About this blog...
A long time ago, this bloke called Matt Clarke was born in Wolverhampton, UK.
My Dad, Grandad, Great Grandad and Great Great Grandad have all worked as engineers within the Aerospace industry, so I guess they are to blame for me following them down the same career path.
Let's wind things back a bit so you know how i got here...
Since I was very young, I have been fascinated with anything mechanical. I purchased my first car at the age of 11 for a whopping £20. A pea-green Vauxhall Nova saloon, with an engine that wouldn't start. Helped along by my Dad, we spent weekends under the bonnet, putting time in to get the old thing running again. Eventually she was reborn and was sold for a tidy sum of £250. We made a profit of about £10 in the end, but it was not the money that was important at the time.
Time with Dad can never have a price tag.
Mountain bikes came about to fill in any time that me and Dad were not in the garage together. Maintaining a bike designed for gentle trail riding yet lived most of its life being thrown off high ledges and drops kept me entertained for hours on end, and ultimately forcing me to become employed to fund the inevitable component breakages. Paper rounds were crap. I hated them.
I had the opportunity to work on a family friends drag car. A custard yellow 1955 Ford Customline. This introduced me into the world of Motorsport and unveiled opportunities to work on a variety of different race cars, including a top fuel funny car.The whole family were into the drag racing scene and it wasn't long before my Mom and Dad purchase a 1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible. I was fortunate enough be allowed to race this car in a bracket racing class called Sportsman ET for a few seasons in the early 2000's.
Upon leaving school I had very little idea of what career I intended to pursue, but the love of tinkering and mechanics started to swing me towards Engineering. The opportunity to apply for a Modern Apprenticeship came up and I thought why not go for it; earn money and get qualified? What's not to like? It would help fund my own racing ambitions and get me a trade. I served a 4 year apprenticeship, specialising in mechanical and hydraulic assembly. I spent the first 12 years of my career repairing both military and commercial aircraft primary flight control systems, and over the last 2 years, I have moved across into research and development.
Anyway, that's enough of work, car racing came and went and the escalating costs soon put an end to my involvement in Motorsport. I switched back to mountain biking in my early twenties and was hooked again by the buzz I had found originally in my early teenage years. After some time, I began racing mountain bikes, mainly in a discipline called 4X (pronounced four cross). I dedicated almost every minute I wasn't at work to riding with friends in some shape or form, be it mountain bike, road bike or even BMX.
A couple of times whilst out riding, I've come across recumbent bikes and trikes and dismissed them as some weird contraption reserved for old blokes. But as time moved on, my view changed and I thought they looked pretty cool and a hell of a lot more comfortable than the conventional bicycles that I am so used to.
Not one to shy away from trying something new, I searched for second hand recumbents and was shocked to see how much money they cost, even for a well used example. A website called "Atomic Zombie" was appearing during my searches, offering plans for home built recumbents and other pedal powered contraptions.
A £12 payment was quickly thrown at this website to purchase and download a set of plans for a recumbent trike called a "Warrior" and my home built recumbent idea was starting to gather pace. Some lengths of mild steel box section and a bit of welding? What could possibly go wrong?
So here we are, the point of this blog.
It's primary function will serve as a build diary for me to refer back to, and then I thought why not publish it online to bore the pants off other people?
If you've made it this far down my "About This Blog" page, well done, this is nearly the end of me waffling on.
Here in the Black Country, things are not "made", they are "med", hence, med in a shed.
Hopefully that clears the title up, i'm sure i'll have to explain some other Black Country sayings as time passes!
I welcome your comments and will endeavour to reply to every single one that is left.
For now, enjoy the progress of my project, and ride safe.
Cheers and beers,
Matt.
My Dad, Grandad, Great Grandad and Great Great Grandad have all worked as engineers within the Aerospace industry, so I guess they are to blame for me following them down the same career path.
Let's wind things back a bit so you know how i got here...
Since I was very young, I have been fascinated with anything mechanical. I purchased my first car at the age of 11 for a whopping £20. A pea-green Vauxhall Nova saloon, with an engine that wouldn't start. Helped along by my Dad, we spent weekends under the bonnet, putting time in to get the old thing running again. Eventually she was reborn and was sold for a tidy sum of £250. We made a profit of about £10 in the end, but it was not the money that was important at the time.
Time with Dad can never have a price tag.
Mountain bikes came about to fill in any time that me and Dad were not in the garage together. Maintaining a bike designed for gentle trail riding yet lived most of its life being thrown off high ledges and drops kept me entertained for hours on end, and ultimately forcing me to become employed to fund the inevitable component breakages. Paper rounds were crap. I hated them.
I had the opportunity to work on a family friends drag car. A custard yellow 1955 Ford Customline. This introduced me into the world of Motorsport and unveiled opportunities to work on a variety of different race cars, including a top fuel funny car.The whole family were into the drag racing scene and it wasn't long before my Mom and Dad purchase a 1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible. I was fortunate enough be allowed to race this car in a bracket racing class called Sportsman ET for a few seasons in the early 2000's.
Upon leaving school I had very little idea of what career I intended to pursue, but the love of tinkering and mechanics started to swing me towards Engineering. The opportunity to apply for a Modern Apprenticeship came up and I thought why not go for it; earn money and get qualified? What's not to like? It would help fund my own racing ambitions and get me a trade. I served a 4 year apprenticeship, specialising in mechanical and hydraulic assembly. I spent the first 12 years of my career repairing both military and commercial aircraft primary flight control systems, and over the last 2 years, I have moved across into research and development.
Anyway, that's enough of work, car racing came and went and the escalating costs soon put an end to my involvement in Motorsport. I switched back to mountain biking in my early twenties and was hooked again by the buzz I had found originally in my early teenage years. After some time, I began racing mountain bikes, mainly in a discipline called 4X (pronounced four cross). I dedicated almost every minute I wasn't at work to riding with friends in some shape or form, be it mountain bike, road bike or even BMX.
A couple of times whilst out riding, I've come across recumbent bikes and trikes and dismissed them as some weird contraption reserved for old blokes. But as time moved on, my view changed and I thought they looked pretty cool and a hell of a lot more comfortable than the conventional bicycles that I am so used to.
Not one to shy away from trying something new, I searched for second hand recumbents and was shocked to see how much money they cost, even for a well used example. A website called "Atomic Zombie" was appearing during my searches, offering plans for home built recumbents and other pedal powered contraptions.
A £12 payment was quickly thrown at this website to purchase and download a set of plans for a recumbent trike called a "Warrior" and my home built recumbent idea was starting to gather pace. Some lengths of mild steel box section and a bit of welding? What could possibly go wrong?
So here we are, the point of this blog.
It's primary function will serve as a build diary for me to refer back to, and then I thought why not publish it online to bore the pants off other people?
If you've made it this far down my "About This Blog" page, well done, this is nearly the end of me waffling on.
Here in the Black Country, things are not "made", they are "med", hence, med in a shed.
Hopefully that clears the title up, i'm sure i'll have to explain some other Black Country sayings as time passes!
I welcome your comments and will endeavour to reply to every single one that is left.
For now, enjoy the progress of my project, and ride safe.
Cheers and beers,
Matt.