Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Seasons Greatings

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, or maybe Seasons Greetings.  What ever you prefer, to you and all of yours.  Spent my christmas fighting a house fire part of the day and the rest with the girls.  My prayers go out to the family that lost their home.  On Christmas?, that sucks.  Every one made it out ok though.  Oh, by the way I am a volunteer Fire Fighter.

Well the hand is healing well, and I got the splint off.  Maybe somthing will get done now.  Spending alot of time on the Jaguar project, but I got some bike stuff going.  I know I say this alot but I will try to get some pics up soon.

Well I guess thats all for now.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Finished The Pipes

Well I have had these done for a while now.  I was pretty close to having this bike done when the customer decided he was going to take it and finish it himself.  Not real sure what the deal was but its his bike so!!!  Any way here are a couple of shots.
 Pipes turned out real nice.  The have torque cones and baffels.
 We test ran the pipes on El Shovelle and the sounded really good.

 Good shot of the front pipe and the forward control design.
Here is pretty much how the bike left my shop.  I built the swing arm, the tail section, sissy bar, seat pans, forward controls, oil tank, pipes, and had to modify the rockers on the front end.  The frontend and tank were built by Chrome Horse.

Don't Fight your Lathe, She will Win

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted.  I guess I should start with my biggest screw up in a while.  While rushing to finish up a frame, I went to the lathe to face down a cross tube.  Not using my head I failed to remove my gloves and you know what can happen.  We I got wrapped around said tube, but I was very lucky.  I still have all of my fingers and my life.  It was a good wake up call though.  I broke my index finger, dislocated all but my pinkey, dislocated my wrist, and my elbow.  So here is what I am going to say to anyone who operates machinery of any kind.  Don't get too comfortable, and use your head.  Nothing and I mean nothing in your shop is worth loosing a body part or your life over.  So here are a few images of my extreme stupidity.

 My damn glove and a piece of my shirt sleeve still wrapped up in the lathe.
 Gouges in my forarm from the lathe bed not much bruising yet.
 Broke up hand hard to see all the swelling but I have really skinny hands.
Side view shows the break right before my first knuckle.

The moral of this story is use your head around machines.  Your life depends on it. I am Living Proof.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Davenport

Well this is a little late but here goes.  Had a blast at D-Port this year, sold my T-100 and some other stuff.  I didn't really buy much, but we partied down.  Here ar esome images.
Our camp L to R Steve the Sleeve, Cowboy, Land Shark, and T.R.
 Our vending booth
 Down our row
 The Boys from Illinois camp
 My good friend Mac
 Shootin the shit
Corkskrew passed out on the ground it was a little chilly

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Davenport 2012

Trailer is loaded an we will be headin east on I80 in a little over 24 hours.  Y22 is our vendin spot come see us.  You don't want to miss this event.  It's an absolute gas.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Well the Pre Sturgis Riot went well.  Milwaukee Mike and his crew Dan, Gina, and Beth rolled in around 9:30 and we all hung out.  Jerry and the boys from the club brought up a bunch.  I sappose the was probably a total of 60 people that attended.  All in all it was a good time.  Mike and his bunch stayed over at the shop and shipped off around 10:00 or so on sat headed west to Sturgis.  Next year we will try to be a little more organized and promote the party a little better.  Thanx to all that came and all that helped me get ready, especially Land Shark.  Hope to see you all next year.
 Sharky Boy gave rides in Blacky The Rat Basterd
 Even the dags in thu carivan
 The Chop Shop Crew chillin
 Hummer added
Milwaukee Mike and Dan from Canada with the "Legend" Land Shark.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

One Foggy Wednesday Eve

This is good "Diamond" Dave and Ian burnin em down last night at the shop.

The Chop Shop Pre Sturgis Riot


So I have decided to throw a bash for anyone who is rolling through on their way to Sturgis this year.  This will be a good oppertunity to meet some new folks and for them to see what we do here at the shop.  There should be a good local croud that show up with some pretty cool rides.  The may even be a few motorcycle legends that show up.  Stop in, hang out, drink some beers, and talk motorcycles.  Hope to see you all there.  This invitation is extended to all, so lets see what we can make of it.  Who knows it could be a yearly event.  If you have questions call Harley at 712-223-2833.  Thanx.

"Jan" #2

Here are the second round of pics for Dave's Triumph. I guess this one is going to run in Cycle Source Magazine now.

 Frame painted, motor and Oil tank in
 rear fender and tag bracket installed
 She's a roller now
 Here is a good look at the drive side
 Tank is on and it looks killer
 Its comin along now
  Here is the finished product, Keep your eyes on Cycle Source it will be in an upcoming issue.  I will keep you all posted on the magazine progress.  Well I gotta go fer now cause I have a small horde of Shovels to get done so, "later all".  Enjoy.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Daves Triumph named "Jan"

We built this cool little 67 Triumph bobber a couple months ago for "Diamond" Dave the paint genius.  This thing is super clean and has alot of cool little details.  We finished the bike in time to take it to Vintage Torque Fest in eastern IA.  Curt Lout shot the bike for Street Chopper Magazine at that event.
 Tank bracket tacked up
 We had to narrow the fender a bit to fit the tyre right
 I spun some alum spacers to fit the spool front to the DNA
 Here is the initial mock up
 we spaced the risers up a little
 fender struts and tag bracket in place
 positioning of the tag bracket
 here is a close up of the mounting brackets
Here is the finished product after chrome all wired up and ready
I will be doing a Jan #2 post so you can see the finished product.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Corkskrew and Galen



A couple more progress pics of Cork and Galen.

 Corks new bars made by Kilby Deuce, I machined the weld in risers and solid bushings.

 I think they fit the bike well.
 Galen's getting ready to start the pipes, fab the front seat pan, fab the headlights bracket, and finish some other little small crap.  We gotta keep pluggin.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Here is some of the progress on the 70's chopper of Galen's.  This thing is gonna be so rad.  In the beginning I hated it, but the more I build and work on it.  The more I love it..  She's gonna be a trip to ride.  Sorry if a couple of the images are a little fuzzy, a photographer I'm not.
 We decided to scratch build our own forward controls.
 We got the making of the bent and tapered leavers down pretty good.
 set up with the master in place I think they will work.
 and they add a little bit of handcrafted style
 shift side all done
 We added the same touch to the sissy bar, Some like it some don't. 
 fender and tail light section  My rendition and an omage to the "Crazy Frank Fender"
 Motor mount is finished, well almost.  I think we will sheetmetal in the center.
 top view of the oil tank mounted.  It took me a while to finish the oil tank.
 I machined and knurled a nice little billet cap
 I also machined a weld in manifold block for the oil lines.
 The swing arm is now finish welded and mounted.  I love how it turned out.
Here is a prelim mock up.  I have some more complete images but havn't got them off of my camera yet.