I bet you don’t know many people specializing in building or rebuilding Café Racers. Steve Carpenter a.k.a “Carpy the Café Racer Ace” is an Englishman who planted his toolbox and lifts in California to show Americans his skills at building CB 750 Honda’s. His dad rode Café Racers in London back in the 50’s. And now Carpy does the same on the West Coast where the weather is much better for racing. Carpy just created this bike for Mike Dirnt, bassist and backup vocalist of the band Green Day. Make the jump for a good nostalgia trip. Ton Up Cafe Racer.
Archive Page 353
Peace And Grease To All Ton Up Boys And Girls
Published by May 13th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
Still in progress and to be open this summer, a couple of pictures of the new Colorado Studio/Gallery of my favorite vintage motorcycles painter David Uhl. Expect vintage rides to be exhibited with his paintings. A beautiful place where I would like to build motorcycles and write my Blog.
New and Improved LA County Choprods Internal Throttle
Published by May 13th, 2009 in Builders, Controls, Customs and Editorial.
Gard Hollinger of LA County Choprods has redesigned his internal throttle assembly and he states that it is better then eve. This new unit now uses a “slide plunger” with 2 thread-in double ball bearing pin and bearing assemblies. In addition the new aluminum “outer tube” has (2 spiral travel grooves and has been lengthened in order to close the inner end of the travel grooves to eliminate the possibility of misshaping the tube when your handgrip set screws are tightened. Finally, both the “outer tube” and the “slide plunger” are now hard anodized, providig for smoother operation and longer life. Made in the USA. Suggested retail price is $185.00. More info at LA County Choprods or call 310-353-2467.
What do you do when a client brings you a Sportster and tells you that he wants a Mad Max look. Flat black paint will never be enough. So, Alan at Santiago Chopper decided to intall a 300 mm rear tire, a solo seat, a Buell front end and brake for a more rugged look, pinching on a front perimeter disc. . Wow… If you want to show how Mad you are on your Sportster, the 300 mm rear kit is available. The touch of green is because the owner is Irish and proud of it. Santiago Chopper.
For the new June 6th edition on June 6th, Big Bear Choppers is going Hollyweird with a Freakshow, a movie stunt man & Gladiator tigers! New for this year, Big Bear Choppers will be hosting a VIP lounge for their customers (if not eaten by the tigers). So if you’re a customer that charged the hill on a Big Bear Chopper to the top of the mountain for the party, you’ll be treated like a king with an exclusive tent next to the factory big rig, preferred parking in the very front, refreshments, and an exclusive shirt with a VIP badge to wear. Continue reading ‘Big Bear choppers 7th Annual Ride The Mountain Rally.’
What about talking of something else than the economy? Your next vacation, for example. Now that the US dollar regained some of its value against the Euro, why not crossing the big blue to visit one of the European countries. Have you thought about France? (I admit on this one, very biased). Visiting on a Harley? (even more biased). With very professional people I know in Paris who can organize everything for you, itineraries, hotels, and everything you need? At prices I think are quite reasonable (no, I don’t receive a kick back). For 1 day, 1 week, 1 month (lucky you) and everything between. Continue reading ‘Paris Vtwin Passion. French Vacation On A Harley.’
New Evolution Industries Diamond Terminator Clutch Basket 1970-1984 Big Twin.
Published by May 12th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Driveline and Editorial.
All quality designed and manufactured American products deserve to be plugged in my Blog. Evolution Industries proposes machined aluminum clutch baskets with replaceable steel chain, bearing race, bolt-on ring gear and clutch drive dogs. They weight less than the original baskets and are sold with a very cool 3-year warranty. Evolution Industries has a full catalog of clutch baskets and diaphragms or spring clutches from 1936 to 2009. Ask for it on my behalf at 909-594-7969
Sly. Please Don’t Sit On My Custom Bike…
Published by May 11th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.
Strangely, no custom builder refused Sylvester Stallone the right to sit on his bike when he stopped by last Saturday during the New Orleans Easyriders Bike Show!!! His most frequent question: is it balanced? So, he had to check and re-checked several of them, but didn’t buy any. Joe Palermo, owner of this bike got all excited by his Radical Class Second Place…and by this picture (thanks Marilyn).
Sly is in town to direct and shoot a few scenes of his new movie called “The Expandables” (corrected “Expendables”). Not surprisingly a story of mercenaires going to South America to overthrow a dictator. No new riding cameo appearance offered to me…
As I told you before, Greg at Greg’s Custom Cycles has an obsession with aggressive styling and shapes. And still missing to his Deepsickness motorcycle line was a headlight to aggressively lead your way. Now he is offering one with the spiked housing bucket available in black powder coated, mat, gloss, or matching H-D™ wrinkle finishes. The headlight uses a H4 bulb and has a standard single bolt mount with the bulb & mounting hardware included. 4.5” in diameter and 7” deep from glass to tip. Retail price $245. Made in the USA. For more information, call Greg at (727) 461-4840 or visit Greg’s Custom Cycles.
Personally, I never thought too much about it although…I felt it a lot. In New Orleans, I had to have my display next to David Hall of Gusset Jeans, to receive my 1st lesson in jeans anatomy. Continue reading ‘Gusset Jeans. No More Ouch.’
A fast post to show you another custom bike coming straight from Italy to participate to the next AMD World Championship in Sturgis. It was built by maestro Luca Andreoli at Andreoli Motorcycles (Picture HRF)
Lightning Rod Motorcycles Pro Street Buell
Published by May 10th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
Do you own a pre -2003 Buell motorcycle (or you can buy one for dirt cheap)? A shop in Florida called Lightning Rod Motorcycles offers to turn it into the Pro Sttreet like the one featured here. Quite a cosmetic change. Call Steve Carr or Rick Bonin at 813-416-2666.
Indian Motorcycle Factory Delivery Program
Published by May 10th, 2009 in Builders, Editorial and Events.
This program allows customers to order a motorcycle through one of the Indian dealerships and pick it up at the factory. Factory Delivery includes a personal VIP tour of the plant and bike delivery in the customer delivery area. During the tour, a member of the staff guides and explains to participants each step of the bike building process. Beginning in engine assembly and ending on the vehicle build line, new buyers get to observe Indian crews at work. Also visit the gorgeous Indian Flagship Store down the road (also, great restaurants around, ask Melissa). All 2009 Indian Chief models are eligible for this delivery program. Indian factory and headquarters are located in Kings Mountain, just west of Charlotte N.C. Indian Motorcycle Factory Delivery.
In New Orleans, met with Sylvester Stallone who stopped by to check the bikes at the Easyriders Bike Show. Reminded him that I did a riding scene with him in the movie The Specialist. He remembers… Falcon Motorcycles will release a new collection of ten custom motorcycles. The “Kestrel” currently being built, is number two in the collection, and will be their last custom Triumph. Future Falcon motorcycles will include a custom Norton, BSA, Ariel, Matchless, Royal Enfield Velocette, Brough Superior and Vincent. During Sturgis Bike Week, Buffalo Chip owner Rod “Woody” Wodruff offers an Aerosmith 5-Star Backstage Tour that will get you all of the answers you’ve always wanted about the rock-n-roll legends pre concert warm-up. See the steps that Steven Tyler and the gang will take up to the stage. Hear from the hospitality manager that just finished serving up the hot meal. Get an insider’s scoop on what went on throughout the day to make this Aerosmith concert like no other ever seen before.
Warning. After 5 minutes, can make you feel dizzy. Skilled rider, but please, do it at the track. The bike is a Husqvarna 610.
MeanStreet Awesome Looking New Bagger Legs And Bells
Published by May 9th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Suspension.
These legs are made for heavy riding and look very good to me. MeanStreet just released 2 new models, Avalon on the left and Predator on the right that you can customize and embellish with one of their 3 Bell designs (from left to right: Beam, Amen and Facet Face). As usual, you can order in highly polished aluminum, chrome or black anodizing. Try to mix polish or chrome with black anodizing for a cool contrast when choosing a set of legs with a set of bells. MeanStreet Products.
Live From New Orleans Bike Week.
Published by May 9th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.New Orleans Bike Week is already nicknamed the Bikers Mardi Gras. The only bikers event: where the well known builders and the new generation (belonging to the Limpnickie Lot Tour) exhibit their custom bikes in the same building; where you see double burn outs, (meaning with change of rear wheel by a pro Nascar team to burn twice the rubber in half the time); where top Louisiana Chefs abandon their kitchens to have their pictures taken with the industry celebrities; where Custom Builders team up with famous Chefs to cook in a “Chrome Kitchen”; where, me and my fellow culinary experts, have to eat 6 fabulous Cajun meals in 2 hours 3 days in a row to decide who will get the title of Iron Chef (pun intended) of New Orleans Bike Week; where…. A successful inaugural Bike Week? Yes. An event like no others? Yes. An event to renew next year? Yes.
Tribute To John Britten. Backyard Motorcycle Visionary.
Published by May 7th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
Considered at the time of his death the best motorcycle engineer in the world, designing and building motorcycles and much more, John Britten gave us a fabulous lesson of perseverance, courage, humility and creativity. If you never watched it, this 5- part documentary (total 7 h 15 minutes) shot in his home in New-Zealand is a must see for all the pros and backyard builders around the world. By the time he died of cancer in 1995, John Britten had become a household name. See the video by going HERE (thanks Pepper).
“Hi Cyril, I wanted to let you know that I just this morning received Nevada DMV certification for the first Online Motorcycle Traffic School in the nation. My company is American Motorcycle Traffic School, LLC. The course took just about 10 months to get it complete an approved by the state. It met all the criteria of a regular driving school for demerit and sentence reduction, but was created specifically for motorcyclists. Though no one likes to get a ticket, at least folks can now take a DMV class specifically for bikers. The format is audiovisual. Hopefully, folks won’t be put to sleep listening to me talk for four hours. There are a lot of good information and graphix as well. My goal in creating this course was to help riders remain vertical while reducing their demerits. I hope to expand the course to all fifty states in the next 12 months” Stephen Shaw.
Biking, Partying And Showing Off In New Orleans
Published by May 7th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Events.
CEO (Chief Entertaining Officer) Jay Allen kicked off the Inaugural New Orleans Bike Week with a pre-party in his new Broken Spoke, as usual mixing good bands with pretty girls while Charlie was spinning like a mad man inside his Wall Of Death. Just before, Jay showed me his pride, a 46 Indian (featured here) holder of a world record acquired last year in Bonneville (passing the cap of 140 mph). John Green from Easyriders Events was all smiles showing me all the custom bikes already set up for his 3-day Bike Show. New Orleans was starving for a major bike event. And it shows by the number of people already flocking for 5 days of celebration at the Morial Convention Center and Broken Spoke Saloon.
I was reading a study showing that overall 72% of online shoppers’ claim that they would rather surf online than go to retail store to get information about a product. In addition to ease of finding products online and shopping time reduction, consumers can shop without time limitation with 24-hr access at their convenience because the Web never closes. Consumers can also exchange information online through chatting and discussion blogs and forums to help them make wise consumer decisions. But it is important that Web sites have good product descriptions because it is one of the significant conditions that satisfy consumers. And it is easy to imagine that motorcycle products belong to the category of goods where shopper confusion may be extremely high. Continue reading ‘Great Ways To Do Online Shopping’
This suspension air system let you control your ride height and rebound on your FLH or FLHT 85-09. It is easily adjusted at the flip of a switch for complete comfort for the rider’s weight with or without passenger, and road conditions. Minimum retracted is 10/11” maximum extended is 12/13”, so letting you do an adjustment up to 2”. The system includes two air cylinder machined from 6061 T-6billet aluminum, an air-control valve, DOT approved 1/4″ line and fitting, plus switch harness, hardware and line cutter. One year warranty and made in the U.S.A. Call on my behalf Mike Ferris at 562-941-2451mentioning special offer of $1395 instead of $1595. Platinum Air Suspension.
Limpnickie Lot Rolls Into New Orleans. Me Too.
Published by May 6th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
The 2009 Limpnickie Lot Tour is attending The Inaugural Bike Week New Orleans. May 7th, 8th & 9th. Nash Motorcycles, Bling’s Cycles, Led Sled Customs and Bare Knuckle Choppers will be headlining this leg of the tour and The Broken Spoke Saloon may never be the same again. Check out their latest custom builds, new parts line and spend an afternoon hanging with the new cool kids of the American Motorcycle Scene.
On Sunday May 10th you can sign up for the Limpnickie Lot / Cycle Source Magazine Custom Chopper Show, inside New Orleans Broken Spoke. Sign up is from 9am till noon and the trophies will be awarded at 3pm. There will be trophies awarded top 3 places in 8 different class. And of course I will stop by to check the bikes.
Wheel 3D Surfacing Technology
Published by May 6th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Wheels.
These 2 new wheel models from Pickard USA feature their signature 3D surfacing technology. Each spoke is meticulously designed and 3D-machined with the latest CAD/CAM technology.
The company states that both the “High Roller” (left) and “Fat Boy (right)” are priced competitively with other 2D wheels on the market. Fitments available for most HD models including 2009’s. Pickard USA
Baker Reinvents The Kick Start For All Bikes.
Published by May 5th, 2009 in Customs, Driveline and Editorial.
New and very interesting. You know that there is an on and off love affair with kick starting a bike. And since a couple of years, with the retro trend it’s torrid love all over again. Kick starting is kind of a ritual reserved to true bikers. Nothing screams “look how cool I am” more than climbing atop a bike, kicking that pedal down with all your might, and hearing the engine roar to life below you. And people around you love the spectacle of a biker doing his kick starting ceremonial. You never saw a crowd assemble to watch a dude push an electric starter button…. Continue reading ‘Baker Reinvents The Kick Start For All Bikes.’
Winning A Brass Balls Bobber For $19.95
Published by May 5th, 2009 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
The base price of this Model I Bobber is $15,995. But Brass Balls Bobbers teamed up with IronWorks Magazine and offers it as a very unique giveaway bike.
To get a chance to win it, simply subscribe or renew for $19.95 your subscription to the Magazine. Fill up the IronWorks simple form by jumping HERE.
