Caption time.......

Can you supply me with a good caption for this photo? Ok, I'll kick it off.....

"This is gonna be good....Frank's gonna tell Tiny he has to prospect for another 6 months!"

Volt-Jolt....

A little while ago, I sent Steve Clements in the UK a Goodson cast magneto cover. I got an Email from Steve, with a photo of the cover after his buddy Tosh engraved it for him. What would be more appropriate than a lightning bolt pattern, emanating from the plug towers?

If you're interested in some nice engraving, and you're close to the UK, you can contact Tosh at:

bellfortyfive@gmail.com

Gary Hetrick followup......

Almost a year ago, I did a post here on Feb. 20, 2101, entitled Magazine Trifecta, featuring Gary Hetrick, and his motorcycles. You can see the post in its entirety here:
http://irishrichcustomcycles.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Gary's bike was always one of my favorites, and I came to find out that Grant Peterson and Harpoon had always liked the bike as well. What we all had was a mutual appreciation for the fact that Gary had virtually built the bike from the ground-up, and had made almost every single part on his custom. Hetrick's bike was Light Years ahead of everybody else's choppers at the time it was built.

Well, a little while ago, Grant was poking around at Garage Company in L.A. when out of the corner of his eye, he sees a familiar front end poking out of a lineup of bikes. He walked over, and sure enough, it's Gary Hetrick's old bike. Where did Garage Company get it? Who knows where Yoshi gets any of the bikes and parts he has. Grant was kind enough to snap some photos for me on his last trip down there, and he said it was OK if I posted up a couple for you here. Thank you Grant, we all appreciate it.

Photo courtesy Grant Peterson

The bike is in remarkably intact condition. Bikes like this usually wind up get "cherry picked" for all the cool parts as they go from owner to owner, then the carcase sits out behind the garage for decades. The only things that aren't original on the bike - save for the nasty paintjob - is the seat, carb/air cleaner, the R/h foot control, and the handlebars. All of Gary's meticulous hand-machined, hand-built parts are still there, right down to the gold anodized Cragar Super Trick wheels.

Photo courtesy Grant Peterson

It's my opinion that 99% of all motorcycle tank and fender murals blow chunks. This one is no exception. The devil looks to be inspired by the one in the Dante's Inferno/Ave Maria segment from Walt Disney's Fantasia. What does somebody do....walk into the mall to the airbrush kiosk with his gas tank under his arm, and say "Do something really crappy on here for me"?

Not exactly sure what's bolted to the center of the outer primary that Hetrick spent hours machining. There was a smoked inspection panel inlayed there originally. Maybe a vent for an enclosed belt drive - the primary was originally a sealed wet chain drive.

Photo courtesy Grant Peterson

Here you can see someone has replaced the R/H foot control with a Perf. Machine unit. Those yellow "scallops" are, uh.....oh boy......I'm amazed the gold anodizing on all the parts has held up so well over the years. I sure hope Yoshi plans on bringing this bike back to pristene original condition again.

Crossmember almost finished.......

Materials: a couple feet of 2" x 1" x .120 wall square tubing, a couple feet of 1/2" x 1 3/4" flat stock, and the old pivot shaft from the original frame.

Part-timer Steve came over today, and we tackled the rear crossmember/transmission mount for Wade's TC B Softail. By the time Steve got here, I had the crossmember cut, notched, and in place between the rails. We made our preliminary measurements for the uprights, and Steve cut them. We found the C/L for the pivot shaft, and marked the location on the plates. The pivot shaft is an oddball diameter - larger than 11/16", but not quite 3/4". I used an 11/16" hole saw to drill the shaft holes in the uprights, and with the kerf of the hole saw's teeth, was the perfect size for the shaft to slide right through.

The jog in the left upright is so the chain has adequate clearance on the lower run. The top run is just fine. When I send the frame out for powdercoat, I'll take the pivot shaft over to Bob Schenck, and have him shorten and re-thread it, and it'll serve as the mounting bolt for the transmission.

The jog was formed using a vise, an oxy-acetelne torch with a rosebud, and a big Crescent wrench. I heated, Steve bent. I still have to box the back of the uprights, but I'll wait until I take the engine and tranny back out, and finish the inside welds on the uprights, and the bottom of the crossmember. All and all, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Simple, yet very strong.

Son of You'd do it in a heartbeat......

Who says no mail comes on MLK Day? Well, OK, it was an Email......Dave, a reader of this blog saw the post below, and sent me two pictures of another Triumph-powered go kart he saw at an event this summer.

Thank you ,Dave, the photos were most appreciated.

Look at the little placard, it says: 1/4 mile ET....12.3 sec. 106 MPH