Eat Shit

You know who are.  You are a pathetic excuse for a human being.  You are miserable.  You hate life so much, and you just wish that you can make someone else as unhappy as you are.  Misery loves company.

You are lazy, overweight, and disgusting.  You look like you have aged twenty years in the last two.  You "medically" retired from a job that you couldn't do in the first place, and used a bullshit injury in order to claim undeserved money from the system.  Now, you survive off of the hard work of others, and the tax dollars they pay in, in order to allow your fat ass to sit at home and get fatter.  You survive by trying to milk the system, and always looking for the next free lunch.

You're so uncoordinated, and have no athletic ability, so you have to ride something with 3 wheels instead of 2.  No, I'm not talking about everyone that rides trikes, I am just talking about you.  You know who you are.  You exceeded the weight limit on a Harley, so you had to get one with a trike kit in order to handle the additional weight of your fat ass.

You make false claims, spread lies, and are too technically ignorant to even hold a conversation with.  You are the reason for my personal motto - "Just because someone says it, doesn't make it true."  You flat out lie, exaggerate and plagiarize yourself in order to get things for free.  You're so unsuccessful at what you do, the only organization you belong to collapses as a Ponzi scheme, where the founder is arrested.

Your claims are so outrageous, even your own attorney and friends tell you that you don't have a case.  Your own husband, your better half, who is supposed to be next to you through thick and thin, doesn't want anything to do with you or your case.  Won't go with you to court, doesn't stand behind you or support your claims, and in fact APOLOGIZES to us personally for your behavior.

In today's society, there are many like you.  People like me, ignore people like you.  You don't matter to us and our world.  If this were ancient times, my tolerance for you would have ended years ago, and nature's laws would have allowed this to be handled the way it should have been long ago.  Now, today, with society's laws, that course of action is not allowed, so you must just be ignored.  And you are.  Because you, a leach of society, aren't worth it.  And you know this, deep down, in your heart of hearts, you know that you don't matter.  And it infuriates you.  Drives you crazy that you can't get to us.  You try and try to get to us, we continue to ignore you, and your kind.

You and your actions are Dismissed.  You don't exist.  You are dead to me.

My heavy bag means more to me than you and your life.

What goes around...

Got a call from a guy, out of the blue.  He tells me he bought a bike I did several years ago.  The "Heavy Bobber".  He said he liked it the way it currently was, but liked it even better the way it was before, the way I did it.  He seemed to be a straight up guy, and shared the same passion for the Shovelhead that I did.  I was right thinking that.

So, we talked for a while about the bike, and all the changes that had been made through the previous 2 owners, and what it would take to get it back to it's "original" state.  And then, he said it.  "I'm thinking about shipping it back to you to have you put it back to original, or better".  Well, I kinda believed him, I mean, it was possible, but really, who would do that?  Send it all the way back to me.  Any competent shop with decent fab and mechanical skills could do the same thing, I mean, I have a plenty of pictures of the bike on our website...

But I had a feeling that this guy had the same thought I did.  That just wouldn't be right.  It wouldn't be the same.  The same hands that did it first time, should be the ones that do it now.

He did it.  It showed up a couple days ago.  It arrived at the shop like a warrior returning from years of hardened battle crusades, and being patched up and modified, and well, butchered.

I swear, if that bike could talk it would have said, "Good to see you again, Jason, you think you can take care of all this, and get me back in, I got plenty left in me!"

You bet we can.  This job has a little more meaning than I can really explain.  This job here is special.  I'm sorry this happened to you Heavy, but you're here now, and I got this.

What?  You don't talk to motorcycles?

The first picture is what it is now.  The second is what it was, and will be again.

"Bane" Floorboards & Pegs

One day in the shop, Ian made a statement when we were working and talking, about how most people don't give engineers credit for all the things we use in life.  Man, is that the truth.  Specifically now, I am talking about the parts that go on a motorcycle.

I mean, I have made parts before, like motor mounts, handlebars, ignition boxes, carb supports, exhausts, speedo mounts, etc.  All "one-off" things fabbed up for a specific job.  Never before have I designed, tested, and produced parts that will be sold to the public like this.

It takes a lot longer than you might think.  There is so much to consider.  And it is a ton of work.  Now, it is probably quicker and easier for big companies, that have the ability to cut something out of plastic in 3D in a matter of minutes, and then put it through computer simulated "stress" tests, etc.  And that is a good thing, it keeps the costs down for the end consumer.

But for a little shop like ours, it is a huge project.

We are happy with the end result.  And it is pretty damn gratifying to see your idea come to become a real part, that gets bolted on to a motorcycle.

There's more to come.  For now, the prototypes are getting put through the paces in Daytona.

Remembering Why You Do It.

It is easy, very easy, to get caught up in the day to day.  To get wrapped up in trying to keep the shop running, and making enough money to pay the bills and make payroll, and stressing because it's February, and no one was thinking about their motorcycles, let alone riding them.

And it's cold as the dickens outside.  The shop is 10 minutes from the house, so you jump in the truck instead of bundling up for a ride that will take less time to do it, than it does to get geared up for it.

Then, days come along like today.  Where you COULD jump in the truck to get where you are going, but instead, you and a small group of your close friends, take a ride...

It never got above 50 degrees.  My wife, is a trooper, to say the least.  No bagger with a fairing to block the wind for her, she rode all day on her NON-rubber mounted sportster.  Never complained one time, although I knew she was freezing.

My buddy Shifty, on his rigid Knucklehead, and it was just purring right along.  We had to put him in the left side of the lane because the right section was so tore up and bumpy, it was throwing the back end of his bike around.

And Scotty, taking it easy on his motor that we just punched out to 106" with new cams, still trying to break it in, and being very nice to it.  But you can just tell he is itching to get on it.

We rode for a couple hours there, and a couple hours back just to have lunch with some other friends.  Friends who we don't see nearly enough, so we value the time with them when we do.

And it's days like to day, that you remember why you do what you chose to do.

RIDE MUCH.  RIDE MORE.  RIDE OFTEN.

Tequilow Bagger!

I finally got to see the article in Urban Bagger of our "Tequilow Bagger", owned by Josh here in Mount Pleasant.  I just have to say, Dave and his crew at Maverick Publishing did a kick ass job with the pictures and the article.  I mean, it is impressive.

Again, we are blessed.  Photo courtesy of Maverick Publishing.

Still Building!

I know, I know.  Custom Baggers.  I get it.  I have absolutely no issue with the current Bagger craze.  That doesn't mean I am digging on every customized HD Touring motorcycle I have ever seen.  There are some of them out there... Geez!  REALLY?

Our shop just recently was featured in a National Magazine for a Bagger we completely redid from the frame up.  I am grateful for that article.  I am glad we were chosen.  We are truly blessed.

But, we are also still building custom bikes!  That's right, our shop is still building frame up custom bikes.  When I tell my fellow shop owners that, they can't believe it.  But it is true.  I just had a customer sign up for another one yesterday.  And we have yet another one getting ready to go as well.  Not only that, but I have another customer coming over in about a week to sign up for what will be our third new build.

With what we currently have in the shop, those three will put us somewhere close to the double digits of custom builds in our shop, between what we are finishing up now, and what we are starting.

Am I grateful, you bet your ass I am grateful!  Thankful to have customers and friends that still want to ride lane-splitting, adrenaline-producing, kick-ass custom bikes, that look as great as they run and ride.

I'll say it again.  We are truly blessed.

Trophies or Oil?

The other day, as I was mindlessly scanning Facebook, a came across a post from a guy who was my "friend" but I've never actually met.  He also owns a shop, and apparently was trying to make a point to someone about his accomplishments, by showing a picture of all the trophies he recently won at a bike show, trophies like "Best Paint".
Now honestly, that all doesn't make a hill of beans to me.  I have no issue with it, and actually I would say, good for him.  Congrats for his accomplishments.  You know where he lost me?  When he put, "now go change oil" at the end of his post.  Meaning, "you're not talented enough to win any trophies like this, so just stick with what you can do, changing oil".
Like I said, it wasn't directly toward me or anything, but it was obviously directly toward someone who he was trying to put down for not winning said contest.
So, by his mentality, am I to believe that mechanics who change oil and perform service on motorcycles are at the bottom of the "motorcycle industry" ladder, and "bike show winners" are at the top?  Is it a progression?  Like, some stuffy white collar guy who starts in the mail room, and works his way up in corporate to eventually be the CEO?

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

To quote a friend, (who is also a real mechanic), "winning a trophy doesn't make you a mechanic".

Bike "shows" don't really carry a lot of weight with me.  Winning a bike show with a motorcycle that is covered with fiberglass and flashy paint, over the stock sheet metal, to me, isn't much of an accomplishment.  In fact I would say, that as far as being at the bottom of the "custom motorcycle" ladder, the "builders" who use fiberglass bolt on covers over stock gas tanks and fenders would find themselves there.  You see, if you want a custom gas tank at our shop, we are going to make it out of steel.  But, I digress.

What we are talking about here is the insinuation that changing oil makes you lower than the "fiberglass gas tank cover installer" on the motorcycle food chain.

Well, that may be his world, but it isn't mine.  I love horsepower.  I love making the bikes go faster, run better, sound better, and perform better.  And there is an incredible sense of satisfaction when someone brings their bike into our shop with a problem, and we fix it for them.  When we REPAIR a broken motorcycle.  There is something very gratifying about diagnosing and fixing an issue on someone's bike, the look that they have on their face, when they know they can go riding this weekend.  Or showing someone their dyno sheet, and their eyes light up when we show them their new horsepower and torque numbers.

I love hearing the stories from years ago, when motorcycle shop owners sought out a different kind of trophy, one won at the drag strip that weekend.  A trophy from beating the guy in the lane next to you, on a stretch of track.  Now that's a trophy to be proud of winning.

But, with the 2013 AHDRA Championship Points Series cancelled, those of us that like the horsepower, and "mechanical" aspect of it all, may find ourselves a smaller minority than ever.