Bama Swap & Drag - The Bikes!

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!

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

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.

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!

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

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...

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.