Frankie picked up his paint from Chris Morrison and Yvonne Mecalis in Harbor City. We were in the throes of final assembly. The first thing we needed to do before we could begin assembly included installing the wire loom we removed so Doctor John could straighten the frame.



We used a compressor to blow a length of cord down the backbone and pull the wire loom forward for the front end. That was an interesting exercise, and we took care and concern not to overdo it and damage any wires. We ran looms along the bottom of the frame to the regulator, the crank position sensor and over the engine to the EFI for the coil and the throttle body, plus the horn, which would be replaced with the Love Jugs Mini cooling system.



Once the wiring was back in place, I ran the throttle cables to the push and pull sides of the throttle body and adjusted them.



Once the wiring loom was back in place we carefully pulled the bike out of the lift clamps, jacked it up carefully and removed the 39-mm front end and installed the massive new 49-mm glide. We pulled the legs out of the new front end and installed accordion dust shields.





Installing the reasonably new 49mm front end was simple enough and it contained new handlebar rubber inserts. Frankie is a nut for those tall 14-inch T-bars and we had to fix the clutch bar end where it was damaged during his accident. We installed the old bars on the new front end and new Aeromach control levers and Brass Balls knurled aluminum grips but needed new brake lines.



The Brass Balls grips are machined from billet and the highest quality, no castings. The original brake lines came with the front end from Bennett’s performance, but they were designed to reach stock bars.



We needed a new set with a T-junction, and we did some measuring and sent Frankie to Bakers Performance in Signal Hill. This is a quirky little shop run by three middle-aged women. They sell only performance fittings for racecars and brake lines. It’s a dinky shop and Eric drags new builds over to Mrs. Baker and she sets him up with new brake lines and fittings.



I remember working with John Reed, Don Hotop, Carl Morrow and Mark Rowe on Jesse James’ Monster Garage episode. We were scrambling to customize a wrecked Softail. The rest of the guys were masters who worked in their craft daily. I was just a hack mechanic and longtime motorcycle enthusiast. I handled a lot of the basic mechanical work, but was given the assignment to make the brake lines.




There’s nothing wrong with reaching out for the best overall outcome. We installed the front end, checked the bearings, and re-greased them. But on the lift we did encounter a problem, the fork stops. They are different from the early front end, or there’s a difference in the frame configuration and the forks hit the tank. We still need to deal with that.



Wouldn’t it be cool if Harley carefully analyzed all their models and came out with a line of the best of the best, like the best Panhead, the best FXR, the best Sportster and the best Evo bagger? That’s all they would need forever.





We ran into another glitch. I was beginning to dig around the shop for brake fluids and started to question my feeble memory. I had a big can of DOT 3, no DOT 5 and some DOT 4. So what fit what? Check out the tech we put together.



We ran into one other glitch while installing the Metalsport 21-inch front wheel. Everything didn’t line up. As it turned out, the wheel needed to be aligned a particular way. The bearings are flush with the hub on the right side of the bike and inset on the left by about ¼-inch. This is just enough to prevent the rotors and the wheel to be out of alignment.



We needed to remount the tire, and then everything fit like a glove.



On a quiet day, I took on the task of carefully boring the transmission case for the larger swingarm axle, which took quiet time and a massive drill bit. I installed the newer, tougher H-D swingarm for a more stable ride, which meant a 25-mm rear wheel axles (almost 1-inch) front and rear. Watch out for these things. Like the brake fluids, the axle sizes keep changing, which create issues with wheels, bearings, you name it.





Then I installed the new Screamin’ Eagle H-D 13-inch shocks. The MetalSport wheel slipped perfectly in place with the matching pulley and brake rotor, but I was warned to retighten the pulley bolts. They have a tendency to loosen.









We learned something quickly about my old Logan lathe. I unbolted the chuck jaws, turned them around and slipped the wide spacer into the jaws. We machined the opening slightly wider and it fit like a glove. We were making progress.





Then we started to install the sheet metal, but with a glitch. We wanted to replace all the stock cadmium-plated fasteners with stainless steel and had to hit True Value Hardware in Harbor City. If you don’t want to pay retail, go on line to McMaster Carr for all your fastener needs. They are amazing.



We installed the front fender, no problem. I installed most of the pieces on the top of the gas tank and fitted the electrical connections to the fuel pump. Frankie helped me install the tank, and then we moved onto the rear fender.



At that point, we needed to decide about his seat configuration and where to mount the Lowbrow taillight and license plate holder. We decided we could mount the taillight bracket so the seat would fit and a small portion of the fender containing the racing stripe would appear above and below the bracket. It was golden.





I found some goofy brass spacers to hold the plate bracket slightly off the paint for access and less damage to the new Chris and Yvonne paint job. Plus, I like a taste of brass on all my builds.



Here’s a note about Frankie’s new seat from Saddlemen:

Went down to Saddleman a couple weeks ago to talk to a good friend of my grandfather’s named Buster. Brought my stock Dyna seat and asked him what he thought would bring the bike more to life and he recommended the step-up seat.



I’ve been doing a little research and agreed with him 100 percent. He had a light brown one that said would do the trick and was ready to go. But after looking at it next to my paint, I decided not to go down that road. I wanted a clean black seat to match the frame of the ‘05 Dyna, but also wanted something custom and unique.


I’m anxious to get it on my bike and take it out to test its comfort ability. I’m currently working on a painting for Buster’s office over at Saddleman for all his help with this project. Thanks again to Buster and all the guys over at Saddleman for making this happen.

–Frank Ball Jr.

I let Frankie handle the Love Jugs installation. It’s a breeze and will cool his top end significantly.



Love Jugs Installation

STEP 1. Remove your seat by removing the screw located behind the seat. Lift the rear of the seat and pull the seat towards the rear of the bike.

STEP 2. Disconnect the gas line hose. IMPORTANT: this is a quick disconnect fitting, which works like an air hose fitting. Push the chrome collar up towards the tank, and pull the elbow down and it will easily disconnect. Only a couple of drops of gas will spill from the tank.



IMPORTANT: Do not try to unscrew the nut on the bottom of the tank. Doing that will cost you $75 for a destroyed plastic tube located inside the tank, and an hour of labor. Now, disconnect the tubes and electric plug connections, at the base of the tank. IMPORTANT Make sure all the connections have been disconnected before you remove your gas tank. Tip: It is a lot easier to remove your gas tank when it is empty or near empty.

STEP 3. Remove the chrome acorn nut that attaches your horn and horn cover assembly to the mounting bracket. Disconnect the two wires from the horn. Put this assembly aside for now.

STEP 4. Remove the two large bolts that attach the Harley Horn Bracket to the engine. You will not re-use this Harley horn bracket.



STEP 5. Attach bracket “A” as shown in the drawings. Place the bracket on the bottom of the frame with the rounded and protruding section facing the rear of the bike. (See drawing) Tip: Securing the T bracket to the bottom of the frame is really simplified if you temporarily tape the bracket to the frame, to hold it in position while you are installing the worm clamps. Center the bracket between the two heads. The placement is not too critical because there is a lot of adjustment in any direction that allows you to easily position your Love Jugs perfectly.

Loosen the worm drive screw completely so you can feed the now unattached end over the top of the metal frame, from the air cleaner side. Next, route the unattached end of the clamp through the slots in the base of the bracket. Insert the loose end of the clamp back into the hub of the clamp and turn the screw clockwise to catch the teeth.





IMPORTANT: Position the clamp’s hub so the entire hub is tucked under the bracket. Do not position the worm gear hub on the sides of the frame, because contact with the gas tank can cause the gas tank to rupture, and could result in a gasoline fire if the hub rubs against the gas tank.

STEP 6. Using the hardware provided, attach bracket “B” as shown in the drawings. When the brackets have been bolted together, it’s a good idea to check that the assembled bracket is firmly attached to your frame. Use two fingers to grab the bottom of the bracket and check if there is any movement when you jiggle it in all directions.) This super heavy duty, solid stainless steel bracket has to support a mere five pounds! Our frame mount bracket has been engineered to exceed that load requirement by a factor of 20 to 1.



STEP 8. Using the 5/16-inch x 18 stud provided, install the original Harley chrome washer and acorn nut to one end of the stud. Next, insert the stud into the Harley chrome horn mount bracket assembly complete with the Love Jugs cooling system sandwiched in the middle of the chrome Harley horn bracket and the Harley horn cover. Screw the three I/4-inch thick rubber washers onto the stud. Bolt the assembled Love Jugs unit and horn assembly into the Love Jugs name plate rod. 100 to 120 inch-pounds of torque is recommended on the chrome acorn nut.

STEP 9. Loosen the three setscrews on bracket (2) and slide the rod into the hole in the bracket. Align the Love Jugs so they are straight. Tighten the three setscrews with the Allen wrench that is provided for this step. Make sure that there is a minimum of one inch between the Love Jugs wire harness assembly and the engine.

CHECK ALL THE NEWLY INSTALLED PARTS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE GAS LINE AND WIRES ARE NOT TOUCHING ANY PART OF THE BRACKETS OR ENGINE.

Enjoy your cooler running engine!

If you have any further questions, contact us at info@love-jugs.com



Frankie is 24, a new world rider. Us old farts get a kick out of listening to the younger riders. Like Frankie is part safety, especially since his accident, and part outlaw, covered in tattoos. It’s a different world out there. He wears a full-face helmet and wanted to add a Lindby crash bar to protect himself and his baby, where I strip crash bars off everything and still hate helmets.



Since Frankie doesn’t run forward controls we simply bolted the stout black Lindby bars and highway pegs to his forward control mounts and the center down tube frame mount. And I made a bracket for his road luck and safety brass bell.



It was time to install his silver coated pipes from BDI. They were bare pipes initially designed by Dennis Manning before he sold Bub Enterprises to another biker, Ramsay, in northern California. I taught Frankie about the Biker’s Choice replacement exhaust gaskets and how delicate they are.



The best way to handle them is with a JIMS Machine special tool, which works like a champ for several applications. Of course we modified the exhaust system slightly for a tighter fit before taking the system to Engineered Applications in Vernon, California for coatings.



We are getting close to completion. We installed a new set of high performance Twin Power sparkplugs wires, and decided to haul the bike to Bennett’s Performance for a tune-up, wiring check, and finish the wiring of the rear fender.



We will report just after Eric Bennett chews me out for any of my blunders. Hang on!




Spectro Oils


Saddlemen


Love Jugs


Lindby Bars



Biker’s Choice


JIM’S MACHINE


MetalSport Wheels


Chris Morrison Custom Paint
https://www.facebook.com/painterchris.1

Yvonne Mecialis


Aeromach


Baker Performance
http://www.bakerprecision.com/

Bennett’s Performance


BDI Exhaust
ramsay@bub-design.com

Doctor John Frame Straightening
http://www.drjohnsmfs.com/

Engineered Applications LLC Coatings
http://www.engineeredapps.com/

Two-Bit Choppers
https://www.twobitchoppers.com/

Every American motorcycle manufacturer encountered major issues during the WWII era. Some didn’t survive for lack of resources, materials and customers. Indian, Harley and Cushman survived because they supplied units for the war effort. After the war, Harley wouldn’t allow dealers to sell Cushmans as an entry-level bike. Dealers needed something.

It’s all nuts, but my favorite Chief was a ’46 and it still is. Deny of Deny 528, the custom painter and builder, also loves ’46 Indians and finally got his hands on one through a friend of a friend who had a handful of basket cases. “I went with the ’46 with a rebuilt engine,” said Deny. “It had all the big stuff and tins.”

He’s been collecting Indian bling for a while, just for this project. He lived in San Clemente in a HOA neighborhood, which like me, he hated for the rules, constraints, and lack of parking. He had his shop crammed into a single car garage with truck project.

“I was painting the truck for a customer,” Deny said, and he had an additional, maybe 5 feet on the side to the wall and a 3 by 5 foot bench jammed against it in the limited space.

He had no choice but to build the Chief in his living room. Of course, he fucked up the carpet with oil and greasy shit. Building the low and straight pipes was tough.

“I heated chunks of pipe and ran in the house while they were red hot,” Deny said. “I set the carpet on fire more than once.”

He’s the only painter on the planet who paints his shit before the bike is done. “Sometimes I need to weld tabs on the frame after I paint it,” Deny said. I didn’t ask. We all build bikes then discover a mistake or a change we need to make. It’s always a perplexing challenge, but we figure it out, or die trying.

It’s tough to see, but this old looking Chief is a solid pale white, and he made a point to use only red and blue bling for a red, white and blue theme. He displayed it at Born Free last year after two years working it over.

He painted three bikes for Born Free last year and two this year. He works with patinas and custom paints. He spent a year developing different paint styles. At the time he built the Chief, everyone built minimalist bobbers. “I went the opposite direction with all the stuff and bling extras.”

It’s basically stock except for the handmade exhaust, and the old Flanders bars and risers from the ‘40s. The seat is actually off a Panhead and he needed a seat bracket for both Indian and Harley. He stumbled into one incorporating ½-Harley and ¼ Indian, perfect. It did the trick.

He’s currently working on a completely molded show bike, chrome and everything. Just the front end is part JD and part Peashooter. The bike will be tight, demure and sleek, just another example of the vast ways any dreaming rider can head with his project.

Regarding his pride and joy, a foreign collector immediately approached him and the offer was too good to pass up. “I let it go too soon,” Deny said. Deny is a painter by trade, a builder by heart, and an artist to the core.

I’m sure we will see Deny 528 expand over the years to come. He’s currently painting the sheet metal for my Sturgis Panhead. Can’t wait.

–Bandit

A wild project, the 23-year-old tattoo artist said he lost control of his
’05 Dyna and went down on a slippery street in trendy West Los Angeles. He wasn’t injured much, but his girlfriend, at the time, was severely broken with a busted shoulder, pelvis, ribs; you name it, lucky to survive.

As you can see by the shot of Frankie and his bike, he didn’t just go down. I think he was rear-ended by a truck, launching the girl into a parked car. Nasty, but we went to work, while surgeons operated on her at the UCLA Medical Center. Ultimately she healed quickly, but her bones will never forget this jarring encounter.

Fortunately, I spoke to Eric Bennett at Bennett’s Performance in Long Beach, CA, who coached me on frame-straightening with Dr. John, in Anaheim. “The good doctor can straighten some frames by just removing all the sheet metal, wiring and accessories,” Eric said.

I called Dr. John, who told me he could do the job with the rear wheel and the front end in place, but he highly recommended replacing the motormounts as we put the bike back together. I immediately reached out to Custom Cycle Engineering to order a set of their new Dyna rubbermounts. They’ve made improvements to the Dyna mounts and made them adjustable for alignment, which we will dive into.

Frankie is a tattoo artist at Agape in Costa Mesa and Art and Soul in Venice, California between Santa Monica and the airport. He’s recently stepped up to paying taxes for the first time. He needed to start his own tattoo empire, or at least have a company name to write off his expenses against. This Dyna recreation became an opportunity to share his ink vision with the southland.

Several creative endeavors surfaced including how to improve the bike inexpensively, make it custom, repaint with Frank’s tattoo vision, and build a well-handling hot rod. This will take its share of twists and turns. First and foremost, I wanted to improve the ’05 Dyna handling with a 49mm front end, which I scored from Bennett’s. And if possible I wanted to improve the rear with a later-model swingarm or a stronger custom job. This would allow him to run 1-inch axles front and rear. The Custom Cycle Engineering motormounts were also a handling factor.

I didn’t want to just replace the destroyed rear fender, but there are not a lot of Dyna options. Frank found a chopped Dyna fender on EBay and we modified and mounted it.

We took all the sheet metal to Chris Morrison in Harbor City, next to Larry Settle’s Customs Shop. These guys are old school and have been sequestered in the back of a dead-end strip of shops on an industrial back street for 40 years. Fortunately, just up the lane resides another creative endeavor, Yvonne Mecialis’ shop. She’s a master with the airbrush and graphic art. She will take Frank’s vision and apply it to his sheet metal, and she works closely with Chris. We were making progress.

We also needed help from a dealership. Larry had a late model swingarm, cheap and we needed to fill the component holes with bearings and axle adjusters. Frank’s Sons of Anarchy fairing was dinged, and after extensive investigation, he decided on a Harley fairing. We ordered a handful of custom H-D parts and a couple of busted items from the crash including a new set of performance 13-inch H-D shocks.

I wanted the bike not to fly down the all-black path, especially in Los Angeles. There are enough distractions without another all-black stealth machine slipping through lanes. I leaned toward a balanced approach with some stainless, a little chrome on the engine, and some black and color to enhance visibility. Maybe I’m getting old or I’ve built too many blacked-out monsters.

We did find a cool black headlight from Aeromach and some blacked-out replacement levers. But we chose to go with Brass Balls polished aluminum risers and foot pegs. We took the new BDI, used to be Bubs, bare exhaust system out to Applied Engineering for a hot coat and I carved up some heat shields, which Dr. Feng cleaned up but not enough. I don’t like the shape, but the kid needed to ride. We’re burning daylight.

There’s a reason he didn’t shitcan his Dyna and get something else. It was a serious option to sell and move on. Bennett’s Performance installed a hot rod S&S cam into the 88-inch stock motor and tuned it. He loved the way his bike ran and didn’t want to lose his investment. He decided to hang with it. That’s street soul. We will help with Thunder Max tuning from Zipper’s and a full closed-loop EFI system.

This also gave us the opportunity to learn about and try out new products like the mini-cooling system from Love Jugs. And we will learn more about lubricants with Spectro Oil Products.

After several trips to the painter, Harley shops, and coaters, we are now in the assembly mode. We replaced the front and rear rubber isolators with Custom Cycle Engineering enhanced mount on the rear and an FXR type, adjustable mount in the front.

We stripped off the stock swingarm and ran into an issue. The new swingarm comes with a larger diameter pivot axle and it didn’t come with all the parts to replace it.

I reached out to Kent Weeks at Lucky Devil Motor Works in Texas. He suggested using the original axle in the new swingarm. We are currently investigating. That didn’t work, and I made one more trip to see Josh at California Harley in Harbor City. We needed one more bearing.

I instructed Franky to find a manual and a parts book, but they didn’t help with the later model, heavy-duty swingarm. One of Josh’s customers suggested I go online to Shop Ronnie’s Harley-Davidson, a dealer back east. They have downloaded all the parts manual line drawings and they saved the day.

Hang on for the next episode as we put this puppy back together and the mad tattoo artist rides again.

Sources:

Aeromach
www.aeromachmfg.com/Motorcycle

Custom Cycle Engineering

4727 E. 49th St.
Vernon, CA 90058

Bennett’s Performance

Barnett’s Clutch and Cables

Love Jugs

Biker’s Choice

Twin Power

MetalSport Wheels

BDI Exhaust
Call (530) 274-0800
Email Ramsay@bub-design.com
110 Springhill Drive, Suite 14 Grass Valley, California 95945

Zipper’s

Larry Settles
Address: 1436 259th St, Harbor City, CA 90710
Phone:(310) 326-3466

Yvonne Mecialis
https://www.yvonnedesigns.com/

Ronnie’s Harley-Davidson

Support for the president, Donald J. Trump, ran high among the bikers and veterans in D.C. fo Memorial Day, too. In the words of Claudia Tenney:

NCOM BIKER NEWSBYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,

BIKER ANTI-PROFILING MEASURES UNDER CONSIDERATION IN CONGRESS
H.Res.318/S.Res.154: “Promoting awareness of motorcycle profiling and encouraging collaboration and communication with the motorcycle community and law enforcement officials to prevent instances of profiling,” was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations on June 2, 2017. Concerned motorcyclists are encouraged to contact their federal lawmakers in the U.S. Senate & House of Representatives to co-sponsor and support these bills.

FEDERAL LEGISLATION COULD PROLIFERATE E15 GAS
Despite objections that the proliferation of E15 gasoline into the U.S. marketplace will negatively impact every American who owns a car, lawnmower or boat, two new federal bills have been introduced to expand availability of the higher concentrate ethanol fuel.

Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and U.S. Representative Adrian Smith (R-NE) introduced the “Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act” (S.517 & H.R.1311) amending the Clean Air Act to allow the sale of E15 (15% blend ethanol gas) during summer months (June 1 – September 15).

Motorcycle and ATV owners risk damaging their machines by even inadvertently putting E15 in their tanks, as the higher blends of ethanol can cause engine and fuel system damage, void manufacturers’ warranties and violate federal law.

ZERO MOTORCYCLES NEW “DON’T WAIT FOR WASHINGTON” E-BIKE PROGRAM
The recently launched program was created to advocate for electric motorcycles and assure buyers they will get the Electric Motorcycle Federal Tax Credit. “Don’t Wait For Washington” assures “up to $1,869 on a Zero motorcycle if the government fails to reinstate the Electric Motorcycle Tax Credit.”

The initiative serves the dual purposes of driving the conversation on electric motorcycles forward while legislation languishes in Washington, and of motivating would-be electric motorcycle riders to join the e-movement.

 

MAINSTREAM MEDIA PROMOTES RIDERSHIP
According to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), a not-for-profit national trade association, their 2014 rider survey reports that “56% of Generation Y riders use their motorcycles as a primary means of transportation,” and that factoid recently appeared in a Ride To Work Day graphic on the front page of the June 19 edition of USA Today’s Life section.

“This major mainstream media placement is especially significant to the MIC as the industry association is actively promoting motorcycles as transportation and seeking new generations of riders,” says the MIC communications department, which has previously worked on Ride to Work Day segments with “Good Morning America,” ABC’s national morning news show, and with “The KTLA Morning News,” the biggest morning news program in Southern California.

LOUISIANA TO TEACH NEW LICENSEES HOW TO INTERACT WITH POLICE
Louisiana Governor Bel Edwards has signed into law a requirement that driver education classes must include a segment on interacting with police in their course curriculum.

Introduced by Senators Ryan Gatti (R-Bossier), Wesley Bishop (D-New Orleans) and Gary Smith Jr. (D-Norco) on March 20, 2017, SB17 “Provides for driver education to include instruction on appropriate driver conduct when stopped by a law enforcement officer.”

 

HANDLEBAR HEIGHT LAW MODIFIED IN MARYLAND
Maryland has become the most recent state to modify or repeal their antiquated and discriminatory handlebar height law, which many states enacted in the sixties to provide a law enforcement tool for pulling over bikers on their choppers.

Governor Larry Hogan approved Senate Bill 668 on May 25, 2017; “Increasing, from 15 inches to 20 inches, the maximum height that the handlebars of a motorcycle may be above a specified part of the motorcycle seat in order for a person to lawfully operate the motorcycle.”

SB668 was introduced February 3, 2017 by lead sponsor Senator H. Wayne Norman, Jr. (R-D35) and becomes effective October 1, 2017, and ABATE of Maryland advises to “Remember that the height is measured from the seat to the highest point on the handlebars, not from the bottom of the handlebar to the grips or highest point.”

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE OKAYS COLORED HEADLAMPS FOR MOTORCYCLES, SAME AS CARS

OREGON ENACTS LAWS EFFECTING TRIKES & AUTOCYCLES
In dealing with the increased popularity of three-wheeled vehicles, Oregon lawmakers have passed two new laws to make it easier for riders to get in the saddle. House Bill 3125 was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown on June 14, 2017 to define an “autocycle” and provides that a person may operate one without a motorcycle endorsement. The Act takes effect immediately under the Emergency clause.

Sponsored by the Committee on Transportation Policy, under HB3125 “autocycle” means a motorcycle that: (1) Is manufactured to travel on three wheels; (2) Has a steering wheel for steering control; and (3) Has nonstraddle seating, and (4) is equipped with a manufacturer-installed three-point safety belt or safety harness.

Senate Bill 36 “Provides that Department of Transportation may waive skills test for person seeking motorcycle endorsement to operate three-wheeled motorcycle [trike],” and was also signed by the governor on June 14.

 

LICENSE PLATE MOUNTING OPTIONS FOR SOUTH DAKOTA RIDERS
Effective July 1, 2017, motorcycle owners in South Dakota will be allowed to mount license plates to their motorcycle “in any visible manner other than upside down.”

Governor Dennis Daugaard signed Senate Bill 79 into law on March 9, after overwhelmingly passing through both chambers of the state legislature.

FAIR WARNING: MOST DRIVERS KNOW THEY’RE BAD DRIVERS
Millions of drivers admit that they don’t always make thorough mirrors checks when pulling away, according a driver survey, with 25% admitting they don’t look in their mirrors when pulling out into traffic.

Of 2,025 drivers polled, 15% admitted not always looking at road signs, 68% admit rarely driving with both hands on the wheel, and over half (52%) believed bad habits such as these would ensure they failed the driving test if they had to do it again.

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

 

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “If not me, then who?”
~ USMC 1st Lt Travis Manion (Nov 19, 1980 – April 29, 2007), upon his second Iraq tour; KIA saving his men from ambush (TravisManion.org)

Harbor Town Seduction—By K. Randall Ball

To start off I found this book to have a good story line with a twist or two. It was the type of book that once you start it, I found it hard to put down.

The main character, Chance Hogan is modeled after a well-known figure and that becomes evident after only a few pages. Many authors need to do extensive research before putting together a book and sometimes that makes the story not flow, as it should.

This is not the case here as many of the adventures or misadventures are perhaps drawn from the authors own experiences and enhanced to fit the story. This makes for more realistic and descriptive prose as it slides from one bit of action to the next. I refrain from going too far into the plot so not to spoil it for someone else.

It’s been a while since I did a book review but suffice to say this book is well worth the read and those of us who do ride can identify to a point. I look forward to reading the next installment

–Rhys H. Ralston

Cover by Jon Towle
Published by 5-Ball Inc.
Wilmington, CA