Tuesday, February 16, 2010

In Memory of Blaine Smith at the World of Wheels

Blaine's friends and family got together 4 of his best bikes and put them on display at this years World of Wheels. It was great to see these bikes on display together again. It's also great to know that Blaine has not been forgotten. I was really surprised to see the sign that I had made for Blaine to display the 4 Horseman bike was still with it. It gave me a warm fuzzy ;-) I'll post some more pics of the individual bikes later this week.

Spritz by Fritz

Great Panhead built by Fritz. He used to write for the OLD iron horse magazine and still helps out on the new form of it. He also painted the cool car behind the bike that was inspired by Big Daddy Roth. I'll post pics of the car later. The pics from this show are not great quality because the lighting inside the show is really bad, but I wanted to share what I saw there.

Herbie Rides Again!!!

I saw this car at the World of Wheels this weekend. It was a little smaller show, but there were some really cool cars there this year. How can you not love a VW beetle with a blown V8 engine in it??? I thought it was cool the way they let it stay beat up looking, even the hole in the nose where the blower is sticking through was cut out roughly to keep up the effect. If you look closely you can see the shifter is sticking up through the roof. Really good job bringing a Big Daddy Roth image to life ;-)

That skull above the car is the shifter sticking out of the sunroof.

Check out the wheelie bars. This bug is serious ;-)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Bright Colors!

I really like the intensity of the colors in this one. It was taken a few years ago outside the place where I was working then. What I really like is that it shows that colors can be bright, intense and deep without having to be in your face and end up looking like a gypsy got run over by a train.

Different Seasons (Where I want to be vs Where I am)

This is what our house looks like in the Summer. This is the weather I enjoy and want to happen all year round so that I can ride more. This is Central Alabama by the way.....


This is Central Alabama today (Feb 12, 2010) This SUCKS! It's not supposed to snow in Alabama. It was an "interesting" ride home from work on the bike in this weather.

Actually I posted these pics to show how much difference the weather can make in a picture. The first picture has a bright and "pretty" mood going for it, the second is dreary and makes you want to put on a sweatshirt. Just some things to think about when planning pictures. We all know that the best shots are usually chances of opportunity, but we do plan some of these things.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Good Bye to an old Friend!

Well, I sold the Honda a few days ago. She was a great bike and I hated to see her go, but I never really ride her anymore and a bike that's not being ridden is a sad machine ;-) The guy who bought her is a young guy and his Dad knows damn near my whole family and he knows my niece and her boyfriend real well so I can keep tabs on her. Trent is in for a good time and I know the old ACE will serve him as well as she did me. These are just a few pics that I had sitting in the folder. None of them are great but they do show the evolution of the bike from a plain jane Honda Shadow ACE 750 to the Batcycle. Enjoy your new life my old friend and I hope you rack up many more miles before it's all over.


Here she is almost stock, just a bat on the air cleaner and her name on the fender.


She's truly becoming the Batcycle here. The Bats are on the tank, the pinstripe is in place and the pipes are coming together.


This is the picture of her that was used in a calendar for our online forum about these bikes.



Here is a shot that was converted to look like a drawing, the Spirit rear fender and front wheel are installed here. This is basically how she ended up before the big crash. After that she went back together, but I removed the bats and pinstripes.



Here are my girls on their last day together. The ACE is wearing a set of original mufflers so she was pretty quiet for the new owner, but I sent the bad-ass pipes along with her so she'll sing again ;-P


And one more time, my all time favorite picture of her. Sorry this post is so long, but this bike and I spent 7 years and 67,000 miles together. We survived getting broadsided by a truck and we're both still on the road, so I think a nice long farewell is appropriate.