Finishing up the Brent A Project

It has been too long coming (sorry Brent) but I am putting the finishing touches on Brent's crazy pre-unit. Actually it turned out to be a little more traditional than I thought it was gonna be. The frame is raked a little bit and the frame is stretched about three inches to fit a slightly taller guy a little better. The idea on this one was to make it look like a fifty year old bike, so we used only good used stuff on it with some character and patina. If it was new or refinished, it was thrown out. After some breaking in, we are going to strip it all back down and paint it black, but we are gonna leave the old crusty parts, well. . . old and crusty. We hope to end up with something that looks like it just got loose from an old barn. The handlebars are Biltwell Inc., Frisco bars (http://www.biltwellinc.com/) and the fishtails are an old MCM catalogue item from the early 1950's. They have an awesome sound and shape to them. It has an Alton alternator and Joe Hunt magneto for some seriously updated electrical.

THE BIG TROPHY!!

Yep, we are super-duper proud of bringing home the Trophy for our 1960's showbike inspired creation. There was some stiff competition from Brewdude of Brew Racing Frames (www.brewracingframes.com) and Chandler Originals in Florida (www.chandleroriginals.com) but at the end the crowd just liked ours better I guess. Both of the other competitors had some serious engineering in the bikes, but at the end of the day, i think the one and only Nick-O-Teen's paint and inspiration body work ruled the day.

Big thanks to the Horse Backstreet Choppers, http://www.ironcross.net/, for hooking up an awesome show.

SMOKE OUT WEST Bringing Home the Bacon. . .

Well if you wonder why it has been quiet around here lately, it is because we have been busting our humps to get the bike for the Horse Backstreet Chopper Smoke-Out West Chop Off done. HUGE thanks to Jeff L, Andy J. and Uncle Frank K. their superhuman efforts to help out on the project. They did all the hard work on the bike. And our efforts were richly rewarded by FIRST PLACE at the Show. It was a people's choice award so it makes it even more gratifying. First a pic of the bike, these are taken right before we left. You get the idea.

BACK FROM BONNEVILLE AND HUNKERING DOWN

We are back from Bonneville and ready for some serious catching up. To all of our patient customers, a BIG thanks. Chuck upped his record at the Salt and I had a personal best of 5 MPH over last year, but I am still under 100 MPH. I blew up my primary and broke off my new carburettor spigots. I even got chased down the course by a car!! We had tons of fun though. A big thanks once again to our sponsors Biltwell, Inc., (http://www.biltwellinc.com/) Patterson Engineering and Steve Moody. Without their help, it would have been a LOT more difficult. Here are a smattering of pics from the trip.

OFF TO BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK 2007

Well as of Thursday we are OFF to Bonneville for Speed Week 2007. Yes, the intrepid Chuck Zeglin and I are headed off to seek our fortune at the Great Salt Flat. Coming along for the absolute FUN of it all and to help us out incalculabley is CHRIS Collins of our Brothers in Arms over at Biltwell, Inc. Check out all the new stuff at http://www.biltwellinc.com/, when I get back you can buy it all from me. Biltwell was kind enough this year to sponsor us at the Flats. Chris went with us last year and had a blast. Once again he will be our Wingman and Rastafarian Spiritual Advisor. Here are a couple pics of the bikes. Both bikes have changed since last year. Chuck's looks like a restoration, but also packs WAY more punch since he installed the 250cc Big Bore kit and the old tried and true R Code Cam. A 276 Carb and a GP Float are new too. My bike is the same bike essentially but with some SERIOUS head and piston work, and a new gas tank that accomodates the new dual carb spigots that are now welded on. We love ruining stock parts around here and yes, dear purists that is a 1951 close pitch finned head I destroyed for racing. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thanks go out to Gary Swan of Toad Town Racing and Frank Brewer, ex of Triumph of Burbank, both were Jack Hateley trained back in the day. Frank and Gary are Ascot alumnus from back when Ascot was SOMETHING. Frank and Gary helped me immesurably with my head, barrell and pistons. Without them I would probably be going slower than last year. Thanks guys.

Mike Chan----New Guy! Bigger Staff Get some

Mike came up a few months back when my hand was busted and got his bike fixed up. A few month later, I post an ad for a part time guy on http://www.jockeyjournal.com/ in the classified section and Mike responds. He is my first interview. I am impressed and voila! Mike is hired. Welcome Mike, you are doing great!!

The CHOP-OFF Bike Progresses. . . .

Well we have the transmission all figured out. After a bumpy start we figured out because of chain clearance we would have to lower the trans as much as possible. So we cut and lowered, lowered and cut. Then we slugged the frame and made adjuster plates much like the ones seen on triumph rigid framed bike of the 1938 to 1954 era. they look like scaled up plates. Next all we have to do is continue boxing up the frame to make up for all the meat we took out of it. Jeff is doing most of the work, I am mostly supervising. We started lining up sprokets too, and it looks like we are off to Mike Parti's place for some custom spacers. The tank mounts are done, too and we are starting to eyeball the rear fender and sissy bar. Ever onwards. . . . .oh yea, and we figured out the pipes too. Often times, a bike will tell you what it wants for different pieces while you are building it. The bike told us we needed to use cocktail shakers. Unfortunately, I had run out of the smaller sized ones and my regular supplier of shakers was ALL OUT. Panic city until good friend of the shop Kit saw fit to return a pair he bought from me a few months back. Talk about a SACRIFICE!! Thanks Kit, you rock!!