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

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.

A Little More Work On The Sporty

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.

More Old Pics I Scanned

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.

Swap Meet Parts!

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.

A Little Progress, But Mostly Just Better Pics.

I got my stainless in to finish the sissy bar, but once I got ready to work I realized I had to rethink my idea. This took up some time plus I helped Spenser with some other stuff around the shop so I didn't get a lot done. I did get the bungs made to mount the sissy bar to the fender and will get the rest of the set up done next weekend. I took a few minutes to roll the bike outside so I could get a few decent pics and get a better idea of how it's coming along. I'm happy so far and maybe I can actually get this beast on the road by Spring.

I think this is going to be sweet when I'm done. As I've said before I think it will end up with 6" over tubes one day, but 4" over works for now.

Damn that sissy bar is tall!

This is gonna be bad ass!

Making a big piece of stainless into a couple of smaller pieces of stainless. I actually did all my own machining today.  Maybe one day I'll try to make something cool.

Progress on The Flyrite Sportster Chop

Once again I am making progress on the Sporty Chop. I got the sissy bar mostly done. I still need to make the piece to connect the bar to the fender, but I have some creative ideas I'm working on for that and cool stuff like that takes longer. I did get the bar bent how I wanted it then did the bends to make it clear the fender. Spencer tack welded the bar to the frame mounts. The finish welding will happen after everything else is in place. My savings account took a huge hit between going to the Bash and having to replace the stator and battery on the Bad Boy. I'll get there, it just takes time and money. Enjoy the pics!

Yep, that bar is tall ;-) I like it and if I decide later I don't I'll just cut off the top and mount something up there that will make it shorter.

Last time I worked on it I had the first bend started, but ran out of gas for the torch. Larry got some more and allowed me to waste some of it trying to remember how the hell to use a torch (it's been quite a few years).

I took a pic when I was grinding the corners off the frame mounts. Have I told you lately how much I love my new camera?

Did some more bending, of course I ended up bending the legs up as well as out, but that wasn't too hard to fix. Didn't get pics of Spenser standing on the piece of plate steel while I lifted up on the bar, but that's how we got it straight.

Spenser was working on a new set of controls for a VERY nice generator Shovel, I got this cool shot of the sparks flying so I thought I'd share it with you. I love to see burning metal fly through the air!

Finally got the right shape, then cut the legs off even and tack welded the legs to the mounts. Next up is the bar to fender mounts, but that'll happen next time.

The bar looks taller in these pics because of the angle I shot from, but it IS pretty damn tall.

I can't wait to ride this bike!

Still staying pretty true to the original idea. Now if I can just find a Bettie Page wannabe to pose on her when it's done.

Bikes From Friends No Longer With Us.....

Found these pics of bikes that belonged to a couple of my Brothers who are no longer among us. They're quite a few years old, but kick ass bikes none the less. Check em out and enjoy. Hopefully I'll get over this melancholy mood and get some more bad ass pics posted.

JD's Sportster. (John "JD" Foster) JD was a damn good friend for many years. We rode together, laughed together and did a few other things I shouldn't mention till the statute of limitations runs out. That's an earlier version of my Triumph in the background. We rode everywhere together and always managed to have a damn good time.

One of the many bikes JD built while I knew him. Unfortunately a crash took him away from us a couple of years ago. Ride On Brother!

Yep, we both liked blue.

Another good Brother was Blaine Smith. He was always wheeling and dealing to pick up some cool stuff. Blaine was a big help in getting the Triumph back on track, he didn't get to see the latest version, but I still have the pieces he made for me on the bike. He is the man who made the rack on the rear fender, as well as the one who helped me get upswept fishtails on my old Shadow ACE 750. This bike was a Triumph chopper that was built, painted, but never had an engine installed back in the 70's or early 80's. Blaine got it off ebay, put his motor in it and proceeded to terrorize the town. He eventually sold it because he was afraid he would be the one to screw it  up and he didn't want to be that guy.

Blaine was taken from us by a heart attack a few years ago and he is greatly missed by those of us who knew him.

Dig the cool paint on the rear fender of the Triumph.

This is the neck area of the bike. Now you see why he didn't want to be the one to screw it up. Rest In Peace Brother. We'll ride together again one day.

OK, tomorrow I will post something, cool, bad ass or at least not so depressing!

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.

Some Cool Bikes From BMR

There were some bad ass choppers for sure at BMR, here are a few of them. Still a ton more to edit and get uploaded so keep checking back.

Just a fun pic of the boys playing on a little XS400 out on the green.

Sportster that Mosely rode up on.

Nice Shovel

Who said a Twin Cam can't be made to look cool?

Grimey's Shovel, this bike looked NOTHING like this at the Roundup a few weeks ago.

J-Rod's sweet Shovel.

Some bikes from the Led Sled crew.

Stay Tuned more to come as I sort through them.