Spring 2013 Bama Swap & Drag Was A Blast

Once again it was time for the twice a year Bama Swap & Drag. They just keep getting better every time so it's going to take a few days to post the pics I want to share. Be sure to keep checking back until I get them all up.

To start things off a bunch of people showed up on Friday to set up and it seems they had a good time. I wasn't one of them because I had to work. This time for a change I DID want to take stuff to sell so I loaded up the new 1979 Chevy truck and took off about 5:30 Saturday morning to make the show. Got there in plenty of time and got my stuff unloaded and set up with my Inbred Brothers. Luckily Ian was in MAKE money mode not spend it so he was kind enough to hang out and do a much better job than I would have of selling my stuff. The day was sunny and we all had a good time. Things changed later in the day, but I'll tell you about that in a later post. For now check out the pics and be sad that you were not there.

Took this with my phone on the way out. I had to stop and get a bite at the gas station because the food places weren't open yet. Made a stop about a half hour later for some killer Jack's ham biscuits!

Nick, Flounder, Dills and other assorted Haints and friends were checking out RTW Doug's booth next to ours. For some reason I didn't get a pic of our stuff this time.

There's Rick (with the beard), one of the people responsible for this mess...I mean show. He and his son Michael do a great job of getting things arranged and making sure we all have a good time.

I am SO glad my friend Hugh from Hugh's Handbuilt made it down from Ashville, NC. I don't get to see this guy often enough. If you need cool stuff for your XS650 ESPECIALLY an engine rephased he is the man to see.

Cool old Arlin Ness parts for sale.

This bike was a cover bike for Street Chopper back in the day. Glad to see it got rescued before the guy who had it completely ruined it.

Cool seat for sale.

This was not just a bike swap, there was stuff for old Hot Rods there as well. A few really cool cars made the show too.

I love the teardrop camper that rolled in with this old Rod.

Witt and Michael doing a deal.

Ben from Benderworks was across from our site. Another great guy that I wish I could hang out with more often.

Ben's site. Check out that killer van he drives. I love that thing!

This guy took a Kicker 5150 kit and put a real bike motor in it. You know it's a blast to play with!

"Stogie Joe", "Dimestore" and his wife Nicol from the Quad Cam Bastards board made the show.

John Dills from Dill's Paintworks hung out with Hugh and played with Hugh's bikes all day.

Lot of people hanging out.

More of them.

Inbred Bill and Haints Duane checking for parts they need.

This Caddy belongs to Knucklehead Nathan's 16 yr old son. It's a Father/Son project they got from Michael a while back to work on.

And finally for today Ben's Harley Deere or John Davidson or something like that. Basically a throwback to the days when bikes where used to do any damned thing that needed done.

That's it for today, but I have at least two more posts to go. Check back soon!

Big Pink's Not Pink Sporty!

Ian has this weird love of the color pink. I don't understand it, but I guess if his Wife can deal with it so can I ;-) A while back Ian bought this Sporty off of ebay and was happy with it. Then he decided to actually ride it on a road trip or two and suddenly the love affair was on the rocks! With the help of a few friends and some cool new parts I am happy to report that the relationship has now stabilized. It seems that the earlier version of the bike was a bunch of flashy eye catching distractions to keep you from seeing the issues this beast had. Now that a new and MUCH better gas tank has been mounted, the rear fender has been painted to match, a new headlight has been added and most importantly the transmission and carb problems have been addressed she's like a new woman. I look forward to many miles of shared roads with this beast. Wish you could make it to the Bash Ian, but I understand.

Everyone knows about my fetish for upswept pipes, the only thing better are upswept fishtails.

Ian did all the leatherwork on this bike. He's new to the leather game, but is catching on REALLY quick. He's even had a paying customer for some of his work.

That Super Glide style tank just sets off the natural lines of this bike. The old tank distracted you, this on invites you in.

Lean, mean and very clean.......until you get 5 miles down the road. It IS an ironhead so you know there will be some oil slinging somewhere.

Good view if the saddlebag Ian made.

Nice new air cleaner, one day I'll talk him into chopping that cam cover.

The seat with Ian's work for all to see.

Posts will be kinda slow for the next week as I get ready to head out to the Bastard Bash. Stay tuned!

Primitive Cycles!

Met some guys at the Conte Kustoms open house from Primitive Cycle in Tuscaloosa, AL. These guys live up to their name! A month ago when the tornadoes ravaged Tuscaloosa these guys managed to get through it alive and mostly intact. However they were busting ass to get this bike ready for the Dixie Roundup so they were in their shop with no electricity and not much else trying to get the bike wired and plumbed in time for the show. They ended up not making it, but that was because of a vendor screwing up a parts order TWICE. It sure as hell wasn't from a lack of effort on their part. On to the bike, it's an old Honda 750 with a nice looking hardtail added to it, a round oil tank, a vintage mustang style tank with the old flush mounted gas cap straight from the old days, not a modern repop. The pipes are 4 into 2's and sound mean as hell. The rest of the bike is your basic chopper bad ass stuff. Killer king & Queen seat on a flat fender, drum brakes and a cool set of handlebars that really seem to work with this set up. Check out the pics here and see even more on their website Primitive Cycle.

Nice way to get the word out about the shop. Make it obvious who made the beast.

Good view of the pipes in this shot.

Those handlebars, the seat and that vintage tank really make this bike a standout in a sea of retro choppers.

As you can see no front brake is the way to go.

The guys from the shop showing some of the details to Spenser.

It's great to see some more local/regional shops get up and running. The more cool bikes around here the happier I become ;-) Be sure and give these guys a call or go by and see them.

Primitive Cycle
(205) 242-5537
Tuscaloosa, AL
www.primitivecycle.com

Triumph Sneak Peek

I've been working on the Triumph this week. I was going to do the paint scheme I've had in my head for awhile, but decided that I still plan to get a "real" paint job done on the bike next year so I'm saving that idea and just went with a solid color this time. I used a different brand of paint this time so it is a little different. Once I get it finished I'll post some good pics. In the meantime here is a teaser ;-)

Enjoy!

CB 750 Goodness

One of the recent projects I've been following is a cool CB750 chop. The donor bike was a mint bike that any purist would have cried to see chopped. This chop has been done in a way to maintain some of that purity while at the same time creating a BAD ASS chopper. The front half of the frame is original and the stock tank with original paint is still being used. From the middle back however, it's all chopper goodness.

The overall bike in progress.

Custom made from scratch oil tank with the main tank mount fabbed.

Check out this beautiful mount set up for the custom oil tank. This is only part of the mount. There are of course more than one mounting point.

From below.

Progress On The Triumph

Since the GarCo guys were out of town in Daytona this weekend I decided it was time to work on the Triumph again. Once I get it painted all I need to do is reassemble it and it'll be done (for now). I picked up a harbor freight blaster for $15 bucks (had to try it at that price) and got to work on the frame. The blaster did OK, it worked GREAT with little stuff like the front motor mount, but a whole frame is a little much for it, but I got done what I needed to do.

Here is the frame and the blaster set up outside the building where I work. It's nice to have a warehouse area with room to play at work.

Had to do some grinding and cutting int eh neck area to clean up where I had cut those damn plates out. Didn't make it perfect, but it looks better. The tank will hide this area any way and next year after the Sporty is finished I'll tear this one down again and fix it right as well as get her a real paint job.

Blasting away at it. I mostly wanted to get the grease and oil off and I accomplished that at least.

Making a big mess here. Even with goggles on I still had to flush my eyes when I was done and again this morning. That sand gets EVERYWHERE.

Got a nice coat of primer on here and a few coats of paint. I don't know if I like this color, but I'll wait a day or so and see if it grows on me.

This pics really shows what the paint looks like. I used Duplicolor Metal Specks paint. I like their stuff, but I'm not sure about this color yet. More pics later as I make some progress.

UPDATE: The Weed Steed

Some of you will remember when I posted a while back about the Weed Steed. This was Nick's bike that he sold and Duane had fallen in love with it and wanted it so he tracked down the bike from the person Nick sold it to and bought it. Since then he has been working with Nick and Spenser to get it back to chopper glory. It's not done yet, but it's getting close. It still needs the wires run and a few other details but here it is for now....

New paint, rechromed oil tank, new pipes and a few other details.

Me being artsy again.

Dig those classic lines!

I LOVE the old ribbed primaries and king/queen seats.

Spenser Knows How to Break in a Bike!

Saturday the rest of the guys were in Cincinnati at the V-Twin show poor Spenser had to stay behind to mind the store. It's been cold lately and he decided he needed to hear his bike run, that led to a ride up and down the street and some playing in the parking lot. Luckily I was able to catch this shot. I'm looking forward to many rides beside this bike!

Doing Some Photochoppin Until I Can Do Some REAL Choppin'!

I can't get over to play with my new project until Saturday so in the mean time I've been putting my Photoshop & Illustrator "skills" to work. I think I like this layout so far. Of course the colors will be different, but I like this overall look. Not sure about the handlebars, I like the set that is already on there, but that may change. It looks like I'll end up with 2" over forks to have the angle and seat height that I like. The battery will most likely end up behind the seat post and Spenser says we can make a modified horseshoe oil tank to fit the frame. I'll bend up a cool sissybar and top it off with a king & queen seat. I plan to ride this bike to the Bastard Bash in August if I can pull it together in time and the tall back of the seat will make a nice backrest for my old ass. Let me know what you think of the ideas so far.

I Have A NEW Project!

This Saturday I went to GarCo to finish tearing the Triumph apart so I can get it painted and back together. I never got started on it. First off there were a bunch of folks hanging out and playing with various projects and two, Ed was there dropping off his latest bike restoration (killer shovelhead FL that I hope to get pics of later) he started talking about getting rid of some of the Sportster projects he's gathered over the last year or so. We got to talking and he said he wanted to sell this one so I did some serious thinking and financial computations in my head and after Nick threatened to change my nickname from Kustom Jeff to Contemplating Jeff for taking so damn long to make up my mind,  I decided I could make it work. I called Ed today and we worked out the details. I'll meet him one day this week to exchange $$ and paper then I can get to work on this beast. The bike is a Flyrite Sportster Scorcher frame, with a '93 883 motor. It has a set of stock XL forks that will need to be extended 6 inches or so. The wheels that are on it are not part of the deal, but I do get a set of stock XL cast wheels with damn near new tires on them (less than 100 miles). The tank is not part of the deal, it belongs to Nick, but the bars do come with it and I think I dig em.

The bike is sitting on a large block of wood, but it's almost where I want the bike to sit. I'm going to get the frame height right then measure for new fork tubes. It's hard to see in these pics, but the front wheel is about 4 inches off the ground.

I will be wheeling and dealing for a set of wheels just like these so basically it will end up with these wheels in the end.

The engine is just BEGGING for the cam cover to be chopped. It doesn't have a sprocket cover so I won't have to worry about trying to find a cool way to chop it.

Look at those glorious lines!

I'm diggin' those bars!