Monthly Archives: May 2015

A Truly Unique Dirty Chopper

Posted on by motopsyco

Mission Main Street Grants
Carolina Honda Powerhouse, hosted a really nice vintage motorcycle rally today (Saturday May 30th, 2015). While I plan to post a few pictures from that at a later time right now I am overwhelmed with the desire to share this fantastic custom. The owner shall remain nameless here, but he was willing to pose for a couple of pictures with his creation. First just let me give you the list of parts that make up this unique dirty chopper custom bitsa. (You know a few bits of this and a few bits of that, none of it matching but it all works together.)

<Maverick Dirt Chopper>

1978 Yamaha XT500; frame

2000 something Honda Rebel; engine

1969 Yamaha DT-1; rear wheel, brake, sprocket & sidestand

1984 Honda CR125; gas tank, forks, front wheel & brakes

1980 something Harley Sportster; shocks, seat, front & rear fenders

1972 Honda CB500-4; footpegs

1960 something Triumph clutch lever,

It also had a utility trailer tailight, cheap driving lamp headlight, a bicycle handlebar and a bunch of homemade small parts!

Yes I would ride it, would you?

<a dirty bitsa chopper>

<extended shifter>

<auxillary gas tank dirty chopper>

I forgot to mention this awesome auxiliary fuel tank sourced from some unknown ancient lawnmower.

 

<home built chain guard>

<cheap ass air filter>

<Honda Rebel Voltage Regulator on chopper>

<unique dirty chopper>

How about a view from the cockpit?

<mountain bike handlebars on motorcycle>

Amazingly enough despite it’s ratty origins & seemingly haphazard design when you view it from the side the proportions are nearly perfect.

< a Unique Dirty Chopper>

a Unique Dirty Chopper

<a Maverick Chopper builder>

The final flourish to set off this masterpiece of junkyard art is this emblem added to the numberplate!

<not a ford maverick>

Peace Y’all!

The 20 Foot Restoration Part Two

Posted on by motopsyco

When I posted this morning this was the picture of my stopping point last night.

The engine was still sitting on the bench looking like this.

<nasty filthy engine>

and most of the small parts hadn’t been touched yet & most of them had a thick coating of baked on red clay mud. But with the aid of my beautiful assistant I was able to get it back together this far.

<my fantastic old lady>

<ts185 frame & engine>

It’s been a long time since I have pulled a hard weekend thrash on any vehicle like this, the fact that I didn’t have to push so hard was part of the challenge for me. When I was younger I spent may a weekend or late night wrenching non stop just to be able to get back to work on Monday, and it’s really nice not to be in that situation any more. It’s also nice to know that I can still pull it off if I have to.

<ts185 20 foot restoration>

So far so good, now of to order the rest of the parts that I didn’t anticipate needing! Appearance wise this might be a 20 foot restoration but all of the mechanical bits will be in 100% working order!

The 20 Foot Restoration

Posted on by motopsyco

Finally started the repairs & upgrades to the old TS185. It was in dire need of new steering head bearings and brakes. A set of matching dual sport tires wouldn’t hurt either, along with a thousand other little things. So the day before yesterday I pulled it all the way down to a bare frame.

<81 ts185 before>

This is not going to be a show quality restoration by any stretch of the imagination. You may have noticed that the title of this post is The 20 Foot Restoration. If you’ve never heard that term before it describes a vehicle that looks really good from a distance of 20 feet or more, but when you get up close you can still see the dings & other imperfections.

If the skid plate had been removable I probably would have left the engine in the frame for all of this as it runs excellent. But the skid plate is an integral part of the frame, and the area between it and the engine was packed with a mixture of red clay mud & two stroke oil. Plus there was some damage to repair.

<ts185 skid plate damage>

After getting it cleaned up reasonably well, I took some body hammers to it, straightened it up some,  and the welded all of the broken bits back together. Then I hit it with the wire brush & sandblaster before shooting a coat of rattle can primer.

<motorcycle frame on clothes line>

All of the frame bits & pieces are painted with some some cheap spray on truck bed liner, while parts such as the shock bodies etc. are being done in brake caliper paint. I disassembled the shocks & dropped the springs into a bucket of metal rescue to soak overnight. they’re not perfect but they look a lot better.

<oem ts185 shocks repainted>

After 2 days of hard work this was my stopping point last night, this morning I am going out to detail the engine as much as I can without actually taking it apart. and will continue the reassembly of this poor old thing.

<fresh painted TS185 frame>

<The VJMC>

2015 Carolina Classic Motorcycle Show

Posted on by motopsyco
<Carolina Classic Motorcycle Show>

Carolina Classic Motorcycle Show registration tent

The Triad Vintage Motorcycle club hosted their 9th annual Carolina Classic Motorcycle Show on May 2nd 2015. Mrs. Finch & I saddled up the old Suburban Assault Scrambler and rolled out of our driveway headed toward the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer N.C. Rather than running up on the super boring slab I plotted a course to Spencer that involved rolling up to Chesterfield, S.C. and picking up Highway 742 and rolling into N.C. and picking up U.S. 52 for the rest of the way into the Show.

Let me get started by praising the venue, the Transportation Museum is a very nicely laid out train museum with great parking for visitors and a really nice grassy area with paved pathways for the show grounds. Although you will see glimpses of it in the pictures the best way to see how nice of a facility they have is to watch this little video clip I made riding into the museum. Some of the show bikes are also featured in the video as well.

I have decided to make this mostly a pictorial post with random comments. There was something for everyone here.

<1929 Indian Scout>

Lets go ahead and start out with this 1929 Indian Scout!

<29 Indian Scout engine>

Of course while our baby boomer parents have driven the collectible motorcycle market so far, I predict that as those of us in Generation X take over you will see the motorcycles that we lusted over in our younger days such as this pristine Suzuki Katana experience a surge in value & collect-ability.

<1st Gen Suzuki Katana>

<81 82 83 Suzuki Katana>

No motorcycle show is complete without a couple of nice Harleys

<old shovelhead Harley>

The old FLH was nice but I really loved this Evel Knievel replica Sportster.

<Evel Kneivel replica sportster>

Is that cool or what?

Some really nice British iron was there also.

<triumph tr6>

<Norton Commando 750>

<77 Triumph Bonneville sidecar>

 

Some off road racers were being shown as well.

<CR Honda & YZ Yamaha>

<restored Suzuki TS185>

The cafe racer crowd was well represented.

<classic cafe racers>

<80 CB650 Cafe Racer>

A very tasty looking Yamaha RZ350 Kenny Roberts signature edition.

<RZ350 Kenny Roberts>

<2 stroke Yamaha>

For once mine was not the only rat bike in the show, check out this XS400 chopper.

<rat yamaha chopper>

Great looking patina on this old Norton

<Norton Rat>

<Norton Rat>

Another Gen X favorite we couldn’t afford when we were 19, the Honda Interceptor

<Honda VFR1000 Interceptor>

The trains rolling in and out during the day greatly added to the atmosphere of the event.

<historic transportation>

It’s time for me to stop writing now & let the pictures do the rest of the talking…

<Yamaha Seca Turbo>

Yamaha Seca Turbo

<Sears Puch 250 Twingle>

Sears Puch 250 Twingle

<1966 Honda Super 90>

1966 Honda Super 90

<the Gold Wings>

To see more visit the Triad Classic Motorcycle Club Facebook page

Peace Y’all

 

 

’58 Cushman Eagle For Sale

Posted on by motopsyco

A friend of mine has this finely restored 1958 Cushman Eagle for sale. In 2014 he did a complete nut & bolt restoration on the thing. All of the tins have been repainted, everything else that isn’t chromed or polished has been powder-coated. The engine was overhauled and received a new piston, rings, & camshaft in the process.

<Cushman Eagle for sale>

You have to see this one in person, and hear it running to believe it. Did I tell you about the seat? It does have one very nice custom upgrade, an alligator hide seat cover.

<Cushman Eagle Alligator Seat>

The price for this vintage piece of all American Coolness? $4500.00 USD picked up in Waterloo S.C. If you need to have it shipped that will be your responsibility to arrange for shipping & crating. So if you are interested call Larry Rossi at 864 677 5252 between the hours of 8:00 am & 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.