Swing Arm Updates

Someone said the the 4-speed frame is the new rigid. I added a few more found pics to the swing arm bobbers post.

If you have any pictures of swing arm bobbers, please point me to a link.

Cold Night at the Garage

It's dark. It's cold. It's my garage.



My very first bike, a '75 Yamaha XS650.





My project for the night; install a headlight and remove the front fender of my Uncle's '82 FXR Shovelhead.



So far, so good.



And we're done. Shiny new headlight. I successfully removed the front fender but not without the bike falling off the jack. Yeah, it was pretty frightening. Lucky for me, the kickstand was out and saved it from landing flat on its side and I was able to grab a handlebar, get the jack out of the way and save the bike. Don't tell my uncle.

Sweet Shovelhead

I love this bike. Someone who goes by the handle BigDawgJrod owns it. I found this on the illustrious shovelhead.us site under a "swingarm bobber" picture thread. Click on that link to see a ton of great bikes. Or go to The BADAC page to not only see more of the bike but see some shots of the work that went into it. Hopefully, he won't mind that I'm linking to his page. This bike needs to be seen. It's already being featured in The Horse, but I figured, I'd post some here as well.

Why do I love it? It's got a great style to it. It doesn't look like any of the other customs out there that I've seen. It has some familiar cues but a fresh take on them in my opinion. I love the white rims, the tanks, the blue grips the seat. Really, what's not to like?

Made in USA

Apologies for the blurry photo. I'll replace it with a better one soon. I just scored this points cover off of ebay. Yeah, I know it says "live to ride" on it and all that but, man, I think it looks pretty bitchin'. On the back it says the name of some company that I can't think of right now, 1981, and Made in USA. In this day and age, it's always a nice surprise to see something made in this country. Even if it's 29 years old.

FXR work in progress

This is my Uncle's '82 FXR. I've been slacking hard on getting it done but here is some of the progress. I'm motivating myself to finish it by halting all work on my bike until this one is finished.

rootbeer shovelhead

i really like this bike. it was built by one of the guys on the shovelhead.us board. he has some more pics here.

kickin' brass

i bought this brass kicker pedal at laconia a year ago. i was so excited about putting it on. i wanted to install it at the camp site but decided to wait till i got home. when i did install it, it just didn't look right on my bike for some reason. so it sat at the bottom of my tool box for over a year. now i'm shipping it to a friend in australia. i hope it looks better on his bike.

nice night

sorry these pics are so blurry. we had a weekend of unseasonably warm and sunny weather so i went out for a nice evening ride. stopped at a stewart's to take a few pics.

AMF

I found these on Shovelhead.us.

covered shocks

i finally zipped up my primary drive project. i replaced the compensator, and compensator nut. this greatly reduced the shiver feeling that my bike had when the rpms would hit 1200. since i was in there any way (and because i busted the chain oiler), i decided to seal the primary off as well. once all that technical stuff was done, i felt like doing something to the bike that would be visually noticeable as well. i've been wanting covered shocks for some time now. no time like the present.

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.

'75 Shovelhead FXE

I really love my bike. You can save your opinions about AMF for someone who rides a twinkie.