What a nuts week. I started out trying to buy a Goldwing for a friend in New Zealand. He put us up last year while we enjoyed the Burt Munro Beach Racing on the South Island. He’s coming here in June to ride a used Gold Wing around the country and then haul it back to his shop in New Zealand.
I’m trying to help out. I looked and rode an ’87 in Fullerton. I wasn’t impressed. It was old but Graeme is familiar with these puppies, like I am with Panheads. But it didn’t have any rear brakes, a tired seal. But that stalled the transaction. The owner’s son kept telling me he’s a volunteer for the LA Sheriffs and I wasn’t impressed. He kept throwing requirements onto the table.
I tried to make it simple, but he drew another line in the sand and I said I would pass. The next day I found one 12 years newer at a similar price. That’s the thing about LA. You can find and do anything here.
Okay, so the Salt Torpedo got close to being ready for fiberglass work. I spoke to Gary Maur, of Kustom Fab, in Detroit, and he convinced me that we could handle it in the shop. That was a confidence builder, but I still didn’t like the notion of grinding Fiberglass in the shop. Nasty shit.
Before Micah left last week to haul ass with his Ugly brothers to Arlen’s funeral in the Bay Area, he mentioned torquing my Panhead heads and barrels, and I went after it. I had a mission to ride to Seal Beach, for a break from the Torpedo.
I wanted to ride the Panhead and Zack was going to ride the Root Beer Float. Didn’t work out exactly, but I was on a mission to torque the heads and barrels.
I did, it wasn’t easy, and I may change the top end oiling system away from those funky copper tubing lines. They were a pain in the ass.
Saturday morning, I dodged my Saturday workout and peeled for Long Beach. Zack and Sooz were suiting up their late model Twin Cam dresser, damn. My Pan beat, like a guilty teenager, all the way to the beach and back. I need to work on the front end some more. But wait…
Mike Stevenson said something yesterday about how much he loved the Paughco brass dog bone, rubber-mounted risers from Dr. Hamsters Panhead. They are similar to the ones I have used forever from Custom Cycle engineering. A light went off. I need to build a set for the Panhead. I broke the code with the rigid set I have on the bike currently.
So, on the way through Long Beach when I hit my front brake it sounded strange, then there was a squeaking noise. I started to avoid using the front brake and the rear disc worked like a champ.
When I got home, I breathed a sigh of relief and immediately tore the front wheel off. Here’s what I found. It’s fixed!
Okay, we attended the bike/car show in Seal Beach and these shots are from Art Hall. I ran into Eric Bennett of Bennett’s Performance and Ryan McQuiston. Ryan’s latest stretched cop-bike chopper was recently featured in Cycle Source and Eric is waiting for his award-winning racer to be featured in Cycle Source.
Okay, so we needed a fiberglass team and last week Kai, from Easyriders hooked me up with Radio Bob, a famous car builder, who worked with George Barris. I had a long conversation with him. He just won the Grand National Roadster show. He spoke about Andrew Ursich, the local magnificent builder who won the Most Beautiful Motorcycle trophy a couple of years ago.
Radio is in Van Nuys, so Micah, the SFV guy said he would check him out. I reached out to Andrew and he gave me a few suggestions. I hooked him up with my DMV guy. Again, the redhead surfaced with a local boat fiberglass guy, Lupe, who I met with on Friday.
Shit was flying. On Friday Jeremiah and I made a run to Aircraft Windshields in Los Alamitos near Roland Sand’s shop. It’s a family business since 1963 and they built shields for Bonneville cars, hot rods and custom applications. We found the source we needed, although I did reach out to Brian Klock at Klock Werks.
We needed to make a mold and I had another meeting with Lupe yesterday and we are golden. As soon as I finish this, I need to peel to a glass supply house and pick up the following:
Nine yards of special dense glass
Two gallons of Epoxy 105—slow setting
Two pumps for measuring the epoxy and hardener
A box of 6-inch paint rollers
Two Gallons of lacquer thinner
A box of plastic gloves
Five 1-gallon buckets
Five 1-quart buckets
A roll of 1-inch blue tape
A bunch of cheap 2-inch brushes
One gallon of Acetone
Four jumper suits, large
A sheet of thin veneer (Home Depot)
I’m on a mission from the lord of the Piston Pirates. And Sunday I finished painting Jeremiah’s landing and built a railing for working on my roll-up door. I need a can of red Rustoleum paint to finish it off.
Hang On,
–Bandit
