Here is the second you have and third will be of the photo shoot with Marcus Cuff this October… I taking to the paint shop next week, can't wait to see how it turns out.
Test driving a car, sampling your friend’s new gadget, previewing a new CD are all great things to do before making a final decision. Unfortunately with bike building, you don’t always get to “pre-ride” the bike and sample it before it gets painted, wired, and pretty much ready to go.
There's major obstacles to pre-paint riding. We had to put chemicals into the system, including gas, oil, tranny fluids, and brake juice. Before paint all the chemicals had to be removed again. We had to wire the bike, which was a terrific dress rehearsal to wire placement, bungs, loops and holes in the frame to stash wiring. We had to plug in the petcock and run lines to the carb. That allowed us the opportunity to make bungs, or guide to keep the gas line clean and away from hot engine parts.
In addition we had to adjust and tune for running, that meant all the cables were run, adjusted and it gave us one extra chance to make guide loops, drill holes, whatever, to make this a cleaner machine.
Well with this new bike, for the very first time, we got to test and ride a bike before it went to painting. It’s a great opportunity to move, cut, or re-make any deficient parts that I might have installed.
One thing I learned is that there is always something that could be made better or fixed but because the bike is already painted, we don’t get the chance. There are only so many things you can drill and tap when you are trying to add something new to a freshly painted bike.
I am happy to say that this little “test drive” was definitely worth the effort. I was able to discover things that I needed to fix or improve. The next stop for the bike is, of course, the paint shop and, if things pan out, a photo shoot in October with Marcus Cuff for American Iron and Bikernet.com is gonna be the light at the end of the tunnel.
The other gentlemen in the riding photos is newest mechanic in the shop his name is Norio Akai. He is here from Japan, and shares space in the shop with Roger. He is a bright and hard working individual, and is rare a find. His help and input has been a big asset to the shop.
As for the bikes performance, it handles better than I envisioned. I purposely set out to a bike that could handle the screwed up roads on Oahu. The one area I was mostly concerned with was Highway-3, that long stretch of cement punishment. My last bike we put together didn't fair to well with that stretch of Freeway. With the geometry of this bike, it ate it up.
It was no softail ride but the 39 mm forks set-up worked well with the rake and trail of the bike. The icing on the cake was how it handled in town. The quick cornering capabilities and good acceleration gives this bike a Thumbs Up and moves it to the next round of fabrication…Paint & final assembly. Of course, in the future there will be a photo shoot with a beautiful Bikini Model. What more could you ask for….
Mahalo,
–Darren
