What I See

Moving Into The New Place

2012-03-10T15:35:00.000-06:00

Here are the pics of us moving everything into the new shop. After Larry gets back from Daytona I'll show ya how it's set up, but in the meantime here is how we piled the crap in and left Larry to deal with it

Bill says welcome in his own kind of way.

Pulled the pick ups in so we could unload them out of the rain that started falling on us.

There were some big pieces that were loaded with a forklift at the old shop and then we had to figure out how to get them off the trailers and put in place in the new building. This is the milling machine here. We used brute force to get it off the trailer and onto a dolly. Actually I should say I let the younger guys use brute force. I'm getting too old for this crap.

Lifting the Mill onto its stand. I hid on top of the ladder for this shot. One again Bill was telling me that I'm number 1.

THERE! It's in place and David was so happy he had to fondle his own ass.

Larry and Ashley's new house. It's about 50 feet from the new shop. At least Larry will save a ton of gas now.

Ian backing the monster back up to the new building. We filled this truck up twice.

You can see that we were very careful to put everything where it should go.

Pile it where ever it will fit for now.

While Larry was grilling some burgers Some of us tried to get a fire going in the fire pit. It took a while, but it eventually happened. It took some work since it rained for days before the move.

Just a cool shot of the fire right as Bill tossed kerosene on it.

With Daytona going on and Larry getting moved in as well as me going out of town later this month updates will be slow, but I WILL kick it into high gear after the first of April.

Garco Closed.....

2012-03-09T08:12:00.001-06:00

last friday to move into the new building. Larry will be open again a week from Monday. He spent this week setting up shop and he'll be in Daytona next week. Be sure to come out and check out the new place. It will be pretty nice once it's ready. In the meantime check out these pics of us moving all of this crap. Today I'm just posting us loading, tomorrow I'll post some of the new place with all the crap stuffed inside. It was hard dirty work, but we made it fun ;-)

Starting to load...

Chopper Ed being a gangster bad ass ;-)

Ian got his helmet back from Bill with the new liner installed. Larry had to try it on of course. Check out that manly beard poking out from the bottom.

Ian in his new helmet glory.

The back of the truck I borrowed from work.

Ed's truck.

One of the cool pieces we dug out.

These bags HAVE to be used for something.

Getting the big ass truck loaded.

Ashley stopped by to supervise for a bit.

The moving crew doing what we did best......stand around and look good.

The Chief was ready to get to his new home.

So sad to see it getting empty.

Spenser moving a Quad Cam motor. He knows the good stuff when he sees it.

I told you David was a musclebound BEAST!!!

They wouldn't get their lazy asses off the couch so Bill took em with it.

At leas Chubbs enjoyed the ride.

Keep checking back and I'll have the unloading shots up. I know these are not the coolest pictures I've posted, but they are an important event in my life and I wanted to share them with you.

Recent Random Bike Pics

2012-03-05T08:34:00.000-06:00

This weekend was pretty crazy due to helping Larry move the shop out to its new location so I figured today I would just post some bike pics I took a few weeks ago. Maybe they'll hold you over until I can sort through the move pics or find some new stuff to post.

Ian's ironhead

David trying to kick the panhead to life.

Chubbs finally got tired enough to settle down.

Spenser's bike with Bill's gas tank just to see how it looked. It looks pretty damn good to me!

David's panhead and Mathew's CB750.

Spenser's dog Luke chillin' out.

Chopper Ed's XL.

I'll have new stuff soon, just gotta get caught up and organized.

Once Again Saturday Rocked!

2012-03-01T14:51:00.000-06:00

The weather is CRAZY! Over the last few weeks we have had temps ranging from upper 20's to mid 70's. It's great on the warm days and luckily a lot of those have fallen on the weekends. This last Saturday the temps were in the mid 60's and beautiful so we took advantage of it. This day's lunch ride had the most bikes of the year so far. I think there were about 7 bikes and that's pretty damn good for February. Enjoy the pics, I'm not sure what you'll see from this weekend since we'll be helping Larry move the shop into the new building so there won't be many bikes around. I'm even borrowing a truck from work so I can help move stuff ;-)

Spenser made it in and got to ride his bike for a change.

"Crank em up!"

"Rolling, rolling, rolling....

C'mon, keep up Mathew!

Vroooooom!!!!

Ready to turn into Nino's for a killer calzone.

In the lot ready to head back. It was a good ride and some great food. Got some good work done that afternoon as you saw in the post about my oil tank.

WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!!!!!!!

2012-02-29T23:22:00.001-06:00

For the month of February there was a contest going on to get some original content into the blogosphere. The contest was being put on by the world famous Lady Hump blog. The rules were simple, post original content! Don't reblog the same crap you found on facebook as everyone else. There were 11 other blogs including the hard to beat JT's blog JBMFT in this contest and guess who won. That's right! We did!! I couldn't have done this without all my friends at GarCo and the rest of the fools who tolerate me. If it wasn't for my friends all I would ever post would be pics of me staring at my bikes. Be sure to check out the Lady Hump blog AND the other blogs in the feed on the right side of the page with the other blogs who were in this deal. They're all good FUN blogs. Support Original Content!!!!

Later.....
Check back later for more fun stuff!

Working On The Oil Tank

2012-02-29T13:17:00.000-06:00

We made a little progress on my oil tank this weekend. I started with a really nice tank from Spitfire Motorcycle Parts. The tank was beautiful, but didn't fit well in the Flyrite Frame with a Sportster motor. Or at least it didn't fit how I wanted it to. That means some chopping was in order. You've seen the past posts where I had to cut the notch in the tank to get it to fit where I wanted it, this time I'm working on finishing it up so it will hold oil again......

The tank with the notch cut and the piece of sheetmetal I'm using to make the tank whole again.

I bent the sheetmetal over some tubing to keep it from creasing.

Trimmed most of the excess away and test fitted it.

Another view.

I marked the new piece so I can trim more excess away....

Then I cut that excess off.

Fits fairly well and works perfectly on the bike.

Larry started on the welding. He tacked it in place then I made some pieces to fill in the square cuts I had made.

The new pieces being welded on. This is the bottom of the tank so I just made the pieces to fill in the gaps. For the top I'll put more effort into it and try to get the pieces to fill in a little nicer and blend better as well.

Larry went ahead and did all the welding that he could and then did some grinding so that the new piece would be more flush. We'll be moving GarCo to it's new location this weekend, but after Larry gets settled in I'll make the last two pieces and finish this puppy up.

Southpaw Machine And Ross Are The Greatest!!!

2012-02-27T08:15:00.000-06:00

A while back Ross and I had been talking about military stuff especially aircraft like we tend to do at times and the idea of a derby cover for my bike came up. For those of you who don't know I was a crewchief on Hueys for 10 years in the Army and I still love that aircraft. The Huey is the flying equivalent of a Shovelhead. It's a beautiful aircraft and truly simple in terms of modern electronics. It's a mechanic's aircraft though. Not a modular remove and replace one like too many modern machines are. Anyway, because of this conversation Ross said he could make me a derby cover if I gave him the art. So I started with this.....

Youc an see this Huey has the door guns and mounts on the sides and I knew they would not translate well as a silhouette so I modified the picture.....

And it ended up like this after an hour or so of manipulating. A nice clean streamlined Huey ready to convert......

Into this! A clean and simple design that is perfect for a machine master like Ross to use. You can see the process he went through to make the cover on his page (Southpaw Machine) What he doesn't tell you is that it took him a LOT of work to take my image and get it into his software and configure it for milling as well as getting the lettering to work right and line up to work with the holes needed to mount the cover on the bike. Ross went above and beyond for me and he'll do it for you too, but it won't be cheap. It WILL be beautiful though and completely custom.

Here is the finished cover, ready to mount.

Here it is on the bike. I LOVE it! The slight tilt to the lettering makes it work with the mounting holes AND flows with the angle of the aircraft making it all look like its flying.

Another view.

Ross also made me this timer cover a while back. I had asked him if he could do the HD #1 logo and next thing I know he's handing me this with not only that logo, but my name in it as well. I painted it, so don't hold that against Ross ;-)

This is an aircleaner cover Ross made for Chopper Ed. He was a helicopter pilot in the Army and flew Hueys and Chinooks.

This timer cover was made for Tim, if you're Army or ex-Army you'll recognize it. If you're not you won't care, but the point is that the work is amazing. Check out Ross' blog and contact him if you want some truly custom machine work for your bike, Stock or chopped he doesn't care. CALL HIM!!!

45dgree.com

2012-02-26T19:53:00.002-06:00

Some of you may know Stephen Berner. He was the editor of IronWorks for awhile and now he has a new project. It's called 45Dgree and it's a fun place to look around and find cool stuff to read, to see and just to check out. It's a free site and is worth every penny of that to join. Recently Stephen asked me to write for the site and I accepted. It won't stop my blogging here it's just a chance to get a little more exposure and help give some coverage to my friends on another site. So check out www.45dgree.com and you'll see my name under contributors. My next story should be up on Wednesday. In the meantime look around and read what interests you. I think you'll find yourself poking around there for quite a while. OK, the regular craziness will continue in the morning. We had a good weekend ;- )

A Few More From The World Of Wheels

2012-02-24T08:20:00.002-06:00

This is the last stuff I'll post from this years WoWs. Some of it is scary, some of it is sad and some is pretty kick ass. Climb aboard and let's go see what we find......

I can't believe that people still think that bolting every aftermarket piece available to a bike makes it custom and show worthy. The bike was clean and nice, but there is WAY too much crap on here.

I thought this style of bike was dead, but I guess there are still a few diehards out there.

If your tire is bigger than your girl's butt then it;s too damn wide!

This bike was featured! It's a clean build and had some damn nice craftsmanship, but c'mon let's move on from this fad please.

If your ass is so damn fat you need dual shocks then maybe you shouldn't be riding a Sportster!!!!!!

This clean BSA has been in EVERY WoW's I can remember. It helps me cleanse the images of some of the other bikes from my brain.

Big Daddy Roth's son carrying on the family business. I still have a shirt I bought from Mr. Ed Roth himself at a show years ago with his autograph on it.

The Rat Fink booth, of course I bought another shirt ;-)

And just because it's one of my favorite cars.

I don't know why I like these tailights so much, but they just work for me.

And finally a Munsters tribute kind of car. Not really close to the original used on the TV show, but still pretty cool.

Stay tuned for more regularly scheduled chopper goodness

More Madness From A Soggy Saturday

2012-02-22T08:13:00.000-06:00

Lots of stuff was going on around the shop Saturday. He's some more pics of it. For those of you who can't ride yet I hope this will hold you over until it is time to get the bikes out. For the rest of you, get out and rack up some miles!!!

David blew head gasket on the Pan. It takes awhile to get the bugs worked out and your skill levels up when your dealing with old iron like this. Hopefully by BMR time this bike will be purring like a kitten and will stop throwing parts at me as we ride down the road.

Poor little Pan motor.

"Y'all get your asses over there and grab a broom, We gotta get this place ready to move in two weeks!"

Cutting up a shovel frame to be hardtailed. That plasma torch makes LOTS of sparks so of course I was mesmerized.

Spray them sparks baby!

Whoosh! I was giggling by this point.

Melting steel and shooting flame!

The shop from where my Triumph sits. I'm gonna miss this place. In case you didn't know Larry is building a new shop building next to his new house and will move operations out there a week from Saturday. Gonna be a lot of work, but it'll be worth it when its done.

The bike lifts empty for a change.

Random Scenes From Saturday

2012-02-21T08:15:00.000-06:00

Saturday started out OK, but by 11 it had turned to crap. You can see in the first pic how it was. It was raining so hard when I left around 4:30 or so that my raingear even started to leak. Luckily I was headed home and could change clothes.

RAIN SUCKS!

Bill and Chubbs killed some time by playing fetch with a damn 16" tire. Gotta love his big goofy ass.

Larry actually working while we tried to distract him. He did a good job of ignoring us ;-)

Bill's XS with a tank Spenser made. We decided to see what it looked like. It looked REAL good, but Stewie won't let Bill have it.

I posted pics a while back of Spenser making this. Since then he's added the short tunnel and finished it up.

Larry, David and Spenser. Larry and Spenser were setting up a frame jig to hardtail a frame while David drank beer and egged....I mean cheered them on.

My Triumph and the Flyrite Sporty hanging out together. I was working on the sissy bar when I took this. I'll be bringing the Triumph home soon since Larry will be moving soon.

The Chop House On Garage71 Is Worth Your Attention...

2012-02-20T22:48:00.000-06:00

We finally have a voice on the airwaves, or in this case the Interweb radio. The show is call the Chop House and it is on Garage71, it's a part of Live365 internet radio. If you know Jeremy from Muttin Cycles and Eric "Timebomb" Trenary from the BDAC crew then you'll be ahead of the game. If you don't know these guys you should and you will after listening to this show a few times. This is a great show that deserves our attention. For all you folks not from teh South here's your chance to try and figure out how our inbred asses operate. Tune in on Mondays at 6 p.m. Eastern time. You won't be disappointed.

This is Eric, I took this at the Dixie Roundup last year. I don't have a picture of Jeremy, but I bet there's one on the internet somewhere if you really want to see him ;-)

You're Not Gonna Like This, But I Have To Share.

2012-02-20T15:25:00.002-06:00

I saw this at the World of Wheels and just HAD to share it with you. We all know there are going to be ugly bikes at a show like this, but this bike wins hands down the award for the worst bike I have ever seen. It doesn't even have anything to do with the religious theme of the bike. This bike has a 30 something inch front wheel with a 16" rear. That mixed with the goofy looking tank makes this bike completely out of proportion and ugly. To make it up to you I DID add some sweetness to help cleanse your vision.

This almost looks like one of those old bicycles from the 1800's. Who does this to a bike????

Another angle so can see the paint on the tank.

Another view. He has it tagged, but I can't see this actually being on the road.

To make up for that monstrosity I'm throwing in a couple of sweet Indians that were at the show. This was a nicely done resto of an Indian 4.

I love the color on this V-Twin. I hope these bikes get ridden regularly. It's always sad when a bike gets put on a shelf and never ridden. They were made to ride and we should ride them.

Close up of the hand painted logo on the tank.

I've Been Diggin On Some....

2012-02-19T20:47:00.000-06:00

welding pictures I've been taking. I don't know why it is fascinating me so much lately, but it is. Enjoy the pics and I'll post some bike stuff later on.

Today it's pictures of Spenser welding a piece onto the frame table at Garco. Different angles, and different colors based on where he was in the welding process and what my mood was when I was editing it.

Catch ya later....

2012 World of Wheels vol 1

2012-02-17T08:15:00.006-06:00

Went to the World of Wheels this year and had a good time. I'll make a few posts over the next few days with the more interesting pics I took. There won't be anything earth shattering, but hopefully something fun will come through .

Wild looking trike I saw. I sorta like it, but it's not really my style. It WAS well put together though. I always like nice craftsmanship even if the end product isn't to my tastes. In this shot you can see the front donor was some sort of metric touring bike, but I'm not sure what one.

The rear was a Karmen-ghia and those are always pretty neat.

Good view of the whole thing. It'd be fun to ride on, but I wouldn't want it as my primary ride.

My first REAL car was a '73 Vega very much like this one except mine had the stock 4 cyl in it. I really loved that car and it had quite the reputation around Gardendale where I grew up ;-)

The poor man's Camaro, I loved the front end of these cars.

The body lines on these cars just makes me smile. I don't know why I just like em OK?

And finally for today a little fun in the form of a Zundap. Neat little car with doors on both ends. This is the passenger end of the car.

And the driver's end. If you like cool little cars like this be sure to go to Nashville and check out the Lane Motor Museum.

That's all for today. I've got a DOOZY of a bike for the next WoW post ;-) Be sure to come back and check it out.

Just Some Pictures.

2012-02-16T08:15:00.000-06:00

Been playing with a Beta copy of Lightroom 4 lately and these are some of the pictures I've taken and color corrected using LR4. They were good pictures I think to begin with, but I really like them now that I've played with them a bit. Check em out and tell me what you think.

Larry welding some stainless bars.

Crusty Magneto from a '69 XLCH project bike.

Intake from the same project, this bike is rough and crusty.

Engine

Cannon on Lookout Mountain

Another cannon in Point Park.

Bike's Of Hugh's Handbuilt!

2012-02-15T13:15:00.000-06:00

When I was visiting at Hugh's shop of course there were a bunch of bikes in the shop. Some were being built by the crew and some belonged to friends and customers. Hugh said I could take pics so I did and now I'll share them with you. Hope ya like what you see, I know I sure as hell did.

Cool little brat style bike.

Hugh's latest creation, part drag bike, part digger, part chop/bob and a whole lot of handbuilt cool as hell stuff tossed in for good measure. Check out the details from the tilted motor to the hand made custom girder. It's all super nice and well thought out.

The ORIGINAL Hugh's Handbuilt bike. This is pretty much what got the ball rolling. It's been in a few mags so if you want more details go dig up the back issues.

The other side. This is one clean well done bike. Every time I looked at it I saw something else that was cool.

Customer's street tracker. He thought it was an OK runner, now it has one of Hugh's rephased motors in it and it is a beast just chomping at the bit to be turned loose!

Other side, super clean and very nice details.

The bike Hugh built for his Wife. Like all the others it couldn't be left alone.....

Stare at this for a while and see if you can figure out what's been changed.

Brian's FXR morphing from a Low Rider to a sweet custom! Y'all don't be hatin' on his rear fender, it's from an XS650 and works really well with the lines of the bike. I dig it!

Teven and his cafe racer.....

Good lines so far and quite a few custom pieces going into this one as well.

Custom swingarm

The curved part of the swingarm brace was actually the first time Teven had bent tubing like that. It sure as hell came out better than the first time I ever tried it.

There you have it, just a few more reasons to support this fine business. I love seeing these young guys keeping the spirit alive and building cool new stuff!

Cuttin' Them Bars!

2012-02-14T11:37:00.000-06:00

Enough with the mushy stuff! Time to get back to choppin'! I told you yesterday that we took an inch from the center of the bars and here are the pics to prove it.

The new profile with the 8" 0ver tubes. I think it looks a helluva lot better.

First I had to cut the bars apart and remove the inch of unwanted bar from the middle.

After I got them cut and test fitted Larry broke out the special tools to hold the bars together for welding. I LOVE to see unique tools used for doing cool stuff.

Making the two back into one.

Snapped a pic of Larry doing some welding on his own bars.

The finished product. I told you it looked better and here is the proof.

Happy 15th Anniversary To My Beautiful Wife!

2012-02-14T07:00:00.003-06:00

Today is my 15th Wedding Anniversary! Anyone who knew me "back in the day" would never believe that I could stay married for half this long. I guess back then I wasn't ready to settle down AND I hadn't met the right woman yet. Allison and I may be complete opposites in many ways, but in many more we are right there in sync with each other. I LOVE this woman and couldn't see myself married to anyone else. Here's to 15 more years, I hope they are as wonderful as the first 15.

My beautiful inspiration in real life.

Me being artsy with her picture.

We Interupt Your Regularly Scheduled Boring Day To Bring You.....

2012-02-13T15:55:00.000-06:00

My Flyrite/Sporty Chop with new 8" over fork tubes!!!!!! I had 4" overs on it and it was ok (notice the lower case ok). Now, with the new tubes it is KICK ASS!. Check out the pics and let me know what you think. If I keep this progress thing going I MIGHT actually even finish this bike one day.

I wish I had taken a pic when I had one short and one long leg on the bike.

Got that nice chopper lean going on.

Straight out of a Dave Mann painting

Chopper Glory My Friends!

I am loving this bike now.

After I took these pics I cut an inch out of the center of the handlebars and Larry welded them back together for me. But I'll post pics of that later.

The People Of Hugh's Handbuilt!

2012-02-12T11:22:00.001-06:00

With any good shop the secret of success is the people brought on board to make it all happen. In the case of Hugh's he has been fortunate to be able to assemble a good crew. These guys love what they are doing and seem to have fun doing it. So I guess it's time for you to meet them.

First up we have Hugh and his Boss, the ever lovable Roxy ;-)

This is Tevan sitting on the Cafe Racer he is currently working on. I saw some really cool details coming together for this one. It should be a sweet bike when it's finished. Tevan handles the lathe for Hugh and treats that machine like his girlfriend. Hell, the lathe probably treats him better than a normal girlfriend would.

This is Brian, another integral part of the crew. He is currently working on an FXR while also working to learn as much as he can about bikes in general. Brian was building workbenches, removing a motor and damn near any other task that Hugh tossed at him.

We were comparing set ups on different bikes here. The "digger" that Brian is sitting on is Hugh's newest project. Hopefully we'll see it on the road at BMR.

The "Man" at work. You can see he's been busy since from what I heard he normally keeps this machine spotless.

The boss man getting his hands dirty. Hugh is a great guy to hang out with. He was a great host who made me feel welcome while at the same time he kept getting stuff done. Ya gotta know what you're doing to pull that off.

Soon I'll show you some of the bikes that were in the shop.

Home From Ashville!

2012-02-11T09:37:00.001-06:00

I had to go to Ashville, NC this week for some work training, but I made it home safe. While I was there I took advantage of the chance to stop by Hugh's Handbuilt. This shop is one of the premier sources for cool stuff to keep your XS650 running right and powering your bad ass chopper/bobber/dirt tracker. I'll break the visit into a couple of posts because as usual I took way too many pictures (like that is really possible). Check it out and keep checking back....

I left Birmingham and drove to Chattanooga, then up to Knoxville and across I-40 to Ashville. I-40 is the only Interstate I've driven where you actually HAVE to drive slower and use your brakes. It's basically an old mountain road that was widened and paved. Yes, I did use a work car to take the trip, it was for work so get off my back. In this shot I looked ahead and saw these beautiful mountains so I had to snap a shot.

Another great view of the mountains. I have roots up in these hills so I always enjoy this area of the country.

Finally got to the NC line. The interstate is so curvy and mountainous here that the Welcome Center is 10 miles further down the road.

I finally arrived at Hugh's and was greeted by Roxy. What a great dog. Of course I wanted to bring her home with me. Yeah, they know the sign is misspelled. It will get replaced, but they thought this was funny so they used it. The shop is in an old candle factory that has been turned into an artist's enclave. It's a great and very creative environment to make cool stuff.

I love old tanks so of course I take pictures when I find them.

The shop shirts. If you see this design on someone you know they have good taste!

Hugh doing some welding, Every cool shop has some welding going on! More to come stay tuned.

Some Lunch On A Warm Sunday!

2012-02-07T08:15:00.000-06:00

Well, since everyone else left town Whitey and I decided to get out and ride a bit and pick up some lunch ourselves. We ended up riding around a bit and decided to stop at Dave's Pizza in Homewood. The food was pretty good and we had a good time just hanging out. With work and family I don't get to see Whitey enough. It was a good day, but with only the two of us don't expect too many pics, but here's what I have ;-)

Getting ready to leave Dave's for the ride home. That's Whitey with his slick little head.

Headin' down Hwy 31

Up on the bluff

O took the lead and shot this over my shoulder. Not bad for guessing where to point the camera.

This one came out even better. Sometimes I get lucky just pointing the camera in a direction and seeing what happens.

Sweet little TR6 we saw. I love Triumph cars, this makes me miss my old Spitfire.

Whitey passing me as I turn off for the house.

Get out and ride, it's not that cold and it'll do ya some good.

Bill's XS Waiting For A Clutch Cable

2012-02-06T08:14:00.000-06:00

I told you before about Bill's clutch cable. He's was in Cin City at the V-Twin Expo Biltwell BroDown with Larry, Ross and Ian so I don't have any new pics, but here's what I took a week ago when he took it apart. I am out of town this week for some schoolin' but I've set up some posts to post while I'm gone and will try to post something from the road.

Look how nice and neat Bill arranges his stuff.

The guts all hanging out.

Neat tools are the sign of a sick mind, or an ex-Navy guy. One or the other.

Getting creative again.

Stay tuned for more chopper fun!

Ridin' In The Rain

2012-02-05T07:32:00.001-06:00

Just so y'all fair weather riders know what a dirty bike looks like. I thought I'd throw up these pics of my softail after a week of riding to work everyday in the rain. I have good gear so I stay dry, but these damn dirty roads do a number on my nice pretty shiny bike. Oh well, at least I start and end each day with a bike ride, while all the losers go to work in their damn cars.

My poor engine will never be black again. At best it'll get to a dark grey. At least in this pic you can see the bad ass points cover Ross at Southpaw made for me.

Doesn't matter how good your fenders work if the damn work truck in front of you sprays all the crud back onto you. Rides like this are when you're glad they brought back the bubble shield.

It even splashes up over the rear fender. You can also see my connector fro my heated gear sticking up. Screw being cool, when it's 23° in the morning you appreciate what Gerbing has done for us.

Stay Warm, Stay Dry, but get off your ass and ride!

Last Post About Saturday....Maybe!

2012-02-03T13:01:00.001-06:00

OK, FINALLY we got ready to ride to Larry's.

Everyone saddling up. Laura (David's sweetie) rode with me since he doesn't have passenger pegs yet. Plus I have a much more comfy seat on my bike.

Larry let Bill borrow the Buell since Bill's clutch cable is broken, the rest of us are getting ready to roll.

Moon got bored and rode circles in the lot.

Heading out! I like to ride in a group about this size. Much bigger and you start to run into issues unless everyone is really used to each other.

Through Alabaster we ride!

Stopped to see who we lost. Turns out that Ian's bike broke the shifter and had to turn back, but he was OK, Bill ran out of gas, but was able to limp into a gas station and the rest of us rolled on. Right here is where the battery on my camera dies and I left my spare back at the shop. Oh well you can see pics of Larry's place later after it's all finished. We had fun!

I'll be out of town next week for work training and Larry and the guys are going to the Brodown this weekend, so I'm not sure what I'll have posted next week, but I'll figure something out.

Saturday After Lunch.

2012-02-03T08:15:00.000-06:00

Seems like this day is going on forever doesn't it? It only seems that way when you're dealing with a photo whore like me. I love to take pictures ;-) After we finished eating we headed back to the shop to take care of a few things before heading over to Larry & Ashley's new house.

Duane riding back to the shop.

We're Back!

Duane's Shovelhead.

Moon's XL with his new paint.

Whitey and Duane talking about the extended Triumph forks David bought for the Panhead.

Whitey had to leave to take care of some family stuff.

And that's where I'll end for now. Stay tuned I think I'll have another post up around lunch time.

New T-shirt Design

2012-02-02T11:15:00.000-06:00

Here is the new design for the shirt. I burned the screen last night and will test it tonight. I'm still trying to decide on colors. Of course there will be Black w/ white, but I want some other stuff too. Post int eh comments with the color combos you would like to see. I picked up some blue ink I'm going to try on black. I liked the way the sample looked at the art store so I thought I'd give it a shot. Remember, post in the comments and let me know if you like the design and what colors you'd like to see.

Another Lunch Ride, Another Sunny Warm Saturday In January

2012-02-02T08:09:00.000-06:00

OK, so we're all at the shop hanging out. Larry has to leave to deal with a pain issue at the new house. So we all screw around until he gets back then it's off to lunch. It seems that the issue with Ian's bike is that the front cyl. pushrods are out of adjustment so Ian works on it a bit while we harass him. Larry decides he's hungry so he jumps in and gets them adjusted real quick then leaves Ian to put it all back together.

Ian doing it quick and dirty while Ian studies and learns the secrets of the ironhead.

How many guys does it take to supervise? I don't know because I was busy supervising the supervisors.

Larry had to leave to meet Ashley and some others at the restaurant. A few of us hung back and waited for Ian to finish.

Whitey on the way to eat.

The lunch table, Moon & Duane came over for lunch and to ride out to Larry's afterwards. It was great to see them it's been a while. They've been missed. That's Mathew enjoying his Birthday Lunch and Laura is next to him.

Farther around the table from the left, that's Larry's hand, then Ashley, one of Mathew's friends, another guy I don't know who rode over with Duane and Moon and finally Ape Knuckles.

My end of the table we've got Bill catching flies, Whitey wondering what the hell Bill is looking at and Ian checking out some chick.

This is how a lunch parking lot should look. The guy on the bagger couldn't resist pulling into our crowd and taking pics to impress his wife. This isn't even all the bikes, I'm telling you it was a good day!

Moon kickstarting his ironhead while the rest of us watch.

More to come, but I have to do some color adjusting the sun & clouds were playing hell with my camera that day.

Saturday Was Beautiful And We took Advantage Of It!

2012-02-01T08:10:00.002-06:00

Lots of stuff this weekend, so I'll break it down over the next few days. I can't believe we're out playing in light jackets and t-shirts and it's late January early February. It started a little cool as I left teh house, but quickly warmed up into the 60's, ya gotta love the South.

Anyway, I get to the shop and Ian is outside getting ready to test ride his bike with the new exhaust. It sounds bad ass, even when it was running on one cylinder. Later that morning the pushrods were readjusted and everything was good for a while.

Ian getting ready for his test ride.

David even rode the Pan over to the shop. Gotta get those break in miles done to work out the bugs so this beast can make it to BMR this year.

Even Whitey got there ahead of me (the Wife and I stayed out late the night before). It's nice to see more than just my bike outside the shop on Saturdays.

Larry and David talking with me and Whitey (we're hiding).

Whitey and David talking about the sweet on Indian that's in the shop.

And since Saturday was Mathew's Birthday here is a nice clean shot of his bike with his new paint addition to the gas tank. This is sure a lot better than the old mini-calendar page of some old asian tranny that David had on there. Stay tuned, there's more to come.

What A Difference Quality Photo Gear Makes!

2012-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

You all know by now that I am always trying to improve my craft. Whether it's chopper building or taking pictures of choppers I want to get better at it. One thing you have to do to get better is to constantly upgrade your gear. Recently I got a beta copy of Lightroom4 and it kicks ass. It's got a lot of the same features as Photoshop, but some of them just seem easier to use in this format. Sunday I had to put new brake pads on Bettie, then I washed her poor dirty ass (riding in the pouring rain gets em dirty ya know). I figured while we were outside I'd take some pics and experiment a little. Out came the tripod and camera with my new flash. About 30 pics later I went inside to play and this is the result.

The original photo, kinda blah, shadowed and not too interesting.

After making adjustments in Lightroom the picture is suddenly much more interesting. The colors pop, the details are visible and not lost in shadows. I kind of blew out the background to make the silhouette show up better. Overall a much better photo.

That's all for today, this weekend was a little different and we did have a great lunch ride, but I didn't get anything done on the bike. At least now you've seen a decent pictures of my everyday ride. She gets ridden to work everyday rain or shine, even on those 23° mornings. Get out and ride when you can, life is too short to pass up a chance for fun!

A Few Pics From A Sunny Saturday Afternoon!

2012-01-26T08:15:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday started off wet as hell, but turned into a nice day. We are having a mild winter even for Alabama this year. Hell, yesterday it was 74 damn degrees!Anyway, these are just some pics I took during the day that really didn't go with the other posts. Hope ya like em.

Spenser hasn't ridden much lately with the new 9-5 grown up job he's got along with moving into a new apartment so he took his baby out for a little ride.

Whitey says that this is Larry being cheap and trying to breed new frames.

Larry trying to burn his nads off doing some grinding!

Artsy pic of Spenser welding on some cool new pipes for Ian. I told Ian I wouldn't post any pics of the pipes until they were done and he had shown em off first so you'll have to wait to see the gorgeous masterpiece!

Ian and Spenser talking over the design for his pipes. Stewie cleans up nice doesn't he?

Looking through the bike while Spenser welds.

A customer's wheel waiting to be picked up. Hopefully it'll get worn out and not sit until it dry rots like too many fat tires do.

Stay tuned for more fun stuff!

A Little More Work On The Sporty

2012-01-24T08:05:00.002-06:00

At this pace I'll be done in about 15 years, but I am SLOWLY getting there. I believe I have the oil tank mounted the way I want it. Hopefully next weekend I can get started on welding it back together to call it done. Then it'll be on to another part of the bike.

I ordered some threaded bungs from Low Brow to move the tank a little lower so I can get the oil cap off. Once I got them I decided they were about a 1/4" longer than I wanted them to be. Into the lathe they go to be shortened a bit.

Spenser welding on the lower tank support.

The colors in this picture work for me.

And there you see it. The lower support. The hole was already in the piece of steel and will probably get welded up before the paint/powder is applied. What I did was add this tab, then I'll put a piece of rubber on it and let the tank rest there to take some weight off the mounting tabs. It'll work like a bolted on mount, but will be easier to deal with when installing or removing the tank.

you can see the bungs doing their job lowering the tank. I still need to shorted the studs in the rubber isolators and shorten the bolts I'll use for final mounting.

So there you have it, another step in the creation of my master piece.

Another Day In The Life.

2012-01-23T08:21:00.006-06:00

Saturday started of with such great weather (see first pic). It did clear up some later, but I still had a wet ride to Garco. That's alright, it's all part of the "two-wheeled life". Got some things done, but I'll tell ya about them later first off I'll tell ya about the morning.

Looking out my front door at the new river flowing in front of the house. It made for a fun ride for sure.

Bill brought his award winning XS650 in to work on changing his clutch cable. Even the best bikes wear out parts sooner or later.

I know this bike is not what we consider cool, but I have to give the guy credit, he rode through a hurricane to get the bike to the shop for some work. I waited till the worst blew over, he on the other hand rode 30 miles through POURING rain. An hour after I got to the shop it was still dripping wet.

The whole bike. Like I said, it's not my style, but if the guy is willing to ride it no matter what, I'll cut him some slack.

What kind of guy reads the drivel I type on here......
These guys of course. That's Bill on the left, he's a regular participant in the craziness I call my life and the guy on the right is Matt Harris. He contacted Bill after the XS was in the Horse and wanted to meet up to get some info for the XS Matt and his Dad are building. Matt says he's a regular reader of this blog and likes what he sees. It's always cool to run into people who appreciate the work I put into this place. He and his Dad are also the luckiest guys I've met in a while after the deal they got on a nice FL shovelhead. Let's just say it's hard to even find a ratty Sportster for that price. Good Luck Matt and keep me posted on the XS.

New Shirt Design Coming Soon!

2012-01-21T09:28:00.000-06:00

I know you just can't wait but you'll have to. I've made a new shirt design for the blog, but I'm having some ink issues with my test prints. I'll get it figured out soon and then you can fulfill your life's dream of having a What I see shirt. Here's a small preview of the design to keep ya interested.

Me & The Triumph, Learning More About Photography.

2012-01-18T08:15:00.002-06:00

Lately I've been working on learning more about photography and trying to take better pictures. To do this I've been collecting the best gear I can get either for Christmas or by saving up for it. The weather Saturday was perfect for me to get the stuff out and get some better pictures of my Triumph and even get a few of me on the bike using the tripod and timer. I'm working on the next design for a blog shirt and needed pictures to use anyway so lets combine all of this and have some fun.

Using the tripod and natural light I got a few shots to show off the shiny bits of the bike.

Almost the same, but I moved the camera to the left.

Got one of me to show off my new Lowbrow beanie and Garco shirt.

Made this using "fine threshold". I like to do this to photos. It makes them really minimalist and lets the details stand on their own with out bright colors to distract you.

Spenser hates it when I park a bike with the forks turned to the left so I did it his way and turned them to the right for this shot. I went with the plain white door as a background here so that I can edit out the background to make the t-shirt art.

Added me to the pic. My Wife likes this one, she says I take pictures of everyone else, but we never get any pictures of me.

This was made using layers, I did the "fine threshold" to one copy on its layer, then lowered the opacity to let the color version on its layer show through. Then I flattened the image and called it done.

This one is just "fine threshold" but I used photoshop to change my shirt from a Garco shirt to a "What I See" shirt. I was thinking of using this one for the blog shirt, but I doubt y'all want a picture of my ugly mug on your shirt. Since I need to actually sell some of these I'm going a different way.

And finally another plain bike shot to be used with out a background later on.

Hopefully you liked these pics, at least the Triumph pics. Now that you know what I look like be sure to come up and say "Hello" when you see me at the Dixie Roundup or BMR or where ever we run into each other.

Another Saturday, Another Ride To Lunch.

2012-01-17T08:15:00.001-06:00

I know a lot of you don't have riding weather where you are, so us Southerners are willing to keep riding and taking pics to make sure you don't forget just how much fun it is to ride all year. Saturday was a beautiful day around 60° or so and we took advantage of it.

Ian kickstarting his ironhead that he just put back together while Larry photobombs him back there.

This one is for J-Rod in the BDAC. I TOLD you I love the new helmet you painted for me.

Matt is getting some good miles in on his CB750. He's young, but learning pretty quick.

"Uh Oh! He's gonna post this damn pic and Stewie will know I "borrowed" his bike!"
Actually Larry is more brazen than that, he posted a pic of Spenser's bike in the parking lot of Nino's on "Instagram" to rub it in that Stewie was moving while we were playing.

Ian FINALLY slowed down at a stoplight so that I could catch up and get a pic. That damn ironhead runs a LOT better now than it did on the way to and from last years BMR.

We've arrived!

I told his young ass to slow down on the way back so I could get a pic. I got this one, but the rest of them are from behind because he just couldn't resist.

Lot's of fun Saturday as usual. If you're in the area you really should stop in. There's always something fun happening.

I've Been Framed!

2012-01-16T08:16:00.000-06:00

Well, not really but Larry WAS working on a frame for a customer and I got to bug him while he worked on it. Doing a little raking and some drop seating action, basically making sparks fly and metal melt. That's always a good time ;-)

Raking the neck while Ian tries to make sure he can still see when he gets old.

I love taking pics of people welding.

Making things look smooth.

Finishing up the welds ...

Making it look good.

Larry was getting into it, I think he is starting to get into it again.

It was a crazy Saturday, I even worked on the Triumph some more until all the smoke escaped from the wiring harness, but I'll tell that story later this week.

Satursday's Lunch Ride Or As We Call It....Larry & I Rode, The Rest Caged It!

2012-01-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

Gotta love living in Alabama where even in January you can ride to lunch with just a light jacket. This Saturday a bunch of us went to lunch, but only Larry and I actually rode. Don't worry I ragged on the others enough for all of us. Anyway, enjoy the pics of Larry riding a CB750 cafe-ish bike they built for a customer in Tuscaloosa.

Getting ready to go.

"Are you taking damn pictures AGAIN???"

Zooooom!

I love this shot!

Yep, the rear brakes work! Even got a little smoky on this one!

Come hang out with us, we're always having some kind of fun. And if we're not, we're about to be!

Dont Have A Heart Attack, But I Did Some Work On The Flyrite!

2012-01-09T08:15:00.017-06:00

For the last few weekends I have been tied up with family/holiday stuff. This weekend I was finally able to get away and do my own thing. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time and love my family, but I needed some CHOPPER TIME BABY! So Saturday morning I show up at Garco and first things first I helped Larry with a few Photoshop pointers so he could work on the Dixie Round Up flyer (see how I worked that plug in there?). After that I got to work putting the battery for the Triumph on the charger so I can get that beast finished up. Turns out the new battery had a dead cell and of course I've let it sit until the warranty is expired. Oh well, I'll splurge and get an AGM battery this time. So now I've worked on one of my bikes, on to number two - the Sporty in a Flyrite Scorcher frame. Just a few fab projects to go and I can start to finish this one. Today's project was to get the oil tank mounted, or at least well on its way. The oil tank is from Spitfire and is a beautiful piece, but in this frame I need it to fit around the seat post. That means I get to cut into this work of art to make it my own. A while back I had cut some metal away to make room. Saturday I had to cut a little more to get the mounts where I needed them.

Finally got it where I hope it needs to be.

Now to make the mounting tabs. First cut the piece of steel I found in the shop to the right lengths for the two tabs. I LOVE to make sparks fly, the only thing I like more is taking pictures of sparks flying. As you can see I'm having a good day so far.

Trying to drill the holes for the mounts. Damn vise did not want to cooperate. Finally I got it to see things my way and got the holes done.

Got everything in place with some help from Spencer. Of course he did the welding since I'm not that good with a tig. So far so good, I have to order the isolation mounts from lowbrow then we'll see if I got it right. On to something else.....

Tried to work on the sissy bar, but ended up running into issues leading to me having to rethink some stuff. No problem, that's what next weekend is for. Spenser snapped this pic of me working. It's rare I get to see pics of myself. That glare in the photo is from the sun reflecting off my bald spot.

Here's how it looks so far. I'm thinking of getting a points cover to resemble the side of the oil tank or bribing Ross to make a small version of whatever the points cover ends up being to fit the small circle on the side of the oil tank. That's down the road though.

While I was doing this stuff Ian from Americana Speed Shop and the other guys were working on getting the cam cover of Ian's XL back on. Not sure what the issue was, but the bike is getting there and will be back on the road soon.

Oh yeah, I also ended up working on my Bad Boy because water got between the lid and rubber gasket of the rear master cyl. reservoir making the rear brake drag big time on the lunch ride (dumb idea to put it between the frame tubes so the front wheel can force feed the water into it). My rear rotor is purple now, but it was an easy fix. So this means I ended up working on ALL of my bikes this Saturday. I guess that just means I'm lucky to have more than one. Now if I could just get more than one on the road at a time I'd be happy.

Keeping on checking in, I'll post updates as I get stuff done!

A Little BDAC/J-Rod Love!

2012-01-06T08:02:00.002-06:00

A while back J-rod from Atlanta and I were talking and he says he wants to paint me a helmet. I thought that would be cool as hell, but didn't have one for him to paint. Most of you who know me have seen my Evel Knievel helmet that I painted a few years ago. It was a white helmet from ebay that I added the stripes and stars to. Not too long ago I found someone selling helmets that already had the stripes applied. I ended up picking one up pretty cheaply and sent it to J-rod for some of his killer artwork. I am a HUGE EK fan, he's one of the biggest reasons I got into bikes all those years ago. J-rod decided to work from this idea and added hand painted versions of the classic Evel wheelie pic on each side of the helmet and he added the KJ initials on the back in a style similar to the way EK was on Evel's belt buckle. The helmet came out great, J-rod has some real talent and as he gets more experienced you're going to be amazed at how good his work looks. Check out the pics and eat your heart out, this helmet is MINE DAMMIT!

KJ on the rear..

Evel riding that wheelie.

He's got me flanked!

Give J-rod a holler on the BDAC blog and maybe he'll hook you up too. He did a great helmet for Christian at Xian Leather, I know he can make you happy as well.

Finally Took My New Years Ride!

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

I spent the weekend in Nashville visiting with the Stepson and didn't get home until late Sunday. This means I missed my annual New Years Day Ride, but I was off on Monday so I just did it a day late. The most important thing is that my first ride of the year was not during the ride to work. It wasn't a long ride since it was in the low 40's with wind gusts over 30 mph. Gonna be 25° for my ride to work tomorrow, but that's why I have electric gear. I used to be hardcore, but now I'm warm ;-)

Check out the pics, nothing too exciting, but I know some of y'all are already snowbound. At least this way you know there are some of us out here keeping it going until you thaw out.

The road leaving my house.

I stopped at the Bessemer Airport just to see if anything interesting was out on the flightline. I get surprised sometimes like the time there was a B-17 sitting there when I pulled up.

just to prove to ya that I was on my bike .

Passed a few local politicians while I was out.

This is a fun and beautiful stretch of road.

Heading home I was lost so I just followed this guy. He seemed to know where he was going.

Couple Of Pics From Germany 1991

2011-12-31T08:30:00.003-06:00

I'm sure you've heard of W&W Cycles in Germany. They've been a world leader in taking care of Harley riders all over Europe. They are located in Wurzburg, Germany which was just a few miles up the road from the airfield I was stationed at. Once a year they had a big Drag Race on our runway at Giebelstadt Army Airfield. It was a fun day and I've posted some pics before from the festivities. I've been trying to find these pics for a while and finally figured out which nook or cranny they were hiding in,. Enjoy the pics, I'm out of town all weekend, but I'll be back to my regular ways next week and maybe I can get some cool current stuff to post.

My friend Leo was an American G.I. who got out of the Army and stayed in Germany. He married a local girl and ended up working for W&W. A great guy who took care of us and he owned a really cool FXR back before it was cool to have one. He was the first person I ever saw powder coat section of an Evo rocker box. He and a friend had a full set coated gloss black then Leo gave his friend the uncoated center piece from his rocker box so they ended up with opposite looks on the rocker boxes. Leo with polished upper and lower with a black center piece and his friend with the opposite. It was a cool and unique look back in 1991. The other bike in the pic was one of the many shop bikes they brought along.

Another view of the bikes. Look at the edge of this pic and check out the intake on Leo's FXR. Don't see these very often.

The infamous W&W Cycles dragbike in one of its earliest incarnations. I believe they still race this bike, but you'll have to check with them to know for sure.

A Decade I Hope Never Inspires Nostalgia!

2011-12-30T08:30:00.003-06:00

The early 90's were a sad time in Biker history. Don't believe me just check out these pictures from Daytona 1994. It was a great time to be a Biker, but a sad time to see cool bikes. We hadn't rediscovered the cool craftsmanship that is seen today. It seems like everyone who knew how to work metal back then was inspired by old Gypsy wagons. Anyway, a few folks have told me they like when I post these old pics from my early Biker days so here's some more for you. I hope you enjoy them. Most of them are Sportsters, that I wish I could have rescued and made into cool machines. I hope they've all been reborn as bad ass choppers, but sadly I'd bet most are sitting in a barn somewhere looking like a sad worn out version of what you see here.

WHY?!?!?!?!?!?! I mean c'mon a Ness/FL style front fender and a useless extra wheel in the back????

A poor XL being forced to imitate an FXR. If you want a big twin then BUY one, don't try to make a sporty into something its not!

Once again WTF!! Look closely and you'll be amazed at so much craftsmanship to make such an ugly bike.

Another view of this monster.

This bike is a nice clean little Sporty except for the damn hyperturd.

This one was kind of cool. I liked the paint and sidecars are always neat.

Where to even begin with this one??? Look at the fringe, the old EL/FL front fender and TOO much white.

A nice Shovel. One of the few bright spots of the trip. Clean and rideable.

Even better FX. I'd love to have this bike today.

I hope you enjoyed these pics. I'll keep diggin' and see if I can find some more to share.

R.I.P. Timmy!

2011-12-28T22:19:00.000-06:00

I just heard that my friend and former co-worker Timmy was killed tonight when he hit a deer with his bike. Timmy was one of the good guys and you can be sure that if you needed him he would be there. I hope there's a shiny new chopper waiting for you when you get to the other side my friend. You sure as hell will be missed here in this world.

More Old Pics I Scanned

2011-12-23T08:30:00.001-06:00

Here are some more of the pics I found and scanned in last night. Basically it's pics of my old '75 XLCH that was my first chopper, and some more pics of my Triumph.

My '75 XLCH the way it looked when I first bought it. It even had a windshield.This was around 1991.

Finally on the road sometime around 1994. Didn't last long until I burned a piston though. Don't put an adjustable mainjet on a bendix carb if you don't know what you're doing.

The Triumph the way it was when I got it.I guess this was 1990 or so as well.

First time it was chopped.

Rebuilding it after I was rear ended by a truck. I told y'all I was a shadetree mechanic and you didn't believe me.

All together again. Too bad that by this point the motor was having major issues. It took over 3 years to get it money to afford a motor rebuild.

Finally as it sits today just for reference.

I have some more old pics I'll try to post soon. Maybe in a week or so I can get out and get some current pics going on.

Found More Old Pics To Scan!

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-06:00

Went box diving a few days ago and found more pics to scan in for your enjoyment. It looks like I found enough pics to post a few a day for a few days. Today's pics were taken one day outside the Night Owl Lounge in Fayetteville, NC around 1992-93. The Night Owl was a great little Biker Bar where a lot of fun stuff happened. One day you can buy me a few beers and I'll tell you some of the stories.

Front and Center is Steve's Knucklehead. We had been working on the bike and the right tank wouldn't quit leaking so Steve said "Screw It!" and took the damn thing off. Clamping off the crossover made it all good and we went for a ride. I think his bike is where my weird perversion for upswept fishtails comes from.

Another view of the parking lot. That's Steve standing on the sidewalk.

That Sporty next to the knuck was the first chopper I ever saw with a plunger frame.

You can see the cool kick pedal clutch pedal that the bike had.

Good view of the place where the tank should have been.

Machine Tools We Had At The Southern Museum Of Flight.

2011-12-18T11:04:00.000-06:00

A few years ago I used to volunteer at the Southern Museum of Flight here in Birmingham. It was a lot of fun and we did some great things. Unfortunately they got some new folks in charge and almost all of us volunteers ended up leaving because of issues with the new guys. Lots of things have changed there since this happened, but I still remember getting to play with all of these great machines while we were working on restorations or sneaking in a little custom chopper work on the side. I was digging for some other pics when I stumbled on these so I figured why not share them and let y'all see some of these cool toys.

This monster American Pacemaker was used in WWII to machine barrels for .50 cal. machine guns. The bed on this beast is huge. We didn't use this one much because it was basically overkill for most of our projects.

Here's another view of the beast.

I never got to use this one so I can't tell you much about it.

Never got to use this Van Norman either.

We made some neat stuff on this one though. It's pretty cool to use these old machines instead of relying on the computer to do it all for you. CNC's are great, but the skills to do it manually need to be kept alive.

This was our workhorse. It was used by the City of Birmingham for decades and then finally donated to the museum. The bench it's on is the same one it's sat on forever.

Anotehr small lathe we used. It seemed to have issues sometimes so it didn't get used as much.

Nice big sheet metal brake. I spent WEEKS cleaning rust of the various pieces of this one before it got painted and ready to use. A lot of these machines were donated straight from a shop floor and sometimes from storage so they needed a lot of cleaning and repainting to be ready to put in the restoration shop. I hope all of these machines are still being used somewhere. It would be a shame if they ever get scrapped.

Finishing The Tank

2011-12-16T08:30:00.000-06:00

OK, here are the rest of the pictures of Spenser making the tank.

Cutting the wood to make the buck for the bottom.

The inside of the tank so you can see how much it took to get this size and you can see how the flat area has been made to disappear.

After working the metal most of the way around the buck, it was decided that some slots needed to be cut int eh area with the tight curve to make it shrink properly.

Test fitting the bottom.

Sanding the edges.

Done and ready to have the slots and holes welded in.

After that it's time to tack it together.

Ta Da! And there you have it. After this Spenser will weld the bottom all the way around, then work on the tunnel. I may not be there when he does this, but if I am I'll take pics. I'll at least show you the finished product.

Tanks For Not Being Normal!

2011-12-14T08:30:00.006-06:00

If you've seen the GarCo blog lately you know that Spenser is making a tank for his Triumph project and you've even seen some pics. Well, I have some more pics to show you, but it'll take a day or two since I took a lot of pics of Stewie making the bottom of his tank. I'll start off with the general shots and get into the bottom of the tank tomorrow. I also tossed in some cool pics I took of Spenser welding as well.

Left is stock of course, and the right is the new creation. Not only did Spenser narrow it an inch and shorten it too, but he also used the english wheel and planishing hammer to round out the flat spot that stock Sporty tanks have where the filler neck is. Now it has a nice curve around the top. This also led him to moving the filler over.

From the front you can really see the change. Once this is all done he'll add a small tunnel to it so that it will sit right once it's on the backbone of the frame.

look at that pretty welding.

JT from the JBMFT blog stopped by. It's not often he can sneak away so it was great to see him out and about.

These pics were taken while Spenser was doing some welding. All I did to them was adjust the curves and play with the saturation. The camera did all the rest once I stumbled on the right settings.

I really like this one. Click on these to make them large and you can really appreciate them a little better.

Playing with the aperture really can have a huge effect on how the light is captured.

Just a man and his bead of metal.

Look At The Pretty Colors!

2011-12-13T08:30:00.001-06:00

I took these pics in two different years at the Barber's Vintage Fest. Since it's kinda cold and there isn't as much to get out and do I thought I'd share some older pics. This first set is of a bike that was in the parking area of the swap meet. All I can say is that she will NEVER lose this bike in a parking lot!

I can't be mean enough to leave you with those pictures so here's a few pics of a kick ass old Knucklehead I saw at an earlier Vintage Fest. I think you'll like this one.

Groove on that Craaaaazzyyy tank mural baby!

Vintage bike porn right there!

Look at those lines. If that's not straight out of 1970 I don't know what is!

Random Pics I Found On My Harddrive...

2011-12-09T08:30:00.000-06:00

I was looking for pictures for another project and found these. They're kinda random, but I figured what the hell. They're better than a rerun ;-)

Round the World Doug's Panhead, taken at the Barber's Vintage Fest a couple of years ago.

Lane Motor Museum in Nashville.

Barber's Vintage Fest a couple of years ago.

Nice tank from Barber's Vintage Fest a couple of years ago.

Barber's Vintage Fest a couple of years ago.

Now THIS is a classy machine!

Barber's Vintage Fest a couple of years ago.

Hopefully I'll have some more cool stuff for next week.

Biker Movie Night Vol II

2011-12-07T08:30:00.001-06:00

After the food was properly consumed it was time to have some fun and play around before we watched the show. If you've ever been to Garco you've probably met Chubbs the bulldog. Chubbs is a great dog, but he's not right in the head. He loves to try and eat the exhaust of a running bike or even better is the air coming from an air line. If you have a rag he'll take it from you and try to wrestle. You can literally lift him off the floor while he's biting a rag. For some reason Bill jumped up and slapped the inflatable High Life can hanging from the ceiling. I guess Chubbs has never noticed the can before because he went crazy once he realized it was there. He kept jumping up trying to get the can that was hanging TEN FREAKING FEET IN THE AIR!

You can see here that the little bastard can jump pretty damn high for such short legs.

He decided he'd have better luck climbing up on Chopper Ed to get the can. He really did get up here by himself. Ed helped him by leaning over, but Chubbs was all over the idea of using Ed as a ladder.

We ended up outside after Spenser got old faithful the silver mini chopper running. Bill made some "Billshine" for the party and was pretty deep into it by this point. You can see in this pic that it didn't affect his riding skills though.

He got it started and was off again!

Ian started early with the "Billshine" and it seems that it didn't want to play in the same vicinity as the chile. It worked out though because after this it was time to.........

make a ramp and see if they could jump the puke! It was hard to get any pics because of the flash reflection off the ground but I did get a few pics of the fun.

Here's Ian making the grand leap over his previous deposit. He did end up putting the back wheel squarely in it one time and it make a nice splatter.

White boys dancing....well at leas Spenser and Ian are trying.

Luke is scared of whatever move that is that Ian is putting on Ross while Stewie was happily working his cabbage patch.

Outside again where Bill showed his backwards riding skills. I was actually surprised at how well he did.

Working on the projector and PA set up.

Chubbs and Ian going over backwards in one of the roll around seats. That's my Triumph there on the right. I used it as a movie seat.

And the show begins. Like I said, we had issues, but we still had fun and next time it'll work for us a little more smoothly. You can see Bill stole my seat while I was trying to take pictures.

Biker Movie Night At Garage Company Customs.

2011-12-06T08:30:00.002-06:00

Whitey has been talking about getting together one night and watching some crappy old Biker movies. Well, it finally happened. Larry and Whitey picked a date and we all showed up for the fun. We kept it kind of small to see how it went, but next time who knows. The movie was Angel Unchained and is a great flick if you're into these old movies. We had sound issues, but managed to have a good time anyway. It'll get worked out better for the next time I'm sure.

Ashley was saying that her and Larry never get a real picture of them together. The pics always get taken after the "beverages" have been flowing so I took a picture of two of the best friends a guy could have. Love Ya! Mean It!

All the guys, the girls sat at the counter and laughed as Ashley took this one.

Gettin' some of that chile the Bill made.

Ross brought in the gear to make some grilled cheese sammies to go with the chile!

MMmmmmmmm! Damn that was a good grilled cheese!

"What do you expect from dirt bags like us?"

Recently Larry and Ashley hit the thrift stores and found this vintage liquor decanter. My folks used to have one like this and it still makes me giggle to see one in action.

Ashley's getting it "on tap"

Ian setting the stage for his show later on in the evening.

Ross has always been one for "water games"

Even Laura wanted to join the festivities.

OK, so this was the fun leading up to show time. Next time I'll show ya the rest of the fun we had that night. Stay tuned it's gets good from here.....

The Weather Was Great Here This Weekend!

2011-12-05T08:30:00.001-06:00

And of course you know that means another Sat. Lunch Ride! This Saturday Larry and Whitey decided to have a Biker Movie Night so a few more people came around. We didn't tell a lot of folks because we knew there would be technical issues we had to address so this was a practice run. I had to deal with the step-daughter's car dropping a valve early Sat. morning, but I made it in time for lunch so away we went.....

Ian and Chopper Ed getting ready to leave.

Ian with his freshly rebuilt transmission enjoying the day.

Chopper Ed doing his chopper thang.

Getting off the bikes at Nino's. Have I told y'all lately that I love their meat lover's calzone????

Larry's lovely hair. He road the cafe racer until he gets his long bike redone.

By the time we were ready to leave Mathew had joined us. He bought David's CB750 so David could buy the blue Panhead. Mathew is new to the chopper game, but he asks the right questions and seems to be pretty squared away.

After lunch Stewie, Mathew and I went by the HD shop to get some inner tubes. The rest of the crew went to Ross' to help him get a trailer off of his ceiling. (Don't ask, it's not a pretty story).

Mathew enjoying his new bike. I don't think he's quit grinning since he bought it!

Getting gas.

At the dealership we saw this beauty on the floor. You can tell the guy likes old stuff, but really had no clue about putting a bike together so that it all flows. (I'm being nice here).

A belt drive on a basically stock dyna????

Old skool pipes and sissy bar with new style billet triple trees and micro switches on the gimp style hangers. Oh yeah, he even put an old Avon tire on the back.

Spenser stopped to grab his new issue of Dice to show us the pictures of his bike. YEP! That's right Spenser's bike is in the new issue of Dice Magazine!!!

Took a quick shot over my shoulder as Mathew pulled up behind us.

More pics from Saturday to come. I'll post some pics from the Movie Night party later this week..

Dixie Roundup 2012 is coming soon!!!

2011-12-01T08:29:00.002-06:00

April 28th, 2012 to be exact! Last year was the first year of the Roundup and it was a GREAT time. This year will be even better. To get all teh lowdown on what's coming up be sure to check out the Dixie Roundup Blog. Just to whet your whistle here are a few pics from last year!!

Nathan and his Knuck rode in from North Alabama

Dustin and Tim rode their bikes down from Indiana!

Hairbraine came over from Atlanta.

Looking back at the pack on the big ride to Mathew's after teh bike show.

Timebomb from the BDAC crew in Atlanta.

Warren Jr. and his knucklehead chopper. This bike is in the latest Street Chopper by the way.

Waylon from the BDAC wearing the very FIRST "What I See" t-shirt that he bought back when I was selling them through cafepress.

You need to be here and be a part of this years party. It will be great and will be worth the effort!!!

Visitor On His Way Through Town

2011-11-28T08:29:00.001-06:00

I got a call from Marty on Tuesday telling me he would be stopping over in town Wed night on his way up North to handle some business. He wanted to know if I was going to be around to hang out a bit while he was here. Of course I was excited as hell because he was bringing his knucklehead with him!!! I mean I like hanging around with Marty, but the Knuck rules the earth!!! Anyway, he got in around 9:30 Wed night and I met him, Ashley and Larry so they could eat (I went out with the family earlier). We had a great time and seeing the Knuck in the dark just whetted my appetite to see it in the daylight. Check out the pics and keep your eyes open for Roadside's Knuck sightings in the near future!

This is what I get for trying to bow up and make sure the blog shirt showed. I just ended up looking even fatter than I am ;-) At least Marty did a good job of pointing out what blog he loves the most (next to his of course).

Larry and Marty getting ready to head over to Larry's to sack out. Ashley had already left to finish getting things ready by this time.

The Beauty herself. There are so many cool things about this bike. From the tank that Marty's uncle painted YEARS ago to the original Aermacchi rear fender with a lot of other cool stuff thrown in as well.

The other side. Many fine details here as well. From the shifter to the foot clutch made from a shifter. The white rubber (except for the grips) is all vintage, there's a ton more but I just can't remember right now (imagine that).

Handmade sissy bar.

Original Aermacchi sticker still on the fender.

Larry and Ashley pickin' at the appetizer.

Marty tellin' a story as usual.

we had a great time even if it was only for a couple of hours. It's always good to spend time with family, and Brother Roadside is family for sure.

Swap Meet Parts!

2011-11-23T08:30:00.002-06:00

I told you about the swap meet a few weeks ago, While I was there I scored a seat and a set of evo sporty rocker boxes. This Saturday I got to mess with them a little to see how they'll work.....

The seat. I think I like it. I at least like it enough to run with for now. It might get replaced down the road.

I have to do a little forming of the pan. It's close, but you can tell people have been working it to make it fit where they wanted it. Luckily it needs to bend in the direction that will take pressure off the cover so it won't tear when I sit my big ass on it.

It's like the back was made FOR my homemade sissy bar. I DO love that part.

This may just work!

After a quick blast with the sand blaster to get the crud off. Now I get to polish them back up.

Another view, not bad for $20.

Another Fun Filled Saturday!

2011-11-21T08:30:00.002-06:00

Another crazy fun day hanging out at GarCo. The day started off when I got there and there was a celebrity in the house. The one and only Benji from Death Science stopped in to visit and I got to hang out and get to know him a little bit. This is one straight up guy that has forgotten more about photography than I'll ever know. The good thing is that he's a fan of this blog so we know he's a person of great taste ;-) Check out the Death Science blog and also Show Class magazine to see some of his work. I'm looking forward to picking his brain and drinking a few brews at BMR with ya Benji!

After lunch things slowed down a bit and we all drifted outside to throw the tennis ball at each other (literally in some cases ....Thanks David!). To make it fun it was decided that all throws should be made with your goofy hand. This led to some really funny, really stupid throws and I got pics of some of it. It's not easy to capture the essence of the stupidity involved in a still shot, but some of these are too funny. Y'all feel free to come out on Saturdays and hang out with us. The worse that can happen is you'll get hit in the back with a tennis ball (thanks again David!) ;-P

Benji wanted some love and Larry just wanted to hug this Pan motor. Spenser ignored them both and played with his distributor shaft.

I will KILL YOU with my Death Ray Vision™!

Stewie was trying to levitate the tennis ball and somehow brought his whole body into the air. Right after this Luke bite Spenser and all we heard was a large, long flapping noise and Spenser flew off into the power lines like a deflating balloon.

Ian pitching like a spastic monkey! The hat is what makes it all so cool.

Bill was all over the place dancing like a......... well hell, I don't know WHAT the hell he was dancing like!

Here he is showing his perfect feminine throwing style.

Spenser perfected the girlie throw while Luke watched on trying to figure out why we wouldn't let him play with his own damn ball.

One for J-Rod and the BDAC!

2011-11-19T10:25:00.000-06:00

My stepson Ryan and Lee Anna Culp came back into town last night to play at Moonlight on the Mountain. It's a BYOB place so I brought along some good beer and my newest Fav coozie. This pic is for you guys!

Gaelic Ale from Highland Brewery in NC. GOOD STUFF!

And just so you know who I was talking about, This is Lee Anna Culp. If you like "singer/songwriter" type music you need to give her a listen.

And my step son Ryan. I guess all those years of practicing are paying off. They are getting some pretty good gigs in Nashville (where they live now) and are working on getting seen by the right people.

Found Some Old Pictures

2011-11-17T08:30:00.002-06:00

I felt sick today (some kind of bug I guess) so I stayed home. While I was rummaging through a drawer looking for something I found some old pics I had forgotten about. I like em, so I thought I'd share them.

About 15-16 years ago my friend J.D. Foster (R.I.P. My Brother) and his girlfriend Olivia (that I introduced him to) went over to the Hooters by Century Plaza for a bike show. This was in the days before Bike Nights everywhere so it was kinda of a big deal for us. We had a great time, I rode my Triumph and J.D. was riding my old '75 XLCH that he had redone. There wasn't a lot of bikes that day, but we had a good time anyway. Sometimes I really miss the old days. I wouldn't give up my current life and my wonderful Wife, but I still feel nostalgic sometimes. I hope you're enjoying riding your bikes in whatever afterlife you found J.D. I miss ya Bro!

My old '75 XLCH after J.D. repainted it. He eventually completely redid it, but at this point all that was different from when I had it was paint and the sissybar that was on it was on my Triumph by then.

Some girl on a nice Sporty that day.

I also found these pics of my old 1963 Ford pick up. I loved this truck, but it was just too old and unreliable for what I needed at the time. I hope the guy who bought it followed through with what he told me he had planned for it. I'd love to see how it came out.

Bama Swap & Drag - The Bikes!

2011-11-16T08:30:00.002-06:00

Here's some more of the pics I took at the swap meet. Like I said Monday, I didn't get to stick around long, but I did snap a few pics as a went through. Hope ya like em!

The show was put on by Rick or Rick's Cycle Parts and his Son Michael of Violent Choppers. This is Michael in the golf cart talking to one of his buddies who sold me the seat.

Nice little chopper in the parking lot.

Classic lines on this shovel, I was diggin' on it.

Another angle.

In the swap area where some bikes were parked.

This Sporty has a lot of potential.

Duane's shovel.

Bad ass little race bike.

CLEAN Shovel in Rick's booth. I WISH I had the money for it.

Other side.

True survivor from the old days. I remember seeing this bike many years ago when a friend of mine was trying to sell it. Then it resurfaced after Rick had rescued it from someone who was going to screw up

Other side.

Custom Sporty

Pan with potential!

I see a LOT of potential in this one.

And this is what's wrong with the world today. A LOT of work and craftsman ship was put into making an ugly bike that I can't see anyone truly riding AND it's not worth a whole lot because of the engine used. I hope he likes it because I have a feeling it's his for good.

Bama Swap & Drag!

2011-11-14T08:30:00.002-06:00

The 1st ever Bama Swap & Drag was this weekend in Section, AL. This event was set up and run by Rick and Michael Lewis. You may know them better as Rick's Cycle Shop and Violent Choppers. This Dad & Son did a great job and put on a great show. I made it up there Saturday for a little while, but a bunch of folks I know made a weekend out of it. I ended up scoring a set of rocker boxes and a cool seat that I hope will fit something cool. Today I'm posting pics of the swap and tomorrow I'll post some bike pics.

Moon rode up with a chapter of the wild hogs ;-) Actually it was his Dad, Uncle and a bunch of other folks on stock bikes. Moon kinda stood out from the crowd, but we've always known he was special anyway.

Michael on the golf cart looking important. It must have worked, the swap seemed to be going smoothly.

Round the World Doug made the party. It was great talking to him, it seems like I've been seeing him at swap meets for almost 15 years now.

Boxes of goodies just waiting fro me to find something cool hidden in there.

Rick's section of the show. I didn't get to stick around long enough to talk with Rick, but he \was busy selling cool stuff.

Lots of projects in this truck. I'd like to have that little mini bike sticking out on the left.

All in all a good time and I'll be back the next time they set this up!

Veterans Day 2011

2011-11-11T11:00:00.006-06:00

Veterans Day is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world and falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)
(from wikipedia)

I have set this post to show up at 11:00 a.m. on 11/11/11 in honor of the original Armistice Day that started it all. Veterans Day is an important day for those of us that spent time in the military. It's a day we get to talk about the things we did, the people we met and understand that most people we know will actually care about what were saying for a change. Spending a few years in the Service plays an important part in who we become later in life no matter whether the service was in war or peace. Of course the experiences are different, but then again everyone's life is different even among people who share the same events. It's a great feeling to meet someone who's pretty cool and then to find out you are both Vets ESPECIALLY if you had related jobs. For instance Roadside Marty and I both crewed Hueys during our time in. Opposite sides of the world, but a shared experience none the less. I think we bored a few folks to death at BMR telling war stories about what we did, but that's OK we had fun doing it. Get out today and attend some of the events if you can, here in Birmingham we have the oldest and biggest Veterans Day parade in the country and I will be there showing my support. Our troops of today are going through some serious stuff and need all the support we can give them. We as a nation screwed over our troops when they came home from both Korea and Vietnam (especially the Nam Vets), we need to make sure NOTHING like that happens today. We may not agree with what the Govt. decides to do with our troops, but we sure as hell better support the men and woman who make up our Armed Services. With out them we wouldn't have the freedoms we have today. The Govt. may be taking more and more freedom away, but that's not the fault of our great Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members. Hail the Einherjar!

My Dad SFC Paul Dailey in Korea during his last tour before coming back to Ft. Bragg to retire in 1966.

Me in basic training Ft. McClellan, AL 1984

the Aviation Section of HHC, 937th Eng Gp, Ft. Riley KS (except me of course since I was taking the picture) My first duty station and the first time I was made a crewchief on these beautiful aircraft.

A really great painting I found on the web. My position was in the gunwell behind that M-60 or sitting in front of it depending on our mission.

Pictures from Korea. We landed near a village in Korea and of course the kids had to come see us. I stuck my flight helmet on one of them and took a few pics. I still have that visor cover somewhere buried in my old stuff. The Chinook was taking supplies to units on the DMZ. The bottom picture was at a refueling point near the DMZ. The aircraft that flew around there regularly had to have those yellow stripes.

This is a picture of me in a hanger on Homestead Air Force base (before it was bulldozed and made into a Nascar track) after Hurricane Andrew. The winds were so strong they pushed this Huey onto the nose of an F-5 INSIDE the hanger. We lived in a hanger on a Coast Guard base for a month while we supported the Florida National Guard units who were flying supplies into people.

Part of a really nice Veterans park Allison and I stopped at on Hwy 78 in Georgia. There are more pics on my other blog HERE.

AND just to keep it bike related here is a picture of me in An Jung Ri, Korea sitting on some stores delivery bike. This of course was many years and many pounds ago.

Maybe next year I'll post pics from Germany and Ft. Bragg.

Do something to show your support of our troops today!!

Got The New Computer And Went For A ride.

2011-11-08T08:30:00.001-06:00

I spent ALL damn day Saturday waiting on Fed Ex to deliver my new computer, it finally showed up around 4:30 so the day was shot, but I did get some restin' and relaxin' in. To make up for missing out on the great weather Saturday I took a solo ride on Sunday. Just me, my bike and a few fun local roads. Some days that's just what you need and this time was no exception. Check out the pics and ride along with me.....

The entrance to a housing area down in a valley. I love living up in these hills. The views are great and the roads are fun.

At another street looking off the other side of the mountain.

A fun stretch of one of my favorite roads.

A neat little building that I've used as a backdrop a few times. It works much better with the blue in the Bad Boy's paint than it did with the red bats on the old Honda.

After all these riding pics I can't believe this is the first time I've taken a shot like this.

I just decided to try this new little side road. It was a great road and I will ride this one again.

Tried to take an artsy pic of myself, not that great but I'm still posting it anyway because I can ;-)

I'll be a little skow posting for a few days as I get the new machine up and running. The hardest thing is getting all my software squared away. I DID download Gimp so I can edit pics until I get it all set up.

My Computer is Dying!

2011-11-04T08:58:00.000-05:00

I'll be taking a few days off from the blog while I wait for my new computer to get here. Mine still runs, but half the memory slots have stopped working so I don't have enough RAM to make the damn thing do what I want to do. The new computer should be here Saturday so I should be set up and back on things next week. In the meantime have fun and go for a ride before it gets too cold. (It's never too cold here in Alabama, but we're lucky that way ). In the meantime here's some pics from the last BMR in case you missed them the first time.

Making A New Sissy Bar, The Rest Of The Story

2011-11-02T08:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I left you with the round bar bent and cut to size and the square stock cut, drilled and tapped. After that Spenser hooked me up and welded the pieces together. After it cooled I put it all back together and rode home. Sunday I decided it needed a little dressing up. The round bar and square stock were welded side by side to each other with two flat ends just kinda sticking out there. I decided to use my cutoff wheel to cut the ends at a tapered angle. This really helped the pieces flow together a lot better. After that I primed and spray bombed the sissy bar black to match the rest of it. Got it back together and have been strapping my crap to it the last couple of days. So far so good. We might add a few pieces to the inside for me to be able to hook bungees a little better, but for now I am done.

Stewie tacking it together.

On the bench getting welded for real.

See what I mean about the flat ends?

A little work cutting them at angles instead made a helluva lot of difference. Add a little paint and we have a nice looking sissy bar.

See what I mean, it looks good to me! I know all my bends are not perfect, but I don't care because other than the welding I made this all myself.

I think it works really well with the overall look of the bike. I've always loved the Panhead that Peter Fonda rode in "Wild Angels" and have kinda used that as a model for this bike. I have no plans for painting a dragon on the tank or changing to a flat fender, but the lines are similar.

As usual I have to get my low angle shot.

Looks good from the rear too. Now we finally have proof that I CAN finish a project and not just drag it on for years. Make your bike your own, then go ride it like you know how to fix it!

Making A New Sissy Bar...

2011-11-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

for the Bad Boy. I've always liked the style of the old bent tip style sissy bar and almost bought an "ugly stick" for the bike back when I worked at the dealer. As usual I was too cheap to go through with it. Instead I waited forever then decided to make one myself. I kinda went overkill and used stainless even though I planned to paint it. At least this way I don't have to worry about rust screwing up the paint. I know most of y'all have never seen me actually finish a project, but I am pretty much done with this one. I'll split this into two posts since I still haven't gotten outside to take a good pic of the finished product.

The new bar next to the old one. You can see the new one will be about 6" taller than the factory one.

All bent up and ready to cut to size.

I drilled the holes to fit the factory sideplates then tapped them for the factory mount bolts. They work so why not reuse them.

Fitted up and ready to weld the roundbar to it.

Cutting the bar to size. I love to take pictures of sparks flying!

Cut and waiting for Spenser to have a minute to weld for me. I need to learn to use the TIG. I'm OK with a MIG or even torch welding, but I haven't had a chance to tackle the TIG yet.

Check back tomorrow for the rest of the project.

This Day Last Year....

2011-10-31T08:30:00.009-05:00

I was getting ready to go see my all time favorite band play at Zydeco. Southern Culture On The Skids is a great band that have been playing for a couple of decades and they are even better now than they ever were. If you don't have fun at a SCOTS show then you are a loser. Rick Miller is one of the most underrated guitarists playing today, Mary Huff lays down some killer and super solid bass lines and Dave Hartman plays drums just as good and as complicated as most drummers except he plays them standing up! Unfortunately for me they are playing in N.C this year but I'll still blast them a couple of times today and then go home and groove to a few of their videos on youtube. Maybe I'll even download their new CD Zombiefied, or at least go ahead and order the disc. Back to the bikes tomorrow, but TODAY WE DANCE!

The very first video ever released by SCOTS. It's a fun song and appropriate for Samhain/Halloween.

My favorite Bass Player, in her Halloween finest. Yeah I've got a crush on her. It's OK, my Wife knows and just shakes her head thinking how silly I am

Rick playing the Alabama guitar the Music in Alabama group took around to various shows all year letting bands play it while their picture was taken for the group to use to promote music in Alabama. By the way Rick said he was dressed as Fee Waybil in case you couldn't tell.

Dave giving the drums hell in his Waffle House uniform. I guess he was late getting off from his day job and had to rush to the show.

I was dressed as an extra in a 60's Biker flick. Yeah, it was cheesy but I was in a rush to put something together. Hey, the damn blonde wig got me noticed by you know who ;-)

During Camel Walk these girls were tossing Little Debbie oatmeal pies into the crowd.

The title song from the new album . It's actually an album made for Australia years ago that is being released here with a bunch of new songs added. This video was the contest winner to make a new video for the song.

Back the the bikes tomorrow. I made a new sissy bar for the softail that I can show you pics of.

Another Visit To Conte Kustoms!

2011-10-28T08:30:00.003-05:00

After Spenser left GarCo Saturday I figured it was to early to head home so I headed on over to Conte Kustoms. to see Raf. As usual they were busy making cool stuff happen. They had Raf's brothers Marauder torn down and getting painted. They are also finishing up a 750 Shadow ACE that is looking pretty bad ass. The main bike of the day though is this Sporty that was recently finished. This bike is so kool that it was recently featured on the Lowbrow blog. Kinda makes me proud to know these guys. Check out the pics and if you're ever in town check out the shop. I know Raf will be at Bama Swap & Drag Nov. 12th & 13th at Sand Mtn Dragway so try to catch him there if you can.

A customer came by to look at the Sporty so Raf took it for a blast up and down the road to show what she has. This bike IS for sale, give em a call or go by and check it out 205-757-7238

Going back the other way.

The 750 ACE being finished up. I personally put over 67,000 miles on mine. This one has less than 3k so it has a long life ahead of it.

The Sporty in all its glory

Look at these clean lines. Classic beauty with modern dependability.

Even the headlight was changed.

Call em to say hello or go on by to hang out. You're sure to have a good time.

It Was a Small Ride To Lunch This Weekend

2011-10-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

I finally got back to the shop this weekend, but Larry and Spenser were leaving early for various reasons. That left us with a smaller group for lunch. Someone had the great idea of going to Nino's and of course this made me very happy ;-) Ian and I rode our bikes, but Bill decided to ride in the truck with Ross ( I think they had important stuff to go over, or partake of, or whatever they were doing). Lunch was great, then we rode back to the shop to watch Spenser lock up and we all left. I ended up riding over to Conte Kustoms, but that's a post for later this week.

Parked outside Nino's, I LOVE their "meat lover's" calzone. Damn! It's good.

Ready to leave Ian was giving Bill and Ross a ration of crap for driving as he should have. Actually I think they were deciding where to meet to ride up to Talladega the next day.

Ian waiting for traffic to clear.

Bill leaving the shop. To get to Conte Kustoms you turn right at that stop sign and go back into the industrial park.

Back in that area is also an old quarry that used to be a regular swimming hole for people. Now it's a scuba school and pretty much blocked off. Normally you can't even see the water from the road, but since it is getting colder and the underbrush is dying off a gap appeared along one edge and I pulled over to take a few pics.

These pictures make it look so nice, but I was standing in a dumpy, trashy area of an industrial park, quite a juxtaposition I must say.

Stay tuned there's more fun to come!

Need Some Help Picking My Best Pic!

2011-10-25T16:16:00.001-05:00

Some of y'all have been here since the beginning and I appreciate that. Now I need your help, I want to enter a pic in a contest and can't decide which of my pics is the best. If any of y'all have a favorite pic that I've taken let me know which one it is. That will help me decide which one is number one. To me their like my kids, I like em all ;-)

Some examples of the style's of pics I've posted.

Riding the Good Road.....

Looking Sweet Standing Still

Trying to Give Life To the New Beast

Look around and find your favorite and let me know which one it is.....

TRIED To Work On The Flyrite Sporty Saturday, Need Seat Help!!

2011-10-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

I was SUPER excited Saturday. It's the first day I could go by Garco and do some stuff to the Sporty since the Barber's Vintage Fest. Mt Brother Roadside had sent me a special seat from his stash as a birthday present and I was ready to try it out. Get to the shop, go into the fab room where the Sporty is hiding these days and DAMMIT! It won't work! Apparently it's for a big twin frame with more of a V where the frame and fender meet. If you look at the pics you can see what I mean. With the seat flat on the fender the front of the seat sticks about 6 inches up in the air. I'm pretty bummed because A. the seat came from Marty, B. the seat looks kick ass and is BRAND NEW, it still has the stickers and a wrench has never touched the bolts in it. and finally C. I can't afford a new seat. SO, after conferring with ChopMaster Marty it was decided that I should use the seat as trading material for another one. SO Who has a cool seat that would like to trade for a new Corbin-Gentry chopper seat. I'm open to anything that will look cool and ride decently with this bike. Let me know what you've got.

With the back down the front goes up...

With the front down it looks like I just launched her ass into the air.

Since this bummed me about the Sporty and because Larry and Spenser were busy plus planning to leave early I decided to start on the sissy bar I'm making for my softail. I'm not reinventing the wheel on this one, just too cheap to buy a pre-made one PLUS I like to bend metal and make stuff. This will be a smaller version of the one on the Sporty plus it will mount in the stock sissybar sideplates when I'm done. At least I made progress on SOMETHING!

Mostly bent up, still have to get it all flat now.

Not perfect, but not bad for a 2nd attempt at bending round bar.

You can kind of see how "not-flat" it is. Hopefully I can finish it this Saturday and get the front tire on theSporty AND the Softail. Gonna be a busy day next weekend.

Stick around, got a few interesting posts lined up for this week.

Last Post About New Orleans......Maybe!

2011-10-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

Just a few more pics then it's the weekend and I can get back to bike pics.

This car passed as we were leaving the Music Festival. Nice car, but I'm not a fan of this style of flames. Good work though by who ever did it.

This was in the window of the tourist welcome center. I guess they rent them or something. It looked sad being locked up inside like that though. I wanted to break it out let let it go free but the Wife wouldn't let me.

Found this girl "lounging" out on the roof of our hotel Sunday morning. She was awake, but didn't seem very happy. I'm guessing she had a few hurricane's the night before.

The number of old guys with Hawaiian shirts at this party was pretty impressive.

You would not believe all the people wearing Saints support stuff. An I don't mean simple t-shirts and stuff. It was hot out there and these people are wearing black pants with black Saints jerseys and hats. They were not casual fans they all had uniforms on for their team. This woman's cheerleader outfit took top honors though.

Is this Clay from Sons of Anarchy?

She couldn't decide if she's a Saints fan or if it was time for Mardi Gras.

Local Bike Club of some sort arrived just before we left.

On the way north to Natchez there was a wreck on I-55. Since the interstate is all on a bridge any time cars wreck it completely stops traffic until they get it cleared up. This one had us held up for about 45 minutes to an hour. I did get out of the car and look around a bit while we waited. It feels weird to realize you are walking an an Interstate where just a short bit ago all the traffic was moving at 80 mph.

It was a long way to the front of the line. It was good to see the people actually clear the center for the ambulance and wreckers though.

I saw this baby alligator off the other side of the road from where we stopped.

This critter crawled out of the car that tried to ride the white line and sneak in the front of the line after the wreck traffic started moving. Of course I didn't let them in. Screw em they can get back in line where they were. We stopped for gas and I guess they did too. The Wife says this beauty was in the bathroom having a LOUD conversation on her phone while she sat on the toilet. Is she not the classiest unicorn you've ever seen?

And to finish it up here's a pic of a classic 70's ride.

More From New Orleans

2011-10-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

Some more pics from my weekend adventures in New Orleans. I have a few pieces for the Sportster so this weekend I'll be able to get back to the regularly scheduled chopper fun. In the meantime indulge me and enjoy the pics.

I told you these were bad ass little vehicles. Just look at the old school hardcore "I'll Kill You" look this player was giving me.

Marie Laveau's grave in the Easy Rider cemetery. She was apparently a major Voodoo Queen and if you make 3 x's on her tomb and leave an offering she'll grant your wish or some other sort of nonsense. I didn't pay that much attention to the story, but it looks like a lot of other folks did.

A plaque with some info about her.

Santa stopped by to feed his parrot.

This guy set up a little booth to sell some stuff, but he forgot to sober up before he started working.

And just to keep it bike related I did see this guy a couple of times this weekend.

Spent The weekend In New Orleans.

2011-10-19T08:30:00.054-05:00

My Wife and I took off for a 4 day weekend and went to New Orleans for the "Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival". We had a great time and saw some great musicians. We spent a lot of time just wandering in the French Quarter taking pictures (like that is a surprise, me taking pictures ). I won't string this out too far, but it will take a day or two to share some of the fun we had. I'll also be posting stuff on my other blog from the trip, but it will be mostly pics from the "photographer" side of my brain. I'll post the fun stuff and the critter related stuff here.

This is the only "regular" pic I'll post here I guess. This is the statue of Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square with the Catholic Church in the background. If you've been to New Orleans you know where this is.

We made a couple of visits over the weekend to the Crescent City Brewhouse so I could get some more of their Octoberfest special brew. It was a great brown ale that I would have brought home a keg of if I could have.

The ONLY cool bike I saw all weekend. It was in a shop on Decatur Street and as usual I didn't catch the name of it. It's not hard to find though, just walk down Decatur until you see a shop with some actual cool stuff inside instead of the cheesy plastic Mardi Gras crap like in the other shops. I talked to John the guy who owns the bike and he says that he DOES ride it, but since it's not his only bike it makes a great display in the store while it waits for its turn to roll. He didn't know who the builder was since he got it from ebay, but was pretty sure it was built in Atlanta. (If you read this John and want to correct me or add any details please feel free to jump in through the comments.

I finally got to visit the St. Louis #1 Cemetery where the acid trip scene of the movie Easy Rider was filmed. It was pretty neat to be in a spot where a movie that I've seen so many times was filmed. This mausoleum is showing thew wear of 40 years of movie fans coming by and climbing on it. The statues hand is missing and the surface wear on the statue is obvious. Some people can't seem to show a little respect for stuff that's not theirs I guess. The movie may be more of a hippie movie than a biker flick, but the riding scenes have never been equaled in any other film.I wish someone would make a modern movie with the great kind of riding shots that Easy Rider has.

Close up of the statue where Peter Fonda was sitting in the scene when he was crying and talking to his "Mother". You can see the wear on her if you click the pic to see the large version. I guess 40 years of having people put their oily skin up against her face takes its toll.

The scene from the film in case you don't remember it.

Neat old Chevy Impala with Sailor Jerry graphics wrapped all over it. It was a really nice car, but even though Sailor Jerry is the only rum I'll drink I still would rather have seen a nice flake job on the car. It does its job and catches you attention though.

Stay tuned more to come.

Sweet Old Iron

2011-10-14T08:32:00.000-05:00

Just some random pics from the Antique Bike show at the Vintage Fest last weekend. I'm leaving today with the Wife for New Orleans to hang out at the 2011 Crescent City Blues & Barbeque Festival so there won't be any new posts until Tuesday at least. Maybe I'll see some cool stuff there to post, if not I still have stuff from Barber's. Y'all have fun!

Sweet Flathead

1926 Model J cutdown

Early flathead

Indian four

WLA Military Bike

1946 Model U

Flathead

Indian Chief

Catch ya later....

More Cool Stuff!

2011-10-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

Just some more pics I liked from Barber's.

Really neat old Triumph Pre-Unit Chopper. I couldn't own it because it's almost too cool to change, but it's so sad to see rotting away. Check out the little kid's seat up on the sissy bar. You have to have good insurance on your kids before you let them use that death trap .

Spenser and I slept under the tarp to keep an eye on stuff. This was the view I wake up to. Can't beat having the first thing you see in the morning be two sweet damn bikes.

Saw this gorgeous SuperGlide in the Antique clubs bike show. Never seen this color before and haven't seen a Shovelhead this clean since they were new.

The infamous Wall of Death. This alone is worth the price of admission to the festival.

The bikes they had on display out front.

Lots of Indians in this display. It seems that Indians work better for the type of riding they do on the wall.

I'd LOVE to ride this one.

Just imagine this beast going down the road back in the day.

Old Glory on display and looking beautiful.

More Pics From The Vintage Festival

2011-10-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

Like most of y'all the best part of an event like this to me is the Swap Meet. This year was no exception, I saw plenty of sweet bikes, lots of cool potential projects and some plain ol' cool stuff. Maybe next year I'll be in the market for a new project and can jump on one of these deals. This year I'm just trying to get the Flyrite Sporty done. Anyway, here are some pics of stuff I thought was pretty neat.

Some very good makings for a nice Triumph pre-unit chopper.

Damn nice Panhead. Not much I'd change on this one.

My next door neighbor had one of these when I was a kid. This is the first kind of bike I ever rode. From here we graduated to a Honda Express, but I still like these cool little "monkey bikes".

Another great Triumph project. If you were looking for a Brit project you would have been in heaven this weekend.

I REALLY dug this golf cart. I have absolutely NO reason to have a golf cart, but I'd have still bought this one if I could.

Stay Tuned For More Cool Stuff!

Barber's Vintage Festival 2011 Was Great!

2011-10-11T08:30:00.001-05:00

Once again The Vintage Fest was great. It was more crowded on Saturday than I have ever seen it. The swap meet was sold out and there was plenty of good deal to be had if you were looking for the right stuff. Apparently I wasn't since all I bought was a hat, a bubble shield, and too much over priced food. Ian scored big time, so did Bill. Larry and Spenser sold a decent amount of stuff and best of all Brother Roadside sent me a birthday present through a buddy of his since he couldn't make it himself (more on that later). I didn't get there until Saturday morning after these guys had scored all the cool stuff. Luckily I was looking for small stuff that I either need to buy new or won't be too bad to buy new since I couldn't find any of it there. I'll be posting pics I took while walking around so keep on coming back and enjoy the pics.

Crazy mini bike limo or something like that.

BEAUTIFUL Panhead.

Other side.

One of the many sweet Vincents to be seen.

Nice Indian Scout vertical twin.

Clean Triumph chopper. There seemed to be a lot of these this year.

Other side.

One of the few Shovelheads I saw that I really wish I had the money to buy.

More to come, see ya next time.