Start of the Winter Season

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Motopsycho

It seems as though the start of the winter season here in S.C. has been pretty decent so far. There have been a few chilly days and a fair amount of rain but most of the time it’s been really nice just a little nippy in the morning on most of my riding days but I haven’t had to break out the snowmobile gloves yet. Next week I think I’ll install the winter liner in my riding suit and try to locate those winter gloves just in case it turns really cold and stays dry.

It’s Dec. 5th and I may have to put the insulated liner in sometime soon.

Yes all of your supposedly sane friends look at you like some kind of idiot or freak when they see you riding around on a motorcycle in the winter time, even here in the deep south. There are occasional times when I wonder about myself for doing it, but it’s just so much fun to ride a motorcycle! Not to mention the maintenance headaches I save from not winterizing or having to do start up service in the spring. If by some chance I were to move to a location where the snow and ice would make it dangerous to ride the bikes would go into storage for the winter but here in SC we have way too many 60 degree days for me to do that.

Life has been going really well around the farm lately, and I picked up a new shop truck to replace my semi-trusty old van. Just plain white regular cab Toyota work truck. Of course since I live by the motto, “stock sucks” the modifications have already begun starting with a tonneau cover and some cargo control updates.

I couldn’t forget the blogs web address!

Deer Hunting season went really well this year & we’re stocked up on meat for the year, so now it’s time to do a bit of cool weather trail riding. The last 2 stroke dirtbike I had was a Kawasaki KD100 that I got when I was 12 or so. Since then it has been all big 4 strokes until this year when I picked up this little blue Suzuki. This was supposed to be a restoration project but it has turned out to be such a hoot to ride just like it is, that I’m reluctant to get started on it. All of these years I was never a fan of so called “ratbikes” but now I am forced to admit there is something very liberating about riding a motorcycle on which the cosmetics just don’t mater! Tree limbs, briars, mud, dirt, dust, or dropped objects in the shop as long as it fires up with the next kick or push of the button who cares. I still love, admire and plan one day to own more beautiful bikes, but everyone should try living with at least one rat for a while.

in the woods Dec. 5th 2014 8:30 a.m.

I have developed the tendency to blast around my neighborhood without any gear, kind of a throwback to the time when I wouldn’t have been caught dead on a motorcycle wearing a helmet. Yes I still get fully geared up for serious riding but I still understand why some people wont. To each his own, live & let live or die, c’est la vie, etc.

Well that’s the start of the winter season for me, it’s just like summer but with colder shorter days and fewer ravenous biting insects. What is it like for you? Do you ride your motorcycle or do you put it away & wait for brighter days?

Cool Bikes, Wicked Cars, Cool Dudes, & Hot Ladies – Rockabillaque

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Motopsycho

Considering this was the 2nd annual Rockabillaque event, color me very impressed.

Nothing else like a black 55 Chevy, especially with this under the hood.

Walking from our parking space to the event area, I just couldn’t resist snapping a picture of the artwork on this building.

The bike show portion was kind of small but there was really some quality iron on display. Since they had a rat class I decided to take the Assault Scrambler and even managed to talk this very lovely & gracious young lady into letting me take her picture next to it.

Good old fashioned Ironhead chopper.

some rats lined up

A lot of fine detail on this rigid Evo.

I love the placement of his lithium battery, the fender struts and of course the red wheels with wide whitewalls. Classy!

A shout out to Low Country Harley for sponsoring the show and thanks for the gift certificate I won.

No respectable motorcycle show would be complete without at least one Triumph.

some pretty shiny motorcycles lined up

This Bratstyle KZ440 actually won the rat class. Cool little bike.

Great music was available from different bands on different stages throughout the day.

…..

Had lunch at the Barbeque Joint, one of the events sponsors, great food.

The Mrs. & I took nearly a hundred pictures around the event and in this next section let’s look at some highlights from the car show.

Let’s start with a pair of evil looking Volkswagens!

Things were always cool, and this one looks like it’s literally been driven to hell and back, making it that much cooler!

Rat Hole Garage brought a cool old truck,

and even cooler a matching bicycle!

Ford Falcons were always a favorite of mine, ( I’ve owned a couple) and this sharp convertible is da bomb.

Details, details, details…

In addition to the usual assortment of fine hot rods, muscle cars, and rats there were also a couple of sweet British sports cars one being this nice white Jaguar,

and the other was this very sharp looking Lotus 7 replica.

As much as I love the whole “ratrod” scene it was great to see a traditional, painted with flames, polished & shiny hot rod like this ’32 Tudor.

How about a full on Pro Modified race car? Better still it’s a Henry J, with a blower and “Hillborn style” fuel injection.

The outside of this particular Dodge van was nothing special but when you swung open the side doors the interior was pure disco era rolling sin bin.

And last but definitely not least the world infamous Trash Nova shown here cruising the not so mean streets of North Charleston. Hey it was given the peoples choice trophy for best of show!

The show had several great sponsors, here I am posing with the display for Guilty Pleasures. Hey you gotta love their business motto!

Some how the gentlemen at the Holy City Beard & Mustache Society talked me into entering the partial beard division of the beard & ‘stache event. It was great fun and after a bit of hairy competition I shaved out a 4th place finished and the fellows with the really gnarly beards took the top 3.

There were all kinds of things going on including, a puppet show, 50’s era fashion show, & a tattoo contest. Some of these were happening simultaneously so I was unable to get pictures from everything, but trust me this weekend if liked great music, wild tattoos,cool bikes, wicked cars, cool dudes, & hot ladies, Park Circle in North Charleston, South Carolina was the place to be.

<models from the rockabillaque fashion show>

Some of the beautiful models from the fashion show.

Now I have saved the best part for last despite only taking my pocket camera and standing at the back of the crowd I was able to get at least one decent picture each of the Miss Rockabiilaque Pinup contestants. I was a bad reporter and I didn’t get their names or anything, I forgot to take a notebook and the crowd was fairly noisy cheering them on so I didn’t hear all the names anyway. For a larger view click on the pictures below.

: Here is your winner! Miss Rockabillaque 2014

: a young lady with style & class>

: Love the shoes

My advice to you is to look for this event next year and try to attend, we had a great time & I am sure you will too!

Peace Y’all!

Mini-Rat Update

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Motopsycho

Just thought I’d share a quick mini-rat update with you. Some of you may remember the GTC torque convertor review form a few weeks ago as well as this pictorial of the completed machine. Since I was not working Friday, I decided to have some fun with stencils, paint, sponges and my airbrush, in preparation for the Rockabillaque show in North Charleston, S.C. on Saturday and this was the result.

First using a home made stencil & a natural sponge I threw a couple of Punisher skulls down on the fenders.

Then I sponged some of the white onto the top of the headlight and broke out one of my good Airsick stencils and put a skull pile on it.

It really go a lot of attention and wound up being sold within 10 minutes of the show starting! Now it’s time for the next rolling art project.

Peace Y’all

Rockabillaque

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Motopsycho

Here’s a cool event to check out this coming Saturday November 15th 2014! Rockabillaque in North Charleston, S.C.

http://www.rockabillaque.com

So if you enjoy vintage custom cars, old motorcycles, rockabilly music, pinup girls, & Kustom Kulture in general you really don’t want to miss this show!

In addition to the main website you can check out their Facebook Page too!

The Best Sunrise!

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Motopsycho

The Best Sunrise! Feel free to share just let everyone know where it came from…

An Enjoyable Compilation of Bad Ideas (a Custom Baja Minibike)

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Motopsycho

compilation :

[kom-puh–ley-shuh n]

noun

1. the act of compiling 2. something compiled

Yes that sounds like the perfect definition for this little project, it was a compilation, and now it is a compilation. It started out as a little extra sweetener thrown in on a deal when I purchased an old motorcycle to part out. Originally I planned to see if it would run and do the bare minimum to get it rideable and flip it. One of the great things about the Baja MB165 & MB200 minibikes is the fact that they are actually big enough for a grown man to ride comfortably. The bad thing for a full grown idiot like myself is that they are slooow. This is great when your kid is riding it but kind of dull for daddio. Plus there was no dirtbike in my stable so I decided to keep it and have some fun with it!

The original gas tank was full of rust and the carburetor was gummed up but the engine was otherwise sound. It turned out to be so inexpensive to replace the Honda clone carburetor that was on it, that there was no point in overhauling it. The rusted original engine mounted fuel tank has been removed and tossed in favor of a motorized bicycle gas tank. Plus I decided to use an aftermarket air filter as much for the looks of it as anything else. The stock muffler was retained so that I could use it for driving to my deer stand without disturbing every creature for miles around.

The other really noticeable bad idea you see here is the addition of a large heavy duty sprung bicycle seat. This was accomplished by cutting up an old jack handle and welding it to the frame. The seat has been kind of a mixed blessing. the extra height gives an even more comfortable riding position and the springs do help a teeny tiny little bit on small bumps, but the padding is so thin on this particular seat, that the engine vibration will buzz your taint if you slide too far forward on it. No it’s not an enjoyable feeling either, sorry.

Of course, being me I kept as much of the crustiness as I could only covering the fenders and the crappy looking dirtbike handlebar with a thick coat of do it yourself truck bed liner.

The handlebar came from an eighties Honda XR250. It had a fair amount of surface rust that I knocked off with a wire brush before coating it with the bed liner. I am sure the rust will eventually come back through but that’s okay with me for now. Changing out the handlebar was the single best comfort & control improvement to this minibike. From the factory Baja installs what looks like a “beach cruiser motorcycle” handlebar on it. Very good for little people with short arms, not so good for long armed gorillas like myself. The foot pegs are a set of passenger pegs from another old Honda motorcycle and are much bigger & sturdier than the oem items that came with it.

Also missing was the original big round chrome chopper style headlight, but in all honesty it would have been ditched in favor of the evil eye shaped driving lamp you see below. Like the original this light’s a bit dim at idle, but give it some gas and it keeps getting brighter & brighter.

There is one really good performance enhancing mdification and that is the installation of a GTC Torque Converter. In my last post I did a quick installation overview & product review on this part. There is also a video of this mini running & being ridden on that page so that you can check it out. Click here to view it if you haven’t seen it yet.

The front end is still a little bit tweaked from an accident that is was in prior to my owning it, and will stay that way. It’s such a little thing & it doesn’t bother me or anyone else who has ridden it. It’s just that the handlebar is cocked about a half a degree to the right when the bike is going straight, & not really worth trying to fix.

Now that I have told you all about this custom Baja minibike, it is time to say that it is for sale. There’s a real running dirt bike sitting in the barn and I anticipate that this one will soon be sitting around more & more. So the first person to give me $350 bucks for it gets it. Although I would prefer to sell locally for cash, I am willing to crate it for shipping as long as 1. you make all the arrangements for the shipping. and 2. I get at least 3 working days notice to build the crate before pick up. and 3. I have been fully paid via verified USPS money order. NO online payment options available for this, as I have been the target of too many scams lately. If you do purchase this machine you acknowledge that it has been altered from its original factory condition using questionable & potentially unsafe modifications and that you the purchaser assume all risks associated with operating it including the possibility of severe injury or death. And for heavens sake if you’re gonna let a kid ride it, put a belt guard on it.

This minibike has been sold!

Peace Y’all

Scooters at the Rumble!

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Motopsycho

One of my favorite classes at the Bull City Rumble is the scooter class. No I’m not talking about the 50cc chicom whiskey cycles, but fine vintage steel and plastic from around the world. This years event was dominated by Italian scooters, Vespas mostly, Lambrettas, and one or two of the late model scooters from Asia. Even though I pretend to be a big hairy chested macho man, I’d be proud to have any of these in my garage, and yes it would get ridden at every opportunity. When I was a dealership mechanic whenever some one would bring in a 125cc or larger scooter my fellow mechanics and I would hurry up and try to grab the work order first just so we could ride them. This way when all of our “real biker” friends saw us we could tell them we had to ride the scooter because it was our job. 😉 Now I’m too old to give a shit what you think…

If you love scooters enjoy the pictures!

Mod or Rocker?

I really enjoyed checking out the scooters at the rumble. Thanks to Ton Up NC for putting on another great show.

2014 Antique Bikes On Main Rally / Kamikaze Motorcycle Show in Chesnee S.C.

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Motopsycho

July 26, 2014 the weather looks absolutely wonderful on this fine Saturday morning as Mrs. Psyco & I load up the world famous Suburban Assault Scrambler, slipped into our riding gear and hit the road for a little jaunt 3 hours to the northwest to a little town called Chesnee. The Carolina Rider a newsletter/ezine/website that I have been following since signing up for their email list a couple of years ago, was sponsoring a bike show for Japanese and European motorcycles so I thought that I’d go check it out. Plus I love old motorcycles of any make or country of origin so the whole sound of the days event sounded like a winner to me.

I plotted a backroads course into the GPS on my phone and we sailed up highway 903 through Lancaster, getting onto highway 9 & eventually 909 for a while. We did stop at Historic Brattonsville, but just long enough to take a few pictures, but we are making plans to return for one of their living history events. From there I treated 909 as my own private roller coaster rolling back & forth with the curves until we got onto Highway 5 in Spartanburg County for a while, until we merged onto I-85 for the ten mile run south to Chesnee

This was a decent route that gave us only about 2o miles or so on the super boring slabs, did I mention it was a fantastic day for a ride? Even the temperatures were mild for a South Carolina summer with highs only in the lower nineties in the hottest part of the afternoon, during our morning ride out & evening ride home it was actually very nice and comfortable in our gear.

Getting off of the slab & rolling into downtown Chesnee, my initial reaction was that I must have made the wrong turn somewhere, as I drove my 34 year old Honda rat bike into a veritable traffic jam of Twin Cams, and Yamaha Stars, awash with brand new shiny chrome and that new bike smell filled the air surrounding them. This spectacle really is more of a rally than an actual antique motorcycle meet. This is not really a bad thing but in all honesty me (& my fat wallet) usually avoid Harley rallies because I don’t feel like putting up with the bullshit from all of the part time fair weather road pirates who just don’t understand why I don’t ride what they think I should ride. I don’t encounter that problem when hanging out with the AMCA crowd on their ancient Pan Heads and Indians. Normally between antique meets, VJMC events, and the occasional Ton Up Club show I get my fill of bike show & rally entertainment. But I got to give credit where credit is due everyone that I encountered here was as nice as you could hope to meet and if that trend continues I may add a few more of these rallies to my weekend plans.

somewhere behind these cookie cutter cruisers and this big ole bus is a line up of nice vintage British, European, & Japanese motorcycles

I found the Carolina Rider tour bus and parked my bike in line for the show, there were several nice Brit bikes that had been lovingly restored, nearly new Moto Guzzi V7, a pair of nice early sport bikes etc. Crossing main street and heading to the next block where the swap meet vendors were a few old bikes came into sight, and there were some very unique and interesting motorcycles and parts available. It was not a huge meet and there was plenty of room left in the swap area, so if you’ve got stuff to sell I am sure they can fit you in next year.

For entertainment they brought in 3 trials riders with the On the Edge Action Show, one on a bicycle & two on motorcycles and they put on a fantastic show for us that was worth the trip all by itself.

I did take some video that will be posted at the motopsyco.com youtube channel as soon as I get the chance to get it edited. For the rest of this post I’m going to dispense with the storytelling & just post a few pictures & comments for you to peruse.

Of course no rally is complete without at least one of these Thoroughbred Motorsports trikes and this one had a splendid real fire paint job.

artwork on a cool blue Suzuki

The Shadow in the foreground below belongs to Shaggy, one of the writers for the Carolina Rider, it’s a 2007 with 180,000 miles on it.

Honda’s just don’t die unless they get deliberately murdered.

Moto Guzzi V7 for sale at a decent price. I admit to being tempted by this one.

Cool swap meet items!

Hodaka

Restorable Harley Sprint

The only drawback to riding my motorcycle to an event like this is not being able to bring little things like this home when I find them…

I have restored much worse than this.

This really neat old Indian was in the swap section as well.

How about some fine Vintage Italian Iron?

Signs, signs everywhere are signs…

Since I like bicycles too I felt this was a great find.

Of course there was a lot of other stuff to look at, Chesnee Classic Cycle, the main sponsor of the rally had this fantastic & extremely rare XR1000 on display in the showroom.

Now THIS is a badass Harley!

This Suzuki RE5 Rotary was ridden in.

This wooden Indian is also on display at Chesnee Classic Cycle

Of course now you have to go listen to Kaw-Liga by Hank Williams (Sr. that is)

Here’s some Britsh machinery (& a rat KLR) lined up for the Kamikaze show.

A pair of good looking Harley baggers One excellent vintage restored, the other a great looking late model custom!

I like the opposites in this shot, a massive VTX1800 trike & a scooter passing each other while cruising down Main Street.

Got Ural?

“Howl at the moon, shoot out the light, small town Saturday night!”

Last but not least, here are the results of the 2nd Annual Kamikaze Motorcycle Show, first up the winner for best custom was this stunning Triumph Chopper.

The award for best sportbike went to this immaculately preserved 84 Kawasaki GPZ750

and some guy’s rusty old p.o.s. commuter Honda CB650 was awarded the best vintage trophy, go figure…

Yes I had a blast, (and not just because I got a trophy either) and enjoyed meeting Shaggy, Bub & the rest of the crew from the Carolina Rider, plus anytime you can spend a warm summer day with a few hundred of your fellow motorcyclists, you’re bound to have a good time. I am going to recommend that my fellow enthusiasts of Japanese, British, & European motorcycles stage a mass invasion of this event next year, & all you people with the Flatheads, Knuckles & Pans should show up too. Then it really could be Antique Bikes on Main.

Peace Y’all

Thoughts on a Good Weekend.

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Motopsycho

Here is a little video I shot of the show in Florida on March 8th 2014 enjoy. For my thoughts about the weekend keep reading below the vid.

Last weekend I did a few live blog posts while I was at the VMAs swap meet in Eustis Florida. Today after I’ve had a week to sitback and reflect upon ago I thought I would share of you things I learned from the experience did take a few used items for sale along with the display of Rock oil products and the battery or two, but my main goal really were to help publicize this blog, and just get out and have a good time and made some people. I am a member of the vintage Japanese motorcycle club so I went for the show and to help support the group. It turned out to be really great show using my favorite judging system which is 100 percent people’s choice the winning bikes decided by audience vote and not by a judging panel. This did lead to a couple of interesting surprises, such as in the all custom motorcycle class a heavily modified Tomos moped took first place while a Harley Davidson V-rod took second. It’s just totally crazy and restores my faith in humanity when things like that happen.

T’was great fun and very educational for us meeting some of the other vendors and talking to them. I have a confession to make, I have made a point of deliberately avoiding large motorcycle rallies due to the snobbery of certain groups and types of ~~posers~~ riders and I had forgotten just how much fun it was truly hang out with a bunch of great old fashioned bikers who didn’t really care what you rode as long as you rode. I love old motorcycles of all kinds, hell I love most new motorcycles too, there are just certain styles of machine that I prefer and certain companies whose way of doing business leaves me cold. Motorcycling is about freedom, individualism & personal style not conformity to someone else’s expectations.

Mrs. ‘Psyco and I would like to thank the other vendors who were so helpful to us, especially the wonderful lady from Crazy Bob’s Biker Apparel who really helped us out with setting up our canopy.

everything I wanted growing up!

The show was actually very large but the swap meet area was not quite as big as I was hoping it would have be but it was still nice and there was a large variety of different motorcycles. Next time I go to a swap meet, especially if I’m selling I do want to camp out at the meet between the gas and the fact that I wanted to stay in a hotel this week’s profit was not existent but I had mainly went just to enjoy myself and have a good time. My beautiful financial manager said next time we should definitely camp out and she would have done it this time as she is the one who is hardcore where as I’m the old guy with the soft chewy center. In all honesty as far as taking used parts to a swap meet unless they are things that are really older and valuable from a strict point of dollars and sense you’re better off to sell them online, but you would miss the camaraderie the chance to stumble across the good deals or to find unique objects. Even so I have learned a few lessons and next time I won’t take any disassembled mid 80’s motorcycles project bikes and parts. Unless it is something that would be a really great deal to sell as a complete motorcycle those should be left at home, just pack & sell the things that are truly nostalgic. Almost all of my early seventy’s on the stuff was gone the first day I sold a few dirt bike parts, couple a spark plugs, & some points but that was pretty much it.

I should have bought this and installed an early GSXR1100 motor in it!

There were quite a few good deals to be had and next year I might have to leave room in the van so that I can do a little shopping myself. Since I returned home my day job has kept me wide freaking open so I have not even had the chance to fully unpack yet. At least I found a new owner for the Kawasaki that no one would even look at in Eustis, so it can be unpacked at its new home this week. Look for us at a few more events around the southeast this year.