Shit just used to be a whole lot better man.

story tellin'

Well hot damn, it's been a few weeks and more than a few things have happened. I took off on the first long roady with my ironhead. Went 400 miles across ohio and down to WV, did some camping and broke down half way home the next day. It was leaking oil bad and at one point was spitting oil out of the crank case breather. I was out of commission for a while, so I turned my focus to the 4 wheel vehicles. I sold my 61 econoline, and picked up a clean little s10. Luckily I stashed some money from the sale to get my bike back on the road. Took it up to the GAS BOX in Cleveland for a little maintenance, and hopefully get back on the road soon. Locals traded sickle's, my buddy Taran picked up a super nice FXR that I'm sure he'll crash soon. I'll let the rest of the pictures explain themselves, bitches.

Weekend roundup

I made a ton of progress in the last week, and had a killer weekend. I spent 3 more days pulling all nighters trying to slap the bike together in time for Pinned Ohio. I got it running well after a little carb tuning, and finally got everything on it Wed night. Pulling it out of the garage for the first time since October felt great. I was able to come up with a mounting set up for the exhaust that let me utilize the stock hangers, but was still a major pain in the ass. I took it for a nice ride to test it all out, got home after about an hour and realized that I had 1 of 5 bolts remaining that hold the rear sprocket onto the hub, yikes. I got all new bolts, lock washers and drown them in lock tight. Took it for another spin on Friday and caught an unidentified bolt on the leg doing about 60. I decided not to take it with me to Columbus, and cruised out in my 61 econo pickup instead. We camped Friday night at Mohican state park. Hot dogs were eaten, beers were drank, people we caught on fire. It was a good time and I met some really rad people. We got about 20 minutes outside of Columbus and the seat bracket on Taran's XS broke, so we made a roadside repair using a few zip ties to hold the seat on until he gets a new bracket. Pinned was amazing, great turn out, lots of down to earth, like minded people. We rocked out hard to some Charlie Hustle and soaked plenty of people in warm beer. It was a great weekend with great people, already looking forward to next year.

On track

Been a little bit since I posted an update, but it's been a busy few days. I spent all last weekend working on my 79 xlh build. I fabricated a sissy bar for my camping gear and mocked up the rear end to double check my clearance, it's all good. Took the frame over to my father's garage and he helped me put the motor back in, and we spent most of the night talking shop and he told me some good stories about when he rode his 74 sporty all over. Let's just say bar owners frown on pulling your bike into the bar and doing a burnout. I ran new oil lines, had a HELL of a time with the electrics. It's still not 100% figured out, but working. I was up until 3 Friday and Saturday busting knuckles and getting pissed off, dirty and did I say pissed off? I finally got the bike to engage the starter and turn over at about 2 am Saturday, it was a very emotional moment because I had tried like 15 different wiring combinations to no avail, then the last one I tried I wasn't expecting to work, so it scared the shit out of me when I hit the starter and it worked! I had to leave early Sunday to go see the family, but I'll be back at it all day tomorrow in an attempt to get it running. Still need to redo the brake lines for the rear and then I'll be on the road. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'm riding by Friday!!!

hurdles

I mocked up a few more pieces, put together a bracket for the tail light that I made, and working on a sissy bar to hold my gear that I would like to have to option of detaching. I had a problem with the front upper motor mount, the p.o. of the donor frame had broke a bolt of inside there. I used an extension and drilled out the bolt, then went in with a ratcheting wrench and 1/4 tap and put about an inch of threads in. I put new oil lines on the motor and had to pull the starter motor off. The casing came off of the armature causing the brushing springs to compress, making it impossible to slide it all back together. Now I have to try and pull the commutator end cap off and get the brushing plate out to reset all the springs. Worse case scenario, I can make a starter hole cover and run it as kick only until I get the starter motor fixed. Spending all weekend working on it, and waiting for a few new parts. Ordered some new Shinko 240 rear rubber, and running a speed master ribbed tread on the front. I'm either going to be a really happy, or really pissed off guy come sunday evening!

Time of the Season

Awesome weekend, and a busy last few days. I got my frame back from powder coating and it looks great, I'll need to retap some of the threads to clean them, but no biggie. I dropped my truck off to get some new shocks and shoes for a smoother ride, since I plan on putting some miles on it this summer. Went down to columbus for the weekend to do some riding with motortrash and a couple guys from the local tribe, devil's mustache. Had a few snags, but nothing a little roadside ingenuity couldn't fix. Had a little BBQ and rode out to carabar catch this band struck by lightening. I figured out a really simple mounting setup for a custom tail light that I'm pumped to get on. I'm starting reassembly this week and hopefully, hopefully have it running soon.

Pow pow powdercoat

Finished up the struts and fender mounts, she's pretty freakin solid. Sent it off for sandblasting and powder coat over the weekend, hopefully have it back in a few days and start on reassembly! Side note, I hit up one of the flea markets nearby and found this nice old springer, and super old seat. Looks like 30's era. I wish my butt was small enough to actually use it!