the chameleon

A sunday ride with malcolm on the chameleon.

Gowanus over the Manhattan Bridge to the East Village, then down Delancey over the Williamsburg Bridge to Williamsburg, then down the BQE and back home.  All in all a nice little ride.  Even got the bike into 4th gear!  wow.  A nice day for a little jaunt around this city.

I can barely reach the bars on his bike, yet he has no problems.... I'm pretty sure that's how I looked on my sportster which was 4-5" shorter in wheelbase.

Euromotos Zurich

Another shop that I wandered into was right behind the Triumph dealer.  I thought at first that it was just their in-house mechanics, but then I realized that they are a separate custom shop. 

It was almost like, "buy you bike THERE, and then bring it HERE and we'll make it cool".

After poking around, I introduced myself to Mischa Ernes, who is one of the owners of Euromotos Zurich.  We talked about bikes, riding, etc, and then he showed me one of his favorite builds.  It was in the middle of the shop and I couldn't get any good pictures of it, so he emailed me a few pics that he took himself. 

One of the really cool details was this little speedo that he bought from a  company in Germany.  I couldn't zoom in to see the name, but I'll get it.  A really nice way to keep your knowledge of your speed without the stock one.  This bike was just clean all around.  And while the changes weren't major, it made the bike look great.

Spezialwerkstatt für Harley Davidson

Upon my walkings-around, I came upon what seemed to be the "moto district" of Zurich.  There was a Triumph dealer on the corner and then this small Harley Davidson sign next to a small alley.  Naturally, I walked down to explore.

I first noticed the Buell outside of his shop windows and Markus invited me inside to chat.  He was working on a few cone shovel builds. One of which the owner took a spill on and dented the tank, so instead of replacing the tank, Markus rounded out the dent and added a cool logo to the tank.  He used to build mostly pro street style Harleys, but these days it has been more service than anything else.  We spoke about how hard it has been for the old bike building market in Switzerland because of the emissions laws and the relatively high labor rate.  Much like most of the US guys, he makes more money and deals with less hassle doing oil changes, tune ups and bolt ons than full builds (unless its for a friend, then the work is worth it).

After a little while he pointed out back to another door outside of his shop where he keeps his bikes and told me that I "should see his personal favorite".  We walked outside, down a bit and then back in through a different set of doors.  Lo and behold, there was a pristine '47 Knucklehead.  He bought it from a german guy he met in San Diego when he was over there visiting his girlfriend and had it shipped back to Zurich.  It was a full on chopper and Markus went through the whole process of restoring it back to stock.  She's a beauty.

Motorcycle City http://www.prostreet.ch/

Zurich

This is my 3rd time in Zurich and so far the best.  I've never had much time here to explore anything other than the 3 blocks or so around my hotels when I've visited so this is a nice departure.  Spent the day yesterday walking, talking, and meeting people.  It was great.  At 400,000 people, its the biggest city in Switzerland.  So larger than Providence, RI but smaller than Portland, OR.  I chose these two cities because they also have a river running through them.

My favorite part is all of the seating and hanging out areas that they have created along the river.  People just post up, lay out, and hang out along the water. They have diving platforms, swimming areas, and little docks that overhang the water throughout the entire city, from the Lake at the end all the way down to the west end where all the punks hang out.

The architecture here ranges from 13th century to mid 20th century modern.  All in the same block.  Its quite fantastic to take in.

mike and flyrite and friday

summer fridays...all we have to look forward to in the corporate city sometimes.

took a nice little ride from the shop in gowanus to williamsburg to visit Mike Lucena at work.  Mike is a real sweet dude.  He likes to smile and while he looks like he can kick your ass, he probably won't.  BUT he definitely can.  I only mess with him until he gives me 'the look'.  Then I stop and tell a joke.

and if worse comes to worse, just buy him a croqueta or medianoche sandwich and everything will be ok again.

check out his work HERE or on the arms, legs, and every other body part of people all over the city.

Shovel Manhattan Swingarm Sexy

That's what I think. I see this bike parked on the street every once in a while. Makes me want to build a swingarm bike with a few tweaks.

Born Free

Anyone shipping/tucking/trailering a bike round trip from the northeast out to born free?

Internet Bro: "yo man, you should just ride it. That's what real men do"
Me: "I know."
Internet Bro: "then why don't you do that, bro?"
Me: "ugh here we go. 1. I don't have the extra time to take off work to allow the days it will take for said ride and 2. The days I am taking are reserved for father/son time."
Internet Bro: "you should just ride."
Me: "Nevermind"

Now that we got that out of the way...hit me up!

I Hate Seeing This

NYC streets. Cars. Knocking shit over.

Barclays Center Tour

This past Saturday morning, we were invited to a tour of the under-construction Barclays Center by our friend Asmita who works for Shop Architects. It was super impressive to see the thousands of weathered steel panels that they designed to cover the facade of the building with and discuss how they were made, assembled and installed.

Most importantly, I got to see the floor with the ice rink in place.  Unfortunately they didn't work out the seats situation for an ideal layout when the Islanders move to the city and become the Brooklyn Warriors full-time, but they'll make it work....

Oh and the views from the roof outside and the catwalk inside were breath taking.  Enjoy.