Jeff Comp

This past weekend brought me back to the old middle school and high school stomping grounds. Back to a place where I played more games of one on one basketball than my high top Jordans could handle. There was one summer that I worked with Chris and went to the gym with Chris and played basketball with Chris EVERYDAY. It got to the point where we actually stopped talking for about a week because we were so sick of each other. that is true friendship.

Chris's dad was always into bikes. Harleys in specific. It always seemed weird yet really enticing whenever he rolled up on his old favorite that he named 'Elvis', with his tiny helmet and cigar still lit. But we still never really paid much attention to it all. That was HIS thing.

Fast forward 14 years out of high school and Chris has told his dad about me being into bikes and told him about the blog, yadda, yadda. Jeff (chris's dad) and I got in touch in trying to figure out Chris's bachelor party and we started talking bikes, it was pretty nice to connect to someone you've known for a long time, but really didn't have that full connection with because, well, i was a kid back in the day....

Last week Jeff emailed me that he was getting rid of some old biker mags, mostly old Easy Riders and wanted to know if I wanted them. I of course said yes and on saturday, I headed over to his house to say hi, catch up, talk about riding, grab some fun little parts and a stainless spoke kit for a start hub and the milk crate of weird/awesome/amazing magazines. Here are some pictures from the hour or so.

Jeff built this shed behind their house while we were in college. After Chris returned home from teaching in China, he lived on the top floor.

once again, its amazing how something as stupid as these two wheel contraptions can bring people together.

Kickstart Cycle Supply is saving Japan

There are two types of people that I have met through motorcycles. People that know Walter and people that don't. honestly, that's about it.....if you've gone on any of the bigger runs, or been to an event east coast or west, you've probably seen (heard) him. If he likes you, then you're all set. you are golden. if he doesn't like you, you're screwed. If he's not sure what to think of you, he will tell you, and then the ball is in your court.

He's doing the right thing and has made some limited t-shirts to help the global relief for Japan. As you know, they are in a state of ruin right now and honestly every little bit helps.

check out what you can do to help right here.

He just moved his Kickstart Cycle Supply shop to a new location in South Hackensack. Its a great location for him compared to the old barn especially since the new spot has indoor plumbing and a toilet! (even if Billy Joel isn't too keen on the town...) Saturday brought me over there to catch up with Walter and co. crap iphone pics to follow.

Walter is to shovel heads like the Japanese are to knuckle heads. He has more of those 70's and early 80's motors and bikes than I've seen at Moreland choppers. If you need work done on your bike and live in the NY/NJ area, give him a call. Oh, and in Walter's words...."don't be an asshole, buy one of the Japan t-shirts..."

Loisaida Blues

This was an action packed weekend with some iPhone pictures to prove it. Finally I'll have some postings this week.

Finished off with a nice ride over to Freeman's Barber Shop on Rivington to get my fade and neck line cleaned up. Dustin told me about this place, and while my first experience gave me hives due to the faux hipster NYC attitude, I've really come to like my buddy Miles there and it turns out the people are actually nice. Just intimidating in a 'you know they are gonna talk shit about me the second I leave this place' sort of way. Moral of the story, if you need advice of where to go in order to be/look/feel fancy, ask Dustin.

Met up with Malcolm who was also on the Lower East Side. While he was on a mission to determine the age old question, "are those leggings or jeans she is wearing???", he still had time to meet up for a second or 3,600. We headed over to Self Edge and ran into Allan Abillar who graciously gave us a tour of the basement of the shop and a history lesson in the art of chainstitching. Check it out here. Be careful when you hang out with Malcolm though....he's always listening. Even when it seems he is only talking about himself...

Oh, and finally got the bike into 5th gear on the manhattan bridge.

Stay tuned for some pics from the new and improved Kickstart Cycle Supply shop and some info about his fundraiser t-shirts that are benefitting the people of Japan. Pics to come tomorrow. yes!!!!!!

indian, japan, england

more triumphant than a triumph.

more indian than royal.

two great looking bikes that share space with me down at Machina Cycles in Gowanus.

there aren't many bikes that I see and want to just hop on and ride. But that Kawasaki W650 is one of them....of course that headlight COULD be even bigger still though. no.

the biggest thing that always blows my mind is just how many fully stock bikes there are here in NYC. I know that you have to have turn signals, a horn, a speedo??, etc, in order to pass inspection, but still, lets make a few changes.

locks and locks

this is what has been keeping me busy lately.

Casting, Striking, Punching, Soldering, Chain-making, Sampling, Approving, Comparing to Drawings-ing, and Approving

Sometimes the rivets are struck/stamped into the little pieces of sterling silver or gold just as details. and sometimes they are all hand assembled. I like the ones that are hand assembled.

Last week I was up in our Rhode Island manufacturing facility and also visited our raw materials supplier. It feels great to know that not only does our raw precast bars and grain come from a supplier in the US, but that all of our manufacturing is done here and some in Europe. I love being able to visit the vendors in a day and sit down with the model makers and discuss changes that need to be made and then see the changes happen.

the weather

today is supposed to be 70 degrees in NYC. sounds glorious. tomorrow back to 53. not terrible, but not 70 on the weekends. While riding around the city is fun, I was thinking about heading across a bridge or two and hitting up some suburban tree-lined hills for a little ride this weekend to visit the parents.

problem is that the sp23 needs some new front brakes as well. So, I SHOULD drive the car out there and change the front brakes at my dad's house, but we'll see about that.

mean streets

this picture best describes what it feels like to ride a motorcycle in Brooklyn. hectic. you have to have your wits about you. The longer I live here, the more props I give to the bicycle messengers of the greater NYC boroughs. If I feel this way and I have a motor to push me through traffic AND brakes, I can't imagine the fixie sensation as a cab slams on its brakes and there's nowhere to go.

On a lighter note, here is a young guy on an "old school" style bike. That seems to be the go to explanation for people when they see malcolm's bike. "you, dat shit is like olllld school...." or "yeah, I'm feelin' that old schoooool sheeeeiit".

2006 is technically kinda old school these days...

Paperweight

That's what a motorcycle with a dead battery is in NYC.

check out more from our weekend adventures on Malcolm's stupid blog.

the biggest difference between the east and west coast is that we don't talk shit about our friends here on the east side. So in order to make sure that we keep it west coast, Malc and I will be sure to bash each other. But we'll do it publicly rather than the very Los Angeles style of keeping it behind closed doors and then pretending to be boys.

Saturday night in SoHo

We'll just leave these here in the bike lane.

Commuter

this used to be a Felt F70. I guess it still is, but it now survives the streets rather than trying to rule them. fatter or xc tires and some fenders are next.

this can become that

It's pretty amazing how something that looks pretty cool, but just OK can turn into something that looks really great. crusty to lusty. old pics that I've probably put on the blog before, but not together. work has been busy so haven't had time to explore and snap many new photos.

so gangsta

it doesn't matter if you've already seen this. you need to watch it again. and listen. because it is amazing....

especially the BROWNSVILLE part!

Under the BQE

my original plan was to ride into Manhattan, visit Allan at Self Edge and then go 'cd' shopping to find the full length Uffie album 'Sex, Dreams, and Denim Jeans' as my mission for the day. Just something to do. But Allan is no longer working there and is now over here at Nutty Rice only on weekdays (congrats on getting weekends back!!!!) and the sky started to look unhappy.

So instead I rode around Brooklyn to enjoy the 40+ degree weather. Hit up Frankels in Sunset Park, Music Matters in Park Slope, and then just rolled around Gowanus and Red Hook making noise. It's always interesting how different the streets look and are accessible on powered 2 wheel vehicle vs riding my bicycle or walking.

The shorter excursion turned out to be OK, since I got a call from some of the boys, headed to the deli, grabbed some 40's of Colt 45 and started our night at 6PM. Happy Birthday Comp!

Chris "laaaahd 'ah mercy' Collins

Chris Collins can be a man of very few words. Usually happiest sitting in the back corner and observing rather than being at the center of attention, he's always thinking....He really truly is one of the style masters when it comes to building bikes for me. He has more knowledge than most when it comes to motorcycles, but doesn't flaunt it or really even want to talk about it. Unless you get to know him.

Lately, he has sort of disappeared off the blogosphere with his lack of postings, but his site still has one of my favorite blogrolls out there so I'm constantly on there clicking his links. Check out his Natty Dread Blog here at 70moto.

One of my favorite things about Chris when it comes to bikes is his personal philosophy that his bike is "never done". We have a unique crew of characters that we would hang with in socal and sure enough, Chris was always thinking about what was next for his Panhead. In the time I've known him, the bike has taken on at least 3-4 incarnations and I just got an email from him saying he was already thinking about what was next.

His bike was also the first foot clutch, hand shift bike I've ridden. He just said, you need to just ride it to learn how to use it. BUT I had to kick start it first. Did that, then struggled my way through the gears and onto the roads. It was fun. First time riding without a front brake, first time riding with this shifting, and first time riding with mid pegs so high, my legs barely bent far enough to get on them. He wasn't worried about me, he wasn't worried about the bike. He gladly let me take it away from him.

He was probably thinking about how the bike looked.....and thinking about what was next for it.

(for the record, he's not rastafarian.....but I fully support everyone assuming he is and telling him that he is until he cuts his hair)

there's something happening here...

received a little package from Kim last night. Opened it and within was this mug. This morning's coffee never tasted so great. There's a lot of excitement going on in good ole Carlsbad right now....

....and it reminded me to listen to this song by the amazing Buffalo Springfield.

(you can feel free to ignore the smothers brothers weird interruptions)

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down