The Almost Conclusion

So today was it, the day that everything went back on the bike. I am extremely pleased with how its turned out. Keep in mind, this wasn't meant to be some crazy tear down, wild build bike. Just wanted to get rid of a bunch of unnecessary stuff, and black it out. Hopefully by the looks of things I have accomplished my goal. I still think my favorite part of the bike is the Levi's seat, but I don't think Hime is that stoked on it. Either way, this bike has been through one hell of a sex change. Motor work this week and then its back to LA for this little HD. Thanks to Jeremy for keeping me pumped with his burnouts for days. Sometimes its hard to stay motivated, but when you see that smoke ripping....its on.

Before

After

A little 511 love

Took it on a test ride about 40 miles out from my house. Of course the head light goes out as soon as the sunsets. Made for a pretty cold and uneventful wait.

Step eleventeen, Paint

Things are getting extremely close to completion. Today was Paint Booth Friday. Lets just say that I hope tomorrow is Put All This Shit Back Together Saturday.

Bass Jump

My dog has some Hops to say the least. Usually she is super pumped as soon as I walk in the door from being gone all day. Her excitement translates through her jumping, and she has one hell of a signature jump. Its extremely close to the way a bass comes flying out of the water, all twisted with her own steez on it. I have tried numerous times to document just how exceptional this is, but pictures don't do it justice. Here is a snippet. For visual purposes she is about two feet off the ground.

Seat Pan in action

My garage is, how do you put it, maybe a little anorexic compared to others within my circle. Its lacking a few major bullet points:

-Air Compressor
-Welder
-Plasma Cutter
-Tools
-Space

that's just to name a few. So when I need some assistance I call in the troops. My good old friend Ryan Murray offered his services, and I took him up on that. Ryan is the super human that taught me how to weld almost ten years ago. I have made some extremely cool shit in his shop, my first desk, coffee table, crazy modern looking shelving unit to house my electronics, and my most prized project would be the bumper on my Jeep. That thing saved me about $600 by making it myself. Either way, Ryan is the guy who could pack all of his shit up in his airstream and move to the woods never to be heard from again, and he would probably lead an even happier life that way. One of his main passions is scooters and mopeds. Below are two of his sweet mutant creations. Pretty rad.




We banged out the seat pan in about 30 minutes and it fits like a glove. One more check off the list

This guy is killing me

So I am working in my home office this morning, getting some majorly super important cant wait a minute longer shit handled, when I hear this huge crash domino effect that lasts for a few seconds. I immediately look outside and see this re re who works for Waste Management. Looks like homeboy had his dumpster boom sticking up in the air a little too high while he was driving. It caught an electric line and whipped that boom like Indiana Jones, which then proceeded to snap the pole like a twig. Leaving me with no electricity. Thanks Compadre!

I guess I have been spelling it wrong all these years

Gnarly Davidson

Chris Smith, Nate, Hime, Myself. Japan 08

I know, the title is amazing. But I have to give credit where its due, and Hime did an amazing job of posting it.

One of my fellow Nixon associates has had a bike for quite some time, around 2 years or so. I see him around 4 or 5 times a year and every effing time I ask him, "Hows the bike?" "Have you ridden the bike?" "Is your bike still super gay?"....etc....etc. Finally I got tired of asking him how his bike was doing and getting the same answer of no, no no. I was determined to help him out and give him the itch.

Hime lives in Silverlake, we will just call it outer-Hollywood. I was in his neck of the woods last weekend to drop off Jordan's bike and to hit up the famous Rose Bowl Flea Market(which by the way was canceled due to the smoke from the fires. I didn't find this out until I had reached the Rose Bowl Parking lot, stupid). I stopped by his sweet little pad, met his French Bulldog named Morrissey, and picked up his Sportster that had been rotting on the streets of Silverlake for the past 8 months or so. Literally sitting out on the street. He doesn't give a shit about this thing. (Well, neither would I if that's what my bike looked like. However, that IS what my bike looked like when I bought it.) We chatted for about 15 minutes or so, I explained my vision, we got a plan together, and I headed back to the Desert. On a mutha-uckin mission!

We set a budget and a semi-loose timeline, completion in the first week of December. As of today its been 7 days since the pickup and I have only gotten 2 nights of work into it. This thing has a ton of potential. The goal is to clean it up, a little power upgrade, and murder it out. So far its been the only thing in life this past week helping me keep my sanity.

Here are a few shots of when he got it, pretty close to what it looked like when I picked it up. In Hime's defense, he did have enough sense to take off the sissy bar, saddle bags, crash bars and flame accessories.




Ground Zero, at my house, it has begun.

First night tear down. Took a pile of shit off: Air Cleaner Cover, Derby Cover, Plate/Taillight/Turn signal assembly, Riser/Speedo/Idiot Lights, Frame Rail Covers, Front Fender, King Gas Tank, Passenger Pegs, Upper and Lower Belt guards, Pipe Slip on Covers. Soooo much weight!

This is how she looked after night one. Got a lot accomplished in a few hours. Fender chop went super quick, maybe 15 minutes to garage perfection.

Day two's focus was on giving this bike a thorough cleaning. Between 40K on the clock, a few small oil leaks, and California humidity, it was extremely dirty and grimy. Simple Green to the rescue. After it was sparkling, we got it prepped for paint. I am not sure how hyped my GF was at this point. She has been helping the whole time, what a trooper.

Baffles _______. Fill in the blank with "are for pussies!"

The first coat of murder has been applied

Here's how it sits currently. I am psyched on how its coming along. For a mild identity change things are looking on the up and up. Wheels and front end are painted, pipes are wrapped.

To do list for this week: Freeze trick the dents out of the new peanut tank, paint the tins and random small parts, build and mount up a seat pan, lower the front end, hopefully some new rubber. Then its off to the shop for a 1200 kit! Updates to come.

T's Bike is getting awfully close to completion

Flashbacks

So Brunstetter sent me an iChat with this link about two weeks ago and I immediately felt like I cruised through my childhood and adolescents song by song. I was so stoked that I instantly felt the need to spread the word of this priceless website.

I clicked the link and searched for the videos that came right to mind. Once they pulled up it triggered my brain to another video that reminded me of the previous. Then it was a continuous cycle. Its so crazy that music has played such a large roll in my life, and even MTV for that matter. I miss the days when MTV was "Music Television" and not "Reality TV Roll call". I almost feel like a groups video could really make or break them. It was almost as if the song was an afterthought. Either way, I highly recommend checking this out. Here are a few of the gems I used to watch on continuous loop while doing homework and not being around a computer.

Beastie Boys |MTV Music

Dire Straits |MTV Music

Primus |MTV Music

Dice Release Party, Vegas Style

I was in Vegas this past weekend for work and it happened to time perfectly with Dice Magazines Issue 22 release party. For those not familiar with Dice, its a really sweet chopper/skate mag that these guys from the UK started. Its got great content and epic pictures. I highly recommend purchasing all 22 issues. Anyways, they usually have a release party for every new issue and this one hit Sin City last Saturday night at a little place called the Dive Bar. I rendezvous with my homie Jason who lives in Vegas and we rode to the Stratosphere to meet up with the Foundry crew, Matt from Dice, and Duane Ballard who is an insane leather craftsman. We then rode over to the Dive Bar where there was already a pretty large crew of bikes lined up in the parking lot. I ran into some homies from Oceanside, Adrian Lopez and Dennet from Circa, so random to see them there. Stoked to see everyone and their bikes there. Just proves how small and supportive this bike community is. Might seem a little intimidating at first but they are just normal people who share a passion for something other than greenbacks. Thanks Dice for a great night.

This is the sign on the kitchen door. No effing around

The old "Spark Plug in the Exhaust" trick does wonders for a crowd

Garage built on little to no budget, I really appreciate builds like this, brings out the creative side

This bike was so sweet. To the naked eye it looks like a normal Sporty chop. This dude threw a Buell motor in a Flyrite frame, added a springer front end, homemade oil bag, sideways battery box, opposite side kickstand, and a sweet moto inspired exhaust system. All of the subtle details made this thing really stand out.

This is one of Slim's creations. He is amazing. A dude with a crazy imagination that makes his ideas a reality. This is his new Sporty Rigid kit that he is working on a patent for. It uses the original swingarm and costs pennies on tha dolla. Pretty innovative.

Buell Rigid chopper. This thing sits loooooow. The pipes are sweet too. He only has 4K into this build start to finish.

It's Done

My fellow Electric compadre, Jordan Mead, will be taking delivery of this mighty fine Cafe' this weekend. I picked it up for him a few weeks ago and told him I would give it a little makeover before he took custody. Makeovers done brah!

BEFORE

AFTER

Serious Driving Skills

Tanner sent me over this clip of Ken Block and its amazing.

Brighton Begins

Yesterday was the much anticipated "First Day of The Season" for most of our crew. Brighton opened up with some pretty solid coverage across the board. Fun times were had, thats for sure. So stoked to be back in the snow. My summer legs did much better than anticipated. I would of taken some riding shots but I was too excited, Glamour Poses will have to do.

Crest Laps, expect nothing less

Chris didn't have an outerwear kit so Brock had to bring him one. Turns out it was my twin kit. We're brothers.

The Beez, and his candy

Seth and Dustin, not their first days

TJ "Beat you down" Bottom

Pat "The Fire Face" Moore

Opening day tomorrow!

So Cited!!!

See You There