1/2 step up town

So the bike is back from powder coating and it is over the top! The red is outstanding and the black is so deep you feel like you are the edge of the abyss. The way it is coming together is different than I imagined...as I hang parts they seen inadequate the paint..it makes me want to be a better builder..

I have begun to have a different perspective on the whole thing...I mean that I was getting into it as a way to make some quick cash...it became an interest and then a passion....what I once saw as a commodity is now an artist expression of who I am...from a exercise in mechanics to a passion for design...it is my ultimate expression of my need to create, as well as my need for the mechanical functionality of an object

Back from the pow pow man

Just a few picks of the powder coating job ....fresh from Garrett Hustlar of Paoli...plus the drawing of the paint job soon to come

Back on the Chopping Block

It’s been a while since I’ve hit the blog but I've been very busy.  The snow season has sucked, but working for a snowboard company is always busy during this time of year.  Enough with the excuses, on to the bike....I have been working on a new seat made out of a Harley Sportster tank...I cut the back off the tank and I'm using it as a cowling...under it hides the battery and the ignition controls...very trick...The frame is going to powder coating tomorrow....I painted it, but after a season on the road and a learning curve that got the frame all scratched to shit I decided to find a powder coating guy...through a little networking I found a guy with a big oven and low and behold he also snowboards!  It was a few phone calls and we did a little horse trading till we worked out a mutually beneficial agreement.  I am once again putting the derby deadline on myself, and this time I got it dialed.  In the past week or so I have gotten a lot of parts that will finish out the whole thing and have it ready to be sold...I have grown quite attached to the bike, but I have to progress in my building.  I have to let go of it to prove to myself that I have no attachments...but a piece of me will always be with this bike.

Cahill has been a real help with this thing...we have had many busted knuckles over it, but we have done it together, and that’s what really counts.  I think this project has rekindled a friendship that will last the rest of our lives.

Big Dave will soon be back on board after a long winter.  The paint will soon be flowing from his gun after I finish the cowlings body work this week.  One thing that disappoints me though about the cowling is the lack of workmanship in the Harley tank.  The bottom edge of the tank is so waive that if is a real problem...and this was a tank that was put onto a finished bike to be sold on a showroom floor at a premium price...I don’t know what to think about this....Is it the lack of pride in the product being built or is it lack of quality control...or even the fact that American consumers don't have high expectations for the products they by so a company knows it can get away with lack of quality...what ever the reason it says a lot about us as Americans....

enough of the rants...I have decided to put clip on bars instead of the clubman bars...it is quite a bit more aggressive of a seating position but it is surprisingly comfortable.