Ladies Need Cool Shirts, Too

Greg & Katy did a photo shoot late this afternoon outside Lowbrow HQ. Katy is modeling two new Lowbrow ladies shirts, printed on American Apparel with water based inks for that soft hand and vintage look. Get one for your lady friend. Get some.

We got a Rubber....

Mounted Sportster that is!

We picked this up off Craig's List, a 2009 883 Sportster with 17 Miles! Yes we had to confirm it ourselves...17 MILES! This will be a shop mule for tech articles, parts R&D (this should really help with all the parts request from rubber mounted owners), and a loaner for whenever we have friends in town who need a ride. Rumor has it Bill from Biltwell may be the first to put some miles on her!

The Lowbrow Getdown 2012 is GO!

 

We are locked and loaded on a killer summertime event we haven't had since 2010, The Lowbrow Getdown. It's going down on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 in NE Ohio at Nelson's Ledges Quarry Park. Come ride motorcycles, camp, drink beer, swim in the sea of summertime and generally do everything that most people get into motorcycles for in the first place. You can find all the details for why you need to be there on the Lowbrow Getdown event page as well as the event page on Facebook.

Eating wieners and other such fun activities are a guaranteed good time.

Take a nice dip or do a flip off a cliff.

Motorcycle riders will be in attendance.

These guys like to party.

Wichita Steve's Dual Engine Triumph Lives!

Steve up in Wichita fired up his dual engine Triumph drag bike for the first time recently. It was built by local Jim Every in the late 1960's and drag raced until the early '70's. This bike was last started in 1973!

Win this Lowbrow P-Nut tank painted by Harpoon!

Here it is.. one lucky person will win this tank Saturday @ The Garage Company/Born-Free/Loser Machine party. Harpoon is working late into the nights to finish this beauty.

The deadline to buy you poster w/ free ticket to win the Lowbrow/Harpoon paint tank is tonight 3/21 at midnight! This is for online sales only, you still can purchase in person at a selected shops who sell them or live at the event on Saturday. After the tank has been given away all stubs will go back into the promo for the 2 bikes. Check out the Born Free 4 blog, and get your tickets HERE!

Pinned Round 2 May 19, Columbus Ohio!

 

A couple of us made it down for Pinned last year, and it was a great time, and much needed event here in  Ohio! A bunch of good bands, beer, cool bikes....and maybe tittes as the flyer promises? One can hope!

Check out their facebook page HERE.

Land Speed Racing in Sweden.. On Ice!

Magnus of the Stockholm Ton-Up Club set up a Salt Ghost screening late last year in Stockholm. They sold copies of the Salt Ghost DVD and profits went to their friend Charlie's racing efforts. A couple weeks ago Charles Ingbert of the Ton-Up Club Stockholm raced in the land speed on ice competition in Filiipstad, and has since raced in Orsa, North Sweden. Check out the Landracing Sweden website here. A fine looking Triumph! We look forward to hearing more details of his race results and more photos,  and will share them with you as soon as we do!

Milwaukee Murderer: Dual Engine Triumph Build Update

Bottom ends have gone together, thanks to Todd Muller, in-house tech at Lowbrow. Everything clearanced so the later cranks and lumpy cams will actually turn in the 1955 crank cases. Beefy rods. Cylinders bored, ready for paint, and then the top ends will be going together. Heads and high dome pistons ready and lying in wait. My plan was to build two stock '55 T110 motors, but that plan kind of went out the window, fortune favors the bold. Mockup motors and trans in the frame for now as details both large and small get addressed. Changes being made, big ones, as recent as tonight stay tuned for some full profile shots.

No Rest for the Wicked

After a long day spent packaging up your orders, Katy decided to blow off some steam. I snapped this pic while leaving the shop, she was enjoying this freakish non-Ohio type weather of 70's and sunny in March.

Lowbrow Dirtster Project Update

I have been hitting the Dirtster project hard and it is coming along nicely! This past week I finished modifying the rear frame rails and installing the new suspension. I installed Progressive Suspension  970 shocks in the rear and a high rate spring rate kit in the front. These made a huge difference to the look of the bike and the feel as well, much more substantial than the stock suspension!

 The tins are due back from paint next week, so I have some wiring to finish up and this project will really take shape quick! I also have some parts coming to do a rear chain conversion, it should not only look great but it will make sure I don't shred belts in harsher environments.

Manuel's 'The Lithium Cycle' Tribute Triumph

The Megacycle on display at the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles just before being auctioned off,.

Manuel is building a tribute bike to the Megacycle by Ed Roth, it is currently a work in progress, pictured below. In Manuel's own words:

"Five years ago at the Mooneyes show I met Larry Watson and I had to talk to him about a question I had in the back of my mind. Are Ed Roth's MegaCycle and Larry Howard's Glitter Cycle the same bike?To start, Watson told me that his friend Larry Howard who had a shop on the same street in Bellflower, California built the Gitter Cycle. Watson painted it twice and after 20 years of shows and over 40 trophies, Howard took the bike apart and built another bike with some of the parts. 

 

  

Watson also told me the Ed Roth MegaCycle was a bike inspried of the Glitter Cycle and also the Revel model made at the time of the same bike. MegaCycle was built in Hollister by Triumph guy Bob Aquistapace. Ed Roth ended up trading his Sportster for the MegaCycle. 

 

I decided to build a bike inspired of these two bikes as a tribute with lots of differences but the same spirit. I started with a 1966 T120 Bonneville frame and a fresh Triumph TR7 Tiger motor with an 850 kit instead of a pre unit motor. Also the Glitter Cycle tank was built out of a LaSalle (car) headlight and would only hold a half gallon. I wanted mine to be able to take to the road so I shaped a tank that holds 1.75 gallons or a little better and is all steel welded and moulded to the frame (no fiberglass here). The seat is steel too. The seat is also flaired and moulded in the fender, which is a 1950's Wassell ribbed (thick steel). Also frenched the taillights as the Glitter and MegaCycle."

 

The Megacycle's frenched tail lights.

Manuel's donor bike that he is reworking into The Lithium Cycle

Lowbrow Race Supporter: World Wide Bearings

Dave at World Wide Bearings has supported our race efforts since year one. He has supplied us with high-speed, low-drag ceramic wheel bearings for my 1955 Triumph, Kyle's 1967 Triumph, and now my dual engine 1955 Triumph, the Milwaukee Murderer.

Dave is no newcomer to high speed race bearings, he supplied the wheel, cam and transmission bearings for Bill Warner's 311+ m.p.h. Hayabusa. Yes, you read that right, 311mph!

A big thanks to Dave for the support!

Wichita Steve's BSA & Dual Engine Triumph

Our friend Wichita Steve had his BSA and also his dual engine Triumph which was built by a Wichita native and raced back in the late '60s and early '70s. Thanks goes out to Steve for rocking the Lowbrow banners and giving out some stickers and Weirdo catalogs for us. Steve took 1st place with his dual engine Triumph, and 2nd place with his BSA!

Born Free 4 Shovelhead Unveiling!

There is a Born-Free / Loser Machine party at the Garage Company in Inglewood, California on Saturday, March 24th 2012 from 2pm to  8pm. Loser Machine is doing a pig roast, free Pabst beer, door prizes, music, and choppers! The two 1969 Born-Free Shovelheads are done and will be on display for the first time. Buy your poster and get your ticket for a chance to win one of these bikes, the drawing takes place at Born Free 4 and you do not have to be present to win! The Lowbrow P-Nut tank with Harpoon custom paint will also be given away at this event! Please check the Born-Free blog for the details. There are 2 organized rides to the event (see flier). It's going to be a great time and any time you spend @ the Garage Company is a dream!

We have Suspension!

 

I love coming home to cool parts! I walked into the shop and had a big box from David over at Progressive Suspension waiting for me on the lift next to my Dirtster build!

Progressive 970 piggyback shocks should not only change the look of this project, but dramatically increase the suspension performance and handling. The high rate fork springs should help with the brake dive and cornering. This bike is definitely being built to ride!

I can not wait to get these installed along with the new rear wheel and rubber later this week!

Customer Spotlight: Andy's 70 Triumph

Andy from Mineral Point, PA sent in these pictures awhile ago of his 1970 Triumph Bonneville build and gave us a write up on the build, check it out! We always love seeing what people are building in their garages!

After!

"The bike was not in that bad of shape but i just cant leave things alone. After tearing it down, my brother Jim Hess and i decided to make our own hard tail. After that we moved to the front end. We tried a few different fork set ups but nothing gave us the stance we were looking for so we decided to make our own springer . Now that the bike was siting nice and low we moved on to the gas tank , witch is an old ribbed mustang . We dropped the tunnel until the look was just rite. The black solo seat is held in place by 3" coil springs and a brass seat hinge made by my brother. The rear fender "scrap yard find" is a shortened front fender from a Honda gold wing , held n place by a curved fender strut that I  made. "

The before shot!

" The oil tank was also made in house out of some diesel exhaust tubing. The front of the oil tank also hides the ignition switch and other wiring . As far as the motor goes, I gave it a fresh top end rebuild, trispark ignition and a new dual output coil. I also polished the cases and side covers. the exhaust are 1 3/4" drag pipes finished off with brass tips. the rocker boxes  and timing cover were also treated to some brass accents. I'm running a 21" front wheel and the stock18" rear, both wear Avon Distanzia tires. I also made my own forward controls. Thanks for your interest.   Andy."

Enter: The Milwaukee Murderer

Initially, I intended to keep this bike top secret until I rolled it out totally finished at Born Free 4 in June. However, I am just too stoked on the whole process and I want to share it as I am sure they are some people out there who will be as excited about it as I am. Some of these photos and this info was already posted on the Born Free 4 blog, as I am an invited builder this year and this is the bike I am building to bring to the show. There are a lot of top notch guys building bikes for Born Free 4, and I am honored and humbled to be amongst them.

Test fitting the stainless steel motor plates.

 I decided to build a dual engine Triumph land speed bike, since dual engine race bikes are about the coolest thing in the world as far as I am concerned. I went down for a week and stayed with my friend Dave Bird (you may have seen his frames and hardtails before) in Missouri and we spent a few days making this frame; his many years of fabrication experience were much appreciated and I learned quite a bit during my visit.

The frame starting to take place, the jig being built along with the frame.

 Being a dual engine 650 c.c. this will put me in the 1350 displacement class at Bonneville Speed Week 2012, where I intend to knock some knuckles and pans out of the record book, hence the title of the bike, 'Milwaukee Murderer'. Progress has been slow but steady on this build, pretty much every single part of it is hand made or modified. Stay tuned for more photos and build progress. - Tyler

Almost done, still needs finish welding and a couple of cross braces.

Bucks made out of 2" x 8" to hammerform some aluminum for a gas tank.

Rad wheels that came off of Al Lonneville's Triumph flat tracker, getting reworked for glory on the salt.