Tag Archives: Motorcycle

Crazy Times & Trying to Keep Up

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The last three weeks have been super nuts; I haven’t had two free minutes to do any updates or upload any new graphics, it’s taken all I have to keep up the pace.

Starting with a small marketing design project after several weeks with nothing to do at all, the projects and issues just snowballed. Right up until I started getting paying gigs again I had been working on Cindy’s chopper, finishing fabrication of the frame and some of it’s components, hoping to get it on the road this summer.
In the middle of my new project, we became victims of Comcast’s evil plans to go totally digital, forcing us to upgrade and pay thriple for the service, as well as screwing up our Internet connection for several days.
While this was all happening I have also decided to take on a little pro bono project for an iPhone/iPad app developer just because I like the app and he needed some help. I’ll explain this in detail later when I can talk more about it.
In addition to those projects I have been working on a prototype backrest for my own motorcycle which I finally wrapped up last weekend and did a little R&D this week.
Finally, a friend with a local shop referred a customer to me yesterday for a minor motorcycle repair job on a H-D Softail.

So, over the last couple weeks I’ve fabricated motorcycle parts, set up all new cable connections and installed a new digital cable box, new modem, new router, and rewired half the house to get connected, designed some marketing materials, designed an iPhone app icon and launch page, designed and fabricated an adjustable backrest for my bike, and repaired a customer’s bike. One thing I can say for certain is that it hasn’t been boring!

This entire time however, I’ve been staring at a folder full of really cool photos I took back in March that I’ve been dying to add to my free grahics on the website. I just haven’t been able to get to it.
My goal for the weekend is to process at least a handful of the photos and post for everyone to download. Look for at least a couple new ones tomorrow and maybe a few more on Sunday unless things go completely sideways on me over the next couple days, which has been known to happen!

I’m also planning to post some progress pics of the Sportster as well as the backrest prototype. If all goes well, I’ll have those online by Sunday.

Until then, have a happy happening, keep the rubber on the road and your mouse on the pad!
- J

Oil tank and oil lines: re-weld and re-route

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New lines, new welds


Every year it seems there’s something that needs to be repaired during the first nice week of riding weather in the spring. Last spring it was my oil tank and exhaust.
The exhaust was corroded from riding in the slushy muck over the winter and having no way to clean the bike when I got home. The oil tank was another story.
After welding and re-welding, we still had leaks around the seams. I finally had to tear it all down and take it to a guy that does nothing but weld heavy aluminum. He fixed most of the leaky areas, but later on in the spring one more little gap opened up and started leaking again. It wasn’t anywhere he welded, but in a spot that I thought was all sealed up tight. I rode the rest of the year with the leak, which is minor, but annoying. Anyone who knows Harleys knows that if you can get all your engine and trans gaskets sealed and leak-free, you’re damn lucky!
oil tank and fittings

new lines


It’s spring again though and the leak is still bugging me. I’m tearing it down this week and having the entire tank re-welded. Aluminum is a tricky bitch and I don’t have the equipment to do the thick stuff, so I have to take it to a professional. Last year however, the heat from the welding distorted the tank just enough to cause me some major unexpected grief. Running stainless steel oil lines looks really cool and does a great job of keeping oil in, but if you heat the shit out of your tank while welding it, there’s always that chance that those tight fitting stainless lines won’t line up anymore, and that’s exactly what happened. Removing and replacing my oil tank takes me less than an hour. Re-bending new stainless lines to compensate for the distortion took and additional two days.
That’s what I have to look forward to: two days of bending and tweaking to get the lines to fit. This is why I blew it off until this year. I’ll update on this in a week or so when it’s all over. Maybe I’ll be lucky this year and everything will fall back into place. Ha!