Hollywood Hobbs

this truck is parked right near my office.  Every time I walk by I think of Jake.  Go see what he has going on over here at Bolts Action.

"not too fancy, but always delicious...." super weird, but I could see him saying that.

getting primed

got this picture from Bob with an update on the paint for the tins.  Rear fender seam has had some bondo applied, sanded and then primer applied!  He'll just be adding a new black stripe there, and that's better than the bare steel rusting.

brake, STAY....stay.....good boy

This has been a long time coming.  Ever since the bike was built last June actually.  When Chris picked up the frame from the powder coater and said...."wait, shit, I forgot to weld the brake stay tab on first....we'll just do it before Born Free and repaint that small section of the frame, no worries".  Now, I was in no condition or position to complain.  He had dropped off the frame for 24 hour turn around at the powder coater so that the day I flew in Carlsbad it would be ready for the final build.

Well, 9 months later and a summer, fall and half a winter of riding with a front brake only, and I've finally gotten around to it.  My logic has been that downshifting was my rear brake and my front brake was "the one that mattered anyway."

Clean/Remove paint, weld, grind, shorten some linkage piece from an old set of sportster forward controls, mount, look, heat rod, bend to a fun shape, paint, remount, done.

Now all I need to do is get a brake line from VW Paradise to the right length and call it a day.  Time to measure that out.  Maybe Kim and I will swap.  He gets the line and sends it to me with his 1000 mile boots and I'll cover the resoling...?

Main Seal Replacement

The shovel has been leaking oil since its second or third ride.  After cleaning it a bunch and watching where the oil was coming from, it looked like the main seal on the crankshaft was the culprit.  Not too bad to get to, just remove the front pulley and belt, pull off spacers, pull off the rotor (magnets are strong!), unscrew the stator, then mangle the existing seal and pull it out. 

I hope this works.  After reviewing what needed to be done with big Oscar in National City and leaving his garage with the new seal in hand a few months ago, he advised me to try installing the seal backwards (cup side out) since I'm running an open belt.  WELL, that's what I did, so we'll see if it works. Too late now...

Most of the time its me, my clymer guide, a few texts or phone calls and my two buddies trial and error.  Maybe this is what I love about it all.  Learning as you go.  If it worked, then you applied what you knew or learned.  If it didn't, then you will learn, albeit with extra time and money.

Tonight's Shop Music:
The Velvet Underground
The Band
ZZ Top
The White Stripes

up all night

this was definitely a great episode of "Up All Night".  Not only did they mock the term "BEAST" (well, its the new 'epic', according to Will Arnett's character), they restored a sweet vintage honda.  And in the scene when they realize they don't have any tools and go to buy them, they return only with leather jackets and helmets.....pretty perfect.

another great quote line:
(i'll use the actor's real names since its better that way)
Will Forte: "man, she purrs, you should take her out for a spin!!!"
Will Arnett: "yeah, yeah, I should...."
and then he lets the bike die and offers the other two to take it out for its maiden voyage.


elton john, crocodile rock...

fenders are a trip, man

Here are some pics that Special '79 Jay sent me and posted when he was narrowing the rear fender for the shovel.  For some reason the comments on that post got out of control from some guy, hdferg, most of which I still don't understand.

Either way, Jay cut about an inch out of the width of the fender for me while keeping as much of the original paint as possible.  During the process, we realized that the striping on the fender wasn't symmetric on both sides.  I'd had the tins for a year before this and never even realized it.  The tank is symmetric, but the fender, nope.  the 70's.....man.

On that note, here's a link to the now de-classified documents explaining the testing that the military did on soldiers for the effects of LSD from 1964.  They were declassified in '76 and are now posted on the internet for all to read.  

I can't wait to see how everything looks all touched up and glossy.  I want to see the time-aged gold/green come alive.

break it.....Down!

well, not really, but tearing it down, yes.  Little by little to finish all of the things that I never got to when the bike was built in the week before last year's Born Free.

The lift in the shop was occupied by another bike, so I worked in my 'slice of heaven' spot for the evening.  awesome start.  Nothing like NOT having a table to lay out your tools on or a proper amount of space to look at the mess you're making.

Either way, the puzzle was solved.  The little "oh, we'll just use a hex here and an allen there" things were reminded of as I was trying to get the rear fender off.  It only required the following:
Sissy Bar removal
which required the rear axle removal
which required the exhaust removal
which then resulted in removing the rear wheel to get to the front mount
then, some light re-assembly

well, tins were dropped off with Bob Dakota for some sanding and new clear coating to protect them from their 30+ years of age.

Next up: lots.