looking back on the end of the summer

we are having one of the mildest winters that I can ever remember on the east coast....which is making New York City actually the best city in the world as of right now.  If winters were always like this, lets not forget last winter though, this would be the perfect seasonal climated place to live.

Friday night I layered up and headed to Kickstart Cycle's Pothole Social in Lodi, NJ.  We watched the screening of the EDR movie from last year's event and it definitely looked like fun.  Maybe next time I'll have to muster up the time off and join the crew.  ALSO, it was the magazine release part for Greasy Kulture's newest issue, so the party was a triple win for all! GK is one of my favorite biker mags right now.  Content is always great. 

The Social was at cool bar right of Rt. 80, only about 4 miles from the George Washington Bridge so I figured the ride wouldn't be too cold.  And it was right.  Sure, the thermometer read 38 degrees when I left Brooklyn, but with warm clothes, a nice leather jacket and the full face helmet, it was fine.  

Of course, I reminded myself of the day that Malcolm and I rode up to the Seaweed Yacht Club though a few months ago.  Same first half of the route, except instead of getting on 80, we headed up the Palisades.  OK, I'll admit, that time of year is much better.  Sweating through the manhattan traffic to be rewarded by the trees and the open road while riding along the Hudson River.  Yeah, that was nice.

another re-posted video DOG!

while I wouldn't usually expect to find this over at hated of the world, they had it! and it is awesome. so here is; bizzle gets some dunkers....in HD. (not sure if its really HD)



is it bad that it makes me want to give up all other hobbies and become a muppet style puppeteer but with live animals? yeah it is....

ready and waiting

prepped the sportster for its final night here in the BK. the new owner is on his way from PA (you see that Kim!). He is coming with a friend that is actually bringing a frame for my buddy Larry who shares the shop with me...small world. and keeping the Lancaster to Brooklyn bike quota in check.

spin around the block, power washed, degreased the motor, cleaned out the carb, lubed up the throttle, detailed the tins, scotch brited the pipes and said thank you for always being reliable and never letting me down. godspeed sporty, godspeed....(whatever that means) .

Here's to a world without the reliability of a bike that starts with the push of a button and doesn't fall apart.

Pannikin Coffee Run

Took the truck down to Pannikin for a few double lattes and to meet up with Chris and Dustin for some good conversation. Ran into mr. Todd Richards and caught up on life, his morning 'drop the kids off at school' routine, (that's literal, not the figurative dropping the kids off at the pool style joke), and we each started on our first coffee drink of the day. We assured one another that we would run into eachother again throughout the next few weeks.

I think I've got the solution down for the coffee to go when driving this beast. Bag up the coffee cup, tie a knot in said bag, drive the key through the knot and into the ignition and voila! Coffee cup holder.

yep. she's been getting plenty of rides...

...but she's still available.

hmmm.....

a bit more info back on this post! accepting offers!

2001 Sportster For SALE - Brooklyn

2001 Sportster 883

early 90's 2.2 gallon tank/pingel petcock

custom rear fender

custom made bars by Kim Boyle

Benchmark air cleaner

Benchmark breather bolts

custom formed, shaped, and upholstered seat

custom exhaust

chopped cam cover

chopped/polished/blasted front pulley cover

narrowed pegs

19"/16" shinko/avon tires

re-wired

new battery

super fun

reliable, starts with the push of a button.

email me for more info or if interested. mattlandman@gmail.com

clean california title.

ready to go.

the sheriff's gift

Last night was a fun time out to dinner with Chris and Lauren's families and I got to see Chris's dad, which of course reminded me of the milk crate of chopper gold or brass or copper, depending on how you sift through the pile. hell, some of it is just plain chopper/gross crap. But it reminded me that I never posted about it.

Well after looking through his various old t-shirts, MC patches, bike club photos, there sat the milk crate of late 80's and early 90's Easyriders.

My goal was to post a picture a week from the mags, but I've slacked. Here's a few that stood out so far.

80's hair in the 90's....or was that just early 90's hair? either way it is great, terrible, awesome, horrible.

this bike and pic are just great. Kim has some other pics of this bike on his flickr page.

now this one, I love for 2 reasons:

If you can't buy it, make it....great motto that we live by.

and

Steven Stone did a quick photo shoot on a road trip to Bear Lake, CA where he captured me in that same exact pose. except I think that mine exposed a bit more. That was the vegas trip where the SLC and Cali crews met up, ate chicken fingers at Jake's request, drank whiskey all night, and I wouldn't take my leather vest off the whole time. including swimming in Bear Lake.

Lastly, when going through the how-to section of one of the mags, I just happened to glance at this picture and see mr. Jim Waggaman on the right. We rented our band space for GYDO from Jim for years in Carlsbad. It was right on the beach. you could literally throw a stone across the PCH and hit the sand. on many a warm day, it was surfing and playing music and then after the sun set, back to the beach for midnight swimming sessions. I just received word that the old band space has been flattened to make way for the new luxury hotel that will be going up soon....sad, but it was bound to happen. Jim and I would talk bikes from time to time, but he was always doing his own thing, hanging out, fixing, doing body work on classic cars and painting giant chickens.

When I get some more free time, I'm either going to start scanning the pages I want to post, or just take better pictures of them. these are piss poor and I know it.

June 23rd 2010 - a look back

I do love New York City as a city on the whole. There is probably no better place in terms of accessibility, culture, history, and design. BUT I can see this whole cold thing getting old. I'm not complaining, its just the facts.

I'm looking forward to the spring and summer though and hoping to score some epic rides that can come close to the old stomping grounds, albeit with a change of scenery. Green leafy trees instead of palm trees. Grass instead of sand, hills instead of mountains, and old historic battle fields in place of barren deserts.

Here are some pictures that Chris Collins took after a day of working on his panhead's redux.

note the white/grey sky in the pics right near the beach and the beautiful blueness as you ride 1/2 mile inland. ahhhh.

Roller Assemble!!

Wassell is on it's way. Threw the sportster peanut on there just to mock it up. Still alot of kinks to work out and plenty of surprises ahead! But this whole winter downtime thing has been nice so far. This is the new frame with weld on and while it is WAY better than the last, it still has an imperfect geometry. Maybe try a 19" rear wheel and shorter front end to balance out the stance....oh and not sold on this wide glide on what will be such a narrow bike, but its what he had on his original bike. Hopefully when Jason stops by the shop he will like what he sees so far, even though its far from done.

random picture series

I have a bunch of pictures that I've never posted. Some from before I moved to NYC. Some from my cross country drive with Rufus. I'll be posting these over the next couple of days.

CB200 - next project potential

yeah, yeah, one bike at a time, I know. I still need to get that cross country shovel done. and with the amount of parts/work left its going to cost me the same amount as buying a CB200, buying raw materials and fabbing the parts. BUT, I can't help but dream about having one of these again, but as a great little city commuter bike.

I've already found a potential donor for around $800 that is located in north Jersey...

Here's a few photos of my 75 that I sold a few years ago:

loved those scrambler pipes

and here's a few for inspirational value:

lean, mean, light and breakneck moped speeds....that's what I'm talking about. and OK, maybe that Green one is a 350 with a 200 tank, but that 2nd one....the grey one, is 100% pure 200cc amazing.

I don't know what it is, but something about those center stands are just amazing. I need to search for one for the sporty.

DiEnda Run

Great write of the past weekend's trip on Hopper Mag over here. Check it out.

and yes it is true. Everyone in New York/New Jersey/New England hates everyone from California. Even though california Malcolm is fully welcomed into the group and I'm in a weird place on the line between being a west coaster and east coaster. word on the street is that there will be a coastal battle in the future.

pictures all stolen from hopper mag feature and all credit is due to Malcolm.

was fun and will be fun

I was thinking about bikes, as usual, last night and how much fun I had learning about mild customization on my 883R. That was a fun bike to work on and to ride.

The shovel has also been really fun to learn about customizing, but in a whole different way.

and after 3 years...

...we have installed the Baseboard Moulding in our house.

a HUGE thanks to Pat for letting me borrow your compressor and finish nailer. this project would never have happened so quickly/easily if I would have gone at it with a hammer instead. Also thanks to my neighbor "Dave from Rhode Island" for letting me use his Miter Saw. because using a circular saw to cut these angles sucked for the first hour.

While these pictures look like random shots.....well, they are, but they are pictures that include a house's rooms with baseboards. Which looks way better than what they were before with the holes in the drywall and weird paint lines and general un-finishedness.

Just in time to head east...

cleaned up and prepped

this morning we headed to the shop with some new bins to do some cleaning and organizing. Our area in the back was starting to get a bit messy and we were in need of getting our shit in order. After about 2 hours of dumping parts out of crates, cardboard boxes and buckets, we had given everything that was going to stay a proper home, made a good pile for the swap meet next weekend, AND added to the dumpster's trash collection. Some true chopper gold was tossed into that dumpster.

(I think I saw Chris just toss a few OG panhead cases and maybe a VL springer as well.....who needs that old shit anyway.........just kidding)

after that, Chris started the tear down of Annie's bike to prep the tank and fender for paint and the pipes for Chrome/Nickel plating. Here he is on the current favorite wheel at the shop, the big natural stone. Its like the miracle wheel for cleaning up welds and removing any blueing or discoloration from parts.

unfortunately, it can also be a bear to work with and along with its siamese partner in crime, the polishing wheel has been known to pull parts right out of your hands and send them on a voyage around the room.

molded plywood walking elephants

everyone (who knows me) will know that I love me some Eames plywood furniture. Especially the elephants that were re-released.

But this one is a cool different take on that. No, its not Eames, but it is bent and molded plywood and instead of being just something to sit on OR a rocker, you actually rock side to side and this little design marvel walks forward.

I love the idea of decorating and buying toys and furniture for a baby room. Especially when my wife isn't even pregnant yet.

Its like this "oh, we could totally have kids....I mean, look at these toys and the kids' style furniture, it will fit the look of the house...."

Is that a bad thing to admit?

yes, a roller

a few things to note:

no, it will NOT stay with a black gas tank
yes, there will be more parts on it
maybe it will be safe
(I don't think Boyle will let me ride it unless it passes his safety exam)

after 45 miles on my commute this morning...

...I can say that having even 1/2" of travel on a swingarm is WAAAY more comfy than running the struts.....I thought it felt the same on super familiar roads near my house, but man, a few doozies on the 5 north today and my back feels like someone put it in a compression chamber, not to mention the weird pain shooting down my right leg to my foot....

anyone got any 10" shocks laying around?

with an actual rigid frame, you have the room to put in seat springs which can even make a slight difference while the frame's geometry will also have a slight bit of 'give' but you can't run springs under a solo seat on a stock frame with struts. it just don't look right.