more tank work

i just cant seem to get away from tank work lately...
changing out the pos filler neck on this wassel along with adding a 22mm petcock bung to one side and fusing in a 1/4 pipe plug to the other.
getting ready to line it then my body guy is coming sometime this morning to make it pretty then it's off to Rich Ryzart for the royal treatment.

dyno tuning a customers bike

doing a frame off complete re build on this shovel and getting a proper before and after diagnosis.

some basic gas tank fab

just the requisite moving of filler necks and petcocks

some good help

my buddy Kris has been on it lately.
he was looking for a little extra work between brokering mortgages and decided to give fabrication a try.
yeah, thats right.

we got this fender cut down and re fit for a guy today, stoked to have someone in the shop with me helping to get shit done!

done

and done...

XS tail section on an early frame

so early XS650 frames are completely different than late ones, some of you may know this but i however did not. I priced this job as if it were a regular 4 hour weld on tail section job......16 hours later we are done ;)
lots of stuff needed to be made/machined and some major tweaking was undergone since someone previously did a VERY sketch job of building this guy a rigid tail section.
The thing looked like it was bent around a tree and of all things they used black plumbing pipe for tubing.

 as you can see here the engine loop doesnt land anywhere near the tail section forward cross member.

so we added in this piece of 3/8 x 1 1/2 plate to catch the bottom of the loop.
i then had to machine an angled solid slug on the lathe to catch the piece of plate.

here she is all tacked up and ready to go back in the frame jig.
when it was all said and done it looked like it grew there. nice.

and the (almost) final product. just needs a few final welds and the shouldered seat bungs that i already spun on the lathe need tig'ed on.

bwahahahahahaha

the swap is coming together nicely

updates on the swap next month, things are really looking great. lots of good guys on board for this one, we are getting really excited to see what kind of turn out we can put together.
on the flyer tip, i seriously fucked up my back yesterday somehow in the shop so i have been nursing myself back to health all day which gave me a perfect opportunity to grab the shop laptop, open up illustrator and photoshop and have some fun with art today.
i like both of these very much

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE HOLY CITY SWAP

it's on!

we FINALLY get a real swap here! cant fucking wait for this one

A good friend and his good luck

A really good buddy of mine went down about a  month ago, he was jamming home after a very hot and very long day on a roof when some asshat decided to pull an improptu left, the person in front of him slammed on brakes and he just had no time to react.
Multiple broken wrist bones, a wrecked bike and a re assessment of whats really important. He's tough as nails so he  shook it off, gave his family a huge hug and decided it was time for the bike to get a complete re-working anyway.
He promptly dropped it off at the compound for the royal treatment and told me to feel free to change everything but the frame and drive line. fuck!
I'm stoked that my buddy is here safe and healthy to ride whatever it is that we proudly build for him.

Making a Wassel a little taller

Adam really wanted to run a high mount Wassel on his XS build but i didnt have one on the shelf with a low tunnel.
problems create solutions...

1, make and tig weld in patch-

 2, cut out and shape new tunnel-

   

3, tig, grind, file and done-

(and of course i forgot to take pics of the final welds and  finished product.

one of these days i will grasp this documenting work as you go thing.)

new EVO build

customer drove down on Sunday to take a look at the beginnings of his project and make a few decisions.
He just about fell out, loved it all!
gonna be a cool little evo.

so far...
Paughco frame, 2 out 42 degrees.
New-ish 80" evo.
Harley 5 speed.
Gme sportster tank.
Oem springer done 10 over.
Akront rims laced to mechanical hubs.
Lots of in house parts.

some Hate Factory lovin

My buddy Shane from The Hate Factory in Fla. does some pretty paintings.
I did some patches for their Tar Ball run last week and he did some arts for me.
Should have some shit going soon with this logo.
Really digging it Shane, thanks again!

another evo build starts

mock up begins on the new Evo build.
apologies for the shitty cell phone pic, i will get some proper ones taken this week as progress takes place.

Vanguard Cycle buttons

VC buttons are on the way.
little 1" ones like the ones Craig from Front Street Cycle always has ;)
same as with stickers, send a fully postage paid and self addressed envelope to me and i will send you a couple.
enjoy!

SR tank ready to fly

finished this thing up last night, just need to line it and box it up.
came out really nice but what a pain getting those little filler pieces in the back to line up right.
enjoy Zak!

New build

stating a new build for a customer..
80" Evo motor pulled out of a new-ish dyna.
new oem 5 speed with kick
brandy new Paughco frame, 2.5 out, 40 degree chopper neck
OG in line springer extended in the 'glory days' with ford radius rods
repop mechanical  front wheel laced to an Akront
lots of cool old bits mixed in for effect.

going to be a fun build for sure..
pics coming as parts show up

lurkers beware

a much anticipated SR500 gas tank

i have had a very patient customer waiting on the tank for his almost finished SR500 project.
it's the same guy that i recently did the SR frame for.
i have had mucho personal shit going on lately so had to delay the start of this one but i got the TIG and a small arsenal of metal working tools fired up this week and have put no less than a few days into this thing so far.
no wonder no one does aftermarket 'chopper' tanks to fit the SR frame, it is incredible how tedious fitting this to the back bone and seat rails was.
I started with a narrowed sporty shell from my good buddy Jay Roche aka Special79'.
I hammer formed the tunnel around some 3" schedule 120 since i have no way to roll a 3" tunnel in the shop.

 started in with the cope for the tunnel in the shell and started working the bent tunnel to the oil in frame backbone...cut, shape, grind, repeat..about a hundred more times and this is what we have.

a couple of tack welds to get everything together and a few hours of shaping and coping the shell to fit the tunnel reliefs.

almost everything laid out and ready for some tig magic, just need to cut the templates out of some 16 gauge and go fill my argon bottle and it's time for some final welding/clean up.
i am super pleased with how this is coming out and i cant wait to see it on the finished bike.

one of all time favorite things to do...

spend WAY too much time in front of my early southbend...

so begins the story of the 60' Pan Shovel that I am doing next....

just about wrapped up with this one

i really dig what we did to this shovel, no super narrow trees, no dry rot vintage tires, no anderson pegs.
simply F-A-S-T, mean, fun and 110% dialed!!
93" Shovelhead
4 5/8 S&S stroker wheels
HD cases
S&S jugs and heads
dual plugged
mild cam
fully dialed super E carb 
gme replica tank from Baas metal craft
tins powder coated high gloss black
ducktail pegs
heavily massaged stock rear fender
hand cut and finished 1/4" polished aluminum fender struts
cat eye tail light
hand made led tag mount with Biltwell reg. tube
shaved and polished 6" over showa forks
raked neck
12" shocks
6 spoke 21" invader up front with a speedmaster rib
stock 16" rear with a conti twin
narrow short apes
lepera seat
chrome wrap around oil tank
baffled drags
kick and e start
pretty much everything is new from the ground upand runs like a sportbike
man, i really dont want to sell this one.

1960 pan shovel

let the fun begin...
60' pan with 66'-69' heads
gently molded oem wishbone frame
keihin carb
custom narrow trees
4 speed jockey top 
a true 70's survivor, with an incredible story to match.
will update as progress continues.

FXE teaser

not done yet, customer projects are keeping me from finishing up and getting it sold.
what we have done so far is pretty awesome though :)

reworking another SR500 frame

For a customer
god i love these little thumpers.
new seat section, tabs cleaned up, new upper shock mounts.
finishing the tank and seat pan now.
customer is going all out with this build and the fact that he drove 16 hours to get me to do this frame proves it.
this thing is gonna rip!