Skateboards make good dollies

…and wives help when needing to hold it from rolling down the driveway…
And she kept me from breaking my back by trying to lift it out of the trunk by myself.

Dave Gardner at Recommended Service did the assembly.

I can’t wait to fire this thing up…
Siebenrock power upgrade Pistons and Cylinders.
Lightened Flywheel.
Newer oil pump cover.
New BMW valves and valve job.
/6 rockers.
Stainless pushrod tubes (as part of the Siebenrock kit).

The Zen of Motorcycle Building

If you have 15 minutes and a set of headphones, plug ’em in and watch this.

Yes, it is about a BMW but more about the zen of building a machine and spending time in the garage.

I’m reminded of the book “Shop Class for Soul Craft” after listening to him talk about his time in the garage. And I’m reminded of how the Buddhist monks will spend great lengths of time building sand sculptures only to have them wash away in the rain. It is more about the process then the end product.

And for some reason, i am also reminded of artist Magritte and “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. If you try to intellectualize a painting of a pipe, you are missing the point. Magritte made amazing works of art and scoffed at people who tried to intellectualize them. They are what they are… a painting, a photo, a motorcycle…

Enjoy.

Deus Ex Machina from Seth C Brown on Vimeo.

Wheels Laced

The owner of the bike had a good suggestion. At first i wasn’t too into the idea but now that I am seeing everything come together, I really like it.
He suggested that we powder coat the hubs in white:

We are going with some wide shoulder Akront/Morad rims. I can’t wait to see these on the bike.

I took them to Johnson and Wood in North Hollywood to get laced. They bought the spokes for me and laced them for a very affordable price and a reasonable turn around. I’m surprised when I receive responsive and courteous customer service these days and the wheel guy, Al, was great to talk to. He and I traded a few faxes and phone calls talking about the proper offset. He was proud to give the wheels back to me and offered to re-adjust the offset if i felt that anything seemed incorrect.

Test fit and I’m dying to get some rubber on these dubs.

Rub a dub dub. New Battlax BT45 Bridgestones ready for the roads!

Harleys replaced by BMWs in Michigan

Ouch. Sorry Harley.

From CNN:

Sometimes the criticism is justified. Harley was embarrassed recently when the Michigan State Police announced it was replacing its inferior Harleys with BMW motorcycles. After conducting performance tests, the state cops determined that BMWs were pfaster, handled better, and were safer than Harleys — by a wide margin. While the BWW screamed to 100 miles per hour in less than 11 seconds and topped out at 131 mph, the Harley needed 31 seconds to reach 100 mph and never got faster than 105. As a consolation prize, the Michigan police allowed that Harley hogs were a “capable vehicle for parade and ceremonial use.”

Full article here:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/03/autos/harley-davidson-polaris.fortune/index.html?iid=HP_River