Psuedo-complaints about bikes and biker culture

Lately I've been putting in a lot of thought into what I want to do with my pipes. Approximately three years ago I replaced my stock pipes with Vance & Hines' Short Shot pipes. I really loved the look and the sound of them. My bike's performance didn't seem to take a dive so I thought, "perfect". Well, time goes on and tastes change. I've been thinking about how cool it would be to make my own pipes. Looking at different bikes for inspiration I've come to the conclusion that, unfortunately, the best looking pipe designs are usually not made with a passenger in mind. I like the option of having my girlfriend hop on the back of my bike. I know some guys don't build their bikes with their wives/girlfriends/random ladies in mind but I prefer to have a two-up bike. I've seen a couple of pipe set-ups that I'd like to imitate and I'm still not sure which I'd prefer. I'll probably stick to the two muffler look but have played around with the idea of making a two-into-one set-up for my bike. I'll probably use a pair of old cocktail shaker mufflers. I like that look. Now I just need to finish up the other modifications that I've been playing around with forever. Sunday I should have my new gas tank all squared away. Blue Collar Moto is coming over to weld on a bracket to my gas tank and help me with some wiring for my taillight. Sure would be good to finally have that stuff completed.
Ok, on to my second pseudo-complaint. I'm exactly what Harley is marketing towards and I think that's funny! I saw a video for the new Iron 883 a while back. Haha! I could be the guy in that video. Cuffed Levis? Check. Western/plaid shirt? Check. Tattoos? Check. Late 20s/early 30s guy that listens to punk/metal/post-rock? Check. Haha! I'm a hipster!

Don't wrap your pipes!

Ok, first off, this is just my opinion but damn it I'm going to voice my beliefs. Don't wrap your pipes, people! Sheesh. I don't get why people wrap their whole pipe from header to muffler. As I understand it, way back when, builders/riders wrapped their pipes because they didn't want to burn their legs while riding. That I understand. So, if you have high pipes or have them located in an area that your leg rubs/rests against while riding then you either want to wear asbestos pants (heh) or wrap your pipes so that you don't burn your leg(s). If you wrap the whole set-up just to have it look "cool" then you're just making your bike look stupid.

I think the same thing can be said about people who put passanger pillions on their bikes when their rear fender can't support the weight of a passanger or if they did have a passanger was on the bike they'd fall off in a heartbeat. Further, what's the deal with sissybars if they're too short to do anything or you don't have a place for your passanger to sit?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I rail about doing things to look "cool" and then state that doing such things isn't "cool". Fuck it. I realize that such statements are contradictory. However the meat of the argument is that bikes shouldn't have a bunch of crap on them that they don't need. Just because a bunch of bikers in the 60s and 70s did things a certain way that doesn't mean that everyone has to do that or that it's a good idea. Just because it's "old school" doesn't mean it's good.

Long Beach Cycle Swap

Went to the LB Cycle Swap yesterday and found some pretty good deals. I ended up getting a great gas tank for $75! Now I just need to prep that bad boy, when the weather is a little warmer, and I can finally experiment with some paint. I've been looking forward to painting a tank with my Danzig goggles design for a while. Now I just need to make sure that it turns out as well as I have envisioned it! I also picked up a little hood for my headlight for $5. Not bad. Just need to paint it gloss black and slap it on the Sporty.
I stopped by the Dice booth and picked up the latest issue. Good stuff in there, lots of inspiration. Was hoping to run into the Biltwell guys, ask them about when they expect to have the Keystone bars back in stock, and pick up a hat. I want to meet Bill so that I can pick his brain about his "Loser to Bruiser" bike. He did a lot of great work on that bike.

Death Valley

Finally going to hit the road with some friends! It's been way too long since I've been on a good road trip. The last trip was a debacle. Both of my friends had mechanical problems and couldn't go on the trip. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed.
I'm not sure how many people will be going with me to Death Valley. I think Ali will be going, I'm hoping Kapp will get his Triumph out and join us, Stephen might go, maybe I can talk Justin into going and it looks as if Jessica (never met her, she's a friend of Ali) has her bike up and running so she'll be going.
I'll have to borrow a camera so that I can take some decent pictures of the trip.
Damn, can't wait to be out on the road.
Oh, almost forgot...this weekend is the LB swap meet. Would be great to find some good stuff there. I'm still looking for a new gas tank. Maybe I'll find someone to powdercoat my forks while I'm there.

Amp Multilock Connectors Piss Me Off!

Last post I was talking about how Bill over at Biltwell inspired me to work on my Sportster.  I pulled out my service manual and got to work.  A couple of beers into working I'd figured out what I needed to do.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know.  What a rookie!  Well I've never worked on bikes before so I'm learning as I go along.  I wish I would have talked to my dad more about bikes and cars when I had the chance but can't worry about that now.

I got the gas tank off of the bike.  Disconnected the battery and a couple of other electrical sections and was ready to go.  I ditched the mirrors and that really made the bike look better.  I'll probably head over the to the LB Cycleswap next week and pick up a mirror, something small.  I don't think I'll miss the mirrors because everytime I change lanes I look over my shoulder.  I don't trust the mirrors.  The Sportster mirrors seem to have been designed to give the rider an excellent view of his shoulders and arms.  Plus, I only really use the mirrors to watch for police while I'm speeding so I figure that without the mirrors I won't speed too much.  So I'm really making my bike safer by removing the mirrors!  Ha!

Removing the front turn signals was a little trickier.  I wanted to keep them intact in case I every got a fix-it ticket, wanted them back on, or wanted to sell them.  I figured out how to get them off except I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the stupid amp multilock connector from the wires.  That crap was frustrating!  The service manual was a bit vague (at least to me) about what exactly I was supposed to do.  A few internet searches finally showed me what to do.  I stumbled on a little movie that demonstrated what to do.  Wish I would have thought to save it and post it but maybe I'll track it down later.

The rear turn signals were a lot easier to remove than the front signals.  I think the bike looks a lot better without the chrome fender strut covers.  I like chrome but prefer to keep it on the engine.  Too much chrome just looks stupid.  Other guys like it, to each their own.

I talked to my buddy, Haas, about chopping my rear fender and fender struts.  Don't think I'll get to that for a few weeks but then again, I'm not in a rush.  My next cosmetic project, after the fender, is to play around with a dremel and see if I'm any good at etching metal.  I think it'd be pretty cool to etch some cool designs on my bike.

I didn't do a whole lot to my bike for a few reasons.  As a whole, I love my bike and only want to change a few things on it.  A lot of bike guys are snobs and aren't into the Evo Sportsters (because they're new?) and don't have rigid frames.  I love my bike.  Hell, I too think rigid frames are cool but I don't think swingarm frames look bad.  Second, I'm not mechanically savvy.  I'm learning as I go along so I'm proud of the stuff that I'm learning.

In summary, I ended up removing my mirrors, chrome fender strut covers, and my front and rear turn signals.  Baby steps.

In need of a road-trip

Thesis, Romans, Motorcycles!

I went to the 49er Bookstore to pick up books for my two classes this semester. The two classes I'm enrolled in, Latin Literature and Hollywood Does Rome, are going to be really great classes. The books that have been assigned for the classes are good books and I've been wanting to read for a while. Two of the assigned readings are by Augustine and Petronius.  They were  very different men but both important authors whose works should really expand my knowledge of ancient history.

A project that I've really been wanting to tackle for a while is a motorcycle project. I have an '05 Sportster XL1200R. Great bike! My buddies, "the two Nicks", and I have gone on some great trips. I only wish we were able to travel more. One of them has to work a lot and the other isn't riding now. He had an accident on his bike two years ago and still isn't comfortable with the idea of riding. 

Back to my project. A month ago I stumbled across a great forum: http://www.jockeyjournal.com/. The guys on that forum are very intense. They know a lot about bikes but can be a bit opinionated in their posts.

One of the posters on that forum, named Billdozer2, built a bike that really inspired me to work on my Sportster. He had this thread about a '96 Sportster (I believe it was a '96, I may be wrong) that he reworked. In his post he stated that he was inspired by Bratstyle. Holy Hell! His bike turned out great! I've been looking over my service manual and thinking about what I want to do to my bike. I think I'll start slow and just remove the turn signals, horn, and chrome strut covers. After that I'll remove the brakelight and replace it with something a little simpler. I might chop the rear fender to make it shorter but I want to talk to my buddy, Haas, about how best to do that. I really wanted to put some Biltwell handlebars on my bike but they're been recalled. So I'll have to wait a while before I get them. If I could, I'd buy them today. I don't think they're defective. Maybe I'll get lucky and pick up a pair at the Long Beach Cycle Swap in a couple of weeks. I think that by taking this slow I won't make any mistakes that I may regret.

In the future I'd like to buy an old Ironhead and chop the hell out of it to learn all the in's and out's of a motorcycle. I think if I put about $3-$4K into buying an Ironhead I might end up with a pretty decent bike. The best part would be that it would be mine. I think I would need about two years to get it done. Plenty of the posters on the Jockey Journal have stated that it's better to have a bike built correctly rather than quickly.

I have a few days off of work this week to finish up my thesis. I should finish the conclusion and get most of chapter five reworked. I can't wait for this thing to be done. This thesis has taken up a lot of my time and I'm ready to relax.