Working Man's Motorcycle & Art Show: Austin, Texas

Check it out here.

2011 El Diablo Run Photo Extravaganza!

Yes this picture says it all......Bros being Bros. (I am pretty sure Bill or Wes may have some incriminating photos of me, but this was too good not to post!) This is one of hundreds of photos Ava and I took on the 2011 EDR, check em out HERE in our Flickr album! Thanks to our friends at Biltwell for putting on another amazing event!

Customer Bike Spotlight: Joonas's Softail Chopper

Straight outta Finland, Joonas sent us a couple pics of his Softail chopper and we thought we would share:

"Here is a pic of my Softail. It has Biltwell Low Drags, Biltwell Seat hinge and key switch from you. The air cleaner and points cover are from Boylecomm.

Seat and pipes are homemade. Brake master cylinders from ISR Brakes from Sweden. It's much lighter than the stock and with mid controls much better bike on the road.

Thanks!
Joonas Pirilä"

El Diablo Run 2011: A Study in Photos & Haikus

I posted this same blog the other day, but somehow it disappeared? Here it is again..

I have never been one to take a lot of photos; even though I had a camera in my pocket the whole trip I just am hard pressed to grab it and snap pics. I got some, and here are a few of them, hundreds were taken by my brother Kyle and his girlfriend Ava, and countless others on the trip, so more will continue to surface and we will get some more up here on the site as well.




My Pan was running great the day before the run and that morning, but we left on the run and while I was still in Temecula I heard a 'thunk..thunk' that ended up being the moment my OEM H-D rear exhaust rocker arm snapped (!) and my pushrod met the inside of my rocker cover. I didn't discover the exact cause of the noise until later, but my bike cruised on various trucks and trailers for the remainder of the run, and I was unable to locate a rear exhaust rocker arm for a 1959 Harley-Davidson Panhead in Mexico, go figure. It should be home end of week and back on the road next week, where I will flog it for giving me such a hard time. I just now wrote a haiku about the experience:

riding wild thunder
then a disheartening sound
tequila flows free


Despite mechanical trouble, Mexico was a blast, everyone on the run was great and I had lots of fun eating, drinking, relaxing, wrenching, talking, and the whole deal. McGoo was kind enough to let me ride his BMW enduro the last day so I got to ride from Ensenada back up to Murrieta, California, so that was a nice added bonus.

The long road home....

We headed out from CA this afternoon and took the scenic detour down 90 miles of Route 66. The timing couldn't have been better we caught this beautiful sunset and half an hour before we hit rain heading into Seligman. We just wish we could have been riding this gorgeous stretch of Americana instead of trailering across it!

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Pan Rocker Arm Needed In Mexico

If anyone reads this and is coming down to San Felipe tonight or to Ensenada on Saturday or Sunday and you can bring me a Panhead rear exhaust rocker arm I would be greatly indebted to. Looks like my roadside trouble just after leaving Temecula, CA for Mexico was a faulty part, the rocker arm snapped in two.

El Diablo Run 2011

I am headed out early morning with Greg, flying out to LA and then headed south to Murrieta and the Biltwell open house. Kyle and Ava should be there waiting, as should my Pan, and Thursday morning we wake bright and early and hit the road headed south into Mexico. I can't wait, I haven't been this excited about a trip in a while. These photos are from El Diablo Run 2008. For those of you who can't make it but would love to, I will drink some tequila for you! We will be sure to get some good photos and blog posts up when we hit the US on Monday, but until then just assume we are riding the wild thunder and having a great time. Katy, Todd and John are running the shop while Kyle and I are away, so everything will work like normal while we are away.

Harley Davidson Shovelhead and Ironhead Tune & Service DVDs now available!

Two new DVD titles are done and on their way, check out the Shovelhead Tune & Service DVD and the Ironhead Sportster Tune & Service DVD, both hosted by the legendary Frank Kaisler! Each video will walk you through the maintenance needed to keep you and your bike happy and on the road.

What a crazy trip! The road to EDR 2011

I have been driving cross country with Ava as my passenger towing some bikes out for the El Diablo Run and we have hit crazy thunderstorms, freezing temperatures, and insane winds. Pretty much the reasons I have not posted a blog since I left! Monday morning in Dallas Texas I changed my Jeep's oil in a thunderstorm in a driveway, Not fun! Halfway through the day well into west Texas we finally hit the good weather and made some time, so much in fact I am sitting in a hotel room in Phoenix AZ writing this blog at 4am local time! 23 hour days on the road are tough but now we have a free day here tomorrow to go to some bike junkyards and enjoy this weather! Stay tuned for some pictures and shots from the EDR pre-party Wednesday! Cheers, Kyle

Atom Bomb Motorcycles moving to Richmond, VA

You may know Clay for his painstakingly-hand-built Triumph and BSA motorcycles, or his sharp wit and penchant for sarcasm. Our friend Clay Rathburn and his lovely wife Erin are moving to Richmond, Virginia! Here is some info reposted from the Atom Bomb blog:

"Atom Bomb Custom Motorcycles is headed to Richmond VA to set up shop! On May 15 we take possession of a building in the historic Scott's Addition section of Richmond to begin transforming it into our new shop, complete with a retail showroom, service department, and of course ample area to continue building our award winning custom bikes.

Our showroom will be fully stocked with builder parts and other goodies from Lowbrow Customs, LC Fab, Biltwell and a host of others as well as replacement parts for British motorcycles. Hopefully even a little bit of local art.

Added space in our new facility will finally allow us to offer "carry out" fabrication work. We'll be able to offer our famous custom frames as well as frame straightening and repair, custom fuel tanks/fenders/oil tanks in steel or aluminum, and of course bars, exhaust etc.

We're very excited to move to Richmond. With it's great central location, positive atmosphere, and excellent access to services and materials, we feel like Richmond will be a great home for us. More details and a grand opening party will follow shortly.

As always, thanks to our friends, fans and clients for all of your support. We'd also like to extend a huge thanks to our friends at Lowbrow Customs, Biltwell, Race Tech, Woodward Fab, and all of the other folks that make this stuff possible for us, and finally the guys at Velocity Cycles for making us feel at home. There might just be a few Atom Bomb/Velocity custom Enfields in the near future! "