Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone, and here is a wish for a better New Year in 2013!!

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Winter Time

Well, the snow is here.  That fact will seriously limit my riding for a while, so it has come to the time for winter repairs.  Projects for this year arent anything major.  But they will still require bringing the bike into the front room again for at least part of the winter.  Taking care of leaks on both cylinder base gaskets, and a couple of more minor items is all for this winter on the bike.

Also, I have to put together some things to make a presentation to a group of people.  I want to try to get together a nonprofit group to organize a bike rally here in the mountains.  With a custom/chopper show, bike rodeo, swap meet/vendor area, live music, and even possibly having the town theater playing old "biker movies".  If I can pull this off, and get it organized, and running, I think it will be great.  A lot of hard work and effort, but great all the same.

It's going to be a busy winter, but hopefully worth all the effort.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Winter Doesnt Have To Be Downtime

Winter here in the Pacific NW doesn't always mean it's down time.  Unlike some parts of the country where they measure the snow in feet, we usually just get cold rain.  With a few inches of snow from time to time.  Riding in this may be cold, and miserable, but it still warms my heart to see bikes show up for a run, or even just be out on the road, while the weather is...shall we say 'less than perfect'.

There are even a few hardy souls that don't even let a little snow stop them from riding when they want.  I have one friend, that just bundles himself up like the character 'Kenny' from South Park, and rides rain or shine, snow or sleet.  He even jokes about screwing sheet metal screws into the tread of his tires to act as studs on compact snow and ice.

I don't bounce back as fast as I did when I used to ride on the ice and snow.  So I'll leave that to the truly hard core PNW riders.  Unless I don't have an option, then I am riding no matter what.  

Anyway, just a short shout out to all of you around the world that check out this blog from here in the mountains of what I like to call the Pacific NorthWET.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Dream Chopper

If money were no object, I would have a bike that started out with a Sugar Bear frame, and 20 over Sugar Bear front end.  For a drivetrain I'd have a Baker Frankentranny, and a BDL polished belt drive connected to an S&S 103" P Motor.  Either a Hunt or a Morris magneto, a 19 inch Metzeler on the front and a 16 inch on the back.  A sweet set of 40 spoke lace wheels holding both tires. A set of Paughco 6 bend pullback handlebars, a set of 5 gallon fat bob gas tanks, sprung solo seat, 36" sissy bar, and a bobbed rear fender.

But, money IS an object.  Worse, it is more like an obstacle.  So, I will have to be satisifed with making slow modifications to what I have already.  What I have is a 91 Softail Custom; with a Baker F5K kicker on it that I installed a couple years ago when I had some cash.  Some friends and I fashioned a custom exhaust that is simply a curving set of straight pipes.  It still needs some adjustment, but it works.  I replaced the 21 inch front wheel with a 16 incher, and a cheap knock-off of a Heritage front fender.  A set of 12 inch mini apes rounds out the look as it stands now.  But I still have plans for her as time and money allow.

She has a Mustang seat and pillion that I eventually want to replace with an old style sprung solo saddle seat.  I say sprung, because the frame will be strutted, and eventually hard tailed.  I want to put a foot clutch and jockey shift on her (an 8 Ball shift knob of course).  When the exhaust is finished, I'll have it ceramic coated, and the final hard tailed frame powder coated in a two tone gloss and flat black pattern.  The tins will be gloss black.  I would love to have an old style Imron paint job, but even finding Imron anymore is a trick in itself.  Never mind the cost of it.  An airbrush portrait of the sexy Gypsy Rose Lee adorning the sides of the tanks.  All the other art is in a constant state of flux.  At least until I find an artist to work out the details with.

I am always appreciative when I get compliments on how Gypsy Rose looks.  Saying how she looks so "Old School" and all that.  To me she just looks "comfortable".  When I know it will be raining for an extended period of time, I mount the front fender on her.  Otherwise I keep it off and just enjoy riding her.  She isnt my "Dream Chopper" but maybe someday she will be.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

My New Knucklehead

I didn't make it to the Olympia Toy Run today.  From what I have heard, the weather kept a good number of people away.  Still there were several 1,000 who made it.  The weather forecasters once again were overly cautious in their predictions, and the weather didnt turn out quite as bad as they had made it sound.  It was still nasty, just not quite AS nasty.
But I was busy getting my new Knucklehead used to his new surroundings.  I was supposed to get him sometime around Christmas.  But his mother began running out of milk, and weaning the pups early.  So, I got a call, and went to pick him up last night  He's a Lab mix.  With a little Pit thrown in, but he has Rottie markings.  Go figure.  He seems to be a smart little guy, even if he only turns 4 weeks old tomorrow on the 2nd of December.  So far, he has only left piles on the paper, but his puddles are getting closer to the target as the day wears on.
He's not much bigger than my foot at the moment.  The Mastiff isnt sure what to make of him.  I think she thinks he is a moving squeeky toy, or some form of kitty.  Since she has never been around a puppy that I can recall.  Our old, grumpy Catahoula mix tolerates him.  That is, as long as he doesnt try to crawl onto her blanket.  Then she puts him in his place real quick.
I am going to be interested in seeing knuckleheads reaction when I bring my 91 Evo into the front room to work on the top end later this winter.  That might prove amusing.
Catch ya on the road sometime...

Knucklehead