There’s nothing like a run to nowhere. No plans, no dates, no deadlines and no formula, we just rode in the sweltering heat like two abused dogs searching for new owners. After a couple of beers, if someone asked, “why?” the cryptic answer would contain: Just to get out of town, to test the new […]
This here cardboard box full of odds and ends was where it allbegan. Or was it just an idea? Or maybe too much Jack Daniels. Ormaybe Bandit was tired of me whining about it. Anyway, like a beggar on the streets ofCalcutta, or Blanche Dubois in “A Street Car Named Desire,” I depend onthe
The Amazing Shrunken FXR Project Read More »
The next morning, after breakfast at Stan’s diner in Scottsdale, we rolled north toward Payson on our way to Holbrook. Stan’s is a small joint in a dull rectangular building downtown, that Stan tried to spruce up with adobe chairs and tables. A skinny waitress came to take our order but since this was Myron’s
Sturgis 2000 – Part 3 Read More »
Click here for: Mudflap Girl Part 2, the Bandit Engine and Spitfire update It’s May 23, 2011, about two months before we roll out to the Badlands. Every year takes on a different character. It’s sorta like the new kid on the block. We never know exactly the direction this kid it going to
Mudflap Girl Part 3, the Bandit Engine Completed Read More »
Bandit and I were checking out the Amazing Shrunken FXR. “Thedamned thing,” referring to the shrunken FXR project we had beenhammering at, off and on, for almost two years, “has attitude,” hegrowled, “a bad-assed attitude.” “Yeah, but will it have sound attitude?” I mused. “I want it toget attention. I want it to be felt
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That last 25 miles were the worst of the trip. It rained off and on as the traffic became thick as mud on your boots. Lane splitting is not allowed and when we attempted to play ignorant travelers, motorists tried to hit us. As the sun broke over the parking lot of cars, the humidity
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You’ve been there. You handed the Makita cordless drill toyou’re drunken buddy, and he drilled a hole in your big screentelevision. You tried to wrap the extension cord around his neck andfinish him off. We came close to blows in the garage a couple ofmonths back. I spent days carefully welding chunks of Samson exhaustpipes
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Buells are the Harley-Davidson street fighter. They are inexpensive,sharp-handling machines that give the American rider something toshout about, something to fuck with and something to race. This bike won’t compete with the 200 mph Japanese sportbikes, but it will handle like one, and brake like one. So we gothold of one and evaluated it for
Here’s a couple of shots of the Bikernet Street FightingBuell for Sturgis 2001. This is how it currently stands with ahandfull of minor modifications and a lot of plastic removed. Let meknow what you think. Note the pulley guard. We had the notion to take levers andbraces like this off, lightening-drill polish and
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Unlike many years in the past, I didn’t rely on any builders to make the deadline for the trek to the Bad Lands. The Bikernet crew handled building two road-sizzling chops in two and a half months. I’ve got to tell you that it felt good to get back in the garage amongst the
Sturgis 2000 – Whiskey, Women and the Open Road on the Blue Flame Read More »
Continued from page 1…… I was about to reach for the phone book one morning, on an ass-saving spring hunt, when the mail arrived with an invitation to the Harley-Davidson new-model announcement. At that point I was spending every extra moment in the garage and interruptions were a problem. But the factory has always been
Sturgis 2000 – Part 1 Whiskey, Women and the Open Road (Continued) Read More »
Continued from page 2…… With a couple weeks left, I called Joker Machine daily. I didn’t want to press, but I was going out of my mind. My contact, Geoff, had faced some health problems and decided that smoking was his cure. I didn’t want to add to the stress of building high-precision, very costly
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A while back, I spent a week one day in the garageof Bikernet headquarters with Bandit. Bandit was hot to putapehangers on his shiny new Road King Classic. Once I arrived and cooled down his “high-bar desire”, I suggestedputting all the handlebar switch wires inside the bars where theywould be safe from his undue attentions
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The King stripped for powder coating. The plan was to strip the bike of all the brackets, tabs and accessories we could get our hands on and have them black powder coated by Custom Powder Coating in Dallas a Bikernet Sponsor. We ordered additional accessories to enhance the clean black effect. First we ordered the
Road King 4/18/03 Read More »
I had a bad feeling about this mod. First, I don’t like to pack anyone, any time. If you want a ride on my Panhead, carry a hand-towel and a bungie cord. I avoid giving a girl a ride home from the bar, even a babe with gigantic hooters. I would preferred to follow her
That afternoon, I finished the weekly update and jammed for the tilting garage. Nuutboy had already broken under the extreme pressure and hauled ass for foreign shores. Wrench checked into rehab for the 24th time. He had been awake for three weeks and was beginning to look like the guy from the “Living Dead.” Japanese
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Like the enigmatic fortunes you find inside thosefolded Chinese cookies, our visit with Dr. John–the”frame doctor,” was a mix of New Age mysticism andpractical guidance. The week before, Bandit and Ibrought the rolling Pro-Street frame to the gooddoctor. We gave the him our best ideas of what wethought the bike should become. Basically, we wantedthe
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The next morning, Myron and I got our asses in gear and loaded our scoots. Karl and Cheri were returning to Phoenix the long way through the mountains and Flag before getting home. We said our goodbyes and headed out. It was odd, or maybe not, that Myron and I were travelin’ without maps this
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It’s part of our job as moto-journalists to try what’s outthere in the American market and report back. The ultimate test is to take a bike, customize it and ride it to Sturgis. What could give you a truer test of a bike’s ability to look cool and endure a long run? I’ve been
Sturgis 2001 Buell Read More »
The Harley shop in Green River didn’t have it, nor did any of the other bike shops in the valley, but there was a shop in Aspen. It wasn’t in the phone book and couldn’t be reached by directory assistance. I called the Harley shop back and was given the number for Aspen Custom
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We decided to take a run at an electrical article, since about 90 percent of problems and breakdowns come from the electrical component. Besides, it’s riding season and we all need to check our electrical connections before we ride off into the sunset. This is especially true of bikes stored in moist or seaside climates.
Road King 4/15/09 Read More »
Thunder Cycle Designs629 E. Sunrise BlvdFt. Lauderdale, Fl 33304 “I’m thinking of having a painter do up the bottom of the bike with some radical paint design because the fucker is so damned fast with this S&S 113 that it brings the front end off the ground in second gear. I’m not kidding. I had
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Daytec Center 17469 Lemon Street Hesperia, CA 92345 (760) 244-1591 Downtown Harley-Davidson Russ Tom 6727 Martin Luther King Way Seattle, WA 98118 (818) 901-7037 Bay Area Custom Cycles Ron Simms 25224 Mission Blvd. Hayward, CA 94541 Milwaukee Iron Randy Simpson 3000 Lenox Lynchburg, VA 24501 Headwinds Cycle Products Joel Felty P.O. Box 661213 Arcadia, CA
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Bikernet East, Zebra Report 8/17/2000:ZEBRA CRUSHES BANDIT! ARRIVES FIRST IN STURGIS! Despite overwhelming odds, such as a rev limiter installed secretly byBandit (later ripped out and thrown in the ditch), heavy rain on the eastcoast, phony tags (fuck the Florida DMV), a bleeding gas tank (Bandit issuspected here as well), hail in Atlanta, deer in
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