Ben Birmingham inked

Did this for Craig at Front St. Cycle

Falfa-chic

Bob Falfa from American Graffiti


Jett Rink from Giant


The venerable Junior Brown


Joining the ranks, me


Thank you wifey!

Christmas Part 2

I had lunch with Danny at the original Bob's Big Boy. Was my hamburger almost $10? Did it take 20 minutes for it to be made? Is the place overated? Yes to all, but still cool being at an institution. Someday I'll need to come on a Friday night for the cruise night.










Also drove by Barris' shop, someday I need to go in there.


Barris' kustom Prius

Christmas Part 1

Christmas for the last 5 years has been in Arizona. This year is extremely rough because of the loss of Lori's dad. Lori has been the best daughter giving support for her mom. Everyone is trying to not lose the Christmas spirit; her dad would not want that. Lori flew down a week before Christmas and I drove down with the dogs on Christmas eve. It's a 12 hour drive, and I left at 4:40 AM.

I decided to spend halftime in LA and have lunch with my buddy Danny. Danny is an old-anything connoisseur. He's only in his mid 20's and already has quite a collection of old cars and bicycles, including a '48 Buick and '58 pink Caddy.









Danny also has this original 60's 1950 BSA B33 bobber that he found in a delapidated garage (see story here). This is the first time I've got to see it in person. See more pics here.


Part 2 tomorrow.

Drunk on mimosas

Merry Christmas. Hopefully everyone is getting drunk with their wife and her mother on mimosas and listening to classic rock at loud levels like I am. Or some similar iteration. I drove solo (with the dogs) 12 hours to Arizona yesterday. Just chillin' in the Big House for a week.

I did a series of these for some family and friends. Each one a little better than the last as I figured out how to work with the paints. Here's two of them.





If you want to see someone with some real talent check this guy out:
http://johnkenn.blogspot.com/

Bookage

Designed these 18 rolling library book shelving fixtures which my boss donated to a local school. I delivered them this morning. Pretty cool.

Blackened

Lucas bought me a Christmas pizza and gave me this motorcycle black plate for my Triumph, stamped "'63" and last stickered in 68. A nice one too. He shor' is a swell feller. The Triumph is a '62, but titled as a '63. Pretty nifty.

Finish him

I didn't have much time but I had to finish the series.

Screw Loose

Rescue Me

Why do I feel like I need to save all the remaining Triumphs, especially the preunits, from being desecrated with flavor-of-the-month "bobber" builds with 6" over hardtails, white walls, and DNA springers? I need to inform my wife that things such as beds, car maintenance, food, and mortgage payments need to take a back seat to my new rescue mission.

Kodachrome

Pictures taken from Electrospark

Response

Cool

Introducing Speedy

Ben Birmingham is getting a sidekick named Speedy.

Grocery Getter

My bud D in SLC took this, he means business.

The Adventures of Ben Birmingham

Layout for final ink, now to get some illustration board.

Rainy Day Spacer

Front wheel bearing spacer V2.0. Length of spacer to cut from thanks to Dad. Wishin' I had a lathe.



I met Chris at Wheel Works in Hayward for the first time Friday. If you think you have a smidgeon of knowledge on old bikes go get your wheels done here, and he'll school you and make you walk out with your tail between your legs. Wow, what a wealth of information and experience he has. I felt like a super newb. Tucked away in an old commercial district, packed full of 1000's of wheels, brakes, factory rigid preunit behind counter, and tons of preunits in the back just collecting dust. I'm bringing a notebook next time I go.

He's lacing a 19" Harley rim Throwbacks Pops got me to the Superhawk front drum Carl gave me for my CB750. Told me not to bother getting a new rim for the Bultaco hub on the Triumph, use it till I absolutely need to get something different. And told me some things I did wrong. That the brake won't stop a fly. I got educated for 2 1/2 hours and I think I said about 20 words.

PS: Don't lay your wheel on the 61 Norton under the tarp in the front.

Been sketchin' since 6 AM

Solo

Got up at 4 A.M. this morning to get Lori to her 6 A.M. overbooked flight... as standby. She miraculously got on. Just me for a week, hanging out with the dogs, and it's to be raining all week, which will make the 60 mile a day motorcycle commute fun.

I'm left with these two knuckleheads. Lori enjoys dressing the dogs, especially Sheena who actually begs for it. I don't even try to fight her over it. Sheena has an issue with going outside when it rains, she just clams up. Lori's solution was to buy her a raincoat. Well, now she just stands there clammed up... in her raincoat. Sometimes I wish I could just pick her up and squeeze her like a big water balloon with a pinhole. She's such a fat, little sausage dog.



More Pics

Tradeshows

Here's some pictures of 2 different tradeshows in New York I helped design for my company. It features heavily the new Giant Peg Board system I worked on. Orange you glad I didn't say "banana?"

Another Birthday

I turned 34 on the 4th. It was a very bitter-sweet birthday, heavy on the bitter. Trying to cope with the loss of Lori's dad 2 days before my birthday has pretty much eliminated any desire I had of celebrating it. But I know Blake would be pretty ticked off at us for making such a big fuss over him.

Lori still managed to find time to surprise me with some gifts. She read my mind and got me a heated grip set for my KLR so my hands don't freeze. She also got me some signed prints from DerekArt. The big elephant one is going over the Victrola (tube amp one). I'm a lucky guy!

A Little Normalcy

I filled as much of my time with distraction as I could this weekend. Lori got back in Saturday night and could finally just decompress for a moment. I spent the weekend cleaning and working on some minor tasks. I finally changed the coolant in the Desoto, it was much appreciative of having actual antifreeze instead of just water again. The Desoto is really running and sounding good right now. Whenever I drive it, tho, I'm constantly wondering what will break next. I visualize every system in my head, turning and moving and pumping and sparking. Every strange sound makes me paranoid. How long until it becomes a giant paper weight again? Ah, the stress of owning an old car.



I also mocked up the Preunit with the new hardtail and 18" tire. I think I made the right choice shortening the hard tail and going from a 16" to 18" wheel. Everything is falling into proportionate place. It set me back a few more months and $$$, but it was worth it. I'm still not sold on the bars, I may look for some NOS Flanders bars. All this will have to wait for a while, I'm putting a freeze on all my projects until next year sometime.

Long May You Run

Last Wednesday we received a late night phone call that Lori's dad had passed on. It was sudden. Unexpected. He was such a wonderful, caring man. Selfless, always ready to help, adopted me as his own son. He struggled with bad pain for 20 years, hardly letting the world know. He left us a young man. Lori had such a close relationship with him, and he was her mom's best friend. No one could possibly hold a candle to this man. Blake will be missed deeply.