that shovelhead

just went down in price. it's 500 bucks cheaper than it was last week. my girlfriend thinks i should call just so that i can see it and put my mind at ease. i just keep thinking that i could make it look like this...

black shadow

hunter s. thompson's ride of choice, a vincent black shadow is on exhibit at the museum of modern art, nyc.

compensator nut part 2

so i failed to mention last time how i was so excited about removing the nut that i hastily put the new compensator on without really checking what was going on in my primary. as a result, after i got the whole shebang back together again, i could still turn my compensator by hand. imagine a stream of profanities fighting their way to escape my mouth all at the same time. the only one that made it out was, "shit!". so, i figure, no big deal, i'll just back the nut off again. nope. the nut was chewed from the many times that the wrench slid off (and banged my shin or the tank). the nut wouldn't budge.

i decided to buy a 1 and 1/2 inch socket and a breaker bar and try again. it worked. now in addition to my previous advice, i would say don't go with a big ass wrench purchased at the tractor supply store. go to harbor freight and buy a socket and a breaker bar and find at least a 2 foot long cheater bar/pipe to help you. if only i had done that from the start... anyway, you live and learn.

so, i got the damned thing off and crack a beer to celebrate. this time, i took everything apart. the chain, sprocket, clutch plates and basket came out. the problem was that there was no spacer between the sprocket and the rotor. aaaaand there should be. i knew that. but i trusted that whoever had this before me knew that as well. i guess they spaced when they put the primary back together. now i have some parts on order and hopefully will be riding again in time to go to vermont and see the fall foliage. hopefully, the next post will be a picture of me dancing and the bike warming up to go for a sweet ride.

2010

this is from inside an elevator. i like it. it reminds me of a watch i own that no longer works.

cute

swingarm bobbers

so, there is a 77 shovelhead for sale in my hometown for $4k. it's pretty ugly. but i'm ever so tempted to buy it and make it look like this:

*edit- more swingarm bobbers.

if you're reading this and have some pictures of your own swingarm bobber, please send them and i will post them to this entry. i will also give you credit and a link to your site if you have one. all of the pics below were found on shovelhead.us.

this is slowly becoming a collection of bikes that i find inspiring as i continue to customize my own. i love these old 4-speed frames and i'm really lucky to have one.

And below is my favorite. I first saw this bike on shovelhead.us and posted the pictures here. I recently found a blog called The BDAC that the owner contributes to and clicked the "follow" button with a quickness. This bike is great.

compensator nut

pray that you never have to remove this on your shovelhead. it was a pain right in the ass. the previous owner had about a gallon of red loctite on there.



what makes it suck even harder is that you shouldn't use an impact wrench on it. you could mess up your bearings or your flywheels (maybe) or throw the magnets off the rotor. instead you use a jambar and a lot of patience and strength.



if you do happen to feel like taking that damned nut off, check out this link first. a guy named hawg ryder explains how to make your own jambar. hawg's jambar.

nyhc

my band danger field played at trash bar in brooklyn. it was a monday night and we didn't expect much but with free beers from 8-9pm (just happened to be our time slot), we had a decent crowd. the drunker they got, the better we sounded. here are some pics from the ride down and some sights of bk. if you want to hear some old school hardcore punk, check out danger field. the tracks were recorded by the legendary don fury. yes, the same fury who recorded gorilla biscuits, quicksand, agnostic front, etc, etc.

two lane blacktop

on my must see list.