NEW SEAT and FENDER....ready for a beer or 6

I often get requests for just a regular side shot of the bike, not on a slant or 3/4 view or all photoshopped, so here it goes. with the new seat and re-trimmed and painted fender.

(I actually never get these requests....but I figured I would post some pictures that I took in front of my garage door anyway)

Overall I'm happy with the seat. I now know that I can hand hammer out a seat pan to my liking, weld on some t-nuts and a front mounting tab, pick the desired padding and bring it to an upholsterer to make my dream a reality. A good learning process indeed.

shiny fender....ahhhhhh

I'll post more pictures of the seat itself soon, but I just wanted to get it all mounted up so I could go for a ride. Unfortunately, the new seat led me to wanting to change the shape of my rear fender to be a bit more motocross inspired (like my old sporty's rear fender). I started with the rear I was using and just trimmed some material away.

Then I got into painting it and did it sort of right. sanded the surface super smooth, painted it black, did around 7 or 8 coats of clear, wetsanded till she was smooth again, used polishing compound and then waxed its ass.......

close that gap

don't know who made it.....don't know whose photo it is. I lifted it from my favorite blog DEN OF SPORTSTERS.

edit - added friday at 4:30pm

errrrrr.......thank you Jake from none other than BOLTSACTION to point me in the right direction. maybe everyone has seen this little article before, but man, this bike is worth looking at again and again

HERE: NICE! MOTORCYCLES

end edit

I'm digging on other people who are closing that gap between the gas tank and seat and addressing the fact that the stock frame is just slightly weird shaped in the seat area. Either work with it, or work against it, as long as you're working on it.

If you have any info about it, let me know so I can give credit, where it's due. Give the credit ya'll, where it's due....like Gang Starr.

Urban Assault Street Tracker

new paint job. new Brooks Imperial. new Fizik bartape. old everything else.

was just a pile of parts that looked at me in disgust last week. now I can get back to riding it around town.

I need to take a few links out of the chain and straighten out the front derailleur and it will be good to go. Its been a while since I've been on the road bike and the geometry was a bit squirrely at first. Might have to swoop up a set of cyclocross tires for it to take the beating that it is about to embark on.

After a few coats of clear after my scummy sharpie logos, I can say that they are on there for good. Or at least until anything bigger than a bicycle takes it out.

slow...

some content coming soon. had some family in town, went to comic con, met some storm troopers and R2D2, saw Spoon at a secret show ON THE FIELD at Petco park, went to the press boxes (aka spoon's dressing room) at Petco, visited some friends in Orange County and at Oakley, then went to a Padres/Dodgers game. It's been a busy few days.

road bike re-build

This project has been sitting on the back burner for a while and today it finally got under way. I loved my felt F-70 when I first got it, but over time its Yellow and Black color scheme veered away from my liking.

BUT that's ok. I grabbed a can of trusty Frazee IVORY TUSK spray paint and after tearing it down (and lazily leaving the cranks on) I went to town with the paint. The most important thing to remember is that even though your road bike has sat in pieces unused for some time, there was a time when you loved it. When you couldn't wait to get off of work to ride it home, or home from work to go for a ride or to wake up at 6am to go for a nice 30-40 miler. And with just some paint and few new parts, your bike can be back to being your 'baby'.

Who knew there was a secondary use for the crap motorcycle stand that usually just sits in the corner of my garage!?

I have the rest of the new components ready to go along with my barrage of Brooks saddle and bar tape choices so my mind is racing as far as the final direction. I can say that this bike is staying with a triple up front. GRANNY GEAR????? you ask! Yeah, I have no shame that I like technology and gearing to help me ride around. And while I could switch to the much more accepted double with the compact crankset, I have this one and it works. so there.......poopy to you! This whip is going to be a full 27 speeds of fury.

Gonna run some 105 shifters and front derailleur and an Ultegra rear and some random Alex A-Class wheels that I have laying around the garage. For flair I'll run some light mint green KNOG frogs for lights and either a set of Crankbrothers Candies or some MKS Custom Nuevo flats with toe clips.....not sure yet.

I'll post more pics as the build progresses with the good camera.

public bikes

Inspirational starter and all around good guy Rob Forbes' new project is PUBLIC BIKES.

Rob has a gift for great design and their new bicycles are no exception. Check them out here:

Bike Models

They are also having a sale on some shoes and other clothing and accessories. Do yourself a favor and check out what they've got going on in San Francisco....even if its just on the internet.

Crappy picture, Fun ride

Little jaunt down to North Park tonight. Had to stop for gas around 11pm on my way home.

not a big deal

just been getting stircrazy and sitting around and being busy. you ever have those weeks?

The future is now....

this is my boarding pass for my flights this week.
scan it at security and scan it at the gate while boarding. all on the iphone. no paper. save a tree.

...start reducing your carbon footprint while burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel.

Campaign

Stone, they are official biting your style from the BEAR cologne ad:

seating arrangements

I've never really loved the seat situation that I have on the sportster. I know that I haven't found any stock seats that I like and I have yet to see an aftermarket seat that fits my wacko criteria:

1. low profile

2. blends the lines from the tank to the shock mount area of the frame

3. gets rid of the _flat/weird_ transition of the backbone to the seat area

4. holds you on the bike while riding

So, last weekend I picked up this perfectly great dyna/fxr seat for 10bucks 5bucks and went to work on it. Pics of the progress coming soon.