Getting some Z’s…

 A buddy hit me up about some Z bars I made a while back to see if I could make him a set. So I dug out my old jig and figured I might as well make a few sets while I’m at it.

Well shit, it’s been 8 years since I last posted on here. A lot has transpired in my life since, built some bikes,  traveled the world, then kinda took a break from it all. Never in my life did I ever think anything would ever come from me dicking around in the garage but in doing so, I met so many rad people and was afforded so many opportunities, some of which I took, some of which I didn’t. Ultimately, as little as this all was to the world, it was all just too big for me to juggle with my ever growing family so I changed the channel. The mental vacation I’ve  been on the last few years has allowed me to take a step back and reevaluate my life, my love and my priorities. Part of that journey inspired us to get up and leave Southern California, the only place we’ve ever called home and landed us in Tennessee, in search of a little more space to stretch our legs and room for these kids to grow. This move has also landed me a little closer to my friends a little south of us in Alabama, The Haints.  It only seems fitting that my first return post here picks up after the last post I made here 8 years ago with a little overnight backpacker I took with the Birmingham boys a couple weeks ago. Didn’t take many pics or anything but it sure was a nice little hang to break me in as a new resident of the south. Think I’m gonna like it down here.

  

 

team Haints...

The boys in Alabama are doing it right. Living in Socal you kind of develope a jaded view

of this little motorcycle world. Drama, shitty attitudes and the seemingly endless "contest" take its

toll but then you got these dudes, a proverbial breath of fresh air. Nothing but good times. Choppers, skateboarding, and a sense of humor, what else do you need. This is where i go when i'm feeling burnt out...

-HAINTS-

Going out of business! All shirts must go.

We are blowing it all out. Get it while you can. Pretty sure we are out almost out of larges in everything so all you guys doing the Jason Webber look alike thing go up a size or two. The rest of you with your newly formed coke habits can grab the smalls and mediums. Thanks we had a blast.

born free video from Motornation...

Heres the abbreviated version of my Born Free video from the guys at Motornation. The full version will be available in a few days on their site. Its a pretty cool thing they got going on over there, lots of videos to choose from, from choppers to hot rods...its like Netflix but with stuff you wanna see. It's a subscription based deal but its like $5 which in the grand scheme of things is nothing.

Go check em out..
MOTORNATION

skid row chopperfest...

Skid Row chopper Fest 2015 from Tony bang on Vimeo.


neither Nick or myself were able to make it out this year but looked like a
good time as would be expected up there with those dudes. Thanks for the video Tony!

Left Overs

Jesse 

Rocket dragster

Night time at the drag strip

Al's 

This Saturday

Good Vibrations

When I was younger and I'd be hanging around at my dads machine shop; either after cleaning the lathe or sweeping the floors, I would find a magazine or catolog to look at. One of those catalogs was the Good vibrations vintage dragster and funny car parts catalog. My dad had dreams of getting out of drag boats and building a funny car. It never happened, but looking through that catalog made me dream too. 

A couple of weekends ago my friend Peter from Brixton clothing invited me along to go watch the March meet at Famoso raceway in Bakersfield California. This event was hands down the best drag racing event I have ever been to. It is worth the trip no matter how far away you are in California. Being there camping all weekend at the end of the drag strip makes you feel like your back in the heyday of this sport. Those were the days when most any regular joe could build a car and be competitive or just have fun.

Some how we snuck right up to the Christmas tree and got my hat blown off. My dad was jealous as hell.

This was the view from our camping spot.

Jack on the 50. We rode till it broke.

Great times with great people. Thankyou everyone.

a little Born Free update....

My Born Free build got off to a rough start. I kept bouncing back and forth between a few different directions to go with it considering the caliber of bikes already being built for the show. In the end, I went with what kinda fits in my skill set range and particular taste and that's just a simple, fairly stock wheelbased 60's-ish style Panhead chopper.

The basic approach is to keep the overall look like that of all those bikes we love in all the old biker flicks but throw in some little tricks here and there. The one thing I wanted to do going into this build was to do a chrome framed bike but at the same time, not build an over the top show bike.  So I'm trying to figure out a happy medium of those two ideas. I'm also narrowing an I-beam springer about a 1/2" per side. It's a lot of work for something that will probably go unnoticed. A little de-raking in the frame, custom bars, 21"+18" wheel combo, a slightly different seating deal and a tall sissybar pretty much sum up where I'm going with this thing.

Dumby Proof

My amazing girlfriend gave me a lecia point and shoot for Christmas. I've always wanted one, and I couldn't be happier with the quality of the photos this thing shoots with. First roll couldn't have been any better.

Skated something I had only dreamed of. My brother tyler and our friend jake Reuter.

Friends from out of state. Garret & Thomas

This is the boat my dad just finished for Austin. It turned out so dam good. I'm really stoked for the both of them. If you need any work done on your boat or any CNC work done call my dad. You will not be disappointed. 949-295-0510

Mama Tried Or Bust

For the next 10 days we are offering 20% off any order 20.00 bucks or more! 

Attherisers.bigcartel.com

Born Free Seven...

I have been lagging horribly in posting progress of my Born Free bike for this years show. Might as well start with a pic of the first time I threw all the basic components of this build into one harmonious pile. To be honest, I haven't had a real direction as to which way to go with it. I think most of the bikes I've had a hand in over the past years have had a pretty simple vibe to them, nothing that really jumps out at you and grabs you by the throat. The level that most dudes operating at nowadays, especially among the fellow invited builders is so high as far as creativity and ability that its truly humbling and makes you rethink what you think you know. That being said, I know where my strengths lie and that has kind of steered the direction I think this bike is going. 

As long as I can remember, even being a child not knowing anything, trying to envision a bike had always churned up the basic design of the Panhead. I love Knuckles, Shovels and everything else, but the ultimate "Chopper" when I close my eyes has always had a Panhead in it. Its simple, boxy design just lends itself to following the triangular lines of a frame. It just made sense to me. Now I'm in no way going to attempt to build the "ultimate" chopper because I'm not sure that's possible from a publicly shared viewpoint, I'm just going to pick one of the few dancing in my head that suits and reflects my taste and ability...I think that's as ultimate as it gets.

Happy New Year

NEW STUFF, SAME OLD SHIT...

Some new stuff up in the store. For you last minute shoppers, if ordered
by the 12th. we're thinking it should get to you by Christmas.

Busy Saturday

Death Valley Ride 2014...

The Death Valley Ride is a little deal loosely organized by our pal, Troy.  It's really nothing more than a bunch of friends putting down 666 miles through Southern California's/Nevadas beautiful desert.  No flyers, no sponsors, no bad attitudes... I think some people may have gotten the wrong idea and assumed the DVR is sort of an "elitist" thing because there is no formal Instagram mass-invite but the truth to the matter is if you know, you'll know....if you wanna know, just ask.  I think this method works best to weed out the bullshitters and people that probably don't belong here anyways.

I blew it the first year, then got a metal sliver in my eye the day before last year so i made sure to play it safe the couple weeks leading up to the ride. Luke, Chase and myself rode up to Adam and Tony's the night before for a little chopper slumber party and to cut a majority of that horrible downtown LA traffic in half.  The next morning when we pulled up to the meeting spot, I knew right away this was going to be an awesome weekend. Nothing but familiar faces, choppers and most of all, smiles. 

There's a reason people come to California, and it's to experience how awesome and diverse the landscape is. Some of the best riding can be done right here, and my first visit to Death Valley was no exception and besides a few hiccups (Nicks, Eddies and my bike calling it quits) everybody made it pretty much unscathed to Las Vegas. Some dudes went hard, some didn't but the one thing we all did was have fun...together.

I know I've had some rough times as of late and for the first time in my life, I'm trying to set my sights on and enjoy the good shit going on around me rather than focus on the bad shit and let it eat me alive.  This weekend was a great reminder of how rad things can be when people step up and watch out for one another rather than themselves.

My phone was dead the whole time but fortunately for you, Ben had his camera and caught some rad photos.

Check out more of his stuff at...

Ben the Boog

Lukes Pan looked rad rolling down the road.

the Knuckle was running so good until it suddenly wasn't.

Raddy and Ryan, just a couple of baawwwssess

Eddie flew out and Uncle Troy let him ride his Pan for the weekend

 

Chase's Sportster is as cool as it gets

I wasn't surprised when Mumma ran outta gas.

The Busby brothers from Salinas. Good dudes right here.

DEATH VALLEY

Thanks for hanging with me when my bike took a shit shawn.
How rad is this picture by the way.

i just think Derrick is cool.

early bird gets the perm

breakfast across the street from the campsite.

RockLobsterBoyWolf

Once I realized my Knuckle was done, I started donating parts of it left and right.
This is where I put my distributor on Ryans Pan.

solid crew going on here.

Sherm lookin good.

"you sheared the clutch basket off of the mainshaft?..I didn't know you could do that?"

Ohbrono, minutes before all the liquids in his bike came pouring out.

"thats my new thing, crackin fools necks" Doug had everybody in tears

laughting the entire weekend

another one

these dudes

the real-est boss on the trip, Chatty made sure everybody was taken care. Thanks

again for the help man.

This dude sucked. Apparantly we got randomly selected to each pay $10 to ride the

road through the state park while all the "normal" people were waved on through.

Ben piloting his spaceship to another planet.

God i hate Vegas, but it's always a sight when you see those lights on the horizon.