Goldenrod
I live for the CABE
My New love—Chicago Machine Rivets. Where Have You Been All My Life?
By Ray-Of-Sunshine
Reprinted from the Hells Whizzers of Illinois newsletter
I recently got stung on eBay, seduced by my second favorite thing, a scruffy set of 1947 Whizzer saddle bags. The preschooler inside of me jumped up and down, distracting me from what little common sense I have left. These bags are as tough as a cockroach after a nucleal blast but this set was missing several essential straps. They were probably chewed off by a 1950s cold-war dog.
Since the quarantine wall was still up between my second favorite play-mate (Al) and me, I had to do my own thinking. I ordered some straps and buckles from the Tandy Leather website but what about rivets? What a challenge those are and I am an under-achiever who sheepishly looks for shortcuts. I dimly remembered seeing a Chicago screw rivet used in bookbinding. I saddled up my computer and rode on the internet to Amazon, where a box of 120 different sized rivets were $10 plus shipping. I found replacements for the missing decorative dome studs in a company catalog that has another section that is labeled “bondage”. We are experts at restraining Whizzers so I didn’t need to examine that part too closely.
My drill made the holes. Aided by a screwdriver and glue; I made all the permanent strap repairs in minutes. As luck would have it; this was just what I needed for a second project that I was working on, an agile portrait of myself tumbling around on a toy for my great grandson.
The rivet can’t be too tight so my old-school technology was perfect except that all of the chrome rivet ends were too shiny. I glued paper price dots on the rivet ends and painted the paper. Now I have my empty bags operational, just in time to wait until Spring. Speaking of rides, we need to have some soon so I can get fresh video footage of you “antiques” riding your wheeled antiques for the new DVD, “The Whizzer Sequel—With Added Wrinkles”. Maybe the title needs some work. I mailed over seventy of the 1994 DVDs (so far), but new Whizzer people need to get documented for posterity. Who took the video of the CVR, covid violation ride? My getting a copy of that would be a start. After you get covid shots, all of you temporary, couch bums can get back on bikes. I have gassed up my steel stallion, just to rekindle my bruised spirit.
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