An Explosive Idea

It seems everyone I speak to about this idea I have for Frankenbikes oil tank, seems to think I am going to blow myself up.  As the Ol' Boy once said; "I may be crazy, but I'm not totally fucking nuts!!"

I'm making sure the Propane is well and truly drained from the canisters before I do anything else to them.  I am well aware of their explosive abilities.  When I was a little more nuts (back when I was young and immortal) I used to try to blow them up.  And succeeded quite well, thank you very much!!

Well, today I figured I'd give my little concept the test.  I strapped one of the canisters down and started cutting the top off.  Got about two thirds of the way through, and snapped my last metal saw blade.  There is a phrase from an old B Movie called 'Moontrap' I try to live by...."Don't take shit from no machine."  Well, I wasn't goig to let this little canister get the better of me, so I ran down to the hardware store and bought some new sawzall blades and got back to business.

Once the other canister is fully drained, I'll cut the top off that at the seam, and then take it over to a buddy's place to get it welded together, and get a filler tube fabbed up for it.  Then I'll drill holes for the oil lines to connect to.  I think it'll be a cool little oil tank, and there shouldn't be too many like it around, so that'll be cool.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Something Out Of Nothing At All

I was packing some camping gear away, and getting it ready for storage over the winter.  Going through everything with the Ironhead roller there in the room with me, I had a small epiphany.  I was holding two 16 oz propane canisters for campstoves, or lanterns in my hands.  With the tops cut off, and welded back together end to end, it would make a nice little oil tank for the Ironhead.

I think it can be done once I make absolutely sure all the lPG has been drained out of it.  It would really ruin my day to have one of these canister ignite as I tried to cut the top off.  Whether it went boom, or just shot across my shed, either way it could be a bad scene.  So making sure all the LPG is out is a top priority.  I figure it will have a unique design, because of what the oil tank is made of, and will have a cool look to it as well.  Plus, since I already have a few canisters, it will only cost me for the bungs and the dipstick tube.  Definitely beats paying out over $100 for a premade round oil tank.

Another Iron In The Fire

One of the things I want to try to get set up for next summer is a regional weekend run.  Not a big rally, or even a little rally like we're trying to organize here in Morton.  Just a four or five hundred mile weekend run through remote two lane roads with a campout overnight.  No vendors, no live music, just a group of riders doing their thing and hanging out around a bonfire and just enjoying each others company after a great days ride.

Something similar to the old runs we used to do back when I first started riding a long time ago.  Just a few tents, probably a run truck, but other than that just the bikes and people.  Out in the country somewhere, so we're able to cut loose and just enjoy ourselves and not get a bunch of flak from other people to ruin our good time.

To me, those are the runs that were always the most fun, just hanging out with friends, old and new on a ride and camping together.  Hanging out, and swapping tales of the days ride.  I miss those types of runs, and thats why I want to get one going around here again.

Over the next month or so, I am going to talk the idea over with a few people and see what sort of ideas we can come up with.  Something along the lines of the Revenge Run over North Carolina.  A bunch of riders wanting to ride and party together.  Not a bunch of RUBs on baggers looking to some rally pin and a T shirt.

I have a couple of basic routes laid out.  One runs up along the Washington coast, up US 101 to a bike only campground outside of Forks, then follows 101 for another couple hundred miles to Olympia.  That route along 101 is a blast on a bike, and only a few small towns break up the open road feeling.

One of the others starts near Portland, Oregon.  It runs down along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge to Stonehenge Memorial, then up into the mountains for an overnight.  With another ride out of the mountains to the north the next day.

I figure if I can get even 10 or 15 bikes riding for a weekend shindig, it'll be a blast.  There are just too many cool roads to ride up in this area.  With several "group campgrounds" where we can get the entire place to ourselves for a weekend for less than $200, we ought to have a great time.  It'll just take a little organizing, and getting the word out to the right group of people.  So there you have it.  What I want to do, is add one more iron into the fire of things I have going on already...but ehy, that's what keeps life exciting.

Catch you on the road sometime...

Tail Lights For Frankenbike

I just received the new tailights I ordered from Lowbrow Customs last night.  I put them on the bracket Patrick Dean and I fabbed up, and they look perfect.  Now I just need to buy a '28 Ford Model A repop taillight to go on top of the license plate, and all will be good.  Then it'll be on to trimming the sides of the fender, mounting the tiallight assembly to the fender, and fabbing up a sissy bar.

Looks like it was made to be this way.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Score!!

Our microwave gave up the ghost suddenly on Friday while I was at work.  So yesterday, as I was working on my second or thrid cup of morning coffee, and trying to figure out what I was going to do about fixing the kitchen sink drain permanently, the wife says there is an Estate sale a few blocks away.  She figured maybe we could find a "new" microwave there.  So I finish my coffee, and grab a jacket, and off we went.  

When we get there, just inside the door of the garage where they have everything sitting is a VERY nice, older microwave for twenty-five.  I ask if they'll take twenty, and the gal says "sure."  Before I paid her the twenty bucks, Robin saw a nice little shelf to hold our excess DVDs for ten bucks.  Well, it looks like I need to make a quick run to the bank.  Now remember, I live in a little town, and nothing seems to be more than about a half mile away, if that far.

By the time I got back, Robin had bought a dutch oven for camping for five dollars. I hadn't even really gotten a chance to look around at anything much yet.  So I took a look around and saw enough to really make me wish I had a few hundred bucks in the bank.  Floor stand drill press, belt sander, mid size lathe, chop saw, and more.  All of it in really good, or like new shape.  Then I saw a three piece rollaway for $150.  I checked it out, and was mildly surprised to see it still had stuff in about half the drawers.  What surprised me most though, was that most of the tools in it were old, made in America tools; an old Craftsman 1/2 inch drive ratchet with extensions and sockets,  several Plumb combination wrenches, two tap and die sets in the boxes, an old inclinometer (to use when trying to set the desired rake on a frame, or finding what the rake is), and several other cool tools that would usually easily cost sixty to seventy-five bucks to buy at a garage sale.  I was going to have to make another run to the bank, so I asked if they'd take a hundred and twenty for the rollaway.  The three people running the sale discussed it, and finally agreed to a price of one twenty.

When I got back with the cash, I loaded everything into Robins SHO Taurus, and we got the Hell out of there.  I didn't have enough money in the bank to buy anything else that was usable to me.  So we headed home and unloaded the car.  As I rolled it past the bikes in the shed, and into my little work room I took stock of what I had just brought home for $120.  Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.  Although, the new rear tire for the Ironhead is going to have to wait for a bit now.  

Here's a look at what I picked up for $120.  Not a bad score at all.

The big white blob in the bottom photo is actually a bearing grease press inside a ziploc bag.  I won't need to use my hands to pack bearings anymore and get grease all over everything.  I've been wanting one of these for years, and just never got around to buying one.  I'm just going to have to follow what the little sticker I have on my old rollaway syas: "Don't ask to borrow my tools, and I won't ask to fuck your wife."  Now I just need to get going and find the parts I need to finish the Ironhead Frankenbike, and do the top end on Gypsy Rose.

Catch you on the road sometime...

Frankenbike Update

Well, I am making some progress.  Even if it is only nickel and dime stuff at the moment.  At least I am still moving forward on the build.

I've removed the brackets that were riveted to the fender, and laid out where I am going to trim off the sides.  Then I'll mount a combination license plate and taillight mounting bracket I am putting together.  The license plate will sit in the middle, with a bullet taillight on either side of the license plate.  I have everything except the taillights.  I'll be ordering them from Lowbrow as soon as the money is transferred to my Paypal account.  Or I sell some more parts, whichever comes first.

After that, comes the wiring harness getting roughed out, and the oil tank getting fabbed up.  Things are moving slow, but they are moving.

Catch you on the road sometime...