Most folks kick back on New Years Eve and make plans to hit some lavish party downtown, or stand in the street in Times Square with 100,000 other freezing fools and scream at one old Dick Clark. That ain't the case at Bikernet.com. We huddled like so many football fans and developed an earth-shattering plan for the New Year. Our first goal was to indicate a non-stop demeanor for 2008. Then we formulated a steel mantra of originality and hands- on creativity. Finally, we decided that whatever would kick off the New Year had to be accomplished on New Year’s Eve and nothing would stop us.
The team was small and tight, consisting of the missing Jeremiah, the lovely Sin Wu and the King of W8Less Rotors, Ray Wheeler, who escaped a five-helicopter funeral for one of the original Question Marks and a Hells Angel for 30 years, David Ortega in Santa Barbara, California. Cops swarmed the event and finally kicked off a bomb threat to scatter the party after the funeral.
Ray was questioned by the California Highway Patrol, then peeled out and blasted on his R&R, 120-inch Dyna toward Los Angeles to hide out in the Bikernet Headquarters. We immediately slapped a ball peen hammer in his hands and we went to work building a wall heater cover for the upstairs. What could be a better project as an indication of the vast, unstoppable, 2008 Bikernet resolve?
We tore the old, ugly, piece-of-shit wall heater cover off the wall and tossed it in the trash three years ago when we moved in. We planned to toss the heater also, but restored the hallway around the existing one with the notion to create something wild and art deco to replace it. For three years, Sin Wu waited patiently while we built motorcycles and upgraded the shop. We've had strident priorities.
Out project budget was nil and our sheet metal fabrication tools nonexistent. We were forced, at New Year’s Eve deadline gunpoint to roll with what we had. Our motivation included a ride in the SoCal sunlight aboard two blacked-out out hot rods with fresh ceramic, super-light W8Less rotors and new brake pads. His Dyna was a super-fast R&R powered twin cam. We figured if we could knock out the heater cover in time, we'd ride.
We dug around the shop for bits and pieces that might work and I discovered an unused Sam's Club chromed storage shelf that seemed just the right configuration with some mods. We had some unused Assalt Weapan, 16-guage sheet metal and a few feet of fresh angle iron. The crowning jewel was the Heather New engraved 1/8-inch brass plate, so we had to find just the right place for it.
We went to work slicing the shelf with an air-driven cut-off blade. Then Ray, who grew up in shops in Seal Beach and San Jose, helped me set up an angle-iron guide to cut the sheet metal with our Esab Plasma cutter.
“I love living in a shop,” Ray said. “I just need a head, a bed and a hot plate. The rest is tools and bikes.”
Ray spent half the afternoon on the phone to a guy named Dallas who lived in Tacoma and was the CEO of W8Less rotors. The company is exploding now that production hiccups are gone and products are being shipped to anxious customers. These rotors don't wear out and are one-fourth the weight of standard rotors. Ray showed me how to clamp the angle Iron guide in place, ½ inch from the cut line and slice a straight plasma line. We cut the side panels, the center panel and a roof panel. Ray suggested angle iron supports at the top and we cut angle iron guides for the sides.
Ray ground and smoothed edges with a hand-held Makita with emery discs while I tacked panels to the angle iron. Ray, at 63, was packed full of exuberance for his new rotor product line and the potential for future products, and had a healthy resume of manufacturing experience. The Miller MIG welder struggled with the crude angle iron and Ray buffed the surfaces clean of casting slag for smoother welds.
As we burnt through the 2008 New Year’s Eve afternoon, we made progress and hauled the tacked unit up and down the stairs a couple of times for fitment. Sin Wu wandered out of her office at one point and said, “Cool, how can I turn it off and on?”
As usual she asks the most direct and delicate questions. Yep, originally we discussed a hinged bottom panel, then blew right past the notion, welding everything in place as solid as a battleship compartment.
Ray and I looked at each other and said, “No problem.” He knows the Bikernet Motto for 2008 and lives it daily. Nothing gets in his way for progress. “Obstacles are bullshit,” Ray said.
We liked the notion of more brass to accent Heather's craftsman, so I dug around through my jar of brass belt buckle rings and found one large enough for the lovely Bikernet girls to access without a strain. I brazed it in place after Ray cut the rails.
Lastly, we cut notches in the lower cover segments to fit over the gas line and around the hallway baseboard. Then we stood back and wondered how we could add brass to the top and discovered a couple of old phone bell brass ringers. They worked like a charm to add a touch of brass to the top of the unit.
“I'll drop in sticks of cinnamon, star of anise, and coffee beans to add a warm scent to this dump,” Sin said and stomped down the long hall.
“What's she pissed off about,” Ray asked.
“Something about a redhead,” I answered and Ray nodded knowingly.
“Let's go for a ride,” Ray said and we cut a dusty trail in search of the ultimate Redhead for the New Year, Jack Daniels and some hot 5-Ball Blues to rock in the New Year.
–Bandit
