Done

Finished the rusty tank today. Took a bit longer than I expected. About 6 1/2 hours total to cut the bottom, fab new panels, weld them on and add all the bungs. Then I got it all nice and rusty on the outside checkin' for leaks.

I knew it

I knew something wasn't right with this guy.

Ummmm...damn

Holier than thou

Well, at least my axle is. Just finished drilling the axle for the street rod. Now a nice coat of hammered black and it's ready to go on the '42.

And it begins...

Started cutting the rusty tank apart today. Nasty. Now I have to make new panels and restore the bottom of this tank.

Damn Crappy Drivers!!!

Lucy seemed unhappy with the local drivers. Thought it was a funny pic.

Fumes

Ahhh, the smell of urethane in the afternoon. Started the paint on the softail today. Silver flake base with a delightful candy orange top coat, soon to be followed by a pleasant gloss black and a tasteful silver leaf accent. Trying to keep my mind busy during a difficult stretch.

Checking out...

That's what I need to do for a while. This morning I lost my girl Lucy. She was Linus' sister and she has also been in my life for 13 years. She also had cancer, just like her brother and today she just couldn't fight it anymore. She came into our lives 13 years ago when we adopted Linus from the pound. She was brought to that horrible place with her brother because someone just couldn't be bothered with them. We took Linus home with us and had tremendous guilt for leaving her there, and two weeks later, she was reunited with her sibling. The plan was to find her a home...I guess she did. She left us 6 weeks to the day from the loss of our boy Linus. My wife and I are both devastated. I am still reeling from the loss of Linus and now this.

Our house seems empty now, and I just don't know how to handle this. I think I need to check out for a bit and try and get my head straight. I've said that you never know the meaning of unconditional love until you have loved an animal. I stand by that, but it makes the loss so much deeper. Goodbye old girl. I love you.

WTF is this?!

Tell me this is a joke. Are you kidding me? I think I'm going to start my own "White Americans for Change" movement...oh, wait, I can't do that or I'm a racist bigot. This is outright racism by our president. Am I the only one offended by this?!

Rollin'

Just finished the fender for the Softail. Caught my finger in the english wheel rollers. Stupid.

Springer brakes

OK. I've got to say this. If you use one of these brakes on your springer front end, you will at the very least have improperly working brakes...hopefully you don't end up as a skid mark on the pavement. Seriously, this is the most horrible thing I have ever seen and this idiot sells a ton of these on ebay. The bracket gets sandwiched between the axle spacers. What's that mean? Well, it can't pivot. That means it can actually cause the front end to lock up. I got this thing sent to me with a springer I bought. I'll keep the caliper, but the bracket is going in the scrap bin. I'm amazed that no one has said anything about this before. I contacted the seller on ebay to ask him if he had used these on his own bikes. He said "send me a picture of yours". Ummmm, OK. Did that answer my question? Seriuously. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE if you value your life or bike.

Braking

So what do you do when you are desperately trying to finish assembling a bike and you are missing parts? Make them. I was installing the brake calipers on some 99 down HD legs when I found that one of the slider pins was missing. Not only was there not a single shop within 100 miles with the part, it doesn't even show up in HD's microfiche. A chunk of stainless and a socket head screw later, this is what I ended up with. I just have to shorten the threads and I got me some brakes. Thank imaginary people for lathes.

Brrrrr!

Lame. I hate snow.

Parts is parts

I got a lot of crap.

Fo' Sale

I got this bike, or at least a pile of parts to build this bike, for a large sum of money that is owed to me. Consequently, I have no use for another bike. It's a custom softail frame that is -2 in the down tubes and has a "holey" single down tube. 1340 evo motor, 5 speed tranny, enclosed BDL belt drive, etc., etc.. I threw it together this far so I'll probably just go ahead and finish it. Shoot me an email if you want it of got something cool you might want to trade for it.

Swap meet

Well, the Motorcycle Show and Swap definitely reflected the economy last weekend. Nodoby was buying much of anything. I sold a ton of stupid little $1.00 trinkets, but nothing of any real value. I did meet and have dinner with Rick and Kerry from the EasyRiders Saloon in Strugis. Cool dudes. Apparently they just bought the Broken Spoke too. Gave them an old invader to hang on the wall. It'll be cool to know some biz owners in Sturgis this year.

Handlebars

...lots of them. I was bending and welding 'til my fingers hurt. Sold a few sets, but this is what I have left from the swap meet. Hit me up if you need a set.