Tribute

A friend died yesterday. Doug, "Dragon" Drake.
I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person. 1500 miles seperated us. But he was one of my "new friends". Friends I never would have made if not for this crazy thing they call the internet. And while it isn't the same as a "pre-internet" friend, the loss is very much the same to me.
Doug was, unfortunatly, like me about trusting everyone until they prove they can't be trusted. This got Doug burned by some people long ago, and I think it hardened him a bit. See, these new internet friends aren't like the old in person friends. It is easier to see through the bullshit face to face than it is through typing and picture taking. I have been lucky. Only a couple people have proven to be not trustworthy. And while those losses hurt, they are greatly outweighed by the quality "new friends" I have made.
Doug liked cool bike stuff and had a stash accumulated over the years. Recently, he had to, or decided to start selling some of it off. At first Doug claimed he just wanted to get rid of it to make room. Later on, the truth was shared. He was only selling it to get money to pay for the nursing care his mother needed. I can only hope I am half the man he was.
Our last "deal" just arrived yesterday. A front end. It is still in the box. I don't have to open the box cause I know it is what he said it was and I trust him. Right now I don't know if I will ever open that box. . . . . .

Doug - I pray you are at peace and worry free.

brad

1928 "B" model

Been accumulating parts for a few years now. Gonna see if it sells at Dport, but if it doesn't, I will continue building on it.





Why 1928 ? Cause then I will have a 25th, a 50th, and a 75th anniversary bike - - yea, I know........

Home Alone

Raining sunday morning, nobody else around, so I decided to get something done on the buell. After washing the motor from sitting around for a couple years, I carried it over and laid it carefully down.



Then covered it up to protect the frame.



Then laid the frame over the motor. It took about 15 minutes to get it to fit, and for about 14 of those minutes I thought I was fucked. I wasn't sure it would fit.



Teaser



Still alot to do, but it sure looks better than a dirty motor in one corner and a painted frame in a differant room.

Race truck

Nothing interesting motorcycleish,
so,
My old race truck from back in the late 70s. Used to run a Bronco, then built this Ford 2 wheel drive for midwest racing. Was a fricking ball. 302 to save front end weight to fly more level. C - 6. Ran it on propane. Bilstein shocks.



We had a blast campaigning it for a couple years. Then endoed it. Started building a new one but alas . . . . . too much fun going on. Plus all the sponshorship shit showed up here and stole all our fun.



Gotta get back to work on the hack.

On my mark . . . .

Spiff'n up the motor mounts before installing.

The front mount with lightening holes and bushings



The rear motor mount, bushings, and brake caliper mounts.





The bushings are high zoot shock mount elastamer stuff. We used to use it in our roll cage mounts off road racing to allow some flex.

made it . . . . .

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Slacker

Yup. I've been a slacker lately.
But I gots me an excuse. A new job excuse. Same company but a new "position". Been bustin my ass tryin to keep up with it. Won't be so bad once I get a little bit better at it but right now it's a kinda kickin my ass.
But, the pan still gets a bit of love.
This is the bike I grew up dreaming of. It was the 60's. I spent many young years drawing picture after picture of bikes from my imagination. I was a punk kid growing up in the heartland of America. The Hell's Angels were a motorcycle gang that lived in California. They were magical to my young imagination. The Harley Davidsons always had long front ends, Z bars, and sat long and low. So I tried to build it.
Once it was done and I rode it a summer, engine problems caused a teardown. I decided it wasn't quite what I wanted and stalled at the rebuild. I think this is what I want now.







Whatcha think, eh ?

I gotta say wow

The painter DUDE, Terry at Terry's Custom really blew me away with these pics of my buell stuff.



The tank and fenders.....he really worked his magic on.


The frame.
Can't wait to pick it up in a week or two.
Thanks Terry. You rule.

Slackin, But doin these for the 68ish

This one's done

This one's next


Tryin to make it a roller before the buell restarts

May Day roll out

It's a '52, 650 Triumph pre unit. Bought and traded this from a great guy down in Tennesee. Fred ran, and still runs a shop called Bikes and Bits just right of Nashville. Unfortunately, he had a crook working for him back then. Alot of you know the rest......





I like how the emblems I had cut out look on the tank. The baby battery and other electrical stuff is in the squarish box held on by the wingnuts. This one's seat suspension is some elastomer rounds with a tie rod through the center.

Wood

Yep. These give me wood





Thanks painter DUDE !

I love my Norton

I don't know why. It's mostly all stock.


It isn't the oldest. Or the newest.


It just is.


The business end. Right side, reverse patern shifting is interesting......


A 1970 great looking front brake that actually works good.


Had it up to 130 today.


It's a 1970 Norton Commando. That means 750cc, dual Amal carbs,4 speed trans. It must have been delivered to Canada or someplace cause the gauges are km/hr. I've owned it for about X years and actually bought 2 bikes from the guy. The other, a Kow 650 got traded off on my preunit Triumph. I actually got enough trade off value to have the Norton for free, almost.
Riding it is a trip. The exhaust tone is crazy. Light, nimble and quick. In it's day, it was definately a hot rod.

78 Shovel out for the summer

My shovel. Well, the first shovel I ever had.
When I got it XV years ago, it had a bent up from an accident frame, more oil leaks than the Valdez, and just general "I don't ride anymore" d p o stuff.
It got a new santee frame back then. This is the 4th exhaust it's had. The painter DUDE painted the fender, seatmount, sissy bar thingy last year for me.
Every bike I do gets something I've never seen before or tried before. This go around is the seat suspension. It's an elastomer "bumper" inside the tubes below the seat. Yea, I know. Seat suspension on a swingarm bike is gay. But this isn't big olde skoole springs, and it really does seem to help.

Gettin antsy

I miss you

* * _ _ UPDATE ! - - * *

Just heard from the painter DUDE, the primer is shot. The top coat is bought.
Oh GOODY GOODY.

Once upon a time

this guy had this frame.
And fortunately didn't like it this way



So I huffed,


And I puffed


And I welded it back together


All because of that number pad.

Did I mention I like springers ?

Parts is parts

I knew I was running out of room for parts. So I bought a 40' sea container and had it set behind my garage by a crane. It's dry, bug and mouse free, and relatively safe.
I hung three 4 X 8 shelves for small stuff and built some racks for tubing and stuff.


Some basket bikes and frames waiting patiently.


More stuff.



Garage too.