Gringo and Mickey Video

Just got this in the inbox from Gringo and Mickey. Dig it.
My favorite line…“Need that special neat-o chrome thing?… this is where you’ll find it.”

Another Proud Ticket Holder – Born Free 3

Reinhart is my man in the cut. He’s got the itch and now he’s officially on board for Born Free 3. He’s choppin that OIF Triumph in the background and we’re gonna make the pilgrimage. It’s not so easy to hit the road when you got family at home so this trip is kind of a big deal for both of us. We’re kissing the wife and kids goodbye and crashing with friends along the way. Speed Club across the nation!

See everyone at Born Free. More to come on the Speed Club Chopper Blog

Swap Meet Grabs

Got up early and dragged myself out to the Swap in Anoka. They opened the doors a little early and I slipped in with the old heads. Scored some cheap necessities and I think I found a good local used parts friend in one of the vendors. Picked up a complete midset pegs/ brake pedal set up and a polished open-primary alternator cover for $20 bucks. I even rummaged up a a little chromed front air scoop (Drag style). Maybe it will end up on the shovelhead project but that remains to be seen. It’s still early. If you were on the fence about going… go. Still some good stuff on the tables when I left.

chop swap

Anoka Swap – This Sunday.

Gringo and MIckey’s – This Sunday. Be there. See the Classifieds Forum for more info (Date – Time – Location – etc).

Garage Feature I – “Pinky”

If you’re even remotely serious about building bikes in the Twin Cities or Midwest for that matter then you probably know Rick. He’s a wealth of knowledge and quite a unique character. When I asked if I could get some pics for the site he responded with “I dont give a shit whatcha do.” Believe it or not, he and I get along really well. All the local bike and car guys gravitate to him when it comes to heavy duty fabrication work. He’s an all around motor man with decades of experience and experimentation.

I’ve heard him referred to as Handsome Rick, Fabricator Rick and my personal favorite… “Pinky.” Rick is one fine fella. He’s professionally or semi-professionally raced just about everything with a motor at one point or another. New rules have been written because he knows how to exploit the unmentioned details. He told me a little story about 3-wheeler ice racing in the 80’s. He asked what the widest wheel base allowed was. They said something like 3 feet. He went home and built a trike axle so narrow and with such narrow tires that you could canter around a corner like an 2-wheeled enduro. They showed up a couple weekends in a row. Won 1st place in their amateur division on every race they attended. The next season they introduced a minimum wheel base and that was that.

Rick’s really a bit of a living legend when I start to really think about it. I’m pretty sure he’s never had a “regular job.” At one point in his life he was racing 48 weekends out of the year at different tracks across the US. The last time I visited, the founder of House of Kolors Paint, Jon Kosmoski happened to drop by with a front end for Rick to work up. On top of it all, he’s a really solitary guy.

He’s good shit and he’s probably one of the most interesting guys I’ve met since my move to the Midwest. Who better to start off our first ever Garage feature than the one-man garage master himself. I shared all kinds of oddball ideas with him and he always says to me, “if you can imagine it, I can make it.”

welcome to the chopper blog Garage Feature I. More to come.