The latest on the Triumph

Saturday was a good day for progress on the Triumph. I was able to get the fuel lines run, the new seat springs on (still have to open the end of the springs to fit the frame mounts though), the taillight mounted, the rack on the fender straightened and I mounted the old Falstaff beer opener that I've had planned for this bike for 3 years. Getting run over by the truck really put me behind on this project and some of the stuff that I was actually ahead of the trends on now look kind of common, but that's OK. I know I had them planned years ago ;-)

You can see the beer opener on the rear axle plate in this picture. I wanted to be a "real" chopper builder just like the guys at OCC so I used a step bit to drill the holes (sarcasm off now). Actually, this was the only bit I had that would cut through the plate. (Larry won't let anyone touch his private stash of bits ) I did find out that a couple of bolt holes in the front fork legs are stripped out and need to be helicoiled, but setbacks like this are to be expected.


The new tailight is visible in this picture. It is a stock Harley turn signal with a red lens. It makes a nice clean light and does well with all the vibration choppers seem to generate. Hopefully, she'll get wired up this week and I can fire the beast up for next Saturday's Bike Night at Garage Company. Y'all feel free to come on out next Saturday to check the place out. I can guarantee there will be some really cool bikes and some good folks to hang out with. Even if you don't have a bike, just park your car out on the street and stop on by.

Larry's Shovelhead "The Spacely Sprocket"

A few shots of Larry's Shovelhead, this bike has already won a "Best Chopper" award at teh Big Mountain Run and it's not even finished. They guy who painted the tank was told to do something that looked like "The Jetsons". This is the result and you can see how the bike got its new name.


The background in this picture was WAAY too cluttered and the license plate had a HUGE reflective halo around it so I did a little cropping. The tank is too beautiful not to show off, but good pics of the bike will have to wait until I can get it outside to shoot.


I was able to get a decent shot from this side, still not the best but my camera does have limits. Pretty soon the fender will get painted on this bike and the correct seat will get back from upholstery. Can't wait to see this one finished. You can see my Triumph on the lift in the background.

Spencer's Shovel

Spent Saturday at Garage Company Customs trying to finish up my Triumph. While I was there Spencer had his Shovelhead outside so I took advantage of that to get a few pictures.


This picture is pretty much how I took it except for a some work with the cloning tool to remove a stray hand and a bunch of power lines from the background.


At night the sign over the door lights up and looks really cool, in this pic I played around and tried to replicate that look. It's not too realistic especially with the bright sunlight, but I felt like playing around a little bit.


This is the same pic with all the clutter in the background blurred out to make the clean lines of this bike really shine. For a bike that was supposed to stay pretty stock after he bought it Spencer sure has made a lot of changes to it. Luckily they are all for the better because we all know that "Stock Sucks!"

Cool shots from New Orleans May 2010

These are just a couple of my favorite pictures I took while wandering around the French Quarter. This one was an upstairs window in a building that was being repaired and getting ready for someone to live in.


If you want to see balconies then the French Quarter is the place to go. LOTS of great ones to be seen, this one was on the corner of a building and just seemed to be begging for me to take its picture.

Cemetery Tour from New Orleans May 2010

The family and I went to New Orleans for vacation. While we were there we went on a cool little cemetery tour. Even found the tomb of the kids grandparents family. On the tour we saw some really cool tombs including this "Irish chapel". According to the tour guide some folks have even used this for their wedding location. Really cool monument made to look like an old church ruin. The people in New Orleans know how to bury their kin with style.


This is the statue from the Confederate Memorial in one of the cemeteries we visited. The other pictures didn't come out the way I wanted so this is all you get.



This is a really cool Celtic Cross grave marker that we saw. It's about 12 feet tall and "carved" on all four sides. It is really beautiful and worth taking the time to check out if you visit the area.

Bike Night @ Garage Company Customs, Pelham, Alabama, May 8, 2010

GarCo had their monthly Bike Night last night and as usual it was kick ass! Quite a few cool chops showed up as well as a bunch of regular bikes. I rode the Springer to get there, but my Triumph was sitting right inside the doors looking pretty cool surrounded by all those great bikes. Didn't get any pics inside the shop since it was kinda dark in there and my camera doesn't like it too much. My schedule is pretty tight for the next couple of weeks, but with these guys help I should have her on the road by the end of the month.

Some of the cool bikes didn't get there until after dark so of course I didn't get pics of those, but here are some quick shots I took as I walked through the parking lot. Be on the lookout for me to post info on when next months party is and bring your happy ass out to see the fun......

First pic is a 1936 Knucklehead HD, this bike is SWEET and the guy actually rides it. Nothing sounds like one of these and it is ALWAYS great to hear/see one on the road.



Nice XS650 Chop



@ beautiful Shovelheads, the front one is made from a bunch of different bikes so don't even try to ask what year it is. The other one is a very nice, clean stock FLH and it gets ridden regularly too.


Very nice first year Softail (1984), the only year the bike came with the old 4-speed and a kicker, that's my Springer parked behind it.


A couple of cool Honda's that GarCo has built.



My friend Mike's VERY clean CB750, he rides this one all over the place and has owned it since "back in the day". I think he may even ride this one more than his modern Victory.



Nick, one of the Haints (see the link to their blog over in the sidebar) and a member of the shop crew built/rides the Sportster with the white seat, very cool bike and only a sample of the kind of bikes these guys can build. Don't know anything about the bike in the foreground.


Nick's bike from another angle


Another great old Shovel.


The other side.



Whitey finally is almost done with his Triumph Bonneville America. It only sort of resembles what it looked like new. Great job with the hardtail, custom tank and all the other cool pieces he's made for this one.



A nice little modern Honda chop, don't really know anything about it, but it was cool enough to take pics of .

The Triumph Is Getting Close To The Shakedown Ride

Here is my favorite shot for now. It's getting close, I'm taking it over to Garage Company Customs Saturday so that they can help me with some welding (got a mig welder, but want this stuff done with tig). Hopefully we can get the tank mounts added back to the frame and make some new seat mounts to move the seat back where it needs to be. After that it's just a matter of getting the petrol tank connected to the carb, replacing the top end oil feed and redoing the wires. I'll save the paint for later this year when I can afford to get a "real" paint job done to it.


The other side


Here she is from the top, you can really see how much nice the lines with the new tank are. Baby is going to be a blast to ride and I can't wait to take her down the road!

Couple more pics from last years Vintage Festival

Nice little pre-unit Triumph sitting near the Lowbrow Customs tent. I love these guys stuff, especially the shirts and the cool little odd bits to make your bike actually work. Check em out here


This sweet beauty I believe is the work of Rick's cycles in Rainsville. I want to get up there and check the place out, but so far I haven't gotten around to it. This is a very badass little Ironhead Sportster. I wish the weather had been better so I could have gotten some better pics of it.

Classic style never goes out of style

Nothing fancy here, just a couple of pics showing two classic style bikes created decades apart. The first is an old HD Knucklehead Chopper and the second is my 1995 Springer Softail. Both bikes have the same stance, both have beautiful springer forks (although the Knuck's is lengthened a bit) and both have upswept fishtails. Soon mine will have apehangers similar to the ones on the knucklehead, but for not it looks like this. Timeless beauty, decades apart.

(Both pics taken Oct 2008 at/near Barber's Vintage Festival)

Harley?????? What do you think?

(Pics taken at Barber's Historic Weekend 2008)

This is a Rikuo Motorcycle, made in Japan in the 30's I'll post a link to some pages with more info about them....

You can see some of the differences between this bike an a Harley if you look close. The springer fork is close, but not exact, the rear head has some kind of funky cover. Keep looking and see how many you can find.




From the rear you can see that the tailight looks like a beehive, but the bottom is round instead of flat. Also, the dash is flat on the rear instead of pointed like the early HD's. Obviously the muffler is not original so don't pay any attention to that.


This is a very unique bike and I can promise you won't see many around or find many people who even know what it is.

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/Motorcycle-Review/Rikuo-V-twin.aspx

Wikipedia