Lunch Ride Last Saturday

We had a nice ride to lunch last Sat. Spenser broke his key switch on his shovel so he decided to ride the "Artistry in Iron" bike (Negra Pantaloons) to lunch. This little Panheaded beasty is a monster! This bike has PLENTY of power and Stewy wasn't even raising hell with it. It's just gonna get better as it gets broke in too. Anyway, enjoy the pics I for sure enjoyed taking them.

Took a picture of Ashley taking a picture of Spenser. Of course I thought it was funny, no one else did ;-)

Stewy trying to get me to come over and give him a hug.

Just playing around with how I held the camera. I was trying to not get my handlebars in the pic.

Ed came along as well. He keeps up pretty good for an old guy (HEY! He's older than me at least!)

Ed slipping up alongside me.

Spenser's Tank Is DONE!

Once again Shane has outdone himself! He says this is the most intricate tank he has painted and I believe him. It's certainly the best one Ive seen from him. Each blue panel has a different design/effect done inside of it and the colors really pop in person. The masking and layers are really smooth and slick and it still amazes me that he just recently started painting. Shane is a consummate artist and it shows in everything I've seen from him so far from tattoo's to leather to metalflake paint, he is an artist.

Top. I like the airbrushed lens flares, they give it an old style look like what I used to see on the custom cars and bikes I saw when I was a kid.

The front shows more of that detail.

This side is amazing to me, to get all those lines to repeat evenly across the entire panel is mind blowing to me.

Love the pattern on this side as well. MANY hours were spent just on the masking alone of this project.

And just to make it even more unique this little scene is hidden on the bottom of the tank. Gotta love it when an artist goes to the extra effort for something like this that will not be seen by 98% of the people who see this bike.

I'll post some more pics of the finished bike later this week so come back to see the rest of the story....

UPDATE: Spenser's Shovel runs!

Spenser has finally gotten his shovelhead running. It is not finished, he's still waiting for Shane to finish the gas tank and he is still working bugs out, but once again she's on the road and running like a dream!

Spenser had a small electrical issue on the way back from lunch Sat. but he got is squared away quickly.

The gas tank is a spare that Nick had laying around, it'll work until the right one gets finished.

One Way Stu and the Rebirth of a Shovel!

Spenser started having some weird handling issues with the old panhead frame he had on his shovelhead so he decided that it was time to go all out and make it a rigid. Since the other frame was a little suspect right now he opted to buy a new aftermarket frame and go to town. Pretty much the only pieces being reused are the engine and transmission.

Here the bike sits on the work table in the fab room. It's mostly there and mocked up. Still some fab work to do, but it's looking like a badass already. You can see the sissy bar that we had worked on that day. Spenser did the work and I helped hold stuff and lent my calibrated eyeball to the effort. So far the really custom pieces are the handlebars, sissybar, shaved lower legs and a brake tab on the rear. You can also see the tin primary set-up that he's been collecting parts for. There will be more custom fab work, but that's how it sits for now.


Another view of the bike, you can see the shaved lower legs in this shot. The gas tank is an old stock Sporty tank that was used for years on my Triumph. Remember, if you have parts and a buddy needs parts you need to cough em up, don't let em sit there and rot, get em on the road!



Close up of the shaved legs. He's not using a front brake so this will really clean up the front end.



You can see the way the shaved legs helps make the front end look lean and mean.




Close up of the welds on the bars. Spenser is a artist with a Tig welder!


Close up of the details of the sissy bar. It's all stainless and it took quite a while for us to be satisfied with the way the bends in the pieces were coming out. I think this may be one of the most well shaped bars I've seen that wasn't bent with a machine. Getting that brace under the fender to follow the bend of the sheetmetal took forever, but it was worth it. The sissy bar will get polished all shiny and pretty before it is done.


Close up of the weld on the brake tab.


One Way Stu looking satisfied with the work so far.


Making sure it all fits is important, Looks count, but Spenser rides! He needs to be able to jump on and head for the hills anytime he feels like it.