good run, I guess.  At 85, he got his money’s worth and he lived a full life.  But I still mourn his passing.  He came from a time when people served their country, and he was a real reporter…the kind that provided news, not propaganda.  There aren’t too many of those around any more.  Maybe none.

I heard Jim Lehrer speak at Harvard once.   He was the commencement speaker and his message struck a nerve with me.  There might have been 2000 people in the crowd.   At a time when we were fully committed in both Afghanistan and Iraq, he asked the crowd how many people knew someone who was actually serving in the military.   Maybe 100 hands went up.  Then Mr. Lehrer asked another question:  How many people had been personally affected by the war?   Not a single hand went up.   This was a rarified crowd.  Knowing more than a few of the folks in this group, I knew many of them perceived themselves to be foreign policy, military strategy, and political experts (you know, like everyone on Facebook these days).  But not a single one had any skin in the game.   Mr. Lehrer had just demonstrated that (very politely, of course).

Lehrer went on to speak about his service as a second lieutenant in the US Marine Corps.  This was a man with opinions I wanted to hear.  He had served, and he had my respect.   His recommendation?  That we all do some kind of national public service in our early years.  It need not be in the military.  It could be the Peace Corps, or maybe teaching in the public school system.  Or maybe public health.  But it should be something, some form of national service.  I could not agree more.

Lehrer said in the commencement address that he was a better man as a result of his Marine Corps service, and that some form of shared public service would make all of us better.   Jim Lehrer, we are a better people as a result of your presence among us.  Rest in peace, Sir.

404 Not Found: Blowing The Lid Off

If you haven’t already joined the Facebook page, Fans of Motorcyclist Magazine’s Washed Up Writers, I encourage you to do so. FOMMWUW is a place for former Motorcyclist mag writers to post their new stuff and for fans to see that their old favorites did not die just because Bonnier killed the motorcycle magazine business in America. One of the washed up writers posted a helmet review from his site. The review was ok. It covered fit and finish, noise and weight. Conclusions were drawn but that’s not what I took away from the review: It was the inspiration for this blog.

Way back when moto-magazines still held thrall over the motorcycle advertising landscape writers were professional and paid fairly well. One of those writers, Dexter Ford, wrote the most important motorcycle magazine article since…since I don’t know when. The story was called Blowing The Lid Off and the amount of time and money spent researching this one story dwarfs what we Internet bloggers can devote to a hundred topics.

Blowing The Lid Off combined applied scientific research, traffic accident studies and logical thinking to destroy the long held belief among motorcycle riders that a more expensive helmet was a better helmet. Ford didn’t mince around with fit and finish. He cut right to the chase: How well does the helmet protect your head in a motorcycle crash. New ways of testing helmets were devised. Whole new parameters were used instead of the old metrics. Ford’s story changed the way helmets were rated by proving that stronger helmets weren’t always better in a motorcycle accident. One of the cheapest helmets tested (Shark brand, if I remember correctly) protected a simulated human brain better than the most expensive brands available.

Rotational forces, multiple impacts, using statistical areas of contact instead of a fixed point on top, the story was complete and completely unheard of: A masterwork. Ford had so perfectly executed his Mona Lisa that Motorcyclist Magazine lost a huge amount of advertising money from (expensive) helmet manufacturers. The toxic corporate fallout from Blowing The Lid Off contaminated friendships, leaked emails and ultimately cost Ford his job at Motorcyclist. It was a real mess but that story is best told by those who were actually involved.

I met Dexter Ford on the Best Western Motel-Arkansas-Harley Ride boondoggle. (Even though I wrote about wheel spokes coming loose, that was not the story that soured The Motor Company on my writing). We had drinks and dinner at the schmoozefest portions of the ride. Shooting the breeze with Ford was so damn funny I actually had to beg him to stop as my uncontrollable laughing was making me look like a drunken idiot. The other moto-journos at the table must have thought I’d lost my mind.

Ford and I got along famously on that ride but we had a little falling out towards the end of the Best Western tour. He was a proponent of the sanctity of the writer’s craft. He believed it was a calling and the worthiest of all pursuits. I’ve always approached writing from the rear entrance and with not much respect for the act-of so I told him that digging a perfect ditch was just as valuable as anything I could ever type. I can be a jerk when I want to be.

After that, Ford was not exactly dead to me but the fun times and hilarious asides dried up. I probably should not have said the thing about the ditch but I’m a laborer at heart and will always take the side of the man in the hole.

I tried to find Blowing The Lid Off online but after 10 minutes of searching I could not find a link that worked. Maybe one of you guys can post up a link or it’s saved in an archive somewhere. Failing that, screen shots of the story could be uploaded somewhere safe. It would be a shame if the greatest investigative motorcycle writing ever disappeared from the moto-world.

A .22 Hornet Ruger No. 3!

I’ve written about the Hornet before (and I’ll give you a link to that past blog at the end of this one). The point of today’s writeup?  It’s about accuracy and a few different loads for the Hornet in my single-shot No. 3 Ruger.  I like the idea of a single-shot rifle and I love the .22 Hornet cartridge.  The .22 Hornet was the world’s first centerfire .22 cartridge, and in its day, it was a real hot rod.  Velocities range between 2400 and 2900 feet per second (sometimes a little more, depending on the load).  Recoil and muzzle blast are nearly nonexistent compared to other centerfire cartridges, and it’s a fun cartridge to shoot.

A Ruger No. 3 in .22 Hornet. It has a period-correct inexpensive Bushnell 4X scope, which is good enough for me. My rifle is in near-new condition.

The idea for this blog started when I saw three boxes of Speer 33-grain hollow point bullets a couple a few weeks ago at my reloading supply depot.  They were inexpensive (just $10 a box), so I bought all three.   I hadn’t tried the light Speer bullets and I wanted to see how they compared to an old favorite, the 45-grain Sierra Hornet bullet.  I also wanted to try a propellant that I had purchased previously (Lil Gun) and compare it to my favorite Hornet propellant (Winchester 296).   And my good buddy Tom recently gave me a bunch of old .22 Hornet ammo that I shot up on a prior outing, so I had a good supply of Hornet brass.  It all came together a week or two ago, and the result was a hundred rounds of reloaded .22 Hornet ammo in various load configurations.

The Sierra 45-grain jacketed soft point bullet on the left, and the Speer 33-grain jacketed hollow point bullet on the right.

The Ruger No. 3 was the low-alternative to the fancier Ruger No. 1 back in the day.  The No. 1 had more figured walnut (in the 1970s, and maybe today, too), the No. 1 rifles with iron sights had fancier sights and a cool quarter rib, the No. 1 stock had a pistol grip and a rubber recoil pad, and the No. 1 had hand-cut checkering.  The No. 3 was a simpler gun, with plain walnut, an aluminum (later plastic) buttplate, no checkering, and a less-fancy iron sight setup.  In the 1970s, the No. 3 suggested retail price was $165, and you could buy them brand new all day long for $139.  The No. 1 retail price was $265, and those could similarly be had for $239.  Oh, how times have changed.  New No. 1 Rugers sell for something like $1500 today, and Ruger stopped making the No. 3 altogether.  It’s likely (in my opinion) that at some point in the not too distant future, Ruger will drop the No. 1, too.  That’s okay; it will make mine more valuable.  Not that I’m planning to sell anything.  It just feels better knowing the value is going up.

Ruger manufactured the No .3 from 1973 to 1986.  The very first one was chambered in .45 70 (a classic cartridge, to be sure), and then Ruger added two more classics:  The .22 Hornet and the .30-40 Krag.  Ruger built the rifle you see in this blog in 1978.  Ruger No. 3 rifles can still be found on the used gun market, but these days they go for about the same price as a used No. 1, which is usually somewhere between $800 and $1000.  Supply and demand, you know…they aren’t making any more No. 3 Rugers.

The Ruger No. 3 falling block action, with the lever open and the block in the retracted (or lowered) position.

The Ruger’s action is called a falling block because, well, it is. When you open the trigger guard/lever, the breechblock drops (it’s the silver thing you see in front of the trigger in the photo above), and that allows inserting a round in the chamber.

Ruger uses a distinctive font on its No. 1 and No. 3 rollmarks. This one is cool.
The .22 Hornet is a cute round. These are loaded with 45-grain Sierra jacketed softpoint bullets.
A sense of scale: .22 Hornet rounds next to a couple of .30 30 cartridges.
Another sense-of-scale photo. From left to right, that’s a .416 Rigby cartridge with a 350-grain cast Montana bullet, a .300 Weatherby Magnum with a 180-grain jacketed softpoint bullet, a .45 ACP with a 230-grain jacketed roundnose bullet, a .357 Magnum with a 158-grain plated bullet, a .22 Hornet with a 45-grain jacketed softpoint bullet, another .22 Hornet with a 33-grain jacketed hollowpoint bullet, and a .22 Long Rifle with a 40-grain plated bullet.

The Hornet is fun to shoot, but it’s one of those cartridges that is tricky to reload (a couple of others are .30 Carbine and 9mm; they are challenging to reload for other reasons).  Hornet brass is very thin (so you can’t reload it too many times and it’s easy to deform it when seating the bullet).  It’s hard to get the bullets started straight during the seating operation, and the whole reloading process just takes a lot more finesse than does reloading most other cartridges.  Everything is tiny.  That being said, though, I like reloading Hornet ammo, especially when good groups are the result.

So how did it go?  Not bad, I think.  Here are the results:

The 33-grain loads show promise.

My testing wasn’t exhaustive, and I only shot at 50 yards on this outing.  I tried a few new things with these tests.  As mentioned above, the Lil Gun propellant and 33-grain Speer bullets were two of the variables, and both did well.  I’d previously read that some shooters had better results using small pistol primers instead of small rifle primers, so tried that and it seems to be the case for me, too.  The theory is that small rifle primers, combined with the Hornet’s small case capacity, may blow the bullet out of the case before the powder can get a good burn going.  I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but the small pistol primers worked well for me.

The next steps for me will be to shoot these loads at 100 yards to see how the rifle does at that range.  The scope on my rifle is an inexpensive Bushnell straight 4X and it’s quite a bit more clear at 100 yards (it’s just a little bit out of focus at 50 yards).  We’ll see how that goes, and I’ll publish the results here.  Stay tuned, my friends.

You can read more Tales of the Gun stories here!

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A St. Francis Dam Followup

Susie and I were up in the Santa Clarita area last week and we thought we would attempt to find the St. Francis Dam site.  A quick Google search brought us to a map, we took a right off I-5 at the 126, and we soon found ourselves on San Francisquito Canyon Road.  Wow, after a bit of the burbs it grew rural real fast.   I know great roads, and folks, this is one.  San Francisquito Canyon Road is an awesome set of twisties, one I plan to return to soon on my motorcycle.

An amazing road, San Francisquito Canyon Road was, and there was a lot more of it. I’ll be back, and I’ll be back on two wheels.

We were only traveled a few miles when we came upon a large art deco building (an LA Department of Water and Power plant).  We had arrived.

LA DWP’s Plant 2, an art deco hydroelectric generation facility on San Francisquito Road. The three huge pipes behind it carry water from the California aqueduct system.

The DWP building was magnificent, and when we parked, we found this plaque:

There you have it: The story, the plaque, and the location. We had arrived. Everything was behind a chain link fence, but it was still very cool. I’m going to guess the concrete behind the plaque is from the St. Francis dam.  We were standing where the wall of water released by the dam had passed.
A timeline of events leading up to the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928.

As the plaque said, we were a mile and a half from where the actual dam had stood, so we continued north on San Francisquito Canyon Road.  The building (the one in the photo above) is a replacement…the original power plant was swept away when the dam collapsed.   I would think so; when the dam collapsed it released a 10-story tall 12 1/2 billion gallons of water.

We didn’t see the actual dam; the Internet told us it was a 5-minute hike east of the road (you can’t drive to it), and according to what we read, there’s not much of the dam left.   We drove north a little further and saw the dirt road leading to the site, but there was a gate and it was closed.  Maybe next time.

I was very intrigued by San Francisquito Canyon Road, and I wanted to know where it went.  I found this satellite photo map on Google:

The bottom arrow points to LA DWP Plant 2, the building you see in the photo at the top of this blog. The upper arrow points to our turnaround point. The site I found on the Internet said you can park there and hike to the actual dam site. The distance from one arrow to the other is about a mile and a half.  The other roads shown in this photo are all dirt.

From the map, I could see that continuing north on San Francisquito Canyon Road would brings us to Elizabeth Lake Road, and from there it’s Lake Hughes Road south to get back to Interstate 5 near Castaic.   The little bit we did on San Francisquito Canyon Road showed it to be a great road.  I had ridden Elizabeth Lake Road on previous motorcycle rides (without realizing how close I was to the St. Francis Dam disaster site).  On the map, Lake Hughes Road appears to be even twistier than San Francisquito Canyon Road, and it looks like it would be a great ride.

My planned motorcycle ride: East at CA 126 off I-5, northeast on San Francisquito road to Elizabeth Lake Road, and then south on Lake Hughes Road. It’s going to be a good one.

I’m going to return to this area on my motorcycle and do the ride you see above.  It’s going to be great, and you’ll read about it right here.

Stay tuned!

The $3.4M Mustang…

Well, it’s over…the auction for the Mustang used in the Steve McQueen movie Bullitt, the very car used in what is unquestionably the greatest chase scene ever filmed.  It set a new record for American muscle car sales.  I saw both Mustangs used in Bullitt at a Warner Brothers event celebrating the life of Bud Ekins (that story is here), and they were undeniably cool.

The Bullitt Mustang. Yeah, it was cool.  I shot this photo in 2007.

My good buddy and friend-since-grade-school Ralph predicted the Bullitt Mustang would go for over three million dollars, and he was right.  Surprisingly, that’s not the highest price ever paid at auction for an American car.  A Duesenberg sold for something around $22 million a while back.  That’s a bit more than what Gresh and I make on the ExNotes blog.  Quite a bit more, actually.

I saw Bullitt when it first played back in the day (it was released in 1968), and I’ve probably watched it a dozen times since.   My good buddy Richie and I drove into New Brunswick to see it at the RKO State movie theatre and it was electrifying.  The closest thing I’d ever seen to a chase scene that dramatic was the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape, and what do you know, Bud Ekins and Steve McQueen did the honors in that one, too.

A cherry ’70 Vette…

Good buddy Kirk was at our favorite Mexican restaurant a few days ago and he graciously consented to a photo or two of his 1970 Corvette.   It’s an awesome car.

I love old Vettes, and I think the C3 body style is one of the best.  I also like the C1, the C2, the C4, the C5, and well, you get the idea.  I like Corvettes.

Kirk’s Vette is from one of the lowest production years ever for the Corvette. Chevy went to the C3 body style in 1968, and Kirk told me that the ’68 and ’69 model years had so many problems that the car hit a sales trough in 1970.   Today, that translates into increased rarity for the ’70 model and increased demand.  Kirk’s car has the 350-cubic-inch motor and a three-speed Turbo Hydramatic transmission.   It’s incredibly cool and I love the look of a silver Corvette.

The Corvette you see above is 50 years old this year.   At that age, it could have its own midlife crisis, which is kind of funny as buying a Corvette is usually the result of guys having a midlife crisis.  I had a silver Corvette that I kept for 14 years (I sold it a couple of years ago).  It was a great car and I sometimes think about getting another one.  Folks would always ask me if it was my midlife crisis car, and I always told them I sure hoped so.  I bought it when I was 53 years old and I would like going for another 53 years.

Dream Bike: Triumph T160

The mid-1970’s Triumph T160 is one of the best looking motorcycles ever. The swoopy tank, the perfect stance, the soft-edged thrum of its exhaust. I’ve wanted a T160 since I first saw one. They weren’t popular where I grew up so I didn’t get to see a real live 750 until they were already out of production.

The T160’s engine is actually a BSA engine. But then again the BSA engine was a 500cc Triumph engine with an extra cylinder grafted on so who stole what? Not that it matters because the only real difference between BSA and Triumph’s versions of the 750cc three-banger was a slight forward slope to the BSA cylinder bank.

The older BSA triples are cool in a Jetsons kind of way. The square tank and the ray gun silencers didn’t sell well in the USA so BSA chromed the heck out of the thing and made it into a fire breathing hot rod. I’ve never seen one on the road, only in museums.

Triumph had the same problem with its modern-looking but slow selling triple. If I understand history correctly Triumph sent bodywork beauty kits to the USA to fix slow sales. These kits made the Triumph Trident look pretty much like any other Triumph made in the last 60 years.

The triple engine design consisted of typical British engineering: Why use one part when 32 parts will do the job just as well? The top deck of the crankcase had a gaping opening that the cylinder spigots fitted into. It looks weak to me. I’m surprised the crankcase doesn’t oil can at high compression levels. The center main bearing bolted in from the top, which is pretty strange. The sum of the triple’s complicated, ancient collection of parts worked amazingly well together, winning many road races against more advanced designs.

I would take any of the triples if you gave me one but the only one I would buy is the final Triumph T160 version. The T160 has an electric starter and the thing actually works on the few I’ve seen. Disc brakes front and rear means you don’t have to sacrifice stopping power to revel in the past. The styling of the T160 looks fresh 45 years after it rolled off of the assembly line. I like it better than the Vetter version.

Beginning with the 1970’s Japanese Superbikes steamrolled everything in their path. When it comes to big bike, high horsepower nostalgia most American motorcyclists of a certain age go for a Kawasaki or Honda. Today, the relatively cheap price of a T160 reflects the lower esteem British bikes were held in at the time. If you want one like I do, Triumph/BSA triples are within reach of the average person. $5000 should get one in ridable condition with not-embarrassing cosmetics. $10,000 will buy a show bike. The T160 pushes all the right buttons for me and if I didn’t already have 47 projects lined up I would have grabbed this recent listing. Let me know if you need me to go pick it up for you.

What’s On Your Shelf?

Before the Internet I used to read books. Not just motorcycle magazines, although they were a great source of ideas, but real books. I shot a close-up photo of our bookshelf the other day for a Wastebook post. It was just for fun but looking at the photo I realized the impact some of the titles had on my typing. I never started out to write. I never dreamed of writing the Great American Novel. I fell into typing by osmosis and now I can’t stop. Once I was roped in I mostly tried to emulate my favorites. Find a writer you like and think like them. I don’t try to copy or mimic my favorites, I channel them as I type.

First up is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Mr. Toole killed himself long before ACOD was published. It pisses me off that he chose that path for strictly selfish reasons: I wanted to read more of his stuff. ACOD is a huge, rambling thing full of recognizable personalities, disgusting situations and incredibly funny passages. The Levy pants story will be pleasing to anyone who has held a job (no matter how briefly) and the hot dog cart bit is familiar to anyone who ever tried to sell Christmas cards door to door.

The Best of S. J. Perelman is a collection of essays from The New Yorker. This is a guy you will want to steal from after the first verb. People will look at you like you’re crazy when reading this book on an airplane because you really will be laughing out loud. (Not to be confused with the nearly meaningless LOL, which is often used on the web for things that aren’t actually all that funny.) Perelman’s short bits cover a wide range of topics but always end up absurd. If I could write as well as him in today’s media environment I still wouldn’t be making any money but at least I’d have cigarettes.

The Portable Dorothy Parker is another collection of stories written for The New Yorker. That mag must have been something. At a time when women were routinely named Dorothy she did play reviews, poems, screenwriting and managed to get herself blacklisted. Less bitter than H. L. Mencken, Dorothy’s stories can be safely read both by people with suicidal tendencies and regular folks.

It seems like there are a lot of collected works on this shelf. CT organized it. The unseen hand of her masterful brain is behind the curtain. Anyway, don’t blame me. The Best of Robert Benchley is another collection in the smart, funny but down to earth mold. Benchley also wrote for The New Yorker (what a murderer’s row!) and he dabbled in Vanity Fair during slack times. When these stories were originally written the intention was to parcel them out slowly. Each issue of The New Yorker was an event. Best-Of collections hit you with a fire hose of quality that overwhelms your brain and maybe numbs your senses a bit.

The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van are three full-length books crammed into one small space. I’ve read The Commitments and The Van for sure. I can’t remember if I read The Snapper so I’ll have to get my magnifying glass out and check. If you only have time to read one of these stories by Roddy Doyle make sure it’s The Van. The Van is like Trainspotting except with food trucks instead of heroin.

The Best Short stories of O. Henry should be required reading for anyone thinking of writing for fun or…fun. O. Henry invented the ending-with-a-twist that featured large in last century’s story telling. We seem to have gotten away from these surprising finishes like, “Darn! She shouldn’t have cut her hair!” Now stories just kind of fade out with a pale, rictus arm reaching out of a lake or it’s revealed that the two main characters are father and son.

Finally, we come to Hunger by Knut Hamsun. This book was published in 1890 yet the ensuing 130 years have not dulled the edge of the humor in this book. Fittingly for this blog, the protagonist is a failed writer and we follow his slow starvation and descent into a delirium world. It’s funnier than it sounds. If you want to be a successful writer, learn a trade is what I took away from reading Hunger.

These are some of the books I use as inspiration when I’m faced with replacing a transmission in a Jeep or trying to work the self-checkout in Wal-Mart. At the emotional level, living in today’s world is no different than when these authors were writing. Life still becomes more ridiculous the deeper you dig into the thing and all we can do is shake our heads and crack wise. Wait here while I go sell my pocket watch.

The 2020 MacManus 1911

Stainless steel barrel, Parkerized finish, fixed sights, checkered wood grips, arched mainspring housing…the Springfield Armory Mil Spec 1911 gets the nod for the 2020 Colin D. MacManus Award to be presented later this year to a graduating cadet in the Rutgers University Reserve Officers Training Corps.  We reviewed the offerings from several 1911 manufacturers and I have personal experience with the .45 autos from many of them.  The Springfield Armory Mil Spec 1911 is the clear winner from several perspectives, not the least of which are accuracy, reliability, and close adherence to the US Army 1911 configuration.  I own a Springfield 1911, and three of my good buddies bought this exact model.   One of them is my friend Greg, and I’ve seen his gun shoot one-hole, 5-shot groups at 50 feet.  With any handgun, that’s as good as it gets.

The MacManus .45 shipped yesterday from the Springfield Armory factory, and it is on its way (through a New Jersey FFL, of course) to its new owner.  We’ll write about that when it happens, so stay tuned!

Click here for the story on the Colin D. MacManus Award.

Click here for more cool stuff on the 1911 and other great handguns.

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