Really Wheelin'

Vorhese wanted to have Chris at Wheel Works lace up his Bultaco hub to a 21" rim. Since I had never been there I asked if I could  tag along. I figured as long as I was tagging along I would get a few missing spokes for my Hallcraft hub.

This place is easy to miss, as its down an alley of other shops on a busy industrial street.

The first thing I noticed was how much stuff there was. I couldn't find a place to put the couple small boxes so they went on the floor. Even there it a little difficult to find a place to put something.

There were a fair amount of broken hubs and front ends and rims that were probably left behind as examples of what could go wrong. They were probably put out just to keep people like me from trying to build my own wheel.

So, Vorhese starts telling Chris about his hub and rim, which he brought with him, along with his newborn, when Chris notices my hub and comments on it. I mention I only need three spokes for it and we work out a deal for ten bucks. Then back to Vor.
Chris goes into all kinds of detail about what years had what setups, and that he can't make the spokes for this, that he should call Buchannans. Ffuuuuucckkk!! I now feel kind of guilty. It comes back to me again and I ask about another hub I have that I want laced to a 19" rim. He has both the spokes and rim in the shop. (Somewhere, I'm sure) He says he might also have the rotor for the Hallcraft. (Again, somewhere)
    Then he opens the door to the back room to get my spokes.

There was stuff everywhere. Under all of it was piles of unused spokes. Front ends, rims, tires, some frames. A little if this and some more of that.

While he was prepping my spokes he and Vor were doing a lot of talking about Preunit Triumphs, of which I know very little. One thing that I did understand was that Chris and his nephew ran a Preunit at Bonneville in 2012. If I'm not mistaken, I think I heard him say they got a record with the bike on a technicality. They hit 68MPH. It still had the salt on it.

Not a bad trip for me. We stopped at La Rosa and Vorhese ordered the saddlebag for his Preunit. At least he got something. I just tagged along and got this huge blog post out of it. And I get my wheel back.

Making Movies

This is one of my favorite shots from a video Eugene shot for Corey, with Brendan and Shrewgy, and me tagging along. The two of them riding side by side and then they split and I'm in the middle. The two of them on newer Triumphs, and me on the vintage Triumph chopper. 

The free spirit known as Ashley was kind enough to grace my bike with her presence at the Dirtbag this year. I'm glad Kent had the mind to take a picture of her on it. It certainly distracts from all the bad welds and crappy paint.
I was charged with the task of getting her to the event this year, and yes, she was fully clothed when we got there. What happened after we arrived is a blur.

Thank you Ashley and Kent

MITTENS!

 This is why

How clean can it be?

I have to clean my garage. It's bad. My workbenches are piled about a foot high with crap. Every time I need a tool, I have to look for twenty minutes to find it. I think I've lost most of my phillips screwdrivers. The shelves have stuff that hasn't been touched in years. When was the last time I went Boogie Boarding? Nine years ago! Why do I have a Boogie Board? I don't know! I do know that I need an intervention in my garage. Something has got to give. The internets call me and I avoid the garage.

Eugene now runs GR Productions. Hire them for your video production needs. He made this demo reel, which has a couple clips of some of us riding our bikes in Martinez.

Stumbled upon this...
I like it.

Pinstriping on Harley Davidson from SmoothBros on Vimeo.

I'm semi-Famous!

Finally, a reason to post some stuff...
My chopper was featured on the interwebs, on ChopCult! It's better than being in the phone book. After all the years of OCC, and all the years of people snickering because my bike is 'old', I'm finally on a cool bike. Glad I waited.
My bike on ChopCult here

49 Mile Ride 2011

Finally went on the 49 Mile Ride. This was a rolling museum. I think there were maybe four bikes that weren't pre 1975. Probably more, but I don't care. There were 300 vintage bikes being ridden. Ridden in San Francisco. Up hills and shit. That is impressive. Some of them were eighty years old.

Here is a crappy video of it.

Made a video with my new camera yesterday. Turns out it was Brent Mydland's birthday, so I went to Oakmont Memorial Park, where he is buried. 
A ride for Brent's birthday

The bikes of Billetproof

I finally went to Billetproof in Antioch, Ca. I've been wanting to go since it began, but my schedule and that it's really a car show (and I'm not much of a car buff) were all the excuses I needed to stay out.
I should have been going all along.
I took a picture of every bike I saw inside the gates. (minus one, it was garb) Here they are.


























































If you want to see the other side of a particular bike, or want more photos of one of these, you'll have to get out and look for them on the road.

Random

Because I haven't posted anything lately.

An NOS from Hap Jones.



Before the ride.



You know it's true.



You know this is also true.



Ironic, no? Not a real Po' Boy.

Is it time to change your oil?

Wiring is done

All except the horn. Need to get a horn.









Looks pretty clean. It all works. Lots of distractions and interruptions, but I still may make my deadline for getting this on the road.
I still need to put the coil and Frisco tank on.

A safer ride

The front end on the Triumph was starting to cause a wobble in the turns. The bushings in the rockers were long overdue for replacement.



I've taken it apart and ordered the parts. Hopefully it will only be a couple of days until they come in.



The old bushings should have been replaced about ten years ago. They probably last about five. That's math that doesn't have a good answer. Glad I didn't hurt myself.





Looking forward to some twisties when I get it back together!