Mark Your Calendar

Invitation

Got an invitation to test ride the new Ducati Diavel. 

Fools.

Random

It is always a good feeling when you look through your phone photos and see a random shot from a day in the saddle. I'm planning on getting out again this morning and likely won't be back until supper time. Enjoy the good days while you can.

BOLO Stolen Bike

A friend on a cross country trip had his FJR1300 stolen last night in Las Vegas. 

DO NOT approach as they also now have his pistol.

Everyone in the western US keep an eye out and if you know someone out there, share this post. 

Hot Sauce returns next week.

Dual Sportster

Video description on youtube says it all.

Mini

I took the Viper out for a romp the other morning to grab a couple pics for a BamaRides tag game. Here are the results. Damn this little thing is fun and it really makes me want a proper dual sport.  

Coil Bracket

The old one broke...

so I made a new one. Lost a little bit of riding time on Sunday but saved a little coin by using some scrap on the work bench. All in a day's work.

Austin and Back, Part 2

 Valdez!

Artwork by Jon Meeks

 Burning out.

 Morning view over the water at the last campsite

So.Much.Want.

So I've read two really great reviews about this bike in as many weeks. Both commented that it may very well be the best do it all bike on the market: capable dual-sport, equip-able for touring and plenty of power for use as a track day weapon. The downside? At $15k+ it will easily stay in the just another dream category until there is a decent used market. When that happens my Sportster is either going to have to get it together or someone else may be sleeping in its spot in the garage. Either that or I will win the lottery and then we'll all get 1190s on me.

Model Behavior Part 2

A little more Christmas cheer came a bit late late from by buddy Soundwave. I scored this awesome Lego mini JT, bike and arcade machine and a hot sauce gift set from his wife Misty. Great friends, thank you.

OK...

Maybe the Sportster isn't a dirt bike. At this point I got off and it was able to stay upright without the kickstand. No, Don wasn't with me, I got into this mess all by myself.

What I See Imagery

Scored something new for the girls' playroom wall. They have been playing with my motorcycle models a lot lately so it seemed like a good idea. They dig it and now the room has a touch of class.
Check Kustom Jeff's stuff out here. Cool shots and excellent prices.

Speedo Relocation

The original plan was to cut the factory housing down or even ditch it completely and relocate the idiot lights and just get a generic top clamp. Trouble is, modern bikes use modern electronics like LED lights and printed circuit boards. Separating them would have been a major undertaking. The stock housing idea just was not going to achieve a clean, finished look so I grabbed the above top clamp with integrated light housing from Joker Machine.

The speedo was moved down to the frame with an Auto Meter tach bracket. The loom around the wiring harness had to be split open a bit to stretch to the new location. Again, this is very simple stuff.

Handlebars

When I first bought my Sportster, the previous owner was running wide glide apes and the control wiring was run inside the bars. The base width created an overhang over the front end which always bothered me. I ordered some black narrow apes that were pre-drilled and dimpled so I could run the wires inside with them as well. 

Like always, I get a bit nervous about cutting the wiring harness at the quick disconnects and try and get the wires out of the connect blocks unsuccessfully. As has become my standard procedure when doing this operation, I cut the wires at the blocks and solder and crimp new pins into new blocks from an electronics store to maintain some semblance of factory operation.  

Soldering the pins on and the new blocks in white.

In addition to the new bars, I switched to a bar-end mirror on the left side and some Anderson grips. Much to the chagrin of a couple riding buddies, the hand tooled leather grips that have followed me over a couple bikes are not going back on this one. I just didn't feel like they fit the vibe I had in my head for these changes. I'm sure they will see use in the future but not on this bike.

Torn Down

Taking things apart is usually the easy step. Keeping everything together and remembering how it all goes back together is the hard part. After doing a few bike projects, you'll get pretty good at the ins and outs of it. Everyone has their tips and tricks. From painter's tape labeling to zip-lock bags, I have seen many different approaches and use a lot of them. At this point, I was just glad to have it all apart. Once I stepped back and looked at it, deciding where to start was kind of stressing me out. I was working on a self-imposed deadline trying to make a ride. I made my list and tried to attack it logically. This served me well. Again, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

After

Simple cosmetic changes, small on their own but together they make a pretty big difference. In the next few weeks I'll detail what all was done, from the easy to the fairly complex. I've gotta say, I am pretty stoked on the end result.

Barber's Vintage Festival 2013

Once again it was an excellent year. I spent so much time hanging out with folks I don't get to see ofter enough and meeting new people that I didn't see any of the races, any of the special events or anything but the swap meet area really. Thanks to the shine, rum and cold beers a lot of it was a blur. It was great and I even bought a little over an 8th of a minibike. After a couple weeks it ended up in the garage and I've been riding...a lot.

Special thanks to the Inbreds RC for making me feel at home and giving me a place to crash. Also to the Haints for a great party and Lowbrow for the Coctagon. It was great meeting the men of MHT and kicking it with the BamaRides crew. Seriously, if you don't go to this event you are completly missing out.

 

For Sale and Events

I have a couple friends with bikes for sale so here they are. 

02 sporty 883. has XR1200 shocks, Progessive springs in front, SS braided brake lines, EBC pads on semi floating rotors up front, Screaming Eagle stage 1 jetting with a K&N filter, Cycle Shack slip-ons, Mustang Daytripper seat, Avon tires, SS braided/teflon lined clutch cable. also have a set of crash bars that are not pictured.
http://bham.craigslist.org/mcy/4167330797.html 

There's also a couple events coming up so here are the flyers on those. 

Revvin' For Research

I know some folks aren't big on charity rides and frankly, they aren't really my bit either. That said, I was at Heart of Dixie HD and saw the flyer for this ride and decided to do it.

A couple years ago, I got a call from my Mom saying she had found a lump. A biopsy revealed it to be breast cancer. Though they only found it in one breast she elected to have a double mastectomy. Luckily, it had not spread to her nodes or elsewhere. The surgery and recovery were rough on her as were the chemo treatments but with the support of her family and the church, she soldiered on. Despite later complications with a compromised immune system from the treatments, she was declared to be in remission. We are thankful that her diagnosis, the surgery and recovery were not worse. She was one of the lucky ones.

I did this ride for my Mom and in memory of a friend's mother who was killed by the disease. Thanks to the Dixie Divas for putting the ride on, to Heart of Dixie HD for hosting it, to all of the other sponsors that I am forgetting to mention and to Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama for keeping up the good fight.

 

 Got to see Kustom Jeff's slick Sporty chop too, killer looking bike.

BuRP '13

BuRP this year was a blast, as has come to be expected every year. I actually arrived a day later than I had originally planned. I had a one night layover in Atlanta to visit with an old friend and catch a Matthew Sweet show. Here is a reader's digest of a trip I could easily spread over several posts.

I took 78 out of Birmingham, you always see the good stuff on the back roads. This trip was no exception. There was a random city park in Talapoosa, GA that was covered in old helicopters, tanks and planes. It held my attention walking around for about an hour. 

I stopped in Temple, GA for a $5.99 bbq plate. Jones offered a cool break, hot food and friendly service. I got full and back on the road in under half an hour. 

Right outside Atlanta, I followed my plans to avoid the density of the city by bypassing it on the interstate. It worked well and I arrived half an hour ahead of schedule. I met up with my friend and we proceeded to get fed and to the show. My first time at a Taco Mac, I was blown away by the beer selection. The food was great too. 

Old school GPS.

Blurry shot of Matthew Sweet performing his breakthrough album Girlfriend in its entirety. We had excellent seats, also got to see the Wailers and Soul Asylum. After the show I made quick with the bedtime. I left the next day before the sun was even in the sky. Much to my surprise, Atlanta has gridlock and traffic jams even at 6am.

I planned ahead a bit and told the group in NC my intentions to arrive in Maggie Valley early. I arrived at 9am, unpacked and we let out for Deal's Gap. We also rode Foothills Parkway and part of the Blue Ridge Parkway before calling it a day.

The next morning we made a b-line for Ashville and some roads on the map that looked promising and truly paid off. We had to do about 5 miles of muddy loose gravel to get to it but I would do it again for these roads, easily. Little Switzerland was slightly disappointing and the connecting pathways claim the worst tar snakes I have ever seen or ridden on.

 Did more time on the Parkway, what an amazing stretch of road.

12 years of knowing each other and you'll have inside jokes for days...and there will always be new ones coming down the pipe (pun intended).

 I left the next day around 10am in no rush, the wife and kids were out of town so I was returning to an empty house. This big bike was built on a show about the world's biggest whatevers. It sat in front of Wheels Through Time for a spell before ending up getting sold from dealership to dealership. I've seen it at several in the area.

It is hard for me not to take the Ocoee river road home. It is a great ride with hard to beat scenery. After being spoiled by sights like this, I finally reached the slab and powered home. Once I arrived I grabbed a shower, a bottle of rum, a six pack and a couple movies from the Redbox. I ate Chinese take out and fell asleep with the sound of one of the DVD's menus playing on loop until the morning came.