A bag for me...

I love getting emails from Christian (www.xianleather.com).

Killer...

Never even seen the rest of the bike, but I could stare at this motor all day.

hahahahahaha...

Simple enough...

Mastodon...

One of favorite bands. Period. Luckily, I have had the opportunity to meet them a couple of times. Here is me and Troy Sanders at The Warped Tour a couple of summers ago.

Of course you've seen it...

But I can't get enough of Jeff's bikes.

Merry Christmas!!!

A hope all of you have a good day with your families. Enjoy the time away from the grind and eat some good food.

When you get drunk...

Forget that you own clippers. Seven weeks of beard and hair growth found its way to my sink last Friday night because after a few high gravity beers, I thought it would be cool to have a mohawk.

Lion Motor Dromes...

I have seen "Wall of Death" acts and have done the whole "hand the rider a dollar" while he circles around the barrel boards on a small motorcycle, but I knew nothing of this until a picture was posted on the Jockey Journal a few days ago. I had to see more.

Apparently there were also "Lion Motor Dromes" back in the day too. Lions riding shotgun on bikes and carts while the driving loops ass around the inside of a 90 degree walled board track...that's nucking futs!!!

I pulled this pic from Sam Morgan's Thrill Arena website. She posted a lot of information regarding "motor dromes," board tracks, and "thrill arenas." There is info on the "lion motor dromes" too...That shit is cooler than cool.

Sam died on April 24th of this year.

My desktop...

My desktop background consists of this goosenecked Shovel. I have no idea where I got the pic or who built it, but it sho' is purty.

CCE Ironhead drag bike...

Dick Allen...

If anyone has read about the history of choppers or even watched the documentary that Jesse did about it, then you know the story of Dick Allen. Well, here is my favorite pic that I have ever seen of him. Check out the extra gas tank on the sissy bar.

A Harley in cafe clothing?

Another one I snagged from somewhere. I think this bike has a clean style and looks like it would be a blast to ride.

More of the Harman below...

I posted that pic of the digger and decided to go nab the rest of the pics of it as well as the pic of it's current resting place.

Someone please buy this for me.

One of my favorite bikes ever...

I hope Jeff (Church of Choppers) doesn't mind that I posted this pic up. This bike just "does it" for me. Truly badass.

Genny Shovel...

Dragstews over on the Jockey Journal posted this picture a couple of weeks back. I asked him about it and he said he has had it since '67. Man, one day I can only hope to have something that cool for that long.

Crazy Digger...

I love this bike...it just screams badass.

Apparently it's hanging in the rafters at Executive Choppers as just a frame/tank/rear wheel. If I won the lottery I would restore this thing...especially that Shovster.

Does anyone read this?

I know my updates are few and far between, but does anyone actually read my ranting?

Post some comments or something if you do. Come on, you old motorboatin' son of a bitch!!!

Harley for Sale...

The Softail at the top of the page is for sale if anyone actually reads this site and is interested. email me at jarrod.crisp@gmail.com for details.

Xian Leather...

Christian is my homeboy. He tooled this rocking chair for my dad this Christmas. His work is second to none. www.xianleather.com

Irish Rich...

I haven't posted in almost a month, but I need to get this out there.

Irish Rich is the man. This dude is knowledgeable, friendly, and has been around to see a lot of things happen as far as motorcycle history.

He has a blog up now called Homage, and it gives a little history of the people that he respects in the industry.

http://irishrichhomage.blogspot.com/

http://www.shamrockfabrication.com/

More tranny building:

Okay, if you look in the picture of the two cases above, you can see that the black case has a roller bearing where the mainshaft comes out. The new case doesn't. There is a HUGE snap ring that holds that bearing in, so I had to call in some help on that one. I went to my buddy's machine shop (where the bike currently is) and luckily he had a set of snap ring pliers big enough. He used to work on Indy cars back in the 70's, so they used similar sized snap rings for the hubs.

Here are the pliers:


















Here is the big ass snap ring and the new bearing on the table behind it:

If you notice, the snap ring is tapered around the edge. The tapered side has to go out for the ring to fit in the groove once you place the bearing in. I had to pull it and redo it because I screwed this up the first time.



Installing the bearing is pretty simple. Since it is only a slight interference fit, I just heated up the case a little with a propane torch and popped the bearing in the freezer for about 20 minutes. I set the bearing over the hole and with a very light tap from a brass hammer, it went right in. With the bearing set, I could replace the snap ring in the new case.



Before I did all of this though, I had to do a little work on the drill press. Since I am not running a starter, I enlisted the help of Irish Rich on a trick oil filter setup that will clean up the back side of the tranny, as well as place the filter in the place of the starter so that the ear on the tranny casing doesn't have to be machined off. Rich made the plate that holds the filter block and cleans everything up. I'll have to get some more pics of the block and backing plate later, but as for now you can see what needed to be done. On the right side of the starter ear, the plate slides over the dowel for the starter. I machined a little off of the edges and cleaned it up, then set it in place. Because there are no through holes and to make everything clean, I drilled holes through the casing so the filter block can be mounted through the left side of the starter ear and the covered up with the block off plate that Rich supplied.

Here it is before and after. As I said, the filter block is clocked, so you rotate its mounting position so the oil lines don't interfere with anything.

Before:














After:

I'll get up some more this week. I have to make a tool to set the main drive gear in the bearing.

Most productive lazy evening in a long time

Since I couldn't find much else I felt like doing last night and I used most of my .45 supplies this weekend, I decided to get into some reloading. I test fired a few loads this weekend and was pleased with them so I felt confident in loading up another 100 rounds. I have brass already primed so tossing powder and projectiles in these took me about an hour. Not a bad night's work and frankly it was a good excuse to sit and have a few beers before bed.... You can see my helper is tired at the bottom of the picture from our 3 mile jog before getting started.

My next ambition is to get some dies for 7.62x54R which is the round my new PSL uses. I would really like to get a good load for that. Partly because they are expensive and partly because it should be a very good long range rifle (over 800 yds according to the soldiers that carry them) Pics of that to follow since right now it doesn't want to chamber a round properly.

Little mountain riding... overdue report

So a few weeks ago Jes and I went to Helen, GA for Oktoberfest. Every year some friends and I go and either get a hotel in town or a cabin nearby. This year Jes and I took her truck with the bikes strapped in the back. Proved to be an excelelnt idea. Weather was a little windy and a slight chill but really good for riding. This was Jes's first experience in the mountains so she had a ton of fun getting to know her bike. Here's a picture of her:




And this is her new bike which she needs a little getting used to. It's 1999 ZX-6R, a slight upgrade from the Ninja 250. We got the height within her range but it could use some fine tuning to make it comfortable and smooth for her:

Thanks to Kyle from Death Machine...

I entered a drawing into his Halloween contest, but I was a little late on entry, so I couldn't win. He still posted it on Church of Choppers though.

http://churchofchoppers.blogspot.com/2008/11/submitted-by-jarrod-from-ga.html

Thanks again, Kyle.

Tranny building...and a thanks to the Vets.

I started to get on here this morning and post a thanks to the veterans and those currently serving, but Rob beat me to it. I still want to say thanks, but I'll also post a little more.

Okay, I will start this out, and take pictures and do a commentary as I go along. I had an Ultima 6 speed for my build that I purchased with the original intent I had for the bike. At first I was going to go all black Evo, etc so I went with a black case when I purchased it. Seeing as how I completely changed my mind of what I wanted to build, I decided to change things up. I'll reveal more as I go along, but for now I will just start things off. Since I already had the Ultima, I thought it through, and instead of pulling the case and polishing it or buying a new tranny I decided to put the guts in a new case...with some other additions along the way. I called Jason Hallman to get a few parts and to talk to him about some of the Baker goods. Since he had been going around popping in the DD6s/OD6s/etc. for Baker at shows recently, I knew he had expertise on the matter. I told him if my intentions and he told me he would talk me through it over the phone. I have plenty of experience turning wrenches, but I have never taken apart one of these trannies. Any help was MUCH appreciated and I have a new friend from the experience.

First off, here are the guts after pulling them from the case. I would've taken pics of the teardown, but I didn't really think about it...I will start from the ground up. From left to right, you can see the clutch cover, main drive gear, shift forks and shafts (outer spacer in between), gearset still mounted to trapdoor (with allen bolts to the top left, and shift lever to the top right), shift drum and top cover.

Next is just a picture of the two cases. The one on the left is the new polished S&S case and the one on the right is the black Ultima case. From the looks of it, the only difference I notice in the cases is for the sensor, which is on the actual case itself on the S&S, but was on the trapdoor on the Ultima (even though the casting is there).

Next is the new case with a few parts already installed...these were the last things left on the case, so they are the first to be installed. Circled in green is the shifter pawl, which is mounted on a splined shaft that runs through the case (circled in red).

When installing the pawl, you have to press a new seal into the case, followed by a washer, all of which is held together with a black spring clip, which can be seen in the picture. Next to that, circled in blue, is the pawl adjuster. This consists of nothing more than a threaded shaft with an offset rod on the end to adjust the pawl's contact with the shift drum. Once it's screwed in, the threads that are still showing are locked down with a jam nut so that the pawl doesn't go out of adjustment every time you ride.

Okay, if you notice in the pic of the cases next to each other, there is a plug in a hole next to the big main gear hole on the black case. That is the plug that holds the needle bearing for the counter shaft in the gear set. The new case didn't come with that plug, so I went to get a new one from the Harley dealership (part #8977). After a post on the JJ and a short conversation with Irish Rich, I got it in.In this pic, you can see the plug lying face up and the hole it needs to be pressed into.

Now, with a bit of persuasion from a plastic dead blow and an oversized (1 1/4") socket, you can SQUARELY set it into place. It is a bit of a pain in the ass, but it eventually flushed with the case.

I know there are a lot of people who have already done this, but there are some that haven't I would personally rather know every in and out of what I am building and not just throw parts together, so I was all about tearing into this tranny and making my own little Frankenstein.

Thanks to the soldiers!

I have been meaning to post some stuff for weeks now but this is more important so I'll wait to post my stuff...
I would just like to take the chance to remind everyone that today is a day for thanking those who have served. Both wartime and peacetime, these guys and girls have given a large portion of themselves to make our lives livable and make sure that our quality of life is sustained. We owe them a lot more than we care to think about most of the time.

So that's what a v-twin sounds like.

So what a week it's been. I got the parts I ordered, the pod filters and the spark plug socket. I changed out the remaining two spark plugs, pulled the stock airbox, and put the pod filters on. I cranked her up hoping for great things. My luck rarely seems to run that way these days. She ran like ass upon starting her up. I thought it was b/c I was low on gas again, so I limped her to the gas station around the corner. On my way out of the gas station, she couldn't even get out of the lot. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had a tear in the fuel line. So I limped her back home resolving to clean out the carb the next day.

The next day, I started out by checking the spark plugs. Curiously enough, the front cylinder's plugs looked pearly white on the ceramic insulator. It was as if the cylinder hadn't even been firing. The rear cylinder's plugs were nice and tan though. I began to suspect something was seriously wrong with the front cylinder. I thought, maybe, just maybe, the front carb is so clogged she's not even firing. I was fearful of something worse, but I tried to remain optimistic as I pulled apart the carb.

Once I had the carb apart, the real story became apparent to me. The jets for the front cylinder were so ridiculously clogged that there's no way that the front cylinder was firing. This would explain everything. Why the spark plug looked like it had never seen combustion, why the front header primary never got that hot, why the bike couldn't get up to speed on the interstate. I proceeded clean out the jets and everything else in the carb. However, I didn't have new seals and o-rings to put in, so I was a little concerned about whether everything would seal up again.

I got a nice surprise while disassembling the carb. She had aftermarket needles in her and an aftermarket pilot jet. Oddly enough, the main jets appeared to be stock. However, it means that the previous owner had jetted the carbs to match the exhaust. It's always nice when a bike you picked up for $1000 comes with more than you thought it had.

The one hitch in the road to a quick reassembly was that I destroyed an o-ring for one of the pilot screws. This resulted in a trip to Autozone for a mutli-pack of o-rings. The multi-pack didn't have the exact right size o-ring, but it had one with the right inside diameter. I came home and shaved down the outside diamter and put her back together. I also replaced the fuel hose upon seeing that it was torn and was the likely cause of the previous night's poor running. However, I'm kinda glad I didn't realize it was just a torn fuel hose sooner. If I had, I wouldn't have pulled apart the entire carb and I'd still be running on one cylinder. Hilarious.

Long story short, she's a totally different beast now. I wanted more power, and I got double the power. To be honest, it's kind of a good thing that I learned how to ride with one cylinder out. That means I had a mighty 323.5cc under my command. I had 500 miles to get used to the bike and all the controls. Now, with the added power I can focus on riding instead of having to concentrate on working the controls. So it's kind of lucky. A lot of riders buy a cheap 250cc to learn on, then sell it when they're ready for something bigger. In my case, I learned on something cheap and gutless, but then I didn't have to sell it to get something bigger, I just cleaned the carbs!

Anyhow, here's two videos. The first is before the carb cleaning, the second is after.





It's so obvious now that something wasn't right before. Of course, I didn't realize the sound was off; that's just how green I am when it comes to v-twins and motorcycles in general. Anyhow, it's been a learning experience. Now I've just gotta order a jet kit for her so I can get her air/fuel dialed in right.

Make her a little nicer than she was before

So I've put about 400 miles on the bike since I got her. So far she's been running great, but there's just one nagging problem. I can't get her up over 85mph on the interstate. Yep, that means I'm the moving roadblock in the HOV lane. Going up hills or into a headwind, she's lucky to maintain 70mph. Now I know this bike isn't supposed to be a top end monster, but I don't even have any passing power on the freeway. Thus begins the process of tuning her up.

1) I bought new spark plugs today. I was only able to change out two of the four (each cylinder has two plugs). Two of them I simply couldn't reach with my standard spark plug sockets. I ordered the OEM spark plug tool.

2) While I was ordering the OEM spark plug tool, I ordered the uni pod foam filters. They replace the stock airbox and apparently open up the top end a good bit. From looking at the plugs, the engine is running pig rich, so a little more air coming in isn't going to push things into the lean zone.

3) I really need to sync the carbs. I messed around with it a little today, but I think I just made it worse. I need to get the right fittings to secure my vacuum gauge to the intake port. I just might make myself one of those homemade manometers if I can't get things tuned well from checking each side individually. Apparently the front & rear cylinders need to be within 40mm Hg of one another. Hopefully I can do better than that and she'll be running smooth as butter. Right now they're obviously not in sync. The front looks rich and the rear looks disgustingly rich. I don't think the rear cylinder's plug is even getting up to self cleaning temperature for the most part.

Anyhow, hopefully the stuff gets here by this weekend and I can hold 80mph up hills on the interstate.

My first bike

Well, I just picked up my first bike. 1990 Honda Hawk GT with 16425 miles. Picked her up for $1000 in non-running condition. Turns out all she needed was a new battery. Tossed in a new Deka etx9 and she fired right up. She needs a little TLC obviously, but I'll get her looking right over time. For now I'm just going to focus on learning to ride and enjoy the new hobby.

Leather Work...

I recently decided to step it up a notch on the leather work. Although Tim Quick is a nice guy, I wanted to go for some crazy good leather work. I had been talking to Christian (http://www.xianleather.com/) about another bag and recovering my seat on my Harley. I also wanted a handmade wallet. Well, he is a cool ass dude and has started working on the design to be tooled into the material. I should have the bag in about a month, and when it gets too cold to ride, I am sending him the seat. Go to his website to check out his work. The dude's tooling is insane.

Here is an example:

Biltwell...

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but have been kinda caught up.

I mentioned before about how Eric and I got tangled up a few weeks back. Not a big deal, but when it happened my handlebars got bent. For some reason I decided to contact Bill from Unit 1 Parts and tell him what happened. Not only did he get Chris from Biltwell (the manufacturer of the handlebars), but he sent offered to send me a new set for free and warranty the set that got bent! Now I wasn't looking for a handout by any means, but to know that there are still companies out there with this level of customer service is a BIG relief. So many people are dicks these days, but not Bill or Chris.

Unit 1 Parts: http://unit1parts.myshopify.com/

Biltwell: http://www.biltwellinc.com/

Glasses...

Rob showed his, so I thought I would show my freak collection. No two are the same, aside from 6 imperial Guinness glasses and 6 imperial Newcastle glasses.

Broadening horizons

   Yeah, I realize it's a pretty crappy cameraphone pic but it's an image of my beer glass collection doubling!  I absorbed my uncle's collection of mainly pilsner glasses but also some really neat others, all of which he gathered while in Germany during the early 90's.  There's a particularly nice little glass in the mix, like a large shot glass, with an outline of berlin on it, the different sectors represented by the flags of the controlling nation.  

While on the topic, I had some people over for grilling on Sat, also cooked up about 10 gals of Oktoberfest so hopefully that will turn out well just in time for a trip to Helen.  I also managed to harvest some hops off the vines this weekend (here's a pic of them early this season)

   

Oh, and just for good measure, here are some pics of the hound, both as a pup and now... and I realize the floor was dirty that day:

 

A little change...

A little time, a little money, and a little sweat (a few beers) and shit changes.

New paint...

I haven't had shit to share, so I have shut the fuck up for a while. With football, CPA review classes, and a little one at home, I haven't been out and about that much, but luckily Eric had time to paint my tank and my fender for my Harley while I have been busy. I will take more pics later, but here are some he sent me of them after paint...