Richard's 1940 Ram

My buddy Richard Just about has his '40 ton and a half flatbed finished. He has a bit of interior work left to do. But he is about to set the football over the goal line. Here are a few pics of how close he is. It has the original flat six, completely rebuilt, and check out the steering wheel he hand made. The original was trashed so he made a new one out of six pieces of walnut. The truck is beautiful.







Till Next time...................

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth

A couple of Vipers from the 127th ANG doing their part to help keep us all free.
The 127th recently transitioned to the warthog. Maybe not as versatile a platform as the F-16, it is a butal tank killer and air to ground attack plane. Always a favorite of mine.

Ride 'em if You Got 'em

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Curly recently picked up a 1980 Yamaha XS650 to transform into a bobber. I took this baby for a ride Sunday night and was surprised at the performance. It was way faster than I had expected. It has the old eighty five mph speedo on it and I had it well on it's second pass around when I found out the brakes are shall I say, a bit on the soft side. It's been a while since I have rode a bike from this era and as soon as I pulled the brake lever I was wishing I had started my braking a bit earlier. I almost became one with a Ford Focus at the intersection of Thirteen Mile and Rochester Rd. The Focus driver was none the wiser, as I hauled the XS down from speed without any tire squealing. Just a bead or two of sweat on my forehead and some pretty wide eyes. By now you would think I should know better, but every now and then I still pull a bone head move or two.

Curly bought a set of the cast Yamaha wheels and they are being powder coated as we speak. He bought them not only for the looks, he wanted discs front and rear. Braided steel should improve the braking feel and performance right off the bat. He has been busy ordering parts of all description. Tc Bros hardtail kit, Biltwell black tuck and roll seat, sportster peanut tank. He is still figuring out the handle bars, headlight and a few other bits and pieces.

He has even talked me into building one of my own. I am currently looking for a suitable bike, right price, right condition. We should have the rest of the XT back together and ready to ride some time late this week or early next week. I need a hardtail bobbber like I need to be kicked in the head by a mule. Hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea.


Till Next Time..............

Un F@%$ing Believable

After all this time, I finally have made some freaking progress on the XT. I know it's hard to believe, I'm having a hard time believing it myself, hence the title of this post. After getting the bike from a friend about a year and a half ago, I set about cleaning her up and getting her into some tight fitting jeans and talking her into putting some new makeup on.

As you can see, she is still showing her bloomers, I still have to rebuild the carb, score a couple of intake boots and get a pair of side covers for her. All the wiring still needs to be done, as does the front brake caliper it needs rebuilding as well. between work, a Sportster paint job and another bike project in the works, I hope to have the XT ready for the road in about two weeks.

Bayou Boy is up from the Big Easy and quickly set about helping rebuild the forks and added new wipers and seals to them. Curly and Slug will be lending a hand, as I have completely no idea when it comes to wiring. I guess I could cobble the wiring together, but history tells me as soon as I turn the key smoke and a small lightning storm will be soon to follow. I have a friend that is interested it buying the XT, so that serves as a motivating factor. I just want to make sure that all systems are go when I toss him the keys.

Till Next Time..........

A Little Bit Late

I guess it's better than never. The Sporty has been done for a couple of weeks now, so here is what we started with and the finished product. This is the first bike I have ever rode with ape hangers. I have to say, to put bars like these on your bike you must have to love how they look. Because they make the bike handle like SHIT. I like my bikes to handle, in case you missed it the first time, the bike handles like SHIT. He seems to dig 'em though, and I guess in the end, that's what counts.

Till Next Time...............

Just a Hair From The Finish Line

Every thing is about buttoned up. Except for a few bits and pieces, the Billy Bobber is just about road worthy. The last main item to get this piece on the road is the throttle cable. It should arrive sometime later this week, and this project will be complete. Still Slug could not help taking her on a little spin, just idling I think he reached a staggering top speed of about five m.p.h. I'll leave you with a few shots of how close the bike is to being done.

Till Next Time............