Mike's Choppa......Made in America

Well kinda'......He built this bike in under a month, frame and all, and rode it 400 miles to Barber's and back.  Not bad my friend.  Cool scoot, that will rip off the line and pull wheelies.  Finishing touches including a new tank and paint are about to begin for my friend.  Check out Mikes GS 450.  These are from our short cruise yesterday. 

Below: In this pic, it kind of looks like that statue is either gonna ride home with him or 

take a whizz on his seat.

Barber Vintage Motor Sports Festival Trip (the final episode)

These are a couple cruise shots from our ride to Barbers and of some Mississippi Boy's bike cup holders. They can hold several cups at one time!

I only took a few shots while meandering the swap meet area, so here they go: 

Below: Michael Lewis’ buddy from Violent Choppers buddy’s late night artistic ventures on his rear fender. I was diggin’ it and it helped strike up a conversation with a couple cool dudes. It was nice to meet you all. He’s going to repaint it apparently, but hell; I liked it like it was. I do similiar shit late at night. 

Below: Michael’s (Violent Choppers) redicululously detailed Shovel he rode on the Long Road to the Smokeout. This picture doesn’t do it justice. Check out the Horse and see some decent pics. This bike is phenomenal. 

So we had a good day, met a lot of nice people and saw a bunch of cool shit. Then it was time to camp and tell bedtime stories to each other. To facilitate this, a ride to obtain delicious varietals of liquid truth serum was required. Strapping the truth serum to choppers is as easy pie with Chopper Ed around. 

Dude below ain't got nothing on Chopper Ed!

In addition to Chopper Ed’s, we loaded down two more just to ensure nobody went without. My mom always told me, “Better to have too much than not enough!” 

We got back and saw this famous guy and someone I consider an all around great dude and a friend, none other than the world famous Kustom Jeff from the “What I See” Blog http://jdbatman.blogspot.com/, making sure he saw it. This dude rocks. Go to his blog, and BUY his shirts so he can finish up his Flyrite Sporty! 

From this point forward I put the camera up and enjoyed myself, woke up early, shared a breakfast with some friends, and boogied home like a couple wild men runnin’ from an angry ghost in Alabama. The trip was awesome, but to quick, and I’m ready for another. I wanna send out a thank you to some of the BDAC crew, Shop 102, and to Spenser from Garage Company Customs for the stickers. They’ve already been put to use. I hope to see some of you crackers again soon!

-peace
aj

Barber Vintage Motor Sports Festival Trip...

This is how the trip starts, I had just finished double checking the bike at about 2:30 a.m. after cleaning up from the lil’ man’s birthday party. 

My traveling partner thumped on into the neighborhood on his rigid sportster a little before 8 a.m. just as planned. I awoke from my deep slumber to the sound of sweet exhaust notes and a plan was finalized. One of the best things about this trip was getting to log some miles with a new friend on the trip over on a glorious Fall Saturday in the Southeast. We knew that we wouldn’t have a lot of time to soak up the Barber Vintage experience, so we both agreed on taking our time traveling over by avoiding all interstate, and riding back country highways and county roads over. This was the best decision ever! The weather was the epitome of perfect Fall weather, the roads were just as inviting and included some nice scenic delights along the way. No major mishaps occurred, no bike malfunctions, and fortunately for the entire trip we were only forced to stop twice while traveling to readjust our packing situations. (If not for the teachings of Chopper Ed, this probably would have been a more common occurrence, thanks brother!) The second stop was for me (with no pics) on the way home, and the first was my buddy’s loss of a sleeping bag on the way up. It couldn’t have happened at a better place and was quickly remedied. 

Once we enjoyed the scenery, tightened everything up, we saddled back up for the rest of the cruise through the delightfully curvy and sweet forested Alabama back country roads. The following are some riding shots from the cruise. 

After some nice cruising, we got close to our Vintage destination (pit stop in Helena) and decided concurrently that some behind the store MFQ’s (mother F’n Quarts) were in order, and a little grub in our bellies. Fortunately, located next to the convenience store a very nice lady had a little shop selling down home cooking and desserts. It was true “southern belle” catering at its finest. 

While gassing up we met a young chap who was riding a damn nice sporty but all he wanted was a “Real Bike.” Nice kid with some good knowledge. Keep it on two wheels youngun’! 

We made sure to stay away from these guys, there usually party poopers! 

Once we finished our MFQ’s and got our bellies happy, and avoided the PORK dessert, we eased on and picked up some hydration that would be needed for the setup of our tents before checking out the Swap Meet and meeting up with our fellow campers from B’ham. THANKS again guys for giving us some space to pitch our tents. It was a pleasure and a blast getting to hang with you guys again. You know who you are! 

-peace 

aj

Barber's....Packed and Ready to Roll......

My Lil' Man is getting older......

My little man is about to turn five this weekend. He's my buddy, my best friend, my helper, and the only one who can misplace my tools, lose them and still get away with it (kind of, lessons have been learned). He built his first BMX shortly after he turned four years old. It's been power slides, wheelies, and small ramps ever since. Now he helps kids in the neighborhood that are 7,8,and 9 years old remove stuff from their bikes (unnecessary junk), and put their chains back on without any help from me.  He doesn't know it yet but he's getting a new BMX bike today for his Bday before I take off to Barber's tomorrow. Spiderman Inflatable Jumpers, Halloween Decorations, and BMX, it's gonna be awesome. 

Anyhow, the little guy loves it whenever new magazines show up at the house and is continuously intrigued by the various bikes that grace the pages of Street Chopper, Cycle Source, The Horse, etc. You get questions like "So daddy, das a Shubble Head, right deddy?" Others are "Deddy, wise dat girl trying to ride dat bike in her bikini, das funny ain’t it deddy?" His childish accent, baby like ways, and pure innocence are fading fast if not gone now, and I miss them. However I do look forward to his growth as a young man, and helping him find his passions and making them flourish, whatever they may be. I've never pushed him in any direction, but for whatever reason, my blood and passion for everything two wheels pumps fierce through his veins, and for that I am grateful. I started spinning pedals at two, him at three - four, we’re a lot alike, and I love this kid more than the world. Happy Birthday buddy!

He does this on his own. I just happen to catch the moment sometimes.

Below: Some of you may recognize this one that caught his interest.

Below: First bike, putting new tubes and tires on after paint.

Prepped for paint.

Pullin' tape. Tedious, but has to be done.

He was stoked about putting it all back together.

Immediately after being finished with his first bike, and took off riding like a champ.

He doesn't have to build the new one and he's finally going to get his "Big Boy" BMX that he's been asking for.