real frisco

2 Knuckles on lombard 1968

blasted velocity stacks

had a few people ask about an "as-cast" finish option on our velocity stacks. Since they aren't cast to begin with that's a tough one right off the bat, but i just tossed a couple for a SUPER E in the basting cabinet and roughed them up with some medium grit glass bead. They aren't real rough, but they do have a nice matte finish. I'll put them in the store, just look for the as-cast option if you want them.

Enrichener knobs back in stock

We got a big batch of enrichener knobs for S&S Super-E and Super-G carburators done with a nice FMA logo on them. They are going to polishing in the morning and we should have them ready to ship by the end of the week so i went ahead and put them back in the store. Remember when you pull the stock S&S air cleaner off your carb to say put a sweet FMA short velocity stack on you'll need something to actuate the enrichener. installation is a snap, they are $30 each plus shipping...click the store to the right or got to www.getchoppedout.com to order.

better buy your plane tickets

I still can't believe my bike has been invited to attend the Mooneyes Hot Rod & Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan this December. If you haven't been, do yourself a favor and go! It changed my life last year...here's the final poster for this year hot off the press, thanks Shige!

speed-

eee shift pan shovel from Vegas. Poon, you need to put your speedy-shift on the Pan!

wow

so Ez and i were on the way to get some breakfast one moring and we see this:

Hats!

in case that summer sun is taking its toll on your dome we have hats in stock! We have more of the black and white hats with the raven and we just got a bunch of them on all black otto trucker hats for you fellas with the grubby hands...like me. order through the store at http://www.getchoppedout.com/

Wake the kids and phone the neighbors!

Born-Free 3 is upon us! More details to follow, check the BORN-FREE blog regularly for the nitty gritty. Did we mention someone will go home with a Garage Company-built knucklehead by the end of the day????

rippin off

Or inspiration, whatever. We all borrow ideas and mix them in our brains to come up with everything from bikes, songs, a snappy shirt, a haircut, anything creative.

after adding the knuckle back section to my shovel frame and looking at the $20 stainless spoked, star hubbed, 19-inch wheel from the swap and figuring out how the bike wanted to go back together i had to flush all the other ideas i had becasue it was taking a turn on it's own.

after many, many hours of staring at the bike and mocking stuff up, squinting eyes, etc, i finally was getting back on track, from that and borrowing a few things.

The bike always had a shaved early glide on it which i planned to narrow, but glad i never did. i liked the too broad for todays cool choppers frontend, esspecially the extended one on this panhead from easyriders cira early '70s.

That and Big Armond's (RIP) second version of his knuckle with the shovel top end (above left). whoa, of course the bike is legend, so i decided to rip off the paint, well, not totally, but close. I had been thinking about painting my '72 Chevy truck hugger orange for some time and those thoughts leaked into the plans for the shovel almost subconciously. then stumbling onto this feature of Armond's that i hadn't seen before (only seen the knuckle version at that point). Simple "oakland orange" was it, that and a little black pinstripe...i was too big of a woose to do the frame orange too like the other bike here.

Then while toying with simple yet a little different sissy bar ideas i found this little panhead feature thta had a small safety pin style sissy bar. Bingo! So i ripped it off to my liking. While i have ome original stuff in my bike it probably wouldn't have happened if i was set in motion by these things

Night moves

So after a little dinner for Harpoon's Bday the other night Jason Hampton and Mike Davis were on two wheels and gonna head over to the Avalon. Dunno why but i said I'll go with you, but i didn't ride and i didn't have a skid lid. Poon pulls a helmet out of his truck and i jumped on the back of Jason's shovel long bike for one of the cushest rides on a chopper i've ever had!

Here's Jason on the shovel solo




Here's what it looks like from the back of his bike going down 19th in Costa Mesa at night with a cruddy cell phone pic.



Here's Mike between crack ups at the sight of me packin double, no regrets!

Check it out!

All you east coasters hit this up! Its in the Carolininas October 15 & 16 and is a big ride, camping, and rock and roll!
Just so everyone knows they are really trying to get some dough for Lee Bender who just was diagnosed with MS.... Not only are they getting donations from entry fees but they are selling swag to anyone who wants it....... shirts are $15 with $5 going to Lee... hats are $10 with $3 going to Lee and raffle tickets $3 a piece or 2 for $5 with the whole nut going to Lee - there is a raffle both online and in person (2 raffles in all)......... Don't miss out.....

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

small salty world

So my dad went to Bonneville last weekend to check the action out with his neighbor Nick. It's probably been 20 years since he's been there and i know it's been 12 years since i've been there (50 anniversary). Lucky for us he snapped some pics and sent them to me.
He also said he met the guys from the Mooneyes trailer, but couldn't remember names. I went down the line of everyone i could think of, but nothing rang a bell. They said they knew me and it was great to meet him, even gave him some decals that he was gonna buy.
Sunday night my dad is telling me this, then i get and email from Toru with a picture and all it says is "look who i met today". Well, that explains it! Thanks Toru!


My dad in the AEE shirt and Nick to the right, phot by Toru


The picture of Toru my dad took!



You never see stock '41 Willys!

Doggles

Brian Bass' duece framed, hemi powered Model A from Dallas

Desoto hemi powered '34 three window

Hudson!

friday the 13th

is a Suzi Quatro kind of day











and kiss disco

my birthday

is next week. and i need two fliers
i talked the avalon into carrying olympia and coors for one nite only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

party starts at 9pm



fresh from their european tour the Woolly Bandits will be rockin out. czech out their website
www.thewoollybandits.net

the good life

here is my friend Anthony, having a Thomas Crown Affair moment On Any Sunday in Seattle.

chopper of the day

Chief choppers are so badass

More parts

Still clearing out the garage. emaill grant.peterson@sorc.com to buy.

First up is a mysterious possible David Mann original, but no certain. I bought this wheil in Columbus, Ohio about 5 years ago from an old guy who said Mann painted it for a friend of his to go mount in the inset of the tailgate on his late '70s Ford F-100. Of course it is the iconic Ghostrider scene and is signed David Mann "for" or "by" another signature, that's where the maybe comes into play. Either way it's a great piece and i hate to let it go since it looks so good in the garage.






NExt are some assorted items. NOS CMS or Chicago Motorcycle Supply grips and kicker pedals. All are unused, there is one set of dark blue grips, orange grips, and two blue swirl kickers. Each is $50 shipped in the 48 states or $60 worldwide.




I have two '67-72 big twin Mid "star" hubs. each is decent and came off running bikes and includes the inner sleeve. One is old chrome(SOLD), one old black paint (SALE PENDING). I also have a rare disc brake adapter (SOLD)for a '67-72 hub complete with bearing. Each item is $60 shipped in the USA or $70 worldwide.




A rare diamond pattern pillion pad (SALE PENDING). This seemingly NOS p-pad is not like all the rest of the diamond pattern p-pads you see that have a heat pressed stitch pattern in them. THis one has no stitch pattern. It's vinyl and although there is a little rust on the grommets, it doesn't seem to have ever been used. $210 shipped in the USA, $220 worldwide.




Last but certainly not least is a set of Made In The USA HD air cleaner and FX-size battery cover to make your swingarm panhead, shovel, or sporty really stand out! These are new old stock items and even though the air cleaner is for Bendix, Tillitson, or Keihin carb the backing plate could be redrilled for a Super E or what have you.
The set is $150 shipped in the USA, or $160 worldwide. I have an air leaner all by its self too if you just want that.

two of a kind

here is the 49 chevy on its last day at Santini's. Pete Santini is an industry legend and was kind enough to rent out a spot for me to do this job. If it wasn't for Pete, and his mentorship, this car would definetely not look as good as it does now. Next to the 49 is a 58 Impala that Pete did a few years back, the customer rear-ended someone and Pete had to blend all the candies and pearls back to look like nothing happend. Genius at work.

I've been working on this paintjob for quite sometime now and I am finally done. Signed, Sealed Delivered. It all started when my good friend Chris asked me if i knew anyone who could do a period 58-59 paintjob. . .

Larry Watson

Larry Watson, and his work has meant a lot to me ever since my 1996 subscription to Rod and Custom brought me a story on the man. Larry passed on the day before his birthday last month and I've been meaning to make a post about the man, some called him "Leader" and he truly was. So stay tuned, this is the first of many, as I try to pay respect to Larry Watson as best as I can.
1. Watson was most proud of his "Rainbow" paintjobs like the one this panhead wears.

2. Here is the man in a 1959 shot striping up a triumph tank with his still new 1959 caddillac.

3. The "lawbreaker" show triumph with one of many the many Watson paintjobs it would wear. kustom molding by Bill Hines on this one note the Buddha Buggy in the background.

4. Lace painting, by the man who invented it.

5. Spread of show triumphs outside the other side of his shop ran by Bill DeCarr.

6. This may be my all-time favorite bike, Mike Vils triumph, which used to be guarded by his shotgun toting Grandma.

burgers and bikes

So i went to Carl's JR for a chicken sandwich at lunch today and found this:

Havin' a bitchin' summer

This summer has been amazingly perfect here in southern california! I know a bunch of you suckers everywhere else have been sweatin' like a two-dollar gun all summer, not us! It has been borderline cold in the mornings and evenings and cool during the day.

Well, anyway yesterday was a beautiful day for a ride and me, the Born Loser, and the Nash went for a putt and breakfast. Mike was on the Kneebreaker and Nash and i were on our shovels. good times.

it's only metal

on old pic of the chassis on my '68 F-100 in the middle of me chaning my mind about wheel base and ride hieght...Thanks Jimmy for letting me use the shop!

ONLY GAME IN TOWN

So we make short velocity stacks for a few S&S carbs and i believe we are the only ones that do them for the Super-B and L-Series carbs.
While perusing the interweb i found some pics of this full show Super-B with a short stack on it and thought to myself that has to be an FMA stack. Sure enough. Check out Righteous Cycles and the 50FL they are building that the Super-B is going on. CLICK HERE to get your own FMA short velocity stack.