Love the smell of Bel-Ray in the morning...

Elaborating on my new found pastime of cleaning out motorcycle gas tanks, I spent a good part of the day getting my RM running again. Vaughn was pretty into it and was actually a pretty good helper. It's rough switching between left & right shift bikes.



The A & B comparison of the Suzuki and the Bonnie is pretty amusing, both visually and from the riders seat...

Sandia BMW

I stopped by Sandia BMW for their show on Sunday but didn't take a camera. Thanks Ben Z for sharing your pics. Ben was also responsible for the lovely European Union photos I posted previously. I suspect you'll see a familiar pattern in the last photo.







There were a few more bikes there when I stopped by. I talked to a guy I met earlier in the day at C@D over lunch who brought a 1968 R69S. Second owner, he's owned it since 1971. Impeccably maintained and 100,500 miles on the clock. Incredible bike and owner. You meet some of the coolest people through MC's. In my experience it happens much less frequently with collector cars.

Defensive Driving

I think I just figured out how to make the Sprite more street-able for Seattle. Might be easier to implement with the Jeep. I was always fond of playing Rat Patrol...

Von Dutch Triumph

There's a great post on Show & Go (Don't read Show & Go? Start dammit!) about the restoration of a recently discovered Von Dutch Triumph:



"The bike was originally built as a bob-job by Von Dutch in the late '50s/early '60s. Los Angeles sportscaster Gil Stratton owned it for awhile, traded it back to Ekins, after which young L.A. County lifeguard Johnny Suggs bought it. Suggs was a fan/friend of Von Dutch and would sometimes fetch him "breakfast," a fifth of vodka and a six-pack of beer! In 1968, to celebrate Suggs' safe return from a tour of duty in Vietnam, Dutch treated the bike to a new paint job, a brilliant yellow/orange with gold pinstripes. A couple of years later, at the height of the Easy Rider craze, Dutch chopped the Triumph for Suggs."



Go grab a cold one and read the whole post.

It's Alive!

It probably wasn't timed quite right but Dad and I got the 80 to start and idle for the duration of a couple of full carb bowls (manual specs claim a GT 80 will get 178 MPG so we're talking a couple minutes). I gotta admit, I was even more psyched to hear it run than I expected to be. Every time I work on something with Dad I'm pretty much floored by the stuff he knows... He's pretty damn good.

Next task on my list, clean out the gas tank. I started with a couple of rounds of Simple Green and a handful or 5/16' nuts. That worked pretty darn well for the heavy crud. 4 or 5 more hours of shaking and I think it would look like new inside. Mostly just rust left. I got lazy and decided to try electrolysis. It seems like it's really working pretty well so far. I figured I'd post a picture just cuz it goes so well with the post caption.

Scallops

Mildly familiar.

Thanks again to Flathead45 for chasing down my Slimline tank, Chris for having it & selling it to him and John for completely nailing the paint. It really makes all the difference even if I does mean lots of gas station stops.

Knuck

Bob

Sometimes I wish I went with a shorter stretch and a Cub oil tank. Not losing sleep over it or anything.

CB 550

One day Joey will realize she can't live without an old CB. She'll design a killer paint scheme, no doubt about that.

Harem of Leno

I don't think there was ever any dispute but the guy knows how to spend money in cool ways.

Yamaha GT80

"LATE 70s EARLY 80s YAMAHA GT80...........NEEDS A LITTLE TLC BUT DOES RUN PRETTY GOOD.. $175.......CALL"



I was initially thinking parts but quickly started thinking matching mini hardtailed bobber for V. Called 15 minutes after it was posted and still missed it. I fricken HATE CL!

Picture...

is worth a 1,000 words. A few words might go a long way in terms of context though.

Mooneyes

Lifted from Jeff Decker's blog from Mooneyes 2009 in Japan. VERY SKINNY. VERY SHINY.

Velocette

On Any Sunday

Stumbled across On Any Sunday on Hulu today, watch it for free. I figured I'd post it here since Mert Lawwill was a recent topic of discussion.

I watched "On Any Sunday II" earlier this week. I probably hadn't seen it since 1981. I was absolutely GEEKED when that movie came out (Bob Hannah, King Kenny Roberts, etc.) It's pretty hard to find, I got it through Netflix.

The combination of watching "On Any Sunday II" & the HBO mini-series "The Pacific" prompted me to look up the neighbor mentor that helped me cut my motorcycle mania teeth. 93 years old and still cooler than I will ever be. I hope I have that kind of influence on someone that isn't a blood relative somewhere down the line...

Falcon

Been a while since I mentioned that Ian & Co. build some cool Brit bikes. Looks like he spends more time working on bikes than on his yard. I can relate.

Knuck

Cafe

Can't stop eyeing cafes lately.

Mert Street Tracker

I was dying to know a little more about the Mert Lawwell Concepts Street Tracker I saw at CAD today. From a 2005 forum post:

"This is a bike that Mert Lawwill is building and selling to any buyers. The cost is about $32,000. Only thing keeping this one from being fully street legal is a missing front fender. He said he has taken orders for 17 so far and has 4 backordered. He also said most will probably be in museums or collectors stable’s. Here’s the builder of this fine motorcycle, Mert Lawwill, himself."

Pretty rad. I wonder who it belongs to.

CAD Report

Rode out to CAD with Justin this morning. Still feeling guilty about making him patch his bike back together last night...

Fun ride. Great weather and the turn out was pretty good today. Justin & I rode back into town with Steve on his Knuck which was lots of fun.

CB 350

I'd love to find something like this for Joey and do a mild cafe. This one is amazingly clean it would be pretty damn cool just stock. 9000 miles.

Dynaliner

OK, I know I was just bashing fake patina... I saw a couple pretty cool cars on My Classic Car this morning. First, the Dynaliner (both cars belong to Dynamat owner Scott Whitaker). Brooksville body with a blown flathead. Total fake patina but IMO not in a gimmicky way.





Next, the Dynasport Roadster. Again a Brooksville body with lots of 50's sports car parts.





Both cars look sorta Millerish to me. I have loved the Miller Indy cars since I since I was in Kindergarten so I pretty much have to like these.

Beezer

Hemi

Decker Indian

Lifted from Jeff Decker's blog. I sure love his taste in bikes.

Rods

Seems like you you are finally starting some "finished" hot rods again. I'm not saying I miss all the Easter Egg colored rods running SB Chevys but I'm kinda done with half-assed and fake patina thing too. Kinda bums me out to see all the original 75 year old steel bodies rusting away at the expense of fashion too. Why put all the work into a killer car just to leave it half done?

Dills

This photo was lifted of the Dill's Paintworks Blog. The WTT time shop is so rad, look at all the parts and bikes in progress. Kinda entertained by all the packages of Colony hardware too. I HAVE to make it to the WTT museum some day...

Happy Easter