Fathers Day in Minnesota

Woke up to a little corn beef and eggs with a side of black coffee and toast. Cruised over to Back to the 50’s car show for some swap meet action. Kind of a dead scene considering it was Sunday. I did see this gem of a Gasser parked somewhere just off the beaten path. I couldnt pass up getting a quick picture.

From there I went home and got out the bike. Took a ride over to the Blind Lizard cycle rally in Minneapolis to catch up with CT. Reinhart came limping in on his Triumph. Points were well beyond useless. Pretty Rick and the Monk happened to be in the crowd and decided to do the Minnesota thing and come over and get his points readjusted. After a little file action and a few swift kicks, the salty dog was up and running on two cylinders again. New points are being installed as I type.

Came home, napped for a hour, ate a sub, went back to bed. All in all – a good fathers day.

DIY Digger Tank

Started getting inspired by some old school Arlen Ness digger builds from the 70’s and decided to take a crack at a custom tank myself. Here’s where I’m at. Gonna take this thing to Rick for some Tig work. My sloppy ass Mig aint happening. I’m still not sure if this one will take the prize. Have to wait till its a little further along. Maybe I’ll graft a speedo or something into the facing panel??? Could be cool…

Friday Days – Friday Nights

Been busy. Hit the shop in the morning and knocked out my days work by noon. Headed to Rick’s to drop off a Triumph frame for some fab work. Got home just in time to sign for a UPS package (Z-bars) and feed the dog. Checked the mail on the way out only to find my Born Loser T-shirt finally arrived. (will post later) Borrowed a trailer. Moved a bike out of storage. Hit up a local watering hole. Come 1 am – I’m back at the garage and I finally tracked down that damn oil leak! This is what I call a good day. If only I had found a little time to get some riding in.

chopper blog

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.

Winter Projects – Shovelhead Transmission

Well… I’m all set with my winter projects. I just got a 4 speed ratchet top transmission for my shovelhead project. I picked it up as a cheapo rebuild. Original owner tore it down and couldnt put it back together (DUH). It got passed on to NE Rick on a trade and it sat at Ricks until I reminded him that he had it. Sweet deal. Ricks a cool fella. Lots of knowledge and Mountain Dew. Trans looks complete aside from a single missing o-ring. A few cents and a few hours to set it all back up and she’ll be ready to run.

Contact me if you have any of the following for sale. I’m interested in almost anything and we’re still a ways out from any Gringo and Mickeys action.

– Complete 3 finger clutch basket
– Any frames (regardless of condition)
– Cheap Velocity Stack style air cleaner
– Alternator
– Point or Electric Ignition