Anyway I arrived out RPR in time for some early morning test & tune. There were a variety of motorcycles just waiting to back into the water box and begin filling the air with blue smoke, I love the smell of nitro and burnt tire in the morning! Being the poster child for “Would you like some candy little girl(21+)” I noticed a very cute blonde waiting in line on her GSXR with a pink bottle on the bottom. I learned that the previous night she had had some issues with her bike and was not going to be able to run. Being a group that watches out for each other, one racer asked a group standing nearby for donations, which everyone did without hesitation. That action would come to bite most of them in the ass the next day!
   While the burnout lacked some of what I had seen her do all day there was no question she was in control when the light turned green, with the owner commenting on the bike running its fastest time ever! That may have something to do with the 100+ pound weight difference between her and his big corn-fed self? That last time I saw either of them was as she made the turn back into the pits with him trying to chase her down on a much smaller tow vehicle, maybe she figured all this new bike need was a touch of pink?
   Waiting to switch the fun from the track to the stage were several bands: SwampDaWamp, Thunderosa and Kara Clark, along with other ‘adult in nature’ activities. While racing is the main draw, there are all the normal rally sights and sounds and with prices at $35 for the weekend and $20 for a day-pass. Not a bad price to pay for a day of racing! Steve and the rest of the rally and track folks but on a hell of a show!
I am outta here…off to find me some pie!
Till next time,
                        —Rigid Frame Richard

Baker Drivetrain masterminds are constantly looking for new products. Did you know Lisa Baker is a mental member of Mensa. She is a brilliant engineer, and Bert flunked out of the MMI sparkplug-changing class at the mechanics school, but he likes to think of himself as sorta cool.

Actually, he is also an engineer, but we can’t seem to find out who is the mastermind and who cleans the shop after hours. I suggested a new product line to Bert this year in Sturgis. I can only find one complaint about Victory motorcycles, the clunking in the gear-driven primary drive. They need a belt drive solution. Bert was smiling and chatting with other magazine guys, then turned and glared in my direction, “I don’t need more projects,” he said. But I could tell the wheels were already turning.

Before I jump into the benefits of this new Baker product, I want to point something out. Bert and Lisa fell is love with motorcycles and they’re devoted to the cause. The custom motorcycle market is dinky, and if they wanted to really make the big bucks, they would design toasters, but they’re hooked on two-wheels, and I’m glad they are.

This unit was specifically designed for late model touring Harleys (2009 and later), and unlike oil coolers, the +1.5 pan reduces the engine oil temperature, by 16 degrees or more, whether the bike is moving down the road or stuck in traffic. It adds a quart and a half of lubricatin capacity to the long distance H-D models with dinky oil capacities, sometimes less than 3 quarts.

Not only will this add more miles to each oil change, but it also adds substantially to overall life of any engine, especially during a time of cost and quality withing twin cam engines. So this puppy could be a life saver.

The plus 1.5 is a two-piece 6061-T6 aluminum construction unit with metal core gasket. It features cooling fins on the bottom with a highlighted finish. The returning oil supply follows a series of co-planar baffle labyrinth channels. The hot return oil travels from front to rear on the top plane and back to the oil pickup, in the front, on the bottom plane for complete oil circulation.

It is also clearanced in the rear for crossover exhaust pipe compatibility. They designed in zero leak drain plugs for engine and transmission oil. According to the Baker team installation is easy and requires no modifications. Just remove axle from rear wheel and move the wheel rearward against the fender to remove stock pan and
install new one.

To realize maximum engine cooling benefit

To realize maximum oil blow-by reduction
Oil blow-by on Screamin’ Eagle 110 engines is a chronic issue for aggressive riders. It is caused by the larger displacement engine building up pressure in the cam chest and the oil sump. This forces oil up the push rod tubes, out the head breathers,
into the air cleaner and all over the right side of the bike.

Harley advise dealers to run the stock oil sump 1 quart low to increase the volume of air in the sump. This corrects the blow-by issue but makes the oil temperature skyrocket. By running the +1.5 pan at .5 quarts over stock (4.5 quarts) the blow-
by condition can be cured with a small improvement in oil temperature reduction.

FITMENT

• 2009 – Later Touring Models

TOOLS, RESOURCES, REQUIRED PARTS
• Factory Service Manual For Your Motorcycle
• Factory Parts Manual For Your Motorcycle
• Common Hand Tools (Allen Wrenches, Sockets, Screwdrivers etc.)
• 1 7/16” Socket (Rear Wheel)
• Torque Wrench (ft-lbs. and in-lbs.)
• Blue Loctite® (242 Removable) or Equivalent
• Motor Oil; BAKER Recommends Spectro® Synthetic 20W50
• Transmission Fluid; BAKER Recommends Spectro® Synthetic GL 5, 75W140

DISSASSEMBLY:

1. For your safety, DISCONNECT BOTH
BATTERY TERMINALS (FAILURE TO DUE
SO COULD RESULT IN PERSONAL
INJURY).
2. Remove the oil and transmission drain plugs,
drain fluid and dispose of at your local
recycler. Remove the oil fill plug with dip stick.
3. Remove the saddle bags and place them out
of the way so that they don’t get damaged.
4. Remove the right side and left side exhaust
muffler. Remove the left side muffler at the
catalytic converter section; the crossover
pipe will stay attached to the left muffler,
figure 2.
5. Remove the exhaust hanger located rear of the oil pan.
6. Remove the rear brake caliper from the
bracket by removing the 2 fastener bolts and
sliding the caliper off of the brake disk and

DO NOT JACK ON THE
CROSSMEMBER OF THE FRAME
AS THIS WILL BEND. THE JACK
SHOULD BE PLACED SO THAT IT CONTACTS BOTH FRAME RAILS.

7. Place a bike jack underneath the frame and raise the rear wheel, so it’s just barely off of the ground; enough to get the weight of the bike off of the rear axle. Remove the rear plastic belt guard. The front bolt of the guard will stay in the swing arm, this will aid in the pan installation by holding the belt out of the way.

8. Loosen the rear axle, slide tire forward then sl
remove the axle. Now slide the tire all the way
back, inside the rear fender. This will allow
you enough room to BAKER 1.5 oil pan.
9. With the bike still supported, take a few 2 x
4’s and block up under the motor area of the
frame so you can remove the jack (get it out
of the way) and the bike will stay supported
properly. Make sure that you block this up
under the motor so you have enough to
remove the front oil pan bolts.

10. Using the front belt guard bolt; loosen the bolt
up enough to stick the rear belt underneath it.
This bolt will hold the rear belt up and out of
the way, while you work on the oil pan.

11. Remove the 12 retaining bolts from the stock
oil pan and remove the pan out the left rear
side of the motorcycle, figure 6. Make sure
not to damage the transmission to pan gasket
surface area while removing the pan.

12. With the pan out of the way, use a clean lint
free cloth or shop rag and wipe the gasket
surface clean.

BAKER DRIVETRAIN SHIPS THE
1.5 ASSEMBLED. THE PAN MUST
BE DISSASSEMBLED FOR
INSTALLATION. MAKE SURE THAT
YOU DISSASSEMBLE THE PAN, USE
SHOP AIR AND BLOW OUT THE
INTERNAL AREA OF THE PAN TO GET
RID OF ANY DEBRIS THAT MIGHT BE
PRESENT FROM SHIPPING.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO RUN A TEMPERATURE
SENSOR WITH A SENDING UNIT, REMOVE THE 3/8” NPT PLUG FROM THE FRONT OF
THE BOTTOM OIL PAN AND INSTALL THE SENDING UNIT WITH PIPE THREAD SEALANT
AND SNUG INTO PLACE.

BAKER 1.5 INSTALLATION:

1. Make sure and wipe down the gasket surface
area of the transmission with some brake
cleaner using a lint free rag. Referring to the
exploded view (figure 1) get the top pan bolts
(9pcs of 1/4-20x.750” SHCS) ready by
applying Blue Loctite to the threads.

2. Install the top pan with top gasket through the
left rear side of the motorcycle, figure 7.
Install the 9 bolts; just start the bolts for now
making sure that the top gasket is
aligned properly. Use two of the 1/4-
20×2” SHCS bolts and just start by
hand to keep the gasket aligned. Snug the ¾” long bolts
then torque to 110-130 in-lbs following
the sequence in the Baker installation instructions.

3. Remove the two 2-inch long bolts used for
keeping the gasket aligned. Prepare
the remainder of the BAKER 1.5 bolts
by applying Blue Loctite to the
threads.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHILE INSTALLING THE BOTTOM PAN
WITH GASKET NOT TO DAMAGE THE GASKET DURING
INSTALLATION. MAKE SURE GASKET IS ALIGNED WITH DOWEL
S BEFORE PUSHING UP INTO POSITION.

4. Install the bottom pan with gasket.

5. After the bottom pan is in position and seated
with the gasket aligned install the bottom pan
bolts. Snug and torque to
110-130 in-lbs.

6. Following your Factory Service Manual re-
install your rear wheel with belt, belt guard,
exhaust hanger bracket, exhaust mufflers,
and rear brake caliper.

7. Fill transmission fluid per your Factory
Service Manual and fill the BAKER 1.5
with motor oil of your choice. We
recommend Spectro Synthetic V-Twin
20W50 motor oil and Spectro
Synthetic 75W140 transmission fluid.

8. When filling the motor oil, refer to the section on oil use; depending which way best suits
your needs. Test ride!

Follow your Factory Service Manual for
recommended oil change intervals.

Baker Part Numbers

PN: BD-1.5B Wrinkle Black Highlighted Pan Assembly
BD-1.5CVO Granite Highlighted Pan Assembly – CVO Models
BD-1.5P Show Polished Pan Assembly
BD-1.5C Chrome Pan Assembly

THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. If you’ve been involved in any kind of accident, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit www.ON-A-BIKE.com.

COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)

CONGRESSMAN CHALLENGES THE SCIENCE OF E15 GAS
U.S. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has introduced legislation to require the Environmental Protection Agency to “seek independent scientific analysis on the effects of 15 percent blend ethanol gasoline” (E15), which the EPA recently allowed to be sold for use in 2001 or newer vehicles; though motorcycles and ATVs are not approved for its use, nor are most small air-cooled engines, and using the hotter-burning fuel could cause premature wear, engine damage and void the manufacturer’s warranty.

“The EPA’s decision to allow E15 into the marketplace will impact every American who owns a car, lawnmower, or boat,” said Sensenbrenner in announcing his bill, H.R.3199. “Automakers insist that using E15 will void warranties, lower fuel efficiency, and cause premature engine failure. In off-road engines, the effects can even be dangerous for users.”

Motorcyclists should be concerned about the availability of compatible fuel supplies if gas stations primarily provide E15 gasoline that’s EPA-approved for the majority of their customers — but no on- or off-road motorcycles or ATVs appear on the EPA’s list of vehicles approved for use of E15.

“There are serious concerns that the EPA used only one Department of Energy test and rushed E15’s introduction into the market place. This test was limited in scope and ignored a plethora of evidence – albeit inconvenient evidence for the EPA – that shows E15 gasoline has a negative effect on engines,” according to Sensenbrenner. “I introduced this legislation to ensure a decision of this magnitude will be vetted by independent scientific research, rather than political expediency.”

Earlier this summer, Congressman Sensenbrenner, who is the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Science, introduced H.R. 748 to prohibit the EPA from authorizing the use of gasoline containing greater than 10% ethanol (E10).

BIKERS’ RIGHTS TO HEALTH CARE
Akin to some Unions that have negotiated lower health care costs by excluding insurance coverage for so-called “risky” behavior such as horseback riding, skiing and riding motorcycles, the state of Georgia may soon exclude motorcyclists from their healthcare benefits.

The chairman of a House study committee looking at Georgia’s health benefit plan said the state might require employees to disclose dangerous activities like skydiving and riding motorcycles.

State Rep. Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville) said that the panel is looking to bring down skyrocketing costs in the state health plan. Earlier this year, lawmakers were forced to scramble to fill a $300 million budget hole for the health benefits.

Rogers told the Associated Press that state employees who take part in risky activities might eventually pay higher premiums.

TRUE COLORS: COPS VS. BIKERS
“Nowadays, officers also have to worry about lawsuits when they pull over a ‘one-percenter’,” reported the Philadelphia Daily News in response to a civil rights lawsuit claiming profiling and police harassment, adding that “Biker gangs might have a well-deserved reputation, but one local attorney who represents several clubs says that ‘reputation’ isn’t a valid reason for a traffic stop.”

“Some of this tension between the cops and the bikers is because the cops hassle them ALL the time,” said Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Attorney Boyd Spencer, who represents the Eastern Pennsylvania Confederation of Clubs.

Spencer is representing three bikers in a civil-rights lawsuit stemming from a July 30, 2009, traffic stop involving six motorcyclists, two of the defendants are Pagan’s M/C members and a third defendant was a Tribe M/C member.

According to the complaint, the bikers were ticketed for not having approved helmets and were told to remove their “colors”, the patched jackets members wear. The whole traffic stop, which lasted more than an hour, was captured by mounted cameras in the police cruisers.

“Now you’re all going to take your jackets off, because on this highway, these are the only colors,” one of the state troopers, referring to State Police blue and gold, told the group after nearly 50 minutes had passed.

The bikers didn’t budge. None of them took off his colors. The helmets were later found to be legal, and a prosecutor dismissed the charges. Spencer, who said the demand to take off their colors was out of bounds, chalks up the traffic stop to harassment.

Spencer said he always hears about bikers getting harassed. “I’ve got a guy in Upper Darby who gets pulled over every time he goes out on his bike,” he said.

Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr. told the newspaper that bikers get pulled over if they break traffic laws, like anyone else. Police keep tabs on them, though. “These operations have become very sophisticated. They know what their rights are and what the police can do,” he said.

“NO COLORS” RULE RESCINDED AT KENTUCKY EVENT
Following failed negotiations with Beech Bend Park near Bowling Green, Kentucky upon announcing they would no longer allow club colors of any kind at their All Harley Drags, the Kentucky Motorcycle Association/KBA called for a boycott of their events until this discriminatory policy was changed.

“After the word went out it is my understanding that several hundred phone calls went to the offices of Beech Bend Park,” said Jay Huber, President of KMA/KBA. “As a result of those calls the management at Beech Bend has reversed its decision regarding NO COLORS at its events.”

“The KMA/KBA along with the Kentucky Confederation of Clubs is committed to eliminating this type of discrimination as it hurts the entire biker community,” said Huber, adding that his organization will post listings on their website of businesses that discriminate with regard to No-Colors and urge “that ALL bikers please refrain from using the services of any business that participates in this type of action.”

SUIT CHARGES DISCRIMINATORY ENFORCEMENT OF NEVADA HELMET LAW
A dozen motorcycle riders recently filed a class action lawsuit charging arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement of Nevada’s helmet law.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court charges “defendants, through their agents, have an ongoing pattern and practice of issuing helmet tickets to the class members that are not supported by constitutionally sufficient probable cause, thereby violating the civil rights of the class members.” The action blames Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite; and Boulder City, and their police departments for the disparity in enforcement, and if certified as a class the suit could represent more than 40,000 motorcycle riders in the county.

The group is hoping to ultimately win the repeal of Nevada’s helmet law, but this lawsuit is not about whether the government has the right to require motorcycle riders to wear helmets, which the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that it does, but instead the action accuses local police and prosecutors of selectively enforcing the helmet law and of using it unconstitutionally to hassle bikers.

“This violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring unreasonable search and seizure,” commented A.I.M. (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) Attorney Sam Hochberg in The Gunny’s Sack monthly e-column. “The suit also alleges violations of the 14th Amendment protections against arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. They are saying the fines are all over the map with no balance. The suit essentially says that law enforcement folks are using the Nevada helmet law to harass motorcyclists.”

Dubbed the Class M class action, the suit seeks to include some 40,000 Nevadans holding motorcycle endorsements on their driver’s licenses.

NATIONWIDE MOTORCYCLE THEFTS DOWN
A motorcycle is stolen every 9.5 minutes in America, but according to a report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, motorcycle thefts last year were down 24% from their 2007 total. There were 65,678 motorcycles reported stolen in 2007 compared with 49,791 in 2010, according to data from theft reports contained in the National Crime Information Center.

The top five makes stolen last year were: (1) Honda, 12,260; (2) Yamaha, 9,853; (3) Suzuki, 7,869; (4) Kawasaki, 5,470; and (5) Harley-Davidson, 3,301. Combined, these five brands accounted for 38,753 thefts in 2010, or 77.8 percent of the total.

The top five states with the most motorcycle thefts in 2010 were: (1) California, 5,662; (2) Texas, 4,394; (3) Florida, 4,148; (4) North Carolina, 2,649; and (5) Indiana, 1,925. These five states accounted for 18,778 thefts, or 37.7% of the total.

FACT OR FICTION: MOTORCYCLES ARE ECO-FRIENDLY
In the popular belief that since motorcycles get better mileage they must be greener than cars, “People are trading in their cars and driving motorcycles instead because they believe that’s the more environmentally friendly choice,” said “MythBusters” television host Adam Savage in the season opener of the popular Discovery Channel show. “The logic is because motorcycles are generally more fuel-efficient than cars, they burn less gas and thus they must be better for the environment.”

As the MythBusters have done with each of the show’s previous seven seasons, Savage and his co-host Jamie Hyneman set out to test the theory, and the Los Angeles Times recently reported on the show’s findings.

The MythBusters duo selected three motorcycles and three cars that were common in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and put the undisclosed vehicles through a 30-minute, 20-mile real-world course, 75% of it consisting of highway driving and 25% city driving.

Savage drove all three cars while Hyneman trailed him on the bikes, each one equipped with portable emission-measuring systems that tracked exhaust gases from a probe in the tailpipe and collected engine information from the engine control unit to determine each vehicle’s fuel economy and emissions profile.

The upshot of the experiment was that the newer two-wheeler was indeed 28% more fuel efficient than the comparable car and emitted 30% less of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, however the same motorcycle emitted 416% more smog-forming hydrocarbons, 3,220% more oxides of nitrogen and 8,065% more of the toxic air pollutant carbon monoxide.

The MythBusters’ conclusion: “At best, it’s a wash. Motorcycles are just as bad for the environment as cars,” Savage said on the show. “At worst, they’re far worse.”

But emissions are only one factor in the equation that measures a vehicle’s true impact on the environment, and as LA Times columnist Susan Carpenter concludes; “Despite the MythBusters’ findings, emissions are only part of the story of a vehicle’s true greenness. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, motorcycle manufacturing requires thousands fewer pounds of raw materials than automobiles. They require less fossil fuel, so they require less energy to pull that fossil fuel out of the ground. They use fewer chemicals and oils than cars. And motorcycles produced today are 90% cleaner in California than they were 30 years ago. Note to MythBusters: How about a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment for cars and motorcycles for the Season 9 opener?”

WEIRD NEWS: MOTORBIKERS TAKE BITE OUT OF APPLE
Just like in the movies, seven motorbike riders carrying passengers wearing full face helmets recently conducted an early-morning “smash-and-grab” robbery by busting a window of an Apple Store in central London and plundering thousands of dollars in Mac laptops, iPads and iPhones. “Apple is a big ticket item and a very easy sell,” deputy inspector Gregory Antonsen told the International Business Times, calling this one “primarily an Apple case”.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean
politics won’t take an interest in you!”
~ Pericles (c. 495 – 429 BC), Greek Statesman

 

Where the hell is Dothan, Alabama? Well, to Berry Wardlaw, its home and has been since 1996 when he moved his business, Accurate Engineering, to L.A. (lower Alabama). It’s where he has produced incredible engines for just about every notable in the industry including the powerhouses for many Discovery Channel bikes, the motors for numerous winners of the AMD World Championship, the engines for two of the World’s Fastest Panhead record-holder bikes for Bikernet’s 5-Ball Racing Team and continues to manufacture some the most innovative engines in the V-Twin world.

 

Dothan is also where he bought a house, put down roots and took on the role of single dad as he raised Jennings, his son. It wasn’t until September, 2010 that he felt like he was really part of the community. That’s when Jennings was killed in a car accident and support for Berry in the dark days that followed came from an unexpected source. These people resented authority, routinely got chased by the cops, were outcasts from society and were passionate about riding. No, they weren’t bikers, they were skateboarders.  “Live to Ride, Ride to Live” is very simply translated in the biker-to-skater dictionary as “Skate or Die”.

 

Skateboarding was Jennings’ passion and all of his buddies shared his obsession. In the weeks following the funeral, the house and shop were filled with skateboarders and kids that just wanted to be around ‘Mr. Berry’. Berry fully expected the number of kids to dwindle as the weeks melted into months, another school year started and the teenagers’ interest in skating waned. Boy was he wrong. Berry’s new circle of friends ranged in age from 14 to 20 and was multiplying quickly. From these kids, Berry became aware of the plight of the skateboarder and vowed to help.

 

Skateboarding is essentially illegal. Skaters like to skate ‘street obstacles’  such as stairs and steps, railings, walls, benches, etc… All of these things are found at businesses and churches, public buildings and private property, parking lots and loading docks…and they are all off limits to the skaters and illegal to skate on. This forces them to skate in dimly lit places at night to avoid detection. They get run off by business owners and get busted, ticketed or have their property confiscated by the local PD. They are shunned from the general public and considered dangerous by the citizens. Sound familiar? They are the bikers of the sports world. Berry was going to change all that. He was going to build a skatepark in Dothan, Alabama.

 

This new-found purpose merged with his initial plans to memorialize and remember the life of his son. The Jennings Wardlaw Memorial Skatepark project was born. (Ta-da!) Now what? What did Berry know about skateparks or city planning commissions? Ask him about rocker arm tolerances or gear ratios (or anything else about any motorcycle) and he’ll blurt out an answer before you finish asking the question…but grades of concrete for the best skating surface or soil sample analysis or the best place for a hubba with a grindable surface? What?!

 

He had a lot to learn and became a quick study. Ken Clark, a.k.a. ‘old Dude’ by Jennings and the area skaters because he was over 30 and still shared their skateboarding passion, had served as a mentor and a role model for many of the kids. He soon became Berry’s close friend, confidant, and teacher of all things skateboard. Together they opened ‘Jennings Skate Shop’ selling skateboard equipment and goodies with profits going to the Jennings Wardlaw Memorial Youth Park, which was opened as a non-profit organization.

 

They had meeting with the mayors of Dothan and surrounding towns and appeared before the city’s planning and parks committees. Tentative approval for the skatepark spurred them on to buy an entire skatepark in Homestead, Florida, disassemble it over the course of two 102 degree weekends, transport it back to Dothan and unload it in the back of Accurate Engineering.  A special thanks to Warren Lane and Nick for helping with that monumental task!  Mission impossible changed to mission accomplished.

 

The final meeting with the Dothan city council committees was scheduled for October 13th at high noon. It had already been leaked that they were going to give the okay to pull the trigger on the project. The city’s responsibility ended at leasing land for the project. Berry and Ken would have been up against funding the rest of the park and assuming all legal and financial/insurance responsibilities…forever. It would have been like building a motorcycle from parts, paying for it out of your own pocket, handing the keys over to someone else, performing all the maintenance and repairs pro bono forever and keeping the insurance current. Thankfully, a savior came out of California. His name was Jamie Thomas.

 

Jamie Thomas also calls Dothan his hometown. He lived there until he took the skateboarding world by storm. He parlayed his skating talent not only into becoming one of the top professional skaters on the planet but becoming a mogul in the skateboard industry. He is the owner and president of Black Box Distribution, which was created in 2000 and is the parent company of Mystery Skateboards, $lave Skateboards, Zero Skateboards, Threat By Zero, Insight Clothing, and Fallen Footwear. His business prowess earned him a 2006 regional “Entrepreneur of the Year” award from Ernst and Young and he‘s currently on the Board of Directors of The Tony Hawk Foundation. (Not bad for a cat that hasn’t even hit his 38^th birthday!) Could it get any better? Yup. He rides Harleys, too, and road trips with his buddies whenever he can break away from his other obligations.

 

One phone call from Jamie turned into many and culminated in his trip to Dothan. He and Drew Burke, his long time brother and also a Dothan native, set about adding nitrous to our ride. Jamie’s presentation to the city was of a very different skatepark plan that wouldn’t saddle Berry with the entire burden and would endure for decades. In motorcycle terms, Jamie would design the bike, Berry would solicit sponsors for the build, and the city would lay out the balance and drive away. Jamie made a huge impact on the project but made an even bigger impact on the area kids.

 

Jennings’ hero is also the hero of skateboarders around the world so Jamie’s ’meet and greet’ at Jennings Skate Shop (located in the Accurate Engineering storefront) was a day to remember for the more than 200 skaters that attended. Jamie is the guy that they’ve seen in all the magazines and watched on all the DVD’s since they could pick up a skateboard. He’s the cat that they pretend to be when they’re skating. Now, he was there…right there…autographing their posters and shirts! It was huge in their lives and an afternoon they’ll remember forever.

 

 

There are more meetings and red tape to get through with the city but the undertaking now has a very big gun in its holster. Jamie has used his connections in the skateboard industry to slash the current plan’s big price tag. He’s worked out a deal so that the 10,000 sq. ft., concrete, low maintenance skatepark he put forth can be constructed for half of the retail cost of $500,000. Although $250,000 is still quite a big ticket, they’re committed to getting it done. When asked about he was going to raise the cash, Berry answered, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”.

 

If you want to donate to the park and save Berry from having to eat some spoonfuls of elephant, you can drop a tax deductible check to: Jennings Wardlaw Memorial Youth Park, Inc., 410 Southgate Rd., Dothan, AL, 36301.

 

Thanks to all the people that continue to bust their ass on this venture and got it off the starting line. Thanks to Jamie Thomas for shifting the project into 6^th gear and twisting the throttle. And thanks to the love of a man for his son for getting this whole thing kickstarted in the first place. I’ll end this the way that all the skaters around Dothan end their text messages…RIP Jennings.

 

 

 

Most 1%er Motorcycle Club books are written by law enforcement types who have infiltrated clubs in order to make arrests and take those criminals down, by God! Other 1%er books are written by club insiders by themselves with the help of a ghost writer. Terry The Tramp: The Life and Dangerous Times of a One Percenter falls into the latter with a twist. This 1%er book is crafted by none other than all around motorcycle expert K. Randall Ball, otherwise known as Bandit of Bikernet.com.

The preface alone is worth the price of admission and tells the history of the modern motorcycle industry that began after WW2 and its effect on society. Ball chronicles the story of Terry ‘The Tramp” Orendorf and the Vagos Motorcycle Club in a gripping and realistic manner. Several times I had to put the book down and take several deep breaths or an even longer break of a day or two before I could pick it up again.

The core subject of this book is freedom. The word freedom is easily thrown around, but what does it really mean? This country is sold to the rest of the world as a beacon of freedom and hope. Freedom is still the word associated with the idea of the United States of America.

Terry the Tramp is a familiar tale of a group of like minded motorcycle enthusiasts banding together against the world and pursuing their version of freedom. Not just the idea of freedom, but the active living breathing choice of being a free man. The price paid was enormous. Run ins with other clubs and the law ultimately forced the one percenters to band together as a group in brotherhood against the law in order to survive.

All told, Terry the Tramp is a great rollercoaster ride of a book based on the true life adventures of Terry Orendorf of the Vagos M/C as told to someone who lived the life
and also survived the ride.

THE EDITOR PICKED UP TERRY THE TRAMP–
Between the five minutes that she (Jennifer, Bill’s partner and editor) spent at the house in between the Texas trip and the Dubai trip, she at least got to see the cover! But on the other hand, I’ve been reading it!!!!

I’ll be submitting the review in about a week or so…great stuff, KRB!!!! Right off the bat I loved the way you began things with an honest assessment of where Terry is now (I kept thinking, if only William Morrow/HarperCollins had just waited a few months on the Doc Cavasos book and had you write it, it would be a viable work instead of an essentially irrelevant paperweight!).

The beginning of Terry… was perfect…a great tone was set!!! And, as always, it’s so great to see the kind of writing that doesn’t “speak down” in any way to the audience. The love and respect in this book goes far beyond its immediate subject matter!!!

–Bill “Press” Hayes
National Press & Publicity Officer
Boozefighters MC

BIKERNET CONTRIBUTOR REVIEWS TERRY THE TRAMP BOOK—It’s been at least six months since I read Terry the Tramp, but it’s a hard book to forget. That said, I’m going to write this review from memory… Not something I have a lot of these days.

In late 1970 I returned to California, after a one-year stint in southern Michigan, custom painting bikes, and buying up as many old Harley-Davidsons as I could find. It wasn’t long before I’d made friends with other guys in the West Covina area that rode hogs. One of them introduced me to “Dresser” Sam, a real good guy when it came to helping out FNG kids like me that didn’t know shit about working on a Harley. 

I spent a lot of time over at Sam’s wrenching in his garage on some of the Pan, and Sportster motors I hauled out of Michigan. Sam was and probably still is a pretty good motor builder. There were Vagos that used to drop by Sam’s for motor work. I remember a fair sized Vago named Duffy that used to show up in a white ’58 Coupe De Ville when his bike was down. 

There was other Vagos too, “Jerry the Jew”, “Speed” “Parts” and other Vagos I don’t remember the names of now. Maybe I’d heard of “Terry the Tramp” back then at Sam’s, but I can’t remember. A year or two later I moved to El Monte, not far from where Keith Ball does a great job of describing the surroundings Terry the Tramp grew up in. 

One of the most interesting, and I imagine hard to write about accounts was the Vagos’ bum murder wrap in New Mexico. I knew of a fellow custom painter in Baldwin Park at the time named Art Smith. It has to be the same Art Smith involved in that mess. 

Terry the Tramp is a must read… Even for bikers that don’t usually don’t like to read this motherfucker is great book.

—“Krylon” aka “Crazy” John 

After riding a motorcycle 20 some years, I can honestly say I still LOVE to ride. I love to ride, I love to love, and I love to live. Love Ride 28 took place this past month, and I think I have only missed the event a couple of years. After this year’s event, I have such sad mixed feelings.

After riding nearly every road west of the Mississippi, I still wave to every single biker I pass, when I am traveling. I believe we all share a very basic love of experiencing the great outdoors and the freedom doing it on a bike gives you. This year I was directly behind one of the riders, who went down on our ride from Glendale Harley to Castaic Lake. I could see slowing traffic ahead had come to a stand still, so I was already slowing when bikes started locking up all around us. Smoke started rising, and I heard crashing noises. I saw parts flying, and then bikes colliding and sliding and bodies were rolling……… I remember thinking that the man I could see rolling in front of me was tucked very tightly, which almost looked like a stunt man he rolled so well.

There wasn’t a moment where I wondered whether I should pull over or not. Your brothers and sisters are lying on the road, pull over! I was running back to the scene and could see that amazingly in all of these sliding bikes, only two went down. There could have been so many more. Both bikes had couples on them, and the women were up and standing.

One of the guys on the ground sat up and said, “Hey I know you!”

“That’s a good thing,” I replied, do you know your own name?

“Yes, yes I’m fine,” he said, and he got up despite his arm full of road rash, and went limping off. He seemed more worried about his friend than himself! The other man was still on the ground, and several of us had gathered around him to try and help. We were near the very front of the parade of bikes, so Jay Leno and Oliver Shokouh – Love Ride founder and owner of Glendale Harley, were also on the scene. The man was conscious, and able to speak to the paramedics as they took control of the situation. Paramedics told all of us who had stopped to get back on our bikes, as the 5 fwy was now backed up for miles.

We would not learn until after the event that farther behind us, other riders were in trouble. When a big rig truck slowed and swerved, his back end ran over and killed two fellow riders. They were both pronounced dead at the scene. Oliver Shokouh has issued this statement on behalf of Glendale Harley & the Love Ride Foundation:

“We, along with our family of riders, mourn the loss of our friends, Romarino Zeri and his passenger Julie Cameron. Our heartfelt condolences and sympathies go out to their families and friends. We will keep you posted as we learn more information. Together we will honor our fallen.”

After the accident, we returned to our bikes. My friend Reg said, “That’s it, I’m done, I’m going home to spend the day with my son.” He did just that. Standing on the side of the 5 fwy my friends and I just looked at one another in sadness.

I rode in from western Colorado for the event. My friends Masyn Moyer & Duane drove from Boulder, Colorado. Bean’re rode in from Louisiana! And Sasha Mullins flew in from Nashville. She even wrote a “Love Ride” song, and was hoping to take the stage to talk about it.

But this Love Ride didn’t turn out the way it should have, and I can’t imagine telling the story any other way. Jay Leno didn’t even make it out to the lake to take the stage, as host of the event, he was Grand Marshall. He stayed by the side of the injured man in the ambulance and at the hospital. I can’t think of anybody I would rather have next to me on my worst day. In a hospital room, when you could REALLY use a laugh, Jay Leno would be my choice.

The Love Ride is America’s longest running charity motorcycle event. In years past there have been as many as 20,000 riders in attendance. This year 3,000 riders made the journey. Over the years Love Ride has raised over 13 million dollars for its many charities, mostly benefiting children’s causes. This year the event raised $375,000 in pre-expense revenue. The majority of the proceeds will go to “Autism Speaks.” Autism is a challenging neurological disorder affecting one in 70 boys! One in 110 children, which are considerably high numbers. If you would like to learn more about Autism, go to: www.AutismSpeaks.org.

My friends and I started out our day with Qian’s bike having a dead battery after riding in the Malibu Hills the day before, so I had to bid adu to my buddy in the driveway in her bathrobe and sad helmet! The ride was held in October this year and offered a warm Indian summer day, and it started off picture perfect. By the time we rolled into Glendale the place was buzzing. Seeing old friends is always the main highlight for me, but meeting new friends at the Love Ride is always an added bonus! The first guy that walked over to us as we rode in was Danny Trejo of “Sons of Anarchy”, who I have long admired for his bad boy skills in knife throwing, and weaponry in movies like “Desperado” and “Machete.”

Emilio Rivera from “Sons of Anarchy and his beautiful wife were there again graciously taking pictures with everyone, and country stars Montgomery Gentry were on hand to perform later in the day. Jay Leno and Oliver took turns introducing the celebrities as they came onto the stage to say hello to the crowd. But both the crowd and celebrities went silent when an 11-year-old boy with Autism named Hunter Brown took the stage to perform an amazing song, “Everybody wants to be heard.” It was all about being heard.

Out at Castaic, Hunter was supposed to sing the National Anthem, but because of traffic, he did not make it in time. So, in his place, another Autistic boy named Andrew Hain stepped in and did the honors. He brought the crowd to their feet and we all joined in as he sang it perfectly.

How many of us would be brave enough to take the stage at a last minutes notice and sing that song without missing a beat? Andrews father is the western regional director for Autism Speaks, and proudly watched his son from the side of the stage. Sadly, it was plain to see that the sea of bikes and people that once filled this meadow was reduced to a fraction of what it used to be, but it made those of us, who were there more connected. Ticket prices went down from $100 last year, to $65 this year in hopes of drawing people to come back out to the event, despite the weak economy. The lower price did not include the usual BBQ meal. Instead you could purchase tickets that were good for a variety of different vendors. Most people figured out what they wanted quickly, grabbed a cool drink and searched out the shade of a big tree to escape the unusually hot sun.

One of the LR highlights has always been watching the Victor McLaglen drill team do their incredible stunts. This year I was able to get darn close for terrific pictures, and talk to the riders when they were finished, some of whom are in their 70s! The stunts they have perfected and are able to perform on uneven grass in a small, closed in area, amazed us all. And the music of Montgomery Gentry provided a relaxing country environment the whole crowd seemed to enjoy.

All in all, it had the makings for a beautiful day. Unfortunately, all of the good is shadowed by the tragedy of the loss of two fellow riders who simply set off to enjoy the day. But to lose the Love Ride, which has done so much for so many, would also be a tragedy. This event has suffered greatly in numbers, with our failing economy, and with the added burden of this tragedy, is in trouble.

After the event, I just sat still with my thoughts for weeks before writing. I have read many other articles and blogs concerning the accidents and the event. So IS the Love Ride unsafe? That seems to be the question. And “Of course it is.” Riding a motorcycle on the freeways in LA is dangerous any day of the week. Riding in large crowds is dangerous anywhere you go. Riding a motocycle at all must be dangerous, if they can take away our freedom of choice and make us wear a helmet to protect us from ourselves! Is there a way to have huge numbers of motorcycles on the road at the same time and never have an accident?

At the end of the day on my way out of the park, I stopped to say hello to Frankie who was sitting in a golf cart in the cool shade. Frankie has Down’s Syndrome, and was holding a Three Stooges tape. I asked him which Stooge was his favorite, and he told me not Mo….not Curly……..so Larry was his favorite. And then we talked for quite awhile about why. And as I was walking away, it seemed clear to me, that this event was created as a means of giving back. A way for bikers with Big Hearts, which we all have, to do something for those who are less fortunate. We GET to decide what is safe or unsafe for ourselves. We GET to ride our motorcycles whether they are safe or unsafe. We GET to make all of our own choices, and not all children get to grow old doing just that. Showing up to support them and their causes can only be a good thing, and I can only hope the Love Ride can find a way to continue safely into the years and continue to help so many.

We jammed over to the Sagebrush Cantina to have dinner with more friends before our weekend was complete. Our photographer friend Bart Mitchell came along who had snapped some awesome shots of us riding. I definitely packed as much riding, fresh air, and good friends as one can fit into 48 little hours!

My beautiful riding friend Dani Kelly hiked her equally beautiful mother to meet us for dinner! Guess which one is which? Dani is on the left. My friends have mom’s younger than me! Ugg!

The day before Love Ride a group of us friends did a beach and mountain ride that reminded me why so many people move to California! It is one beautiful state! We started off in Venice Beach, at the Venice Vintage Motorcycle show. Great old cars, and bikes, and my friends Kiwi and Carolyn from Kiwi Indian were there with their newest bike, which won first place for their category, as always!

From there we headed on up the coast to Neptunes and scarfed some peel-and-eat shrimp plates, yum yum! We had a big group of friends, old and new. Some of us never rode together before and just spoke on Facebook. It’s always great to meet and ride with bikers from all over the world!

We split in two from there, and me, Tommy, the Russian Butcher and Shawn rode our favorite old road Deer Creek, swung by the Rock Store, and made it home just after the sun went down!

And again, my heart and prayers go out to the families and friends of Romarino Zeri and Julie Cameron. And for my friends who ride all over the world, ride safe and defensively at all times! And don’t shake your finger at me, Tommy Malone, I’ll break it in two!

I’ve been fortunate enough to get to ride all over the United States and enjoy the roads, towns and people everywhere I’ve traveled. For many years, I would buy a tee shirt at every Harley dealer I visited. After 100-plus tee shirts, I stopped buying at every one and now only buy a tee shirt if I think the dealership has a cool name (Bald Eagle, Grand Canyon, things like that). But, I got a wild hair this weekend to take pictures of a lot of the shirts in my tee shirt collection to see what kind of story they told. They tell me that I’ve traveled a lot of miles on a motorcycle over the years. Enjoy the trip and the tee shirts:

My first Harley tee shirt from Battlefield Harley-Davidson in Gettysburg, PA. I bought my first Harley there and rode it home to Texas. I like to tell people I had 1500 miles on the bike before I got it home from the dealer. It was a 2004 Fatboy that I retired in 2009 with 95,000 miles on it. It was a couple of weeks shy of being 5 yrs old. Jerry Evans bought his 2nd Harley at the same time and we rode them back taking excursions down the Blue Ridge Parkway and Natchez Trace. Great ride!

Of course, once I got back to Texas, there were Harley dealers all around the state. Each one had to be visited–the code of the West.

Stubbs was also a regular stop while I was living in Houston.
Beyond that, every dealer in Texas was fair game depending on where I was going and what I was doing.

Then of course, there were the cross country rides that I tried to squeeze in every chance I got. Like the trips from Texas to Florida to attend Bike Week and Biketoberfest activities in Daytona Beach over the course of several years. This meant finding new routes through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida to break the monotony of a dreaded ride across I-10. Between Harley dealerships and Hooters, we always managed to keep it interesting even if it meant riding a few hundred miles out of our way (like when we came back by way of Tennessee one time.)

Chattanooga – Home to one of the best Hooters in the US.

2004 was particularly special for a ride down Route 66. I was working in Milwaukee and decided to ride up for a couple of weeks of work, then ride back along Route 66 as far as I could cover until I ran out of time and had to roll home. I made it from Chicago (Route 66’s origin if you are headed west) to western Oklahoma, Clinton, OK to be exact, where I finally turned south for Texas. Of course, you can imagine that Harley-Davidson didn’t miss the marketing opportunity presented by Route 66 as you’ll see from the shirts below.

In 2006, I made an epic trip from Texas to California to meet my favorite biker, Bandit, of Bikernet.com. It was a great ride even counting the couple of days where I was sick as a dog, but still riding because I didn’t have time to waste sitting in a hotel tossing my cookies. Even though most of the shirts from the trip came from Texas, the ride along the Mexican border was awesome.

I remember the shirts from Barnett’s and Sierra Vista were long sleeve because the ride was in January and I was freezing my butt off in the desert when the sun would go down. On the way home I met Jerry in west Texas and we made a stop at Bone Daddy’s for BBQ and cute waitresses. I remember Jerry looking longingly out into space and saying, “This is my favorite place in the whole world.”

My California trip was one last run before I moved to Virginia in February 2006. But, not to worry, the motorcycle went with me and the rides continued. 2007 included my first trip to Laconia, New Hampshire for their bike week (which Jerry and I agreed was lame, but did give me the opportunity to ride my Harley to Maine) and my first ride to Sturgis, South Dakota for the Black Hills Rally (NOT LAME!) The Sturgis trip meant a couple of days at the Buffalo Chip Campground, a rode into Wyoming and spent the afternoon drinking beer and hanging out in Deadwood.

Of course the move to Virginia meant acquainting myself with my Virginia dealers with Grove’s winning out as my dealer of choice.

In 2009 I found the opportunity for a couple of rides to Alabama to visit the folks, that included a breakdown in the rain in southern Virginia where New River Valley H-D took good care of me. I also managed a visit to Ocean City for their version of Bike Week that year, but I was only there for the day, so I can’t really offer a rating for that one.

2010 included another epic 6000 mile ride out to Las Vegas to get my oldest son married to his beautiful wife. The trip out gave me a chance to ride a little more of Route 66 west to Kingman, Arizona. The return trip included meanderings through Texas, Alabama, Georgia, South and North Carolina.

The 2011 summer’s ride was a trip out to Iowa for a family reunion and then a return up through Minnesota and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Of yeah, 2011 also included a few months back in Texas working, so why not throw in another tee shirt from the Great Republic of Texas! That’s a wrap.

Editor’s Note: Prince Najar did an admirable job with this feature, but I want to bang the gong harder. This builder and his crew is a one-of-a-kind team, who build state-of-the-art customs, multiple show winners, and market their talents in the most magnificent manner. This feature demonstrates the sexy style, yet it empowers women to wrench, teaches even old veteran builders new techniques, inspires timid builders to get involved, and shows us how much fun building motorcycles can be. Hang on!

In the heart of California’s historic Mother Lode, 45 miles east of Sacramento and Stockton, the custom bike ASUMATI rumbles to life built to honor an ancient people, the Miwok Indian Tribe. Once this highly customized Honda VT750ST sled rolls out the winter bike show circuit, it will be carefully displayed in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, in Amador County, at the Jackson Rancheria Casino.

The lead designer on the build was Jim Giuffra, owner of AFT Customs. AFT Customs is three businesses in one… a fab shop, a modeling agency and a custom metric bike shoppe. Jim designed the bike, oversaw the build, and worked with his bevy of mechanical intern models to fabricate it.

The AFT Models do about 70% of the work. These ladies learn to weld, lace wheels, fabricate, and race. And damn, they look damn good doing it. All of the agency’s models are experienced in motorcycle tuning, repair, and custom bike fabrication. Cyndi & Kristin are TIG certified in welding & Nalani (18 years old ) is good with sheet metal. She made the side covers on Asumati.

So, what’s it like working with the best looking crew in the industry? Do they spend more time on finishes or performance? Are the crew’s shop clothes always color coordinated? We asked Jim to share the difference between working with guys and working with models:

“One reason I like working with them is that they take direction,” said Giuffra. “They don’t come with preconceived ideas, they don’t have egos. I don’t have to retrain them and they are good listeners. They do come from a different point of view so as issues surfaced the build was advanced in ways that I never foresaw. This unique feminine point of view covers everything from design to tool naming. For example, they renamed the ball hone cylinder tool, the pine cone.”

“As they have matured as builders, their knowledge has deepened. At first they looked at paint, now they are deep into fabrication and what it takes to make the modifications they see. To a woman, they are interested in working on the engines and want to understand how things work.“

“They all have careers – the bikes are their hobby & they love it. A lot of the girls had never held a wrench in their hand until they came to work with us. Kirk Taylor is going to give them a crash course on how to paint this winter. They’re really excited
about that. When ever we go to shows I always have the guys give the girls the high points of their bikes. Cole Foster showed Cyndi how he makes patterns. Bryan Fuller gave the girls his new book & they’re all looking through it and reading it. They pick up little bits & pieces from everyone. When I see the excitement from them when they weld something or make a part or put something together it reminds me of why I started in this business. IT’S FUN!”

ASUMATI, the name on the tank, was translated from Miwuk means grizzly bear, the monarch of the forest. The bike began life as a Honda VT750ST. It evolved into a 750cc Honda Street Tracker-style custom bike with race inspired suspension, supermoto handlebars, and HIPO engine upgrades. A Street Tracker is a considered a bobber on steroids.

Giuffra’s tribe of friends helped pull the build together with custom-made taillights by TPJ Customs, hand-fabricated risers by Kraus Motor Co and digital switches came from Grip Ace. Duane Ballard built the custom under-the-seat radiator unit.

The front forks belong to R1 and the rear shocks were custom built by Race Tech. Asumati rolls on custom wheels with Avon Cobra front 120/70R19 and rear 180/55R18 tires. The license plate can be rotated vertically or horizontally.

An old-school touch is the stunning engraving on the cylinder heads and engine cover. It adds nostalgic touch to this long and low street tracker. If you look closely, you will see Indian themed art that includes a dream catcher, bear claw, arrowhead, and feathers.

A hammer and chisel were used to create these designs. And the investment for this craftsmanship was $50 a square inch, or about $5k.

Asumati was unveiled at the Los Angeles Calendar Show in June, then competed in the American Motorcycle Dealer World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Sturgis, South Dakota and the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show. It can be seen at the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike show in San Mateo on November 18-20,2011, www.ultimatebuilderbikeshow.com

About The Ideal Intro Custom Bike Platform

The 750 A.C.E. is an ideal platform for a custom build. The bikes were built from 1998 until 2003. The VT750 chassis is compact and lightweight, with geometry that creates easy, natural handling. It is based around a strong double-cradle steel frame with a square pipe backbone and forged steel pivot plates.

Giuffra will pick up clean ones on craigslist.org for $3,000 and sell off the unused parts on eBay and recoup from $500 – $1,000 depending on the build.

AFT Customs has developed an engine kit that includes pistons, cams and gaskets that pump the power from 37HP to as much as 48HP. In addition, their custom bike shop designed an under-the-seat radiator relocation kit to clean up the lines. So, with a modest budget, intro custom bike builders can build a cool bobbed hot rod for around $10K.

BIKE BUILD SPONSORS:

Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel
http://www.jacksoncasino.com/
Avon Tyres
http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/
Avon Grips
http://avongrips.com/
Grip Ace
www.gripace.com/
Beringer Brakes
www.beringer-brakes.com/
Leo Vince
http://www.leovinceusa.com/
Motion pro
www.motionpro.com/
Race Tech
www.racetech.com/
Bell/Easton
http://www.eastonbellsports.com/
Kraus Motor Company
motorivista.com/custom-motorcycles/kraus-motor-company/
Miller Welding
www.millerwelds.com/

Paint – Todd Evans
Leather – Duane Ballard
http://www.dbcustomleather.com/
Powder Coat – Dynamic Coatings
http://dynamiccoatings.net/
Anodizing – Pacific Coast

Thanks for your support!!

AFT Customs is operated by Jim Giuffra. Jim has been involved with motorcycles for most of his life but officially started working on other folk’s motorcycles in 1977, when he worked at Spinetti’s Bike Shop in Jackson, CA. They were one of the largest multi-line dealers in the nation. Jim was factory trained by Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. In 1987. He kicked-off Amador Fine Tune where they repair all makes of motorcycles and handle custom work. AFT Customs is a division of Amador Fine Tune.

About AFT Models

The AFT Models specialize in show promotion and print modeling. They are available to promote and advertise products, services, or businesses. They are available for commercial print, editorial, fashion, casual, swimwear, artistic, lingerie, glamour, lifestyle, and beauty.

Asumati Specifications

General

Builder: Jim Giuffra / AFT Customs Girls

Owner: Jackson Rancheria Casino

Location: Jackson, CA

Website: www.aftcustoms.com

Bike Name: Asumati

Year/Model: 2011

Engine

Make/Size: Honda VT750ST

Drivetrain

Make: Honda

Frame

Make/Type: Honda

Front End

Make: Yamaha R1

Rake: Stock

Stretch: Stock

Swingarm: Modified

Wheels

Front: Custom 19-inch
Tires: Avon Cobra 120/70 x 19
Brakes: Beringer/Moto Master/Honda

Rear: Custom 18-inch
Tires: Avon Cobra 180/55 x 18
Brakes: Honda

Finishes

Paint: Todd Evans

Chroming/Plating: Meclec

Additional Info:

Hidden radiator, Naked engine, removable passenger seat, all components on this bike are custom made for this bike. AFT Customs Engine Performance Package (intake, exhaust, pistons, cams) 70% of this bike was built by the AFT Customs Girls.

There are a handful of kickass builders who build bikes tighter and more rideable than stock. This little bastard is one of them. Tom Foster gets it. He understands style, simplicity, and function. I’ve known Tom Foster from when he had no tattoos and worked in a Hughes research lab. He built a bike every year and screamed up and down Malibu Canyon to the Easyriders offices to show us his shit.

Tom learned from the best in the industry, but he had a driving/riding mantra. His bikes had to haul ass, handle, and hang together in Los Angeles. I’m sure most of the country is tired of hearing about LA, Hollywood, and even the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, it’s generally bitchin’, the weather is fine, but the traffic sucks. It’s all about too much population, but I won’t go there; just don’t let it happen to your community.

Riding a motorcycle in LA is the only way to go, if you don’t mind taking your life in your hands every second you’re flying along county concrete. I don’t care if Tom is rumbling through an alley in a suburb, or brave enough to slip onto a downtown freeway during rush hour. Hell, it’s rush hour every minute of every day. Stepping out, leathered up, firing up, and peeling out is a roll of the dice.

Let me try to put this war zone into perspective direct from Wikipedia: Los Angeles County (incorporated as the County of Los Angeles) is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states. The county seat is the city of Los Angeles, the largest city in California, and the second-largest city in the United States (after New York City).

Los Angeles County also includes two offshore islands, San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island. The county is home to 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas. At 4,083 square miles, it is larger than the combined areas of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware.

On top of that, you’ve got the media. They want to write about helmets, can’t mention an accident without discussing helmets, and then there’s the loud pipe issue. I wish the freedom loving press would make freedom, in other sectors, a priority. Meanwhile, Tom is trying to pass a broad in a SUV who is sneering at him, because his loud pipes are interrupting her cell phone conversation. If it wasn’t for his pipes, he’d be dead.

 The bottom line is Tom has always built bikes to survive the rough streets of LA, and Hollywood, with the potholes, the fast and furious, muscle cars, drunks, distracted drivers, and speed freaks. Each bike must be Crazy Fast, agile, and strong.

Over the years, Tom has refined his building ability, learned which products to trust, and what to avoid. This one-off Softail was built for Jake Wood, a 6’7″, 300-lb monster. He came up with the Kraken name behind a monster movie character. Jake was no slouch, and noted the style and quality in Tom’s workmanship. He stepped up and Tom went to work. He handed the Chopper Guys team the specs for the frame and stepped back. Fortunately, he scored one of the last Chopper Guys frames before they went out of business.

He ordered an Ultima 127 Black Jewel from Mike Garrison, and the project was underway. Jake wanted a two-wheeled hot rod version of the Gran Turismo Maserati, since he owns one. The bike would be black, in various forms, which make photography a major pain, especially when the black finishes contain various textures, from mattes, to anodizing, powder, and paint. Brandon M. Turner, of BMTPhoto.com, a professional photographer did a helluva job with the images.

Jake makes his bread by owning several gyms in Los Angeles, so he didn’t mince pennies with this build, and allowed Tom to run after the best products from the engine to the Storz front end, the Todd’s risers, Biltwell Bars and the one of a kind swingarm, with the hearty fender bolted to it.

Tom avoided mountains of chrome with polished stainless 12-point fasteners from Diamond Engineering. He always uses quality PM wheels, brakes, and controls and Baker Transmissions. And he eliminates anything unnecessary, including gauges. The only instrument on the bike is an oil pressure gauge. Tom builds up to four bikes a year, and he studies other builders who build like motorcycles for heavily congested areas, by attending shows in Tokyo, Singapore, or Malaysia. “I love the era of the ’60s and ’70s,” Tom said, “and they go after the early styles.” He is also working on a ’52 Chevy Deluxe, with a ’65 T-Bird interior.

“BTW I am converting a 2012 “Blackline” Softail into one of my two-wheel terrors for Glock Firearms to giveaway at the “Shot Show” in Vegas in January,” Tom said. “It’s sponsored by CCI, Heartland, and Vance & Hines. I worked a great deal with Ernie Snair at Glendale Harley on the Softail.”

We always look forward to a new hot rod from Tom. He has that touch, and won’t let a bike roll out of his shop that’s not dead-nuts on track.

“Wait,” Tom said. “Don’t forget to mention my project vendor Leader Enterprises. My homeboy Marc Altieri is VP there and took delivery of a full hand-fabricated Softail from me, the same week I delivered Jake’s. Marc’s bike was featured in Hot Bike a few months ago. One of my most favorite bikes.”

Extreme Bikernet Kraken Tech Chart

Regular Stuff

Owner: Jake Wood
Bike name: Kraken
City/State: Thousand Oaks, California
Builder: Tom Foster “The Crazy Fast Cracker”

City/state: N.E. LA, California
Company info: Crazy Fast Cracker Inc.
Phone: 323-428-5830
Web site: CrazyFastCracker.com
E-mail: CrazyFastCracker@yahoo.com
Fabrication: Tom Foster
Manufacturing: Tom Foster
Welding: Jeff Tigdken
Machining: Tom Foster

Engine:

Year: 2010
Make: Ultima
Model: Evo “Black Jewel”
Displacement: 127 inches
Cases: Ultima
Case Finish: Wrinkle black
Barrels: Ultima
Carburetor: HSR45 Mikunk
Air Cleaner: Todd’s Cycle
Exhaust: Tom Foster/Steve Poole
Mufflers: Burns

Transmission

Year: 2010
Make: Baker 6-Speed
Gears configuration: six goddammit
Final Drive: for the Bar
Primary Drive: Evil Engineering
Clutch: Evil Engineering
Kicker: of Ass!
Starter: Spyke

Frame

Year: 2010
Builder: Chopper Guys
Style or model: Softail
Stretch: 2 inches
Rake: 36 degrees
Modifications: Many

Front End

Make: Storz
Model: Inverted
Year: 2010
Length: 2 inches over
Mods: None needed

Sheet Metal

Gas Tank: Modified Sportster
Fenders: Fat Katz & Tom Foster
Oil Tank: Chopper Guys

Paint

Sheet Metal: Rich Evans Designs
Molding: Rich Evans
Base coat: Gloss Black
Graphics: none
Type of Paint: The shiny kind
Frame: Concept Powder Coating
Frame Molding: Concept Powder Coating
Base Coat: Gloss Black

Wheels

Front
Make: Performance Machine
Size: 21 by 3.5 inches
Brake Caliper: PM
Brake Rotor: PM
Tire: Metzler

Rear
Make: Performance Machine
Size: 18 by 8.5
Brake Caliper: PM
Brake Rotor: PM
Sprocket: PM
Tire: Metzler

Controls

Foot Controls: PM
Finish: Contrast Cut
Master Cylinder: PM
Brake Lines: Russell
Handlebar Controls: PM
Finish: Contrast Cut
Clutch Cable: Russell
Brake Lines: Russell
Shifting: Foot Fast
Kickstand: Matt Hotch

Electrical

Ignition: Ultima
Ignition Switch: Bob McKay
Coils: Dyna
Regulator: Compu-Fire
Charging: Spyke
Wiring: Tom Foster
Headlight: Headwinds
Taillight: Fab Kevin
Battery: Braille, Carbon Fiber

What’s Left

Seat: Bitchin’ Rich
Mirror: I look good in…
Gas Cap: CCI
Handlebars: Biltwell
Grips: Todd’s Cycle
Risers: Todd’s Cycle
Pegs: PM
Oil Filter: Scott’s
Oil Lines: Hooked up correctly
Fuel Filter: CCI
Throttle: PM
Fasteners: Diamond Engineering

Credits: Tom Foster, Jason and Jeff Tiedken, Rich Evans, Repo, Ryan Sudhop, Todd Scilicato

Sources

Back in 2003, I bought a Kendon Single Stand-Up Trailer to transport my bike in a job-related move from Plano, Texas to Columbus, Ohio. I’ve used the trailer for five job-related cross-country moves and it has served me well. It’s solid, rugged, easy to maintain and easy to pull.

It does have one major failing, in my opinion, because it takes at least two strong people to safely load and unload your bike. Whether it’s a 480-lb Sportster or an 800-lb Road King, no way do you try loading it solo or riding it up the ridiculously narrow ramp. You will drop your bike, guaranteed. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. In fact, I was thinking about selling my Kendon and replacing it with an Aluma motorcycle trailer.

Kendon Industries Inc. of Anaheim, California (www.KendonUSA.com) finally got the message this year and came out with the Single Ride-Up Suspension Reactive Loading (SRL) Trailer, along with an SRL retrofit kit for owners of 2003 and later single-rail trailers. According to Kendon, the SRL system eliminates the apex created by a typical ramp angle and the trailer bed during the loading/unloading process. The trailer’s independent torsion suspension works with the loading ramp to eliminate the apex, reduce the loading angle and create a smooth, parallel loading surface. The suspension compresses and lowers the trailer bed when loading the bike, and returns to towing height when the bike is fully loaded. Pretty neat, huh? So I decided to buy and install the kit in preparation for another cross-country move, this time from Colorado to Virginia. I hate moving. This will be my sixth job-related move (two of them involuntary) in the past nine years, but that’s another story.

The retrofit kit (figure 2) will set you back $479.00 plus $175.00 for shipping. It consists of a ride-up rear section, a three-piece ramp assembly, a pair of one-inch ramp pins (to secure and stabilize the ramps while loading/unloading), a new rubber latch, four coupler nuts and t-bolts (to stow the outer ramps on the trailer deck), and easy-to-follow installation instructions. All of the fasteners utilize Nyloc nuts and split lock washers, so you don’t need to use thread locker during assembly.

Installation takes under two hours and requires only a few basic tools:
•7/32-in. and 3/16-in. Allen wrenches
•7/16-in., ½-in. and 9/16-in. combination wrenches, sockets and drive ratchet
•Phillips screwdriver
•5/16-in. drill bit
•Drill
•Tape measure
•Sharpie marker
•SRL retrofit kit installation instructions
•SRL trailer instructions

The first step is to stabilize your trailer on a level surface so it doesn’t move around while you’re working on it. Kendon suggests attaching it to your tow vehicle, but I just propped the tongue up on an old footlocker in my garage. Leave the rear section of the trailer in the stowed position (as shown in figure 1) and remove the right and left side hinge bolts. Note the order of the bolt, washers and nut (figure 3), and put them aside. You’ll be reusing them when you install the new rear section. Remove the rear section and set it on a flat, stable surface (figure 4).

Move to the front section of your trailer, remove the rubber latch from the right front diamond plate and install a 5/16-in. button head Allen screw into the open hole. Next, remove the four button head screws from the diamond plate (two on each side, fore and aft), and replace them with the coupler nuts, flat washers, lock washers and button head screws included in the retrofit kit. Figure 5 shows the completed installation, including the T-bolts and washers. These attachment points are used to stow the left and right outside ramps.

Return to the rear section and remove the diamond plate. It is secured to the frame with four button head screws, along with four Nyloc nuts that hold the wheel guide rails and diamond plate to the frame. Figure 6 shows the underside of the rear section and the eight attachment points. Hang on to this mounting hardware, because you’ll be using it on the new rear section. And don’t forget to remove the wing nuts and lock washers from the studs on the old section, because you’ll need them to stow the center ramp on the new section.

Remove the rigid caster from the old rear section (figure 6) and install it onto the new ride-up rear section. Install the diamond plate and wheel guide rails onto the new rear section. Figures 7 and 8 show top and bottom views of the completed rear section assembly.

Install the new rear section, in the folded position, onto your trailer with the shoulder bolts, washers and nuts. If you forgot the installation order, refer to figure 3 or to the diagram on page 5 of Kendon’s installation instructions.

Your last task is to install the new rubber latch, which secures the folding rear section in its stowed position. From the edge of the right side diamond plate on the forward section at the point where it angles in toward the front of the trailer, measure 1 inch to the left and mark with your Sharpie. Next, measure 19.5 inches from the rear of the diamond plate to the front and mark. Finally, mark the intersection of these two measurements and drill a 5/16-in. hole. If I’ve totally confused you with this description, just refer to the diagram on page 6 of Kendon’s installation instructions. Install the bracket and new rubber latch with the hardware provided in the kit. See figures 9 and 10.

That’s all there is to it. Figures 11 and 12 show my retrofitted trailer, folded and unfolded, with the ramps in their stowed positions. The kit does add several pounds to the weight of the trailer, which you’ll notice when you stand it up on end for storage, but it’s still easily doable by one person.

If you want more information, check out the Kendon Industries website, www.KendonUSA.com.