Yep...

New Handlebars with Controls

They're pretty sweet and they have definitely gotten me more upright like I wanted. It's crazy because the bike has a whole different feel when riding it. It's taking a bit to get used to but I dig the look and it physically feels better so it's worth it.

 

 

Sugarbear and Benny Hardy

Lots of people know who Sugarbear is these days, but few people know who Benny Hardy is. Here are two segments from the show "History of the Chopper", one on Sugarbear and the other on Benny Hardy. Its amazing to me the depth of the influence and participation of the black culture on the motorcycle culture during the 50's & 60's. I grew up knowing nothing about this and thinking bikers were just a bunch of white dudes. Shows you what I know. Watch and learn people, the world is an amazing place when we open our eyes to the brilliance that has come before us. Thanks to George The Painter for turning me on to this. Check out his blog, http://americanmotherfucker.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Art & Style Tattoo Article From Ink & Oil (Oct Issue) w/Interview

Art and Style; Tattoos the Turning Point way

           I have always had a strong like of tribal tattoos and I have been sitting on the idea of a ¾ sleeve that goes from my wrist up for quite a few years, so when the opportunity arose for my 10^th tattoo I knew exactly the route I wanted to go. The opportunity came about through an up and coming artist named Jordan Madere who is slinging his ink at a local shop in Mandeville called Turning Point Tattoos. Jordan had spent a couple of years apprenticing at different shops and was mid-transition with his life as an artist when he got the call from Turning Point shop owner Eric Fox to come and start working for him. Jordan immediately knew that this was the right place for him.

I hooked up with Jordan and set up a time to get together and discuss my artwork. The particular tribal I wanted was a pseudo Maori design and I was very excited to see what he had to say. Jordan was pleased to be doing a large piece to add to his portfolio and we laid out the parameters of what I wanted. For those who don’t know much about tattoo shops and tattooing in general, here is a little tattoo 101. If you walk into a shop and they have a ton of picture boards along the walls and albums that you “pick” your design from, that is flash tattoos. The shop buys stencils of these tattoos and they go to a file and pick out the one you chose and apply it and get to work. This is the same tattoo that ANYONE can, and probably has, chosen. Avoid this route, please. Instead check out custom tattoo shops like Turning Point, no flash on the walls, only CUSTOM, one of a kind tattoos, that are drawn up by actual artists specific to each clients desires.

After Jordan and I met he said he was going to shoot me an email with some designs. I anxiously waited for the first draft and after day 2 it showed up in my inbox. I was happy with the way it was heading and Jordan was very insistent that I critiqued his design thoroughly so he could make the changes so it could be exactly how I envisioned it. So I did and a few days later draft 2 showed up and I was even more pleased, it was getting closer and closer to my vision. I had seen other things Jordan had created in other mediums and I was confident in his ability as an artist so one day when we were shooting texts back and forth I made the suggestion that he freehand the design as I sat in the chair and just let it flow out and see where it takes us. He was very much on board for that and we decided that we would keep the designs he had already worked on as back ups in case the freestyle experiment didn’t work out.

Tattoo day had arrived and I was excited because I love the whole tattoo experience from beginning to end. My appointment was for 4 pm and as the day progressed I was getting more and more stoked about getting in the chair again for a big piece. I hadn’t gotten anything large since the half sleeve on my left arm in 1997 and I had only gotten a few small pieces in the time since. I said my goodbyes to my family and the kids all looked at my bare right arm one last time and wished me luck as I fired up my bike to head to the shop. Turning Point sits on Monroe St just a few yards east of Lafitte St. in Old Mandeville and is very easy to get to. As you pull up to Turning Point they have a nice large sign in the front yard that has always reminded me of urban graffiti. The shop itself is in a classic old Mandeville house turned business. It’s a one story raised house with a covered front porch.  the right of the house is a gravel driveway that leads to ample parking in the back. I pulled in and rode to the back to park my chop. The back of the shop is where the handicap ramp and employee entrance is and there is a sign that says to use the front door. I made my way up front and Jordan was sitting outside on the porch enjoy the weather. We said our greetings and headed inside. When you walk in the front door you enter into a large long hallway with several doors on each side. The walls are decorated with lots of great artwork ranging from Gwar band posters to Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie posters. The inside of the house has the classic high ceilings and the floor is covered in the original hardwood floors. The mood is muted but paradoxically riddled with an energy that accompanies an atmosphere of creativity. You don’t walk into every tattoo shop and get a feeling of such crisp and solid décor that invokes the individuality that exists with the artist. And make no mistake this shop is just as much an art studio than it is anything else. The craft of tattooing just happens to be the medium of choice. Throughout the shop you also see examples of art in several different mediums created by the artists who work there.

Jordan led me to a room in the left back which housed his work station. I have several tattoos so the experience was not alien to me as he began to set up his supplies. Like I said earlier I had been sitting on this design for awhile and Jordan and I had communicated lots of ideas to each other. So after a quick shave of the canvas Jordan got to work free handing design in marker, occasionally stopping to ask me what I thought about the design, making sure it was exactly what I wanted. Going into this first session we didn’t really know what to expect as far as design time but Jordan slammed it out with a few tweaks and redos in just over an hour and a half. It’s cool to see an artist work, watching the creativity flow especially when the canvas is your skin, but that’s just the Turning Point way, custom tattoos.

This first session was going to be just the design and outline, which for a ¾ sleeve was a large task, a total of almost 8 hours large. We finished just after midnight and I was extremely happy with the results. It had been a long time since I sat under the needle that long and the 6 hours was a challenge for me. During the session lots of people came in to the shop to check it out and several customers came through to get smaller tattoos. The mood is always good and the conversation is as diverse as the clientele. Jordan and I were both excited and pleased with the results. The next day I picked up a day gig which had me all over both sides of the lake and I got quite a few compliments on just the outline.

            The second session came two weeks later after the outline had healed up. The approach to the fill was the same as the outline, we had a few guidelines to go by but it was really up to what Jordan created as an artist. Once again this as going to be an epic session as our goal was to finish it that day. And once again the tattoo gods delivered with a beefy 8 hour session. Lets just say that I have my tattoo fix for awhile. After about hour 5 of needle time I was spent but it was really important to me that I finished it regardless. For me tattoos represent a right of passage and they are supposed to hurt. Perhaps it’s a little macho bravado from my youthful view of tattoos but I like it and I’m not going to let it go. Through suffering we become stronger. The pain helps us forge our spirits in the fires of the suffering that is our material form. (ok no more metaphysical mumbo jumbo, I promise)

            The tattoo turned out amazing and I am extremely happy that I got hooked up with Jordan and Turning Point Tattoos. I get tons of compliments on it and I can mark one more thing off my list of things to do in life (this one fulfills get a sleeve). Now that my tattoo is done and I have experienced the Turning Point way, I thought I would sit down with both Jordan and shop owner, Eric Fox, for a quick little interview, here’s what they have to say

 

The Interviews

 

 Interview #1 - Jordan Madere

GGS&T - How long have you been into art?

Jordan - Art is something I have always been doing since I was a small child. My mom really took the time to make sure I had the opportunity to sit down and practice. At an early age I was into painting and make my own little comics. Since then it’s evolved into the only way I know how to express myself

GGS&T - How Long Have you been into tattooing

Jordan - Tattooing was something I always enjoyed looking at since I was a teenager and the idea appealed to me that I am changing people’s lives by tattooing them. I would spend hours practicing lettering and different art styles but it wasn’t until recently that I actually wound up falling into tattooing. It was something that I had been thinking about and ultimately preparing myself for for the last 15 years.

GGS&T - If someone came in and gave you free reign to design whatever you wanted, what would be the subject matter?

Jordan - I always lean towards the sci-fi whether its art or movies or even music. There are bands that use that as a subject matter. So space scenes, creatures, that’s always been what I oriented towards, in pencil art or paint and now tattooing. That’s what I’m gonna bring to the table.

GGS&T - What are your goals as a tattoo artist, where do you see yourself going in let’s say the next 5 years.

Jordan - Early on it’s all about strengthening my techniques, making sure I’m holding to traditions but also what I know I can do on paper and what I can do with paint. Once I have those down I have several travel plans I want to pursue. But right now it’s all about Turning Point and its all about what I can do here.

GGS&T Whats your favorite food.

Jordan - My favorite food? (laughing). History would say Ramen. (everyone laughing) It would probably be Mexican Food, I love Mexican food.

 

Interview #2 - Eric Fox

 GGS&T - How long have you been tattooing?

Eric - 14 years

 

GGS&T - What made you want to get into tattooing?

Eric - Oh man, I don’t know. I remember always having an infatuation with it when I was little, sticking fake tattoos on myself and then drawing on myself with a sharpie in high school and making shirts and such. I just always had an interest in it. And then I ended up hooking up with some people that actually gave me the time of day to actually teach me how to do it.

 

GGS&T -  Do you have other mediums you like to work in other than skin and ink?

Eric -  Yeah, mainly a lot of pen and ink and I also like working with clay.

GGS&T - growing up what were your artistic influences?

Eric - I think it’s a combination. I have always been into metal so the death metal album covers of the 80’s by artist like Dan Seagrave. Guys like that. So a mixture of that and cartoons like Ren and Stimpy, a bizarre mixture of morbid and hilarious.

GGS&T - What made you want to open up a tattoo shop

Eric - I guess one day I decided tattooing was gonna be it for me. It just all I wanted to do. I wanted a place where I could let artist just do what they wanted to do and express themselves man. It had to be done. It was hell trying to get open in Mandeville but we got it done anyway.

 

GGS&T - . It’s a great shop. Did you put a lot of thought into the décor or did it just come out natural?

Eric - I started out thinking about it a lot. Trying to color coordinate, or not color coordinate for that matter. And then it just became a museum of stuff people gave us or I've collected over the years.

GGS&T -  As far as where the industry is at, as a shop owner, where do you see the industry at and where would you like to see it go.

Eric - Right now it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen it in my 14 years, which is great, but at the same time I do worry about the mainstream culture turning it into such a fad. But in the end all the real people are gonna still be getting tattooed. Either way we'll be here whether it’s busy or not.

 

GGS&T - If you could be any kind of animal what would it be?

Eric - Oh man, an animal. I guess it would have to be a wolf. I have always liked wolves. I don’t know, it’s just something about those guys, they seem like they have it going on. Hunting with the pack and everything, definitely a wolf.

PLUG WIRE PROBLEMS

So I went out the other morning too go to work and my bike was acting pretty funny. It was a little hard to kick over but I didn't think much of it since it was something like 45 degrees out. By the time I got to the end of my street I knew something was wrong but I only work a few miles away and I was short on time and options so I went ahead and limped into work. I work 24 hour shifts at the firehouse and knew that later that evening I would have a little time to look it over. I discovered it wasn't firing on #4 cylinder, bummer. So I started with the plugs and worked my way backwards on the electric highway. The plug itself looked good so I then checked the wire. On my inline four I have 2 coils, 1 & 4 are on one coil while 2 & 3 are on the other. I knew # 4 wasn't firing because the pipe wasn't getting hot but # 1 cylinder was fine. This led me to believe I had a plug wire issue so I switch the wires and sure enough, cylinder #1 stopped firing and #4 got hot. So I switched it back and took off #4 plug wire and inspected it.

This is what I found. It looked like the center of a cigar, all burned out. Well thank goodness that was all that was wrong with it. It was a bit disheartening because I didnt know what caused it so I called a fellow Honda Chopperhed, Red Good. Red and his wife Kate are the owners of Cycle One Manufacturing in Oklahoma. (They make killer frames and hardtail kits as well as sell parts and such, check em out  -  www.cycleonemanufacturing.com )  I had purhased a plug wire kit from another merchant and Red said that it was more than likely when I stripped the wire I took to much of the filament causing it to burn up. Ok, easy enough.

 

 

So I cut it back to fresh wire and salvaged my end piece and I was careful this time to not over do it. I then folded the filament back over and replaced the end piece and recrimped it.

 

Here you can see it still hanging out before I trimmed the excess. I pushed my plug cap back over the end and popped it back on and it fired right up as strong as ever. (Actually a little better) Thanks to Red for answering my call and giving me advice. Just sharing in case anyone has this problem themselves or is using a set of DYI plug wires like mine. Chop, build, ride, repeat. Now go make some memories.



.

I MADE SOME NEW HANDLEBARS

I was looking to get a little more upright as well as have some room to strap stuff for traveling. They turned out pretty well and straight enough lol.

El Fuerte helmet Saftey Recall Notice

El Fuerte helmet Saftey Recall Notice via Biltwell Inc.

You may have noticed that we took the El Fuerte helmets off of our website this past weekend. Here's why. We had the helmets independently tested once we received our first order, and even though they had passed earlier evaluations, these ones failed. Not by much, but a fail is a fail. We've looked up the NHTSA guidelines and they are fairly...

ambiguous and it appears that lots of helmet companies fail and some have to do recalls, and other don't. Since we've got hard data from a lab we trust, we're not going to wait to be forced to do this, we're just going to recall the helmets and bring them back to market when they've been modified, tested and proven. If you've purchased a El Fuerte helmets, below you will find the official instructions on how to return them. Please feel free to forward these instructions to your retail customers and they can work with us on the return and full reimbursment for the product and any additional delivery fees incurred.

SAFETY RECALL NOTICE
To: Biltwell Wholesalers & Retailers,
After voluntary, self-imposed redundant safety testing we have determined one or more defects may exist in Biltwell El Fuerte helmets. Accordingly, a recall to address this issue has been initiated October 8, 2012.
The defects involve incorrect interior labeling and/or impact attenuation failures in one or more test conditions.
Owners of Biltwell El Fuerte helmets will be notified by mail and given instructions for returning non-compliant helmets to receive a refund for the full purchase price.
If your business has unsold El Fuerte helmets in inventory, please send an email to recall@biltwellinc.com with the following information to initiate UPS pick-up of the defective merchandise:
* Name of shop, business or DBA, if applicable
* Full name of business owner or manager
* Phone number and email address of person in charge
* Copy of original invoice
If no copy of invoice is available, we will reimburse your business for all returned helmets immediately upon receipt of merchandise at the prevailing dealer cost as of October 4, 2012.
Please note it is a violation of Federal law to stock or sell Biltwell El Fuerte helmets covered in this recall notification. Substantial civil penalties apply to violations of this law.
Your compliance and participation in this recall is greatly appreciated. If you have questions about any portion of this matter, please call (951) 699-1500 extension 803. Thanks for your understanding and support.

The Brotherhood of the Wheel

          This is an article I wrote for the October issue of Ink & Oil Magazine. If your on the Northshore, check it out. If your not, let me know and I'll send you a copy.

 

 

          When the publisher of Ink & Oil asked me to cover some events on an upcoming Saturday I was more than happy to oblige him because I don’t need much of a reason to be out on my bike riding. This particular Saturday had a couple of very nice offerings to give me, the Metal of Honor Car and Bike Show in Slidell and Hammond Harley Davidson customer appreciation day. Buddy was going to head to Hammond and rub elbows with the guys over there and I was going to start in Slidell and hopefully make my way to Hammond to meet him. Both events had a lot to offer, Metal of Honor was going to be big and it was to benefit wounded warriors while Hammond Harley Davidson was going to have a live band, a dunk tank and other offerings to entice and reward customers.

            I tried to get together with a chopper buddy and have him tag along with me but that didn’t work out so off I went by myself. This isn’t really a big deal to me since riding solitary is what I prefer most. But as the day progressed, solitude, as it turns out, would be the last thing I felt. It was a beautiful day for riding when I left the house and made my way to Slidell to hit up the Metal of Honor show and there were a lot of bikes on the road as usual. Things went smoothly on the trip there and the show was cool. There were tons of cars of all kinds, drag cars, show cars, rat rods (my favorite), you name it, it was represented. I saw a few antique fire engines as well as a few old bikes I had never gotten the chance to see in person like old flathead Harleys. I took my usual truckload of photos and talked it up with several car and bike owners. About 1:30 I had my fill and was a little excited at the opportunity to get to Hammond.

            I took off from Metal of Honor and took Hwy 11 up to the interstate to fill up on gas before getting on it. As I was pulling up to the exit for I-12 I saw a guy on a Sportster taking the same exit and he was about 6 cars in front of me when I finally started into the curve. I was in no hurry so about 65 – 70 mph is an ok highway speed for me so if I caught him I caught him, no big deal. For the locals reading this you know the west bound on-ramp has a few nice turns and if here are no slow pokes in front of you it can be fun. I love pulling out of the curve on an exit ramp and getting up to highway speeds, it’s a reason to accelerate quickly and lay the bike over a little. As I did the cars started pealing away pretty quick and revealed the rider in front of me who was going about 60 to 65 so I caught up pretty quick. I figured what the hell, strength in numbers right, so I eased up into a staggered formation taking the position to his back left. I rode back for awhile and when he noticed me we pulled next to each other briefly and traded a few hand signals. I ended up taking the lead position and we settled in at a smooth 65mph. Traffic wasn’t bad and it was a crazy beautiful day to be riding. We rode past the different exits and I really kept expecting him to pull off but he just stayed right there. Finally the Hammond exit came up and I signaled I was getting off and he followed me. Upon realizing I took the wrong exit I stopped at the end and we exchanged a few brief pleasantries and I said I took the wrong exit and I meant to go one more up. He asked if I was going to the Harley shop and I said yes. "So am I" he said and so we took off to hit the interstate for one more exit.

            This is where my day starts to go not quite as planned. I hesitate to say bad because I like a little uncertainty in my adventures, and on this day my home built chop didn’t let me down, uncertainty is what it gave me. We took off up the on ramp with me in the lead and then all of the sudden my throttle went limp (yeah, yeah let the jokes fly). After a quick mental rundown I pulled over and killed the engine. My new riding buddy pulled over and killed his Sportster just behind me and I told him what was up. He introduced himself as Bob, and we immediately hit it off. Maybe misery loves company and I was glad I wasn’t alone. I immediately knew my throttle cable had broken and I was just hoping it had broken at the end. I had a fix for that. As someone who rides a homebuilt bare bones chop I am presented with a few facts. One is that I always carry a lot of tools, two is that I know every nut, bolt, and weld on the damn thing, and three is I can almost fix anything anywhere. And sure enough I had in my little tool bag of tricks a type of throttle barrel that I picked up from a bicycle shop. It’s got an allen head set screw you tighten down after you slide it over the end of the cable. This is very very handy to have and I was damn glad I had a spare with me. Well this is the spot where my “life in the raw” philosophy didn’t let me down. I had failed to prep the barrel like I knew I should have and it was too wide to fit inside the throttle housing where the cable broke, ugh. This is going to be instance number one where I needed a file I didn’t have. I looked up at Bob and said “Hey man, you don’t have to stay, it’s gonna be awhile till I get this fixed.” We both knew the Harley shops event was only lasting so long but Bob wasn’t about to leave a man behind and he didn’t hesitate to let me know that either. I knew he was older than me but he surprised me when he mentioned he was a Vietnam vet, he looks great for his age and I never would have guessed. He must be living right.

            Bob filled me in as to what he was about as I worked through the puzzle that was my cable repair. It was really nice having the company I knew wasn’t going to bail on me. We even had a guy pull up off the interstate to see if we needed help. He said he was a rider too and he wanted to make sure we were cool. He had a truck and was willing to help out and only left when he felt assured he had it under control. Thank bro, whoever you were. As I finally got everything squared away, which ended up being much more than anticipated, I started to put the throttle housing back together only to encounter instance number two I needed a file and didn’t have it. Now the barrel was too long for the top of the housing. AAARRRRRRGGGGGG. Well I did what any respectable rat chop, MacGyver watching kid from the 80’s would do, I grabbed my zip ties and electrical tape and made it stay. Throttle housing, we don’t need no stinkin’ throttle housing. I kicked it over and gave it a few quick wicks of the wrist. I was back in business. “Regulators, mount up”, and off we went one more exit to our destination.

              As we rolled into the shops parking lot it was obvious we had missed the festivities. Buddy was gone, the dunk tank was put away and the band was but a ringing in the ears of those still there. About a dozen or so bikes remained as I turned into my spot and Bob turned off his bike met me by my mine. He invited me inside to see what was going on and to get a drink and as it turns out Bob is a regular, his name might as well have been Norm. He ponied up some change and treated me to a crisp cold Dr. Pepper which went down in a way that only an ice cold carbonated beverage can when you are thirsty. I’m not a big drinker so that suited me just fine. There seemed to be a lot of people hanging around and the staff knew a lot of the customer’s names. This impressed me for a couple of reasons, the first is most businesses treat the people who shop there like customers and not people, buy your stuff and leave so the next person can get in. The second is that I have seen a lot of Harley Davidson dealerships be very cold and sometimes downright snooty. This is the farthest thing from the truth with the folks at Hammond Harley Davidson. These people rock and they make everyone feel at home regardless of what you ride. They know customer service is what breeds customer loyalty but it seemed deeper than that. I really feel like they get what it means to be on two wheels regardless of what powers them; they get the brotherhood of the wheel.

            Bob got a hold of the service manager and introduced us and told her about my predicament. She said she could get me a file so I could fix my roadside repair the right way. When she stepped out to take a look at my bike she told me to push it up under the shade out of the sun. I was happy to oblige her and when she returned with the file she also had some epoxy that I could use to fix a pinhole leak in my oil tank that was getting worse and worse. Once again solitude was not my friend today, and I was thankful. As I made my repairs lots of people came up to talk to me and everybody loved my rat chop. It usually garners me a lot of attention everywhere I go and this was no exception. Lots of old school guys remember the CB750 and chopped it back in the 70’s so when they see mine it brings back lots of memories. After my repairs I walked around the shop with Bob for awhile looking at bikes and all of the merchandise. The Hammond store is really nice and is geared towards creating an environment where you feel welcome.

            Eventually with all of my repairs done and a few more adjustments to my throttle cable I was ready to go. Bob had been a great companion and everyone from the guy who pulled off the highway to all the great employees at Hammond Harley Davidson made this trip one to remember. Bob and I said our goodbyes in Hammond because it’s just to hard to shake a man's hand going 65 down the interstate on a motorcycle. I thanked him for his company and kindness and we agreed to get together to ride again. We kicked the tires, lit the fires and away we went. The late day sun was to our backs and it was a perfect ride home. I took my exit and waived bye as Bob rode off to finish his trip. I do like to ride alone, but after this day I met some great new friends. The brotherhood of the wheel had shone brightly on me and I was thankful solitude was not my only companion.

             

Sunday Morning Debauchery

Why you ask? Well if you need to ask you might be on the wrong blog to begin with. Women have been the rise and fall of many empires. It's in our DNA to love them, to adore them, to want and desire them. I don't put up pics of your Carmen Electra type. Those plastics are not my type. I'm all about body modification just not that kind. Besides, I'm a bit of a hedonist so sit back and enjoy this fine collection of offerings.

My Pops

Here are some pics of my dad back in the early 70's on his Sportster and just standing there. My parents divorced when I was a very young and he was never around. He was a lousy dad until I went to live with him as a teenager and by then he had his shit together. He taught me many things, some good, some bad. I always said my mom taught me how to love and my dad taught me how to work hard (even though my mom worked her fingers to the bone for me and my sister.) Anyway, he is doing a 22 year stint in prison and our relationship just isn't the same. So much of who I am came from him and the few pics I had of him when I was a kid burned in my mind. These are a couple of them. I love and miss you dad. I wish things could have been different but I guess some days it's gears and some days it's tears.

 

 

 

Girls Girls Girls

Gotta love em.

EDR Texas Movie Premiere

Be There!!