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.

Two to Spare

RL came by last night and gave me a hand remounting the xs650 motor back in the bike. A quick process. We knocked out the timing, carbs, and wiring in about an hour and after some uneventful kicking, she eventually fired up for the first time since last September. Called it a done deal with two PBR’s to spare. I’ll revisit this thing in the spring to adjust the valves and timing and to mount a new rear fender but for now, this one is destine for storage.

Born Free 3 – Count Me In!

Here it is… The winning ticket ladies. Yeah – my Born Free 3 Poster arrived today along with the ticket. I’m a letterpress printer by day but I’ve had a lot of experience in screen printing too and I gotta say; These posters are looking pretty sweet. Maybe sometime in the next few months I get around to knocking out a frame for it. Get yours here.

~ chopper blog

I said TAD god damn it!