SirJoey's Bikes, Trikes & More!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Few things in life are more unjust than being punished for something that is totally beyond one's control, however that's exactly what happened to me in the early morning hours of August 4th, 2007, while driving through the state of Georgia.

 

It was 5:30 a.m. I was driving my pickup truck & towing a trailer. Since it was still dark out, I was driving exactly 5 m.p.h. below the posted speed limit of 55. In spite of this, I didn't see the stop sign until the last second. There was no flashing light to warn of the impending intersection, & the road I was on was coming to a "T", where I would have to turn left or right. Although I was able to slam on the brakes BEFORE I actually reached the stop sign, it was too late to stop in time, especially with the weight of the trailer pushing me. I skidded across the intersection, off of the other side & into a tree.

 

The truck was a total loss. Due to the trailer I was towing, even the rear end of the truck was wrecked. Fortunately, I didn't hit anyone else, no property damage was done, & my passenger & I were both unharmed, as we were both wearing seat belts.

 

Help finally arrived in the form of the Georgia State Police & a tow-truck. The tow-truck driver proceeded to pull my truck out & load it up, informing me that it would cost me "ONLY" $100 to get it back!

 

Then, the cop decided he had to write me a citation for disregarding a stop sign! I was STUNNED! It was obvious to a blind fool that I had TRIED to stop! The skid marks started well BEFORE the stop sign & continued through the intersection. I explained to him that I had TRIED to stop, but my plea fell on deaf ears. He was already well aware of this anyway, as he had already measured the skid marks himself! All he could see was the chance to write another citation, apparently to add another mark to his tally for the month! The fact that I had already lost my truck, incurred $100 in wrecker expenses, & was now stranded in the state of Georgia, nearly 150 miles from home, apparently made no difference to this gung-ho cop. He had to punish me even further with a citation that ended up costing me $95 more! Talk about getting kicked when you're down! Was it really necessary to punish me over something that I had absolutely no control over? Hadn't I suffered enough?

 

Apparently, it is the policy of the G.S.P. to punish EVERYONE, every chance they get, regardless of circumstance. When the old slogan "To Protect & Serve" comes to mind, I wonder, who exactly are they "serving"? Obviously, the state, (more revenues) & themselves (more citations on their monthly quota).

 

Events like this, where cops victimize the innocent, are the very types of events that make normal, decent, law-abiding citizens HATE cops, & it makes me definitely want to stay away from Georgia, where the policy is apparently, "SCREW EVERYBODY TO PROTECT & SERVE"!

 

Joey Wallace 

 

 

 

 

Geoff Tate = Michael Keaton = Mark Miller

Reese Witherspoon = Shannon Kenny = Julia Stiles

Michael Jackson = Diana Ross

Megyn Price = Mira Sorvino

John Candy = John Madden

Maura Tierney = Daphne Zuniga

Denver Pyle = Donald Sutherland

Jack Noseworthy = Ron Howard

Samuel L. Jackson = Laurence Fishburne

Chris Rock = Chris Tucker = Eddie Griffin = Dave Chappelle

Montel Williams = Louis Gossett Jr.

Christopher Lee = Peter Cushing

Rachel Luttrell = Jennifer Lopez = Sallie Richardson

Bryan Brown = Michael Caine

Lisa Hartman Black = Jennifer Aniston

Bette Midler = Sara Jessica Parker

Ben Affleck = Ben Stiller

Teryl Rothery = Dawn Wells

Christian Slater = Jack Nicholson

Michael Ironside = Kurtwood Smith

Michelle Lee = Barbara Eden

Nancy Travis = Andie McDowell

Tobey McGuire = Topher Grace = Dave Foley

Dennis Leary = Willem Dafoe

Angie Harmon = Jordana Brewster

John Rhyes Davies = Sebastian Cabot

Seth Green = Jaime Kennedy

Rena Sofer = Amanda Peet

Michael Clarrke Duncan = Ving Rhames

Mary Hart = Faith Hill

Joe Rogan = Tony Danza

Bret Michaels = Vince Neil

 

 

 

 

 

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Recently, I decided to re-paint my old aluminum-frame Raleigh bicycle. It's a 1985, 12-speed road bike. A great old bike, & fairly high-tech back in the day, but pretty beat up, I decided I would paint & then re-build it as a giant 12-speed Sting-Ray, thus the name "StingRaycer". Inspired by an article posted on the "Instructables" website, I sat out on a journey that I ultimately found would be very difficult to complete, indeed!

 

Based on the author's recommendation, I purchased a $9.00 can of "Jasco Paint & Epoxy Remover". Little did I realize that this would be only the first of many hard lessons that I would learn before my long & arduous journey would end! What follows is the series of articles that I posted on that same website, to warn others before they attempted this project, of the various pitfalls that may lie ahead, due largely to various EXPENSIVE, but LOW QUALITY products!

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POST #1:
To anyone thinking of undertaking this project, be forewarned. The "Jasco Paint & Epoxy Remover" doesn't work on all types of paint! After 3 APPLICATIONS, my Raleigh still has about 25% of the paint left on it! TOTAL WASTED: $9.00!

 

I sanded on it today until my arms gave out & I've barely scratched the surface! It seems that the paint remover somehow reacted to the remaining paint, hardening it & making it even more difficult to sand off! This has turned into a nightmare of a project which will probably take a couple of hundred hours to complete!

 

I'm committed now, so I have no choice but to continue, but if I had known it would be like this, I never would have started it!

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POST #2:
Well, a couple of more days of work, MUCH sanding, & a total of 4 APPLICATIONS of the "Jasco Paint & Epoxy Remover", & I've FINALLY got the frame stripped & primered. Haven't even started on the fork yet.

 

I'm trying out the Krylon X-Metals paint next. Kinda pricey too, at almost 5 bucks a can! With any luck, I'll apply my base coat tomorrow. You're supposed to apply the base coat over the primer, then the color paint within 1 hour, or wait 5 days! This stuff looks great on the cap, but who knows, eh? Stay tuned...

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POST #3:
Warning! Don't buy the Krylon X-Metals paint! Another waste of money! Primer-$2.00, X-Metals base coat-$5.00, X-Metals paint-$5.00. TOTAL WASTED: $12.00!

 

Even after wet sanding the primer, allowing 24 hours drying time & following all directions exactly, the finish is equivalent to fine sandpaper! Very rough, no shine, uneven finish! And this stuff is SUPPOSED to have a vastly superior finish! In reality it's VASTLY INFERIOR, but TWICE AS EXPENSIVE!!

 

Now I get to wait 5 days for the paint to cure (as recommended on the can), so I can wet sand it & go over it again with REGULAR paint, to get a decent, smooth, shiny finish. I've done MANY $4.00 paint jobs that came out MUCH, MUCH better! What a mess!

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