Keepin it Rollin

What a fall! I can say without question that this has been one of the best years in a long time, and I owe it in the most part to finding my new passion for motorcycles. I thought I was having a ball when I was building it, but riding is indescribable. It is a perfect union of man and machine. It's a Buddhist meditation on being in the present moment. I love winter because it is the beginning of snowboard season, but now I hate it because I have to put the bike away.

After riding it for the last few months I have come to several design conclusions that I will be applying to the bike this winter with the complete tear down I intend to do. As my first picture shows the bike is running like a champ because of Chad Francis. It was a dash to get it rideable by mid September but I got it done. One friend said as long as I keep it in primer I can say it's still a work in progress. I still intend to sell it so that’s not really an option.

So what’s on the agenda for the winter? Well first I have been working on getting my work area renovated so that I can make the winter as productive as possible. I am picking up a motorcycle life this week and have built a work table. One of the major lessons learned from this build has been that working on the floor is a prospect for the young. I will not work on this thing again on a hard, uninviting concrete floor. I am liquidating my bicycle collection down to just a few choice items that I will keep close at hand. It has been hard to part with some of them, but their moving on provides another lesson on the impermanence of life, and some much needed capital to finish the shop and project.

I have begun to design a rear set for the bike. The current riding position is ok, but a little cramped, so several cockpit changes are in the works, including clip on bars that are going to get some trick chi chi done to them.

The seat. What a battle this has been. I have built and rebuilt this thing so many times. My latest design will have the fiberglass being replaced by metal and have the battery and all the electronic place in the tail mounted to a metal frame. A new battery is needed because the one I bought SUCKS! An exhaust change is also in order. I’m hoping I can pull a few favors with some LVM people and have them help me with the exhaust as well as this damned seat! I do have to admit I have learned a lot about fiberglass fab, so we will see where it goes from here.

What a Long Strange Trips its Been

Recent pic of my bike and several bikes from LVM...enjoy

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I'm back now and that’s all that counts.  It’s been a productive summer, but not with the bike.  I built a swimming pool so the bike fell to the wayside.  What did happen this summer was a lot of networking.  I went to a mod v rocker event at a local place called the Nachbar.  I had never been to anything like that before.  I have felt so isolated out in the boonies that I thought I was the only person into cafe racers in Louisville.  I was glad to be wrong.  The people that I met were fantastic.  They welcomed me with open arms like a prodigal son.  In the following weeks I began to hang out with the Louisville Vintage Motorworks, who had put the event on, at their local weekly meetings.  They have encouraged me to get this bike done, given advice, and much love.  I also went to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid Ohio Raceway in July.  I was in heaven.  Peace grease and much love were at hand.  Next year I will prepare a lot more for this event and stay for the whole weekend.  The bike itself is coming along now, Cahill and I worked on the wiring this week, put on the ignition switch, wrapped the wiring harness, and much much more.  The seat has been putting along, and color is still up in the air.  Here are some recent pics of my bike and of the Louisville Vintage Motorworks group.

progression sessions

I have been hard at work this past week getting lots mocked up, gauges, front brake, tank, waiting on rear brake shoes to mount rear wheel, the progression has been amazing, here are a few pics...looking at the side pic i have two of the objects tat have inspired the design colors....inspiration comes in many forms....why not shoes, backpacks, and Japanese zeros

busy night

Did a lot of work yesterday, tail light done, gas cap...check, frame and rear swing arm are fit together, but issue with bolt spacing because of the fact that i am not running rear seat pegs and the mounts are also spacers, so need to make those too,  the frame paint is nice and VERY RED, I'm sure it will tone down once its put together... the gas cap I made out of the stock cap that was square, and covered by a chrome cover, it was off of a GS 450L so I took it apart cut the square bits off, polished it, and got a unique looking cap...love it...the tail light was going to be gas cap, but it was too tall, so by chance I put an old LED taillight in it and it fit...the bezel is an old center cap off of my ICW wheels i had on my old civic....nice...here are some pics...love rat rodding

new pics

zuke motor

my seat im glassing

case of parts that are finished

painted frame red

swing arm

xs 650 spotted at nachbar at m v r

Alright i've been busy, some of these pics are low quality, but I think you will get the idea, plus went to mod v rockers at nachbar the other night and spotted some sick rides and met some cool people....peace and grease

Missing the Target

So I missed my deadline of having this beast done by derby,  it just didn't happen, I have had so many other things going on, life happens you know, but I have been working on the seat...after the great melt down, i covered the seat in foil, it worked OK, but seemed a little flimsy so i have been going back through the thing and gluing the foil to the foam and it seems a lot more solid now.  The piece of wood I put under the bottom seemed to stiffen it u a lot too...tomorrow i will take the remaining foil off and gluing foil to the foam, this will give me a solid platform to work with...it is heavier than I wanted, but it is a learning process, I may end up with a pile of shit, or it may be great at this point it's hard to tell...I got the paint booth 90% done, just need to get the box fan and filter for it, compressor should be picked up Friday, got the paint out and am ready to paint the seat as soon as I get it done...hopefully in the next week...it's just hard to maintain a house, yard raise kids and work and still have time for this project, but i will get it done...the tank has been fit onto the frame and looks amazing....be the leaf

Two Steps Forward One Step Back

Oh it has been some trying times with this thing.  Well first f all the good news, the tank's body work is done and it looks great!  Big Dave is a master of body work.  The only thing left to do is wet sand the primer, and paint.  I have been investing in a portable paint booth that is waiting on parts.  I rescued a ez up tent from certain doom, ordered a few parts, and have cobbled together 4 walls and a roof for it.  With my experience in the outdoors industry and never throwing anything out this thing has one DC Shoes wall, three Flow snowboard walls, and a Rocky Mountain Bikes roof...all in black though...The paint has come out of the closet in the house and all I'm waiting on is Cahill to bring over his big compressor... the set backs...the frame's messy welds have been ground down and we tried to fill them using poly cote...wrong thing to do...had to wire brush it all out because we didn't use enough hardener...then i started to glass the seat last night and the resin eat up the foam....buzz kill....so now I'm trying to figure out a way to fix it and save the seat...I think I will put a 1/4 piece of plywood under it for rigidity and put aluminum foil all over the seat...then fiberglass over the foil....I've seen this done as a mold release, but since I'm wrapping the whole seat it should hold...what did I learn from this....experiment on a scrap before putting it on the seat and find out what they use on surfboards first!  I'll post some new pic as soon as I figure out my new phone...I still hope to have it done by next weekend, but it's not looking so good, but who knows...be the leaf...

Saddle of the Beast 3.0

Ok, this seat has been a pain in the ass.  I am on my third version of the thing, but I have finally come up with a design that I think fits it.  The plan now is to put the battery under the saddle, I think this will be best...why?...because the battery in the rear fairing is putting weight away from the center of the bike and may act to unbalance the thing in cornering....so I am going a bit more traditional with it...I am now an expert in building with foam, it's a bit like making a surf board...even with all the troubles that I have had building th set this is still the most rewarding project I have been involved with in a long time...it has brought me together with old friends...help me make some new ones, and shown me where my passions lye...I want to thank Cahill, Big Dave, and Dusty for all thier help with the project...I truely could not have gotten this far without you guys...as far as conpletion time,...I hope to have it done by the week before Derby so that I can sell it that week...it's first public showing sould be Friday before Derby at the Cherokee Triangle Art Fair...look for it parked at Hiene Brothers on Longest...the plan is to sell it to buy more tools, another bike and have some money left over to cafe out the new bike to and flip it by the time of the Street Rod Nationals...what a time frame....but with all the good help from all my friends I know I can get it done...

The Saddle of the Beast

This is a pic of the bike mocked up with the tank and the seat I am building.  I built it first out of foam panels, next I will shape it a little further with some sanding then fiberglass over that, a little more body filler, and sanding and it will look some what like the following inspirational pics I have found...enjoy

I love the seat in this bike....well  love the whole thing...

The bike is coming along nicely...after a long snowboard season and not working on the thing it's nice to get back to the rat...the concept has changed quite a bit since the beginning of this build...but I think I'm headed in the right direction for this bike...new parts...clubman bars in black, new lever blades, ..used parts that are new to me...rear shocks...I want some clip on bars but $150 is too much for this budget build right now, so clubman bars will have to do...I luv the the rear wheel on this bike...most cafe racers have wheels that are the same size as the front, or at least very close, this bike gets a real modern feel with the small wheel in the rear, looks a lot like a modern bullet bike...OK enough for now look for more updates as it get closer to the sale date...the last week in April...ahhhhhhh.....so much to do

new pics

The fork is done except for the top caps

 The wheels are so beutiful it is undiscribable

 Any of you put my art on your tank before me I will beat you suzuki triumph style logo... fresh

another good pic of the rear wheel

It's been a while

I know its been a minute since my last update but lets cut to the chase, I've been building not blogging.  I'm posting some pics, I have finished the wheels, got a tank off a 450e, rear springs are in the mail, bidding on a set of vintage clip ons, chopped unneeded taps off the frame, and looking to get it sand blasted very soon, I'm even clearcoating all the screws in the thing.  Another blogger said the devil is in the details, he was right. I am planning on selling it in the spring so I can get a seed money for a shop...check out the pics