Saturday, December 27, 2014

Black and white film Mooneyes Yokohama

Got my black and white film processed that I shot in Japan. I tried a few rolls of Illford 3200 and forgot my old Olympus OM-2 only went to 1600 ISO and had to try and jog my memory what to do to compensate. It's only been 20 years probably since I have been in that kind of pickle. 







Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Film from Mooneyes Japan 2014

Getting film developed is just as exciting as it ever was, maybe even more that it is not "normal" in photography today. I picked up my five rolls of color today, but am still waiting for the black an white to come back. I used to shoot and process tons of black and white film in the 1990's and pretty much lived in the darkroom. I have binders and binders still of all the negatives that need to get scanned, mostly of hardcore bands of the time in all ages shows in Salt Lake. Good times.
Anyway, here are some of my 35mm Fuji 800 ISO shot through my old trusty Olympus OM-2.

One of my favorite places to shoot in Japan digital or film is the sort of alley way or access road behind the Yokohama Pacifica Convention Center as the special guests nervously wait to ride and drive their custom motorcycles and cars into the show with 13,000 people on their tippy toes with much anticipation. This road is generally, in my eyes, perfect lighting for handheld photography. This year with the local noise restrictions kept much of the activity back here pretty calm and stationary, but I am still happy with what I got. everything else is handheld with no flash inside the show. Also, none of this has been altered in photoshop or filters.









California Gold

We've got new pocket tees and hoodies with this great art by Keith Weesner in stock.  Almost just in time for the holidays

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Project What's the Rush

Finally broke my builders block and settled in on bar design, tank style, and headlight size and placement on the '68 stroker long bike! 
I have the sissy bar basically finished and mounted the nice and thick Throttle Additction ribbed fender which let me roll it off the lift for a good on the ground mock up session. Now I gotta build the actual tank, finish the bars using a Cro Customs top clamp, put my thinking cap on and figure out rake and trail and build some rockers for the 18 over springer so it won't be heavy to steer. The seat on here is from my other shovel but will be in the same vain. Excited to make exhaust pipes, maybe I'll do em in stainless this time. Getting there! 



Monday, November 17, 2014

Before "The Blob"

I can't get the old Indian Chief I ran across here in rural NY off my mind.  Much poking around the internet has made me realize that chopped Chiefs aren't worth as much or as coveted as their Knucklehead counterparts of the era, but man, they're still really cool.

While researching chopped Chiefs I ran across a great article about Steve McQueen's bike "The Blob".  I'm sure that many of you are aware of this, but it turns out that McQueen's bike was actually a clone.  A gentleman named JD owned (and maybe still owns) the original version and McQueen tried to buy it from him, but he was unwilling to sell it, so McQueen just had him build a replica.  The rest is history. 

I don't want to paraphrase the original author's words, so please take a look here if you're interested in learning more.  With the red on the tank and the flatter fender, I like JD's bike just a little more than the version he built for McQueen, but both are still very cool.

 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Wild

We're getting our new house put together enough where I can start to unpack some of the boxes labeled "cool stuff".  Inbetween a humidor full of dried out Cuban cigars and my Wind-Up Bumble Boxers, I found this old Cycle Guide.

Every time I see a bike like this one featured in an old magazine I smile.  The die hadn't been cast for custom bikes back then - guys were just trying weird stuff and doing their thing. 

These days we have a lot of great reference material to work from, and there are tried and true recipes to build a killer bike from.  I'm not saying that makes it easier - it's still hard and takes a lot of fortitude (and money), but the guy who built the combo below - he was cooking from scratch and you can bet there was some Canabutter in his recipe.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

far out stuff


I stumbled upon this real far out knucklehead and some more cool pans and and panel paint jobs built/painted by
Memo Ortega HERE
pretty neat, haven't seen it before.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

flames and frames

one of these days I need to do a good post on my bike but saw these picture the other day on my computer and thought I'd put them up together



And here's the leader at work...thought a lot about this picture during the job

Friday, October 24, 2014

www.chopperdaves.com

 
Here are some favorites of mine from Daves old website.  Top two are from Sweden and the bottom is the infamous Triumph built by Rudy-RIP.   I hope to see you all tomorrow at Alex's!!!
 



Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

WR gas tanks for sale

I have a nice set of 1941-46 Harley WR factory race gas tanks for sale. I would say they are in above average condition and are quite straight. The left side has an old fix around the petcock bung but that's about the worst of it. Email grant@getchoppedout.com 







Shovelin' it on

We moved from the West Coast (Seattle) to the East Coast (New York) recently and I didn't bring any old motorcycle stuff along with me. It bummed me out to look in my garage and not see an old bike in there, and then this showed up for sale locally. Sometimes they just find you.

The bike is a '69 and it is the first running Shovel I've owned. It has a fresh top end, runs, rides, shifts and stops well, and is just kind of happy. It's crazy how much quieter Shovels are than Pans - those thick aluminum rocker box covers make a pretty big difference. 

I'm paring the bike down some and lightening it up, but nothing too crazy...we'll see how things come together.  I am optimistic. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Kicks just got even harder to find

RIP Paul Revere.
Mr. Revere passed away Monday at the age of 76.  You've probably already heard the news but I wanted to make a post anyway, this type of garage rock used to be all I listened to.



Hits like "Kicks" and "Hungry" drove this gimmicked band to the top of the charts on occasion.  I've always dug the Raiders Coach that George Barris built for them.  What a crazy concept!  Man, you had a cart with a GTO grille and a Pontiac motor pulling a real 1800's coach body.  Whatever happened to this!!!!!!

 
 Here is Paul a few years later on his chopper!  This is from an old Street Chopper article.  Story goes that Paul Revere rode the bike across country to promote the Raiders latest record.

 

Friday, October 3, 2014

they're gonna put me in the movies



Last Summer a bunch of us got the call to bring our choppers down to the set of "Inherent Vice"
They told Grant that his hair was too long and his bike was too nice...
If you blink, you'll miss us.  Looks like a really good movie though, and it was a lot of fun to work on.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Stay Chiefed (Still available)


 











I went out to the apple country here in NY recently to buy a nice '69 FLH and the gentleman I purchased the bike from had this tucked away in the corner.  He is interested in selling the bike, and although I've always wanted an Indian, it's not in the cards for me right now. 

The owner is not an internet, cell phone, or - um - electricity type of guy, and after a nice conversation and the purchase of the FLH, he asked me if I'd help him sell his Indian.  I told him I would, so here it goes: 
  • '46 Indian Chief - motor, transmission and frame
  • '52 forks and tanks.
  • De-skirted rear fender and old ribbed front fender
  • Random solo seat
  • 16's front and rear
Hit me up with an email at arobinson0217 at gmail.com with questions.



Thursday, September 11, 2014

Road trip to Detroit for the Oily Souls, warm up post

Super lacking in the post department here (seems to all go on Instagram these days...) but here a bunch of random shots from the last little while from home and my trip to denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Ohio, Nebraska, and Salt Lake. Drove to Deteoit mainly for the Oily Souls show which was a blast!


There's tacos under there

Something for everyone at Kung Fu Tap and Taco. Been about 8 years since I last was here. Hadn't changed a bit. 

Made it to Greg's house in Plymouth, MI!! Dinner was waiting!


Greg's garage doesn't suck. 

Guess this is known as the "headstone of Detroit" 

Brad, terry, and Ry and the gang are awesome hosts! More on the show later. 

Drove past Davenport twice on the trip, days before the swap started...doh. 

Nice "short and curly" on the tub rail at the Holiday Inn Express in Lexington, Nebraska. Skipped the shower that night. 

5,300 miles like this by yourself in a '96 S-10 isn't recommended if you are 6' 3". Under all that crap behind the seat is a bike I picked up on the way back minus frontend and rear wheel...for the record my truck performed flawlessly. Ice cold AC, cruise control for when there wasn't construction (grrrrr), and got comfy with some audio books to kill time.