Evidence XLVIII: Blagging

So I'm blagging: lagging on blogging. This session went down last week. Killer to have Joe Dirt back in the mix, FSA in the pocket.

Livi, FS boardslide, then...

FS Hurricane? WTF? In the shallow?

Also good to have Colvin back in the mix!

For Bender: frame, took a while to get swing arm in becauswe the powder coaters smashed one of the inside bolts.

Bits and pieces. Ready by Friday?

Evidence XLVII: Shhhh... pt. 2

Brad and I got to the spot a little early for a little Bondo coping repair.

Meggers got me some brews, and it was only after I cracked it that I read the cap. Fitting.

Levy, lo-profile all terrain ripper and inspiration. carve grinds through the shallow. He ripped some shit in this one.

Livingston cracks the pocket.

Craig rips through a backside grrrr.

Livingston stairs.

Joe Dirt also had no problem with the stairs, the other way.

Evidence XLVI: Joe Dirt's Birthday!

Amazing weekend to report to all youse via my blodge on the innernets. Meggers to me to some Brazilian music and a hot date afterward Friday, but that was just the start. Saturday I worked on my bike all day (dropped it off at the powder coating place today, going to plating place tomorrow, engine together this week!), then Andy Levy called to tell me he had tickets to the USA - Venezuela soccer game. Killer seats, not a bad game -- Venezuela played sloppy, the US failed to finish, but sneaked one in in the 97th minute. Thanks Levdog! Then it was on to see Youth Brigade (not-so-Youth-Anymore Brigade?) and Adolescents. YB killed it, then somebody had to be taken out by EMTs during the Adolescents, so Joe Dirt, Craig and I went next door to start Joe Dirt's b-day celebration!

Sunday finished up some bike shit, the met the crew down at Conspire for the mini-rumpus band jam. Saw a lady wearing cat ears walking up and down the street, and on her second or third pass she put up this flier. Skateboarding cats? Crazy cat lady?

Dephinger played. I think they're some new Vegan-core band now or something.

Dickburgular stands up a grind on his creation.

Cool art at Conspire.

We had to break out and skate some pools. No photos of skating this one, but killer fish tile.

Backyard damage.

Joe Dirt's got stairs on his B-day, yeah!

Livingston, I presume?

Walking down the alley saw a bizarre site: a baby chair hanging 8 feet off the ground in a tree. Do they really stick junior out there when he's naughty?

Hoss and I grabbed a beer at the ghetto mart down the street. Full security windows for the cashier, like at a bank, and crack pipes for sale on display.

Need Saving?

Why not start the week with a little inspiration? Lavern Baker, second female solo artist inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame (after Aretha Franklin), in 1987. AKA "Little Miss Sharecropper," smokin' hot deep voice. "Saved" is from the 1961 LP of the same name, peaking at 17 on the R&B charts.

R.I.P. Etta

Damn... R.I.P. Etta James. Tons of folks posting their favorite Etta jams, haven't seen this one up elsewhere although it is a killer one. I'm a keep playin' this one every time I play the rekkids out.

Evidence XLV: Back for more

"Thank you Tony!"

Dick Diggity Dickman damn!

Got all the tabs grinded off of my frame.

Slathered some JB weld on there, super thin coat, just to cover up the rough spots from grinding. Will sand it down, and then the powder coat will be baby smoove. No can use Bondo 'cuz the heat and whatnot.

Deconstruction

The CB350F started off today looking like this. Glad to have a day off of work to tackle the tear down (hope you had a good MLK Day too).

Thing sounds killer, wait for the extra 50 ccs, proper carburetion, and a 6th gear...

End of the day, the frame was over here...

The engine landed over there (thanks for the help with that one Hoss!0...

Front wheel, swing arm, stuff to get powder coated over there...

Headlight bucket, handlebars/controls, pegs, engine mounts, etc., over there...

Rear wheel, engine cover, oil pan, oil filter housing over there... Now the fun starts.

Evidence XLIV: Shhhhhhh!

You want to know what's funny? Having the feeling you're being watched. Keeping this gem under the radar for a while, with no easy way to discern it's location, so no photos of skating at this point. Shred sessions are go, however.

Yeah, that's the lip. Some can't hang, some hang up, and others ride away.

More Sweet, Cafe Racer Queen Video

Got this compilation ages ago, and it features Sweet doing "Rebel Rouser," Ramones doing "I Don't Wanna Be Learned," Undertones doing "Rock 'n' Roll/Get It On" and Generation X doing "Invisible Man." All pretty solid tracks (Gen X a little wimpy). It's kind of awesome for a lot of reasons, and I can't get the Sweet song outta my head (so it's below). The record came out in 1990, so it's kind of a look back at the birth of punk (with punk's founders, the Ramones!) but the inclusion of Sweet also shows the early glam influence in punk (and Sweet really had some hard rock edges before they went totally wimpy). The 7" is actually named for a Sweet LP, although the track by the Sweet is off of their 1974 "Fanny Adams" LP (kind of a sleeper, but it's when they started rocking harder). "Fanny Adams" is British navy slang that apparently dates back to the mid-19th century, and it means "Fuck All" -- F.A. Gargle the lyrics to Rebel Rouser, you'll be glad you did. Those guys were from outer space ("Juvenile Jive" would be a killer name for a band!). The song "Sweet F.A." off the record is pretty awesome too.

Sweet were definitely into their motorbikes too. If you doubt it, and you got some more time, check out this vid, with footage from British Bikesploitation movie Psychomania, and four rockin' Sweeet tunes:

Yeah! And for your viewing pleasure (and for the AnacHondas!), Cafe Racer Queen:

Muddiest CB400F engine in history?

So... got a spare engine off a CB400F frame I got at Bob's. I was oringinally gonna build the other engine and throw it in the CB400F frame, but have changed my mind and reverted to the CB350F/400F frankenbike. The frame had an engine in it, but this thing was so goddam beat. Lee helped me wedge it out of the frame, and we brought it over to Derek's to check out. The other engine was in great shape, but the shift forks were a little loose, so we're gonna use the ones from the other engine, which were tight. So we gotta pull that thing apart, and salvage what we could. Little did we know that thing wasn't coming apart. Used a pry bar, wrecked some cooling fins, and got the thing a couple millimeters apart before giving up. See above.

Came back the next day with a Sawzall (thanks Hoss!). Tore through some of the bolts, and still had to wedge the fucking head off. Insane corrosion. And dirt!

Finally got the jugs off. Fuckin' A, dirt throughout the entire engine...

...including under the starter cover. Mounting bolts for that were also corroded to hell. We came to the conclusion that this bike must have spent some time under water and collection silt and dirt. Trying to salvage the starter motor to see if it works, and the pistons, crank, whatever else might be OK. The pistons have barely any wear on them, bike must've had less than 10K miles before going for a swim.

Got paint for the rebuilder engine. Derek's got a little mroe cleaning up to do, then we're putting that thing together. Hope to strip the CB350F frame this weekend and prep for powdercoating or painting. Shit... gotta find time to shred too.

Dig This!

Whoa cats, dig this one! Tip o' the hat to Hoss (and Rudy)!

H2 -- 2-stroke triple wheelie machine!

Love to have one these monsters, although I guess their middle cylinders are notorious for seizing up due to overheating. Some folks keep the mixture really rich to keep it cooler, and deal with cleaning plugs moref requently. I dunno, ask Texas Dan. Oh yeah, found this courtesy of thespeedboys.

Me, Lee and Art

An oldie, from 2007. Cowtown had a photo show at their Glendale location, I framed 10 photos with records as mats, including Mikey Ratt naked and bloody at the Nude Bowl and petting a dog (check out his new shop Pack Ratt in San Deigo, and he's a regular DJ at the Tower Bar), and Jimmy Moore all bloodied up after a bail at the Veggie Bowl -- used in Thrasher in an article I wrote on Phoenix pool skating. Lee had just been diagnosed with MS, and Tubbs had just had his head injury, so Cowtown used the show as a benefit for those guys. I couldn't remember who was in the photo of legs in the center top one, but Lee recognized it -- as himself. In the background is a year's worth of photos of Charles' beard. Gross!

And here's a little self defense trick for you for this weekend:

Polished Covers, Ariel Square Four, BSA -- Bob's Rules

So the 350F/400F Frankenbike is sort of coming along. I finally have everything I need to rebuild the motor with Derek -- seals, gaskets, new shift forks, engine soda blasted and prepped for paint. One of the final pieces of the puzzle: getting the covers (primary, clutch, sprocket and valve) polished by Sammy down at Bob's. Dude killed it on these covers. Now to schedule the rebuild... then frame powdercoat, and I think I'm gonna get the tank and some other bits copper plated and not chromed. Maybe switch the seat around... trying to get it together in one month.

Rod down at Bob's scored a killer Ariel Square Four. It's one of the earlier ones, with two pipes. These things fire one cylinder at a time, and are pretty collectible. This one has 1960's mods, but there is a stock 1957 going for $15k on craigslist in PHX now.

Two cylinders for each pipe, could be changed to run four pipes, which is how the later models came (I think).

They got a couple BSA singles down there too. dig the 3 rifles logo -- Birmingham Small Arms.