Ookin' pa nub...

I'm thankful for everything; good, bad and in between. If you read this, I'm thankful for you too.

More crap...

Been kinda buying stuff for future prospects while working on current ones. Time away makes the hunt feel that much better.

I'd never seen one this complete. Instructions, two bags of jets, the factory tag, even the S&S throttle.

Vroom...

Now I just have to build an ENTIRE bike around it.

Guess what I found...

The forced induction Gods have smiled upon my parts collection. Now it's time to build something around it. I have the ideas, it's a matter of time and money. This will not go on the blue bike.

 

Photos courtesy of Hot Bike (obviously).

It may take a while...

But this thing will be pretty when I'm done.

He strikes again...

Going to rebuild heads and I find this beauty. Blazed for her pleasure. I've seen more hack shit on this bike than pretty much any I've encountered.

The name is Dumace...

So the guy I bought this bike from was obviously a hack mechanic that read too much Chop Cult. He shaved the fork legs and gouged them several times only to fill them with bondo and paint over them with a brush. I didn't find this until stripping the lowers with aircraft stripper. What an idiot.

Fresh start...

Time away makes the heart grow fonder. Between the rain this summer and other things I need to get under my belt, things were going slow in my neck of the woods. Time to get back to basics.

The times, they are a changin'...

Whether you're in the "it's about damn time" or the "I can't believe this shit" camp, it doesn't matter. Harley was headed towards water-cooled motors regardless of your persuasion (and to be honest, the latter weren't buying new bikes anyway). The introduction of the 500cc & 750cc, mini V-Rod powered "Street" by Harley was dropped yesterday and I have probably read 30 articles, blog posts, forum threads, etc. on it.

 

Oh, you want my take on it? Well, look at it like this; it was inevitable. Harley has undergone plenty of evolutionary changes over the years and with every one there has been a little part of what the vintage enthusiasts enjoy, taken away. Switching to alternator motors, removal of the kicker in the 5 speed, the starter itself in 1965, the swing arm frame in 1958, Hydra Glide in 1949, different motor configurations, different frame styles, six-speed transmissions and what I consider to be the nail in the coffin, the entire line's axe to the carburetor. Hell, timing covers themselves have no purpose anymore unless you're trying to hide something really small.

 

So what's the point of all of that? Well, you weren't going to buy a new bike anyway, unless they completely reverted to wet sump oiling systems and 6 volt electrics. It's always good for an American company to attempt to stay on its toes, so why not let the next generation have something to bitch about in 30 or 40 years ("remember when we had tires?")? When was the last time you went to a dealership anyway, so why be concerned with the newest iteration of motorcycle from the Motor Company?

 

Now, as for me. I'm also not going to buy one. I have too much time money, love, daydreams, and so on tied up in old pieces of shit that cause my right leg to be bigger than my left and my tools to stay warm. To be honest though, I would like to take one of these and fiddle with it. They're cheap enough that you could get one to beat on and if nothing else, it opens up a brand new market for anyone looking to make parts for something that doesn't already have a flooded market. Hell, I'd buy one and put some Distanzas on it and find some fire roads.

 

Quit bitching. At least they still make motorcycles.

 

Spooks...

One year, about 1994 or so, I wore a White Zombie shirt in my yearbook picture for school. I managed to find J. Yuenger's blog a while back and talked to him. He released these classic WZ shirts and I had to have one...

This shirt and Pumking on Halloween is right as rain.

Howl at the moon...