Sunday, March 27, 2011

C@D Report

It was a bit of a quiet day at Coffee at Dawn. Chick rode in on this Indian I don't remember seeing before.



This immaculate 356C made a brief appearance too.



The bike that ended up getting the most attention was a Ducati Diavel purchased at the unveiling party Friday night. Awesome... you have $20,000+ for an Italian V-Rod. Maybe I somehow missed the point. It wouldn't be the first time.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

1959 vs 2009

Somehow I still can't morn the loss of a car that survived 50 years. Cool study though. Almost enough to scare you out of driving an older car. I can only imagine how a 30's car would fair.

Track Day

V has been counting the days on the calendar for 3 weeks in anticipation of the 1/4 midget track day open house. It all started when he got to squeeze into a 1/4 midget at a car show back in January. Here are his inaugural laps. At least skip to the end to watch him get unstrapped. They aren't messing around.




Tuesday, March 22, 2011

102" UL Restoration

Saw this on the Dice blog. Quite the carb setup.

Survivors

This picture is everywhere but it's too incredible not to post.

"This bike survived a tsunami back in 2011"..!!!



A Japanese man recovers his classic 1950s Harley Davidson motorcycle, which was washed away with his home in the earthquake and tsunami destroyed town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan Sunday, March 20, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Cars & Coffee

The seasonal Cars & Coffee Cruise-In/Car Show is resuming again. I was introduced to Cars & Coffee by my neighbor Bruce last year and it's about the coolest thing automotive going in ABQ. Very informal with a shockingly cool mix of cars (hot rods, street rods, muscle cars, exotics, race cars). I saw an authentic original Shelby Cobra there last year...

Come, stay as long as you want and leave when you feel like it. I found the shows to be very bike friendly and almost devoid of the elitist car guy classicism common at so many car events (how dare you bring a Chevy, Mopar, street rod, post '68, sports car, restored car, whatever to my show?!).



This year's Cars and Coffees are:
April 9
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!!



Add the event schedule to your Google Calendar with the following button:



Or import the ICS file into your email client (Outlook, iCal, Thunderbird) or mobile device.



The first show this season includes a Swap Meet. $10 a space. I blew through one of the Swap Meets on the way out of town last year and it seemed pretty cool. Swap Meet flyer can be seen here.



All proceeds (donations really) benefit single moms & widows.

The Alan Special



This bike featured on the SouthsidersMC blog is pretty amazing. Follow the link and check out the other photos. The Guerry & Prat photography is always beautiful too.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Daytona

What is wrong with me?! Lately I've been thinking one of these would look really nice parked next to "liv.



I strongly suspect it may have something to do with never getting that Yamaha YZR 500 I really wanted when I was 12 (same reason I've always wanted a screaming multi-cylinder two stroke).



Maybe I really just need to build one of these.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

VMX

I might have accidentally spent some of my birthday money on V. He's become comfortable with "full throttle" in the last couple of days and he's now asking me to take the training wheels off...


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Xtreme Four

Apparently long travel and break-neck acceleration isn't the end all be all.



Improvisation. Vaughn really wanted someone to enjoy the Four. Ride 'em don't hide 'em.

Arizona CL

Kinda cool.




Thanks for looking! This is titled as a 1956 TR6 triumph. Here we have a 1956 Triumph TR6 motor nestled in a unmolested 1951 Triumph all original frame. The front end is an early style with desirable fork tins. The bike sits on vintage shouldered alloy wheels, the rear is an 18” Borrani laced with Buchanan Stainless spokes with chrome nipples and the front is a 21” Akront laced up to a flat track spool hub also with Buchanan stainless spokes and chrome nipples and a brand new 21"speed master. The gas tank was built using a 2.2 mustang tank and narrowed 2”. The seat was hand fabricated. The oil bag is an desirable 1949 piece. This is a fun little bike that has tons of character. Fabrication work was done by Rudy Sedgewich formerly with Foundry Moto and Final assembly by Joel Pippett of Marvelus Customs. This is an old bike and does need love and care in order to enjoy what it has to offer. One major thing that the bike needs is for the generator to be rebuilt other than a couple small leaks this a driver. Two kick bike.$7500.00 negotiable

Monday, March 14, 2011

Solo 2.0

Someone seems to want to ride everyday now...



Vaughn "The BAMF" Root

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Daytona 200

I stayed up too late Saturday night watching the Daytona 200. The final lap crash was absolutely stunning. While jockeying for 3rd place Josh Herrin clipped Dane Westby’s brake lever with his elbow causing Knapp to run into the back of Westby. Thankfully (amazingly) both guys got up and walked away.

Solo

Vaughn has made some serious motorcycle progress in the last couple of days. The first day I took him out he's giggle every time grabbed a handful of throttle. Too much fun.

Taillight

My latest candidate for for a Suzuki taillight. It's a Lucas 488. Used on:



* Alfa Romeo: Guiletta Spyder 1956-59, Sprint 1957-59
* Austin-Healey 100-4 BN1 & BN2
* Jaguar XK120 1949-54
* MG: MGTD
* Early AC Cobras

The outer diameter of the rubber boot is approx. 2-7/8" (72mm). The lamp is designed to fit into a 1-1/2" (38mm) hole. Dual filament bulb. GLASS lens embossed with the words "LUCAS 488 MADE IN ENGLAND"

Triumph Cub

It looks like I found a picture of English Stephen's next motorcycle. He was talking bobber for a while but ultimately I'm sure his love of speed & aviation will take him here.

Seat Update

Took my first real outing on the new Triumph seat setup today. It may not be too esthetically pleasing but I'm a little amazed just how much more functional it is. I'm kinda optimistic.

Somewhat unrelated, I was looking at an old picture or one of Ian Barry's Triumphs from the pre-Falcon days today. The leaf spring setup made remember the one used on the Falcon Bullet.



I remember reading somewhere they used a 40's tractor seat spring. A few minutes with my buddy Google and Yesterday's Tractor Company told me it was a Farmall seat spring. For the money I'm tempted to buy one to play with.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Advertising

I'm so damn susceptible to advertising... Can I have a Thunderbird?




Monday, March 7, 2011

Hollister at the Rainer Brewery

This picture is just too cool. The bike is just beautiful! I wonder how many other breweries that bike has visited in the last 73 years.




Sunday, March 6, 2011

More Seat Crap

I worked on my seat setup a little more today and rode it some. After adjusting the seat a little it looks a bit less goofy. It is certainly considerably more plush than the spring setup. Plush enough? I guess time will tell.



I was actually able to find all the wacky hardware required for the setup at Ace Hardware. I ran into "Too Many Projects" Tommy by the bolt bins. Guess I'm not the only one now driving across town for $8 worth of hardware.

And now for the portion only Flathead Rob cares about (actually, that might well be this whole post). When I was leaving Ace I asked the cashier if they knew of any place I could buy some 1/4" steel plate on Saturday. The guy in line behind me recommended Koenig's Metalmorphosis. Flathead Rob will surely recall lusting after model T's in this yard as a pre-pubescent boy.

I'm SUPER happy to find them! They sold me some small pieces of plate and plasma cut a bracket for a very reasonable fee, less than the plate would have cost at Ace/Lowes if they even had it. I can't recommend them enough for your stupid fabrication projects. Appears they also offer machine shop rentals of some sort. Maybe I can remember some of the countless hours I spent in Metals Shop dodging all else High School related...


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Sculpture

Brad Coleman posted a link to his sculpture blog on JJ. Man those things are cool. Years ago my brother did similar sculptures out of welding rod. Love the board tracker and Rollie Free Vincent.

In typical JJ form his thread was deleted so I thought I'd repost his content:
This is my first thread on this site, so i hope you dig it. Last summer I was at a local art and wine fest. and came across an artist that was selling welded steel sculptures. One of witch was a motorcycle crafted out of rusty nuts and bolts. Me being a welder,and a motorcycle nut since my mom told me they were the most dangerous things on earth and I could never have one, I thought, I should take a crack at it. And as with everything I do, there was more time and detail put into the bike than originaly planed. Next thing i know, I've built a bunch of the motorcycles, started a web site, and even sold a few of them. These are just a few of my sculptures. you can see more of my work at http://bc-sculptures.blogspot.com Let me know what you think. If you have any pics of bike sculptures you, or some one else has created, post them up. I'm always interested in seeing what others have created.



Check it out.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Birthday Bags

Thanks Rob.

Kinda dorky but it could mean the difference between riding and collecting dust in the garage. I guess we'll see...



It might look less funky with a flatter Bates style seat or something similar.

Hell. Why not embrace that I'm an old man and just run a Lycettt.
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