Saturday, December 18, 2010

OOPS!

Don't forget your Safety Glasses!A little accident.
Drilling out a broken steering stop on a Bonneville frame.
I saved the pieces.
The upper left piece is the one I caught with my eye. My eye was closed, but it still got me.
My eyeball bled!
It's alot better now, and it never hurt or messed up my sight.
Lessons Learned:
1- safety glasses are your friend.
2- I have some damn good eye reflexes!
On a brighter note
For the 15 years I've been working on Triumphs, I've always
dreamed of having an aluminum rim.
Well here it is! Just laced it up onto the front wheel of
the '65 I'm still building. Here's something everyone needs.
Vintage lap timer!
It's just too cool. I installed it on the A-10RGS and imediatly
took it for a ride to go show everyone.
And it only took 7 minutes!

Crazy Eddie in Liberty City sent me this pic of one of his bikes.
Meet Funkdelicious!




Wes Scott Cycles Christmas Ride

Saturday December 11, 2010
Wes Scott had his Christmas ride. It started at his shop and made it's way down to the
King's Head Pub in Dania. I missed the start, but caught up to the pack on the Airport Perimeter Road. Sorry 'bout the pics, my trusty little camera was a little spooked in the dark .
Here's Clive Taylor's and Claire's rides.
Don't miss their Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
www.daniabeachvintageshow.com
Last year's was great, and this year will be reorganized to be even better.
Come out to see the show and swap meet.
And, if you got some extra junk, come as a vender!

Wes's ride. Very nice BSA Rocket 3
Here's Jim Bougard's Triumph.
He's doing some great work for the kids.
Curt gets best of ride in my book. His A-10 is very tricked out, and is an awesome ride!
You see, he let me take it for a spin.
(Don't let them fool you, judges are bribable!)
Wes and Jacqueline at the end of the night.
Speaking of tricked out A-10's....
Got to borrow Rich Silver's A-10RGS.
Now this is quite the piece!







Thursday, December 9, 2010

Yet Again, My Summer Vacation

Yes, I know it's winter already. It's cold even down here in Florida.
But vacations for me are very few and far between.
So if I dwell on my summer vacation, I get to make it last a bit longer!
It was a long time since I was able to spend some time in New York, and there were
alot of friends to catch up with.
Eddie McGarry's a guy I hung out with, rode with, and even got to work.
He's now established at the Indian Larry shop out in Brooklyn.
When I left, he was still working on this bike in the back of Larry's shop. His ride was a pre-unit
bobber he picked up at 6th Street. It had the coolest 2 into 1 high pipe.
Here's a shot of his car.
Have to include a couple of the bikes Larry built.
R.I.P.

I forgot what it's like to have to park on the street. Even without a garage, I've always have been able to park a little more secure since I came to Florida.
And, of course, I had to visit my friend John Reardon and get a tattoo in his new shop
out in Brooklyn. He's the best. He also travels around, so check him out at
The original reason for driving up was to transport a couple of bikes back for a friend.
That fell through, so I couldn't leave with an empty truck,
could I?
I figured you'd understand!










Monday, December 6, 2010

"Around the World in 80 M#@^%- F%*^# days"

Last week Paolo came riding into town.
He's the latest in world travelers. He's riding a new Ducati Multistrada around the world, planning to do it in a year!
Ducati is eating it up, as they should. Right now he's probably in Mexico, or close.
I couldn't do it.
About the time of the preparation buzz, I happened to come across some articles about another bike ride around the world. This one took 4 years, and was done on a Triumph!
You might have seen the book. Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon.
I read his book when it was re-released, shortly after I became a mechanic.
Awesome book.
As far as bike choice goes (for one of these trips), Ted summed it up
"I think I was really lucky that... the equipment was still in such a primitive state"
As far as modern machines go "...the motorcycle becomes such an enormous presence... it would be almost impossible to sneak into places the way I used to be able to..."
I was inspired! Definatly not to ride around the world, but to read Ted's book again!
This time my perspective will be on the motorcycle itself, now that I am far from the fledgeling mechanic I was 15 years ago.


-Ted Simon quotes taken from Classic Motorcycle March and April 1999, "Once More Round the World", interview by Bill Stermer.
-Title of this post taken from Whoopie Goldberg. Thanx Whoopie.