RxTattoo

Our newest creation...

2010-01-28T12:24:00.002-07:00

I know this isn't exactly a new Pan Head restoration, but I couldn't help myself from posting this here.

Baby Crane arrives September 3rd 2010!

Sunday In The Park...

2009-08-29T10:01:00.007-06:00

Well on August 16th the Springville Rotary Club held there annual fundraiser called Sunday in The Park. This event raises money for the club so they can provide scholarships for local kids to attend college at UVU. It has always been a fun event that consists of live music, a great steak dinner, and a raffle of donated prizes. I have been going to Sunday in the park for about the last 15 years. Every year they have a small car show. This year Jerry Falkner got a hold of it and turned it into a HUGE car show. There were over 150 entries. It was great. It is held at Rotary Park up Hobblecreek canyon in Springville, which is a pristine setting for a car show in the mountains. I was lucky enough to win "Best of Show" for the motorcycles.

Trophies are good!

But not as good as this!!!

Art City Days Bike Show...

2009-08-22T13:24:00.008-06:00

So I know it has been a while.

Back in June during the Art City Days festivities down here in Springville there was a bike show put on at Legends. It was the first show I was able to enter my Knucklehead in. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately I had to work at SOS during most of the show, and right when I got off work the skies opened up and it looked like the end of the world. It rained and blew so hard that it knocked out the power.

They had some "old school" bikers that came to the show do the judging. They must have liked what we did. I won a trophy for "Most Radical" and I also won "Best of Show." I was flattered.

I "borrowed" some pictures off of a friends website that she took of the bike that day. So here is a taste of what it's all about from someone else perspective...

Super Slacker...

2009-06-26T15:18:00.002-06:00

Well since I suck at blogging I am going to piggyback on Jeremy's blog and re-post his post... teehee

http://www.therealjeremyjones.com/blog/

Final assembly...

2009-04-07T10:02:00.004-06:00

Well we finally got to start putting this bike back together. We got the tedious process of pulling strings through the inside of the frame to pull the wiring done. I have never been happier to have a ShopVac. After that mind numbing experience we had enough time to get the entire springer front end back together. I am happy to report that Merlin and I both still have two eyes in our heads...

Powder coated parts..

A sneak peek at some of the brass that had the patina work done..

Brass Tax...

2009-04-02T21:32:00.009-06:00

So I finally got everything back from Metal Masters that they stripped and/or plated in brass. The stripped goods got handled nicely by the boys at Powder Extreme Coatings.
The brass however got turned over to the talented hands of Nathan Bennett. This is one talented kid. He patinas all the bronze work for artists like Jeff Decker and Gary Price. Not only that but he currently creates his own paintings on bronze plate "canvases" using only chemicals to patina the artwork on to the bronze. He did an awesome job turning my bright shiny polished brass into a look that I haven't ever seen on a bike before. This is going to be one crazy antiqued knucklehead...

Breakdown

2009-03-18T21:35:00.008-06:00

So once again it has been a while since I have updated this. Sorry...

This is the condition that my bike has been in for the last month or so. I took everything we have been working on for the last 5 months and tore it all apart in 1 day. It just doesn't feel right to be able to break something down so fast that took so long to put together. Since that time I have had a lot of these parts stripped down and either brass plated or powder coated. I will post new pics soon of what it all looks like now.

Some before and afters...

2009-01-18T16:10:00.008-07:00

A few shots of the old and new knucks...

Ho Ho Holy S&S...

2009-01-14T20:48:00.009-07:00

Ok so it has been a little while...

On Christmas eve we got a little holiday surprise when my new motor showed up a month early. The new motor is an S&S kn93 93" Knucklehead. I can't say enough about the job that S&S has done with this motor. Wow! It is a night and day difference from the Exotica we had in before. This bike is going to be one mean machine...

I didn't know Santa Clause was a smart ass...

Like kids at Christmas, oh wait, it was...

The detail is incredible

The new power plant.

Slacking.

2008-12-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

I know I am a great big slacker but a new post with pictures will be coming soon with one hell of a Christmas surprise...

The sissy way out...

2008-11-30T22:07:00.004-07:00

So it has been a while... Not tons to report. We are kind of at that stage where big substantial "visual" things aren't happening on the bike. I did hack off the rear fender and we machined some spacers to get it mounted. Then we took our twisted hex stock and after much deliberation about a sissy bar, came up with the low-pro wrap around design. Going to look sweet all brassed out and antiqued. The boys wanted the big 60's sissy bar but it just didn't look right to me on this bike. We got the headlight/taillight design figured out, and ordered the front brake master cylinder and grips. Merlin is working on our suicide foot clutch conversion and I am trying to design a seat pan.

Got a call from S&S. The new knucklehead should be here next week!

Twisted Steel

2008-11-14T18:52:00.003-07:00

So we moved on to designing the rear end. After reshaping the rear fender on the English wheel we moved on to rear fender struts. Came up with an idea to twist up some solid stock and try to make something gnarly. Merlin had seen some hexagon stock so we tracked some down and started trying different ideas. We welded one end of the rod to the table and tacked a handle on to the other end. We heated up about an inch and a half at a time and twisted it in opposite directions. Came out pretty rad. Going to use it for struts and maybe a sissy bar....?

Gas Tank Magic

2008-11-14T17:01:00.003-07:00

So Merlin is definitely more of a magician than a wizard. We got the new tank in from V-Twin and decided to give a super clean look. We hacked it apart with the plasma cutter (my new favorite toy on Earth) and got rid of the stock mounting tabs. We decided to cut out the entire bottom of the tank and the tunnel and fabricate an all new set up to give it a clean finished look. Merlin worked his magic, and rubber mounted the tank to the frame so it looks like it is floating on the back bone. Pretty sweet set up. That boy has some tricks up his sleeves. The new gas cap and mounting plate came in as well, so we slapped them on and our gas bucket is now done....

Coming together...

2008-11-10T21:29:00.010-07:00

So things are really starting to come together. The new oil tank came in and we went to work on that. We blasted it in half and narrowed it by about an inch and a half, and Merlin took out the battery box in the rear of it and welded it up solid. After a little contemplation and fabrication we got it mounted up and it looks great. Got the new 200 rear tire slapped on. Found a rear fender that will work from a trailer supply company, and I got to try my hand at an English Wheel. I am going to re-shape it a bit. That is some hard stuff! Looks so easy on the Discovery Channel... :)

We got a new King Sporty tank in and started hacking that up too. I will post more to come on the new tank design. We had to pull it off the lift to check for clearance of the risers missing the gas tank, so we rolled it out back to take a pic or two. Gets me excited to see it this far along.

Oh and I may have ordered a whole new motor for the bike... How about a true S&S Knucklehead instead of an Exotica... Check it out here.

Nice ass Merlin...

I know, kind of cheesy...
This thing about took my fingers off!

Bling...

2008-10-29T18:04:00.001-06:00

Got my first piece of brass put on. The new risers look good with bars mounted up (pictures to come). And yes I know I don't have a rear wheel mounted up any more. The new 200 rear tire came in so we were in the middle of slapping that piece of meat on...

Rudolph the red tanked bobber...

2008-10-21T21:43:00.005-06:00

So we mocked up the 3 inch open primary to see if it would fit the bike. I am still a little undecided on how it flows with the old school bike, but it definitely looks gnarly. I also scalped a tank from an old 883 sporty. It looks sick when it is in place, but it is a peanut tank for sure. I might be carrying extra fuel on my back. I have new 4 inch brass risers coming, but the 12 inch apes look/feel pretty dang good on the bike as is. More parts coming soon...

No the tank isn't going to be red in the end...

This thing just might chew my leg off...

Starting to look like a bike.

Religulous

2008-10-17T14:48:00.000-06:00

Go see the movie.... nuff said.

The drug dealer bike build.

2008-10-14T20:29:00.007-06:00

After about 5 years of wanting to build a motorcycle from the frame up I am finally doing it. I have been fortunate enough to have great friends that have an unbelievable shop, Legends Vintage Motorcycles in Springville, great skill, and the patience to put up with me trying to learn how to build bikes. Last Friday we started my little project and I thought this blog would be a great way for me to keep a little journal of how the build goes.

Day 1: So I started this build by pirating a frame and motor that Rick already had at the shop. I am starting with a Paughco rigid frame with an old school springer front end. My motor is a 100 cubic inch Rev Tech Exotic Knucklehead. Pair that with a Rev Tech 6 speed tranny and this thing should haul some ass! Getting this build organized and lined out, as well as getting some design ideas out of the way took up most of the day.

Day 2: This frame was supposed to be for a project a couple of years ago with a different mechanic so I had to cut and grind off a bunch of mounting tabs and random stuff welded all over the place. After I got the frame all cleaned up I was able to mount the motor, bolt in the tranny plate, and mount the transmission.

We yanked the pulley off of then trans and switched it to a sprocket to run a chain drive

More to come...

Blogtastic...

2008-10-14T19:31:00.002-06:00

So here we go...

Since I think I am the last human on Earth to not have a blog I figured I would give it a shot. Here goes nothing.