Birthday Gifts w00t

I love my wife.

Engine ON!

Progress feels good. Especially when you have two of your buds help lift a "heavier than it looked" engine off a stand and slap it into a frame. Well it didn't quite get slapped in, but the entire feat was accomplished one Monday night with the help of a few beverages. :)

I also created a bracket for the headlight and I think it may be smaller than what I had envisioned. I like the look though.

I'm also working on the rear fender brace. No sissy bars for this bike, just a nice fender with a bracket.

Crafting a Battery Box

Another budget saving task at hand: the battery box. These things retail online for 50 clams, can't afford that so screw it, I'll build one. A nice neighbor scrounged some scrap 1/8 flat stock and diamond plate for me. So I used my grinder to make slow but somewhat square cuts...


My metal working skills are quite limited, but I was left with a sense of accomplishment at the end of the night.

 Torch. Bend. Repeat.

 Not the prettiest looking thing, but it'l do!

Daytona 200: Rare and Unpublished LIFE Magazine photos

For years, from its inception in 1937 until the early ’60s, the prestigious Daytona 200 motorcycle race wasn’t merely run at Daytona Beach. Along with other high-speed, high-risk clashes, the 200 was run on Daytona Beach.
In 1948, LIFE magazine covered the races, both amateur and pro, at Daytona (the Road Course opened in 1936) and reported, in its April 19 issue, that “for four days last month the resort city of Daytona Beach could hardly have been noisier — or in more danger — if it had been under bombardment.”

Read more: http://life.time.com/culture/daytona-motorcycle-madness-1948/#ixzz1r6ab2ZdB

Rolling Chassis!

Just been working away on this stuff... New neck bearings, polished caliper and drilled rotor, rear break assembly back together, handle bars and triple trees painted and assembled:

 I"m really happy with the way its looking, and I think the 4" stretch and 2" drop from the stock frame will be perfect for my height. I also think once the engine is dropped in the forks should come down a little and level the bottom of the frame out.

Amazing Weather Has Caused Me to Work Overtime!

What a beautiful March we're having in South Bend. Its crazy to think that we're not only experiencing temps in the 70's, but its been consistent for the past week and wont stop anytime soon! All this gorgeous weather has forced me to kick this project into high gear. I've been getting my thrills from my Kawasaki Gpz 1100, but man I would love to take a cruze on black beauty :)

I hope you enjoy the photos as I have not been able to create any "how to" vids lately.

Drilling the rotor was fun, lol I should say time consuming... I'll have to post a video of that sometime soon though.

 Front rim before:

After, with tire mounted.

Front and rear tires mounted! :)

Egg Salad from Chad DeRosa on Vimeo.