Skulls & Turnips

My buddy Goad (In Goad We Trust) contributed to Horrorwood with one of his creations, King Reggie. I, of course, had to make one. The site is full of print-out creations and is way RADICAL.



He's quite a pimp




Yes, I'm easily entertained.

Speaking of friends making cool shit, my bud Josh "Lunchbox" Peters was the illustrator for a new children's book called Matilda Turnip's Endless Bellybutton. You can purchase the book on Lulu. Hopefully none of the kids see the above pictures.

More

Closer and closer... almost there. I made head steady version 2. No matter what I did I could not get it to fit between the tunnel between the tubes, so I had to move it under the cross tube. All finish welding and metal finishing has yet to be done.





(Rubber) Mounted the oil tank. Made a new brake rod.




Mounted the tympanium between the tunnel




Just a few minor things to go...

I know where everything is, really

Here are some shots I took of my garage one day. Kind of shows the organized disaster that I work in.

Good night for a burger

Compliments of Jimmy from Royal Jokers, from this month's Art Murmur. Next one is July 2.

Show & Go bump

Neat

Steady as she goes

Sunday I tackled a few of the zillion of detail things to button up the chassis. I worked on the kickstand, spent all afternoon welding the oil tank and (learning) brazing, spent a good deal of time getting the fender to follow the curve of the tire better, mounted the fender for the 3rd time.





I made the head steady bracket. I was so proud until I realized I can't put the gas tank on, it's too wide. Always check everything! Luckily I think I can just move everything in and run the scavenger tube out of the head steady bracket.









Next up is to lengthen the left footpeg, make the brake rod, mount the tympanium in the gas tank tunnel, finish mounting the oil tank. I need a new seat, tail light, and need to make a license plate bracket. I also need to get the front wheel trued or respoked so I can get the spacers made and brake stay made. And there's that motor rebuild comin up.... I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Show & Go

Paul over at Show & Go was awesome and featured some of my pre unit work on his blog. If you're into old Triumphs and other Brits, his site is mandatory bookmark.

A little slice of heaven

Lori and I found a secret piece of heaven called Turlock Lake near Modesto. It's only about 2 hours away but a whole different world. A beautiful blue lake. Sandy beaches. Fairly secluded and quiet. We loved it so much we're thinking about buying a boat! Of course, after a house, an old wagon for Lori, and at least 2 more motorcycles...

Warning: Pictures contain pasty, pale white people with little clothing. View at own risk.

Tools

I woke up this morning at 5 AM all worked up with my adrenaline flowing and couldn't get back to sleep. I had dreamed I went to an estate sale for an old timer mechanic who had died, and they were selling off all his tools. Dozens of guys like me were running around with their heads cut off trying to get the gold before anyone else. "Mine!' "Claimed!" "Spoken for!" Everyone was freaking out. Have you ever seen clips of wedding dress sales where all the women come charging in, tripping over each other? It was like that.

My dream was obviously inspired by an email I got from an estate sales company notifying me of a sale tomorrow in Oakland for an old timer with tons of tools. I can't go, I just don't have any money, but I can only imagine the amount of gold in that garage. I really need a drill press, tig welder, band saw, table top belt sander and wire wheelm and a metal lathe.

Maybe another time.

My Bud's BSA

"Ever since high school I knew about a house in the neighborhood that held some secret gems, sitting in front of the house was a 1959 Ford Sunliner retractable hardtop convertible and a 80s Harley Sportster. The place looked abandoned, overgrown and just plain nasty. I wasn't about to go knock on the door either. About a year ago I did my monthly drive-by on the house to check on the Ford when I saw that the garage was open and someone was inside cleaning.

To make a long story very short, the owner of the car died in the back yard and the man I was talking to was the guy's brother. He said the Ford was accounted for but he had something else that he thought I might be interested in. He lead me out in to the back garage and opened the door to reveal 2 old BSA's. We cut a deal.

The first was a 1966 Lightning 650. The engine was seized and it was missing the tank. I did a quick flip of it and made some money.

But the other... is a 1950 B33 500 single.

I spent the next year trying to get it started. I rebuilt the carbs and cleaned some things up. I finally got it to kick over but could never get it to start. I had a lot of help from Vorhese, some of my buddies, and Wes at 4 ACES. Well, this weekend I took it over to a friend's house and we removed the tank and hooked up the gas to a jug. Fired right away. 40 years of old smoke started coming out. It looks like the tank was pinching some wires and keeping it from firing. I am a happy man.

Grill Baby Grill

What a flippin' beautiful weekend it was. It was hot and sunny, especially Friday. I just can't believe how gorgeous it was. It went right back to being cold and windy last night. But not before I got some grilling time in. I discovered a new way of grilling wings, by skewering them lengthwise. This increases the surface area and makes them nice and crispy. Lori and I decided they were friggin' delicious. But, I used Trader Joe coals for the first time. They simply suck. They crumbled apart as soon as I poured them into the grill after lighting them. Kingsford... if it ain't broke...


Anyway, back to the grind today. Monday's are painful after weekends like this.

My wife is cool. Bookmark it
http://craftsarerad.blogspot.com/

Dream dream dream...

Wow, I can't believe it. I woke up this morning and it was HOT. Like, actual hot. And not windy for almost an hour. My coworker came over with his Dream today and a crash bar for a Benelli he got. I adapted it to fit his Dream. My first commission!