The Chronicles of Flynch

Rider 8

2011-09-03T06:46:00.003-07:00

Rider 8

2011-09-03T06:46:00.001-07:00

Rider 8

2011-09-03T06:44:00.003-07:00

Rider 8

2011-09-03T06:43:00.003-07:00

On a large enough time line, the survival rate for everyone will drop to zero. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club,

2011-08-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

The world's a mess it's in my kiss.

2011-08-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Damn it's dusty in here...sorry about the lack of posting, been building a new house, barn and turning in a record amount of overtime to pay for the fancy stuff to go in it...lets see where I left off, hit a deer, been riding the FXRP with a busted fairing....still love the bike and wonder how the FXR did not put the Japanese manufacturers out of business, until I read old reviews of the FXR and see why...geeze the hatred of American made motorcycles...the new issue of Walnecks has a review of the 1986 FXRD....well lets just say it is a telling sign of the future American haters that we are seeing the closer we get to 9/11...

But I digress...ever wonder what happened to all the FXR's? I mean they made an awful lot of them, are they pushed away in peoples garages ashamed that they chromed them out and painted them teal and orange?...people don't scrap Harleys...I was noticing all the bikes I see on the road today...lots of old Evo powered Electra glides...not one FXR...(I know Genghis would have a field day with this topic but really I want to know.) Where did they all go?

This is not going to end well....

2011-02-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

Dagny would have never driven a Toyota.

Ahhh the humility of it all...

2011-02-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

I finally got to meet my hero Roadside marty last week...I should have gotten a picture I know....(And Roadside, I am not Shadetree.)

2011-02-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

So, in summary, the Baby Boomers fought wars they never paid for, stomped their feet and demanded that the government raise social services while lowering taxes, effectively stealing money out of our bank accounts before we were even born, shipped all of our jobs overseas so they could make millions of dollars a year instead of a measly several hundred thousand dollars a year, and are now throwing a temper tantrum whenever anyone suggests that we raise the retirement age or lower social security benefits. But my generation is the Me Generation.

Steve Earle Close Your Eyes.flv

2010-12-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

2010-12-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

I know it has been forever since I blogged...been a busy couple months with trying to get the new house built...working overtime to impress the bank and having my computer crash along with hitting a deer and getting another writing gig...and thye new baby...geeze when do I rest?

So while I try to recover my pictures aqnd take pictures of my FXRP all smathered in deer guts...these will have to do...

here you go Pete...

2010-08-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Pete called me today, he said next year he is going to be the first person to finish the Stampede on a Panhead. I have never know Pete to not do anything he said he was going to do. I don't see why he can't, when only Panheads existed, people rode them cross country and treated them like the modes of transportation that they are.

I really dig the Stampede, it is about the most American event that exist right now across all Genre's. It is the ultra-marathoning of Motorcycling! It erases all stupid shit that exist in Chopperdom!

Fuckin' eh!

Bartender Song (Sittin' At A Bar)

2010-08-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

This is topical...

2010-08-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

The build up....

2010-08-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

Summer is weaning...better be getting ready for winter...

2010-08-01T17:51:00.001-07:00

Beware SOE travlers....and Big Chris from Cycle Source....

2010-06-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Katie Couric has stated that she will buy a Honda Prius as a reaction to the BP spill...what a retard...the roads wil not be safe ever again...

Thank Gawd for Monday's...

2010-06-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

Dry it up Jesse and get back to building bikes and crazy shit...

2010-06-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Though he wouldn't want it, I do have some sympathy for Jesse, having grown up in an abusive foster home myself, I can understand how that fucks with your head...and creates an inner turmoil which can never be fed enough to satisfy ones self-esteem. While I will stop short of being all touchy feely, I will say that the biker world is full of people with fucked up personal history, maybe it is the self-expression of building bikes that connects us or the fact that we know that riding a Harley/Chopper/unusual motorcycle means we are going against the grain and it is a sign to others that there is a screw loose. Check your Premises.

Humanity, oh the humility of it all.

Meant to post this yesterday...

2010-06-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...enough Tom Rose adventure shots....

2010-06-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

To make GS riders go to the dealer to pick up their broke back bikes long enough to sell them to another poser and hide their heads in shame forever...never to say Adventure ever again...FXR's...the real adventure bikes!

BP the ugly face of capitalism?

2010-06-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

I was watching the news this morning and saw a segment about people protesting BP...and capitalism...I'm assuming they bought cheap gas to get to the station to protest it, or better they don't own a car, wear clothes or eat...what the fuck, where do these retards think they will get every fucking thing in their life at an affordable cost at that without capitalism? Do you think that they are so special that people will volunteer to provide every fucking thing they need in their life?

Walmarts provides cheap presciptions...Four fucking dollars for some generic prescriptions...I don't even get my insurance card out when I go to Walmarts...and there is not a day goes by where someone blast Walmarts for being an evil empire...putting Mom and Pop stores out of business...here a news flash those Mom and Pop stores which decided not to compete when Walmart was small and growing, were capitalist too. I live in one of those small towns where Mom and Pops stores put up little signs in their stores about shopping locally and how evil Walmarts is..yet they close early so people working different shifts cannot shop there or people who do events with their children after work cannot get to the store at a reasonable hour... and they raise their prices so high that you cannot feed afford to feed you family or buy the hardware you need to fix what needs fixing, it is literally cheaper to drive an hour away and get the stuff I need at an affordable cost thanks to Capitalism. The Mom and Pop stores have decied not to compete...they refuse to change their habits to fit a modern society and are pissed because there are capitalist who are happy to provide a modern society with the thngs it needs at the hours it need it.

For over a decade now Oil companies have wanted to get Oil from Colorado and the North western region. It would be easier, safer for the enviroment then drilling under the ocean and plentiful...Enviromentalist have blocked this from happening. And Blocked future drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and on top of that BP has spent billions of dollars in research and development to bring the world cheap fucking gas...something the sign holders have not volunteered to do, even though they were born with the same resources that the BP engineers, and board members have...and now after years of ignoring the facts, blaming wars on Oil, and still demanding cheap gas to drive to the mall with, they head to Walgreens to buy poster board and magic markers to write crazy shit about capitalist. Fucking hippies.

Heres a piece of advice, you fuckers who hate capitalism so much, start your own manufacturing plants and energy sources and provide the world with every fucking thing that people use and give it away and give away any profits that you make and ask your employees to work for free...see how well that works out for you....fucking hippies.

If you are not working for free, you are living off the sweat of others.

Hippies should die.

Well if hippies aren't doing it...who will?

I love great marketing...

2010-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Not all us could make it to the Big Mountain Run...

2010-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Some of us had to work...(yeah my daily route to work...)

Dear Harley Davidson

2010-05-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

THIS...this is what you need to be building. Dressera are hot and they are not a fad, people realive how utilitarian a Dresser can be and casnnot live without the space to store and haul...but some of us want great handling and light weight, (I had to pick my bike up off an ice covered road a lot last winter and out of a muddy dicth a few times when I slid off the road...I couldn't have did that with a full dresser..) We know you are not going to bring back the FXRT but you could build something like this...this rocks!

Do it before we convince Erik to build FXRP's again...(and we can be very convincing...hell what am I saying, HD has been ripping my ideas off for over two decades, why not at least offer it to you...hell no hard feeing or nothing, but damn this industry would be aqua and yellow FXR's with chin spoliers had it not been for us PisspeasM/C...)

For Roadside Marty

2010-05-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is for Roadside Marty who I am getting a FXRP fairing and floorboards from...he, like me is a fan of FXR baggers! Lets hope between the two of us we can encourage Erik Buell to start building FXR baggers for a living, and then Buells could rule the world! (I swear I think about adding Buell emblems to my tank daily.)

Anyway here is Roadside Marty's blog...

http://flatbrokecustoms.blogspot.com/

And Marty I found some sweet pictures of a Dyna Glide with a Tour Glide fairing...hell I'll just post them if I get time...

Erik Buell had dreams like this....

2010-05-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

He just can't admit it...(Beginning of my three week...did I say three week...hell I aint only three weeks solid in months...I have worked solid 12 hour shifts for months now....but anyhooo, I have some great Tom Rose action shots, and an editorial I'm working on for Genghis, and some shots of my commute...be forwarned Harley guys I'm going to start expecting more from your rides then the ability to ride behind a pick-up truck while Michael Lichter shoots you on your way to Sturgis...though I actually like his photography, I'm going to expect you to start getting dirty...) and I finally focused my thoughts about Buell going out of business that I will share rather you like it or not...(isn't that what you expect of me?)

Hot chicks!

2010-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

FRX goodness!!! (FXRP that is....)

2010-05-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Ben sent me a link to another blog that sometimes features FXR's...he said FXR's have become bigger than the Beatles...well lets hope not...and while FXR's seem to be experiencing a appreciation boom...lets remember Ben that while it is Ivo who is praising FXR's...he does live in California, home of Emo's on Harleys wearing pegged pants and Chuck Taylors...not really TEOTWAWKI types...(and don't forget ChopperDave lives in Cali...)

But anyhoo, I should be out cussing the weedeater some more so I can get the house appraised and remodeled so I can go on road trips on my FXR...

And speaking of Roadside Marty is hooking me up with some FXR parts....anything you need to plug Marty?

I picked up a copy of Cycle Source magazine today...they have a very interesting "Buy American" philosophy, and it interest me because I think America's strong point has always been it's strong Industrial and manufacturing backbone and that has been exported to countries because of cheaper labor cost...but it isn't that easy. I grew up in a very strong Union family, I saw first hand how inefficient they can be, how bad employees are impossible to get rid of and while they offered good employees good pay, it came at the end of the Manufacturers profit when things turned slow or the economy wained...this created a Manufacturing monopoly because only huge business could survive like this. No small manufacturing company could afford to hire Union labor. In the strong Union days, even huge manufacturers started looking else where they could have things manufactured and not have to deal with Union labor. It wasn't until huge Union manufacturers started going under, (Like the Steel industry in Pa.) that manufacturers started building factories and hiring non-Union labor in America(and paying them well to head off a Union threat, no denying that) and now American manufacturing is making a comeback....The government constantly taxing Corporations and classifying "Corporations" as evil does not help either. Making a profit is not evil. (but makes no bones about it, successful Manufacturers need to have a good global trade in order to grow. It works both ways.)

In Cincinnati right now, the city has their hand out to P&G to help pay for the city pools they cannot afford to keep open, (but they can afford to arrest 26 drug and gang suspects 199 times in the last two years and not put them in prison,)...P&G who make high quality products for the public and support a lot of American jobs are still treated as if they must pay up in order to do business in America...care to wonder what would happen if they don't pay up?

Here's the link to Cycle Source...(a magazine I think has potential as a great motorcycle magazine for the intellectual biker.) Interesting read!

http://cyclesource.com/home.htm

Thinking about kids names alot these days....

2010-05-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

People make a lot of fuss about my kids having such supposedly 'strange names', but the fact is that no matter what first names I might have given them, it is the last name that is going to get them in trouble. ~ The Real Frank Zappa Book

KA....how old is this video?

2010-05-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

Random Fun

2010-05-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thinking about Baggers....

2010-05-09T05:55:00.000-07:00

Le Container...

2010-05-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Oh get over it...

2010-04-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

It's just a nipple folks...It won't kill you...

Ben...I hope this don't inspire more mods for your Vulcan with this....

2010-04-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Damn I should have stayed in bed today....strange shit going on in the world.

2010-04-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I have been on a sabatical...well actually I was just working, training for a new position and I got a ton of overtime because of it...I went for a joy ride the other night for a few hours for the first time in months...it felt good, but wonder how anyone has the time these days...(and I have been running barefoot...look it up...)

I have decided I need a fairing before next winter, I am up in the air about what kind to get, I like the factory FXRT half fairing, but Elvis seems to have bought them all up and he is buying them instead of gold apparently....I love Batwings, but I would have to put a whole different front end on it...though it would be cheaper than buying a fairing from Elvis...and I want floorboards...

And I am going to get some hard bags...I know buy a Dresser Flynch...but I don't want a Dresser...I love my FXR, it was the best bike the Post-AMF Harley ever built and it proves it everytime I ride it. It is much more than great handling. Not to mention I am trying to remodel my house and raise kids, I am not going to spend more money on another bike when all I have to do is some minor mods to the FXR and it will do everything I need it to do...(and handle and perform better than Dresser..)I wonder if I should start reading "Bagger" magazines...

And speaking of kids...WHAT.THE.FUCK. is going on with Jesse and Sandra...no not the whle cheating on Miss America and wearing Adoph's bath robe, (she knew who she was marrying...) no the whole adopting a kid and then having him circumcised. Damn Jesse I thought you were smarter than that. This is a quote from Sandra James from her interview in People magazine...(damn this is fucking strange shit...)

"A friend of ours helped arrange for a bris [Jewish genital cutting ceremony] at our house, because we couldn't go [to a hospital for surgery]. The mohel came to us. You have never seen adults more panicked about what was about to happen to their son, but the celebration and the amount of love we felt and the pride in the little man whom we love so, so much became the greatest moment I have ever had in my life."

Sandra Bullock James

Damn Sandra, what the fuck? The greatest moment of your life is violating the human rights of another human being, cutting a 3"x5" piece of nerve endings off of your adopted son's sexual organ? I am fucking speechless. Please before you make any more life changing decicions concerning your life or another human beings life, please do some fucking research and then ask somebody with a clue about it...Jesse James having a tattooed pin-up chick blow him in the back room of WCC or Jesse owning and posing with Nazi crap is no where near as offensive that fucking quote. Fuck me running. (you cut skin off your son's penis and that is the greatest moment in your life...wow you really fucking hate men don't you. Fuck.)

Dear Angelina Jolie your work is not in Africa, your work is in your own fucking neighborhood.

Wake up and go riding!

2010-03-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Random entertainment....

2010-02-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

Get what you pay for...

2010-02-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Oh I know we here on Interweb don't put in any hours or sacrifice our time for what we publish, in fact the photos you see below were actually photoshopped, I didn't go for a ride to fill my tank with gas in preparation for nightshift this weekend when I won't feel like stopping...and no that isn't snow you see, or was it raining...and we here on Al Gore's creation are not worried about making a profit or the quality of our writing....because all of us here...posting into outerspace also have avenues of good old bricks and mortor paper journalism to express our views, likes and dislikes...AND we are wasting our time expressing ourselves, our likes and dislikes because the paper journalistic world is giving us quality, intelligent writings and bike features that satisfy our needs and wants, so yes we are wasting your time. (no you can't have your thirty seconds back that you just spent putting your tounge in your cheek.)

Hmmm....some things on my mind...(cabin fever ya know...) Martha Stewart is so FN hot!...(and yes i have a thing for Angie...and my wife!) Snowed in..

2010-02-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Real Men

2010-02-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

Protect their young.

I love Genghis' photography...

2010-02-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

I wish I had the nerve to take such great candid shots! He captures life in NYC perfectly!

Here is a link to my latest editorial at the Seedy!

http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/74976.html#16634

This was an editorial I wrote for a magazine that I was asked to write for. No word limitations were placed on the editorial and when I turned it in, the new editor of the ill-fated job loved it...LOVED it...left me a great voice mail telling me so..then a few days later he asked me to cut it in half...I cut it down to two words. "I quit." Obviously the management (who would never ask an advertiser to not express themselves in so many words,) had gotten to the editor. Fine, I can understand that had I been told in the first place that editorials were to be brief descriptions and quirky antidotes. But the worst was the editor did not go to bat for his writers. If the very first time I a turn something in, that I cannot trust my editor to defend me, then I am not spending my days standing on my virtual coffee table giving them the best I have to offer. This is why the Internet will kill the magazine industry. People want content, not just well placed adds.

Thursday...preparing for tomorrow's white death....and V-twin convention in Cincy...

2010-02-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

I start training for a new position in the mill this weekend...busy studying abnd stressing...still needing a good way to get my lunch and tools up to the Melt shop and on my motorcycle, Maybe a small cooler with a tool pouch riveted onto it that I can strap to my bike...we'll see...

Go haead laugh..

2010-02-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

More SlapChopperDave love...get yours today...one Slap at a time!

2010-01-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

Exciting news on the blogfront...

2010-01-29T05:44:00.001-08:00

Well damn I can't find the pictures of my bike covered in Snow from when I rode it home last in the snow/ice storm and only dropped it a few times, you see I live on top a huge curvy side road mountain pass and right in front of my house is the steepest...but all is good..or Goat is all good...which brings me to my first editorial at the infamous Seedy, Genghis' long running and contraversial forum board, noty for the faint at heart! I am glad to be on board! (I may have to get an Ipad this year so I can read my stuff at work!)

http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/74976.html#16634

My favorite new blog...(though a little to TEOTWAWKI for my taste...but hey I do know Ben Bird so...)

http://www.survivalblog.com/

ChopperDave has a new blog...(deny it Dave, I know it's yours...)

http://allwireduptoo.blogspot.com/

This is a must read for all you Sandra J fans!

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Thomas_Jefferson/First_Inaugural_Speech/First_Inaugural_Address_p1.html

This is for Pete...and ChopperDave, (because everythng we do here is for ChopperDave...)

2010-01-29T05:28:00.000-08:00

Even if you choose not to...(The greatest rock band EVAR...)

2010-01-29T05:24:00.000-08:00

Just getting going again....

2009-12-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

On my way to work last week....

2009-12-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

Thinking about getting some hard bags from Tom Rose...really need them...Tom are they any lowere than my soft bags or will I need taller shocks, like right now?

My son said, "This reminds me of something Ben Bird would drive...."

2009-12-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

I agree. I need to find a small sedan/wagon to economically haul the kids around...the Imp sucks gas like it was being pumped in my backyard, (it's not.)

Oh yeah geting this ball rolling again.

better before we voted for what's his name, this is supposed to be a New World

2009-11-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Tom Rose once told me he never met a BMW owner who did not own a truck...

2009-11-25T17:48:00.000-08:00

And never trust a motorcycle that doesn't have a kickstarter...

Only because I am a nice guy....(oh yeah, Beer, Baggers rule!...but we will allow you to submit stsuff to the Chronicle too.)

2009-11-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

Painfully honest...

2009-11-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

I have to go to a funeral today, so no bike pictures, sneaky pcitures of my wife randomly thrown in the random pictures or witty dialogue...besides I have two new writing gigs, (one has announced it on their website, I think the other may be embaressed...) well technically three..well four if you count this gig...I will be getting to that after today, so look for my name everywhere...over exposure be damned...I'll be spilling the beans and my guts the next two weeks, so if you get a crazy call from me and I sound crazy and it is like 2:00AM, remind me that I am probably at work and you were probably...probably sleeping...

Just reading the Kicker article on Attack Chopper...

2009-11-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

And knowing Tom Rose's quest for Perpetual Motion...and trying to figure out why Hippies...AKA Californians are so moody...and hell the Deer are in rut, the local grocery stores are full of city folk wearing brand new camo and flannel; cussing, farting, spitting and eating Vienna Sausages like there has been an apocalypse and we don't have such niceties as electricity in the country...or preservatives...and hell we got rid of satellite TV, so we are back to watching the original version of Monster Garage..so with all that said, I dedicate this to y'all...

Touring, scoring, Steampunk, roping, wrangling...stop the world and let me off...Harley and Bill Dozer pix.....blah blah blah

2009-11-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Every saturday night he gets drunk and thrown in jail...

2009-11-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'll be away for a couple days due to a death in the family...oh and regular contributor to The Chronicle, ChopperDave is mad at me, so no corkscrewfoley while I am dealing with family politics...enjoy the music and blah blah blah...

Random....lots of "yep I know" 's....

2009-11-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

Ozz's FXR....

2009-11-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures of my 'early' 84 FXRP.

I bought the bike from a former co-worker who decided to buy a Heritage. No accounting for taste.

The tank that came on it was a dented rusty POS internally, I replaced it with the current one,flames & all off E bay for $185.
Changed the shocks from the stock ones to the shorter ones on it now.Dropped it about 1-1/2"-2", so call me a heretic, it still corners fine . The stock forks on FXRP's as well as RT's, RD's and I believe FXRS-SP's are an 1-1/2 " longer than regular FXR front tubes..There's still plenty of clearence for "curb jumping". The stock pipes with the crossover and SE slip-ons work fine. Years ago BUB Enterprises did a dyno test of their pipes,Thunderheaders,SuperTrapps & the crossovers with slip-ons. The thing I noticed in the test was that the stock cross over pipes with good slip-on mufflers did nearly as well as the aftermarket pipes(within 1-2 hp) & at certain rpm's (mainly mid-range where most riding takes place)they actually did better.
I've a lifelong friend who has a newer Night Train with the 96" motor. I leave him behind whenever I want.

Rear chain drive; stock from H-D.,breather hose venting on the ground, Dry clutch,S&S "E" simply because I like them. Throw over bags (not pictured) carry what's needed. I've still got the cop bags,seat, front & rear fenders.
Slowly building a parts horde, extra seats,tanks,fenders ,speedometers (one NOS )& exhausts so far.

I turned 58 in Oct.,I remember when cop bikes were bought, stripped of parts & built to suit the rider's preferences. It's what "we" did.

Krazy!

2009-11-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

Busy with a new project...

2009-11-02T06:56:00.001-08:00

Been busy working on a top secret project...(cleaning the garage and putting a new floor in the side room...should tear bike apart this week and paint the ugly thing..but work before vanity...bear with me, will resume writing soon...shhh...did I say writing? I mean drywalling...yeah...that's it...)

It's not that hard foxy lady...

2009-11-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here you go Jeff, (of CoC's) the seveties they ruled...of gawd...no wonder Michael was on drugs...Vickie Lawence?

I once was old, but now I am young...

2009-10-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Bite me Courtney...

2009-10-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

IronWorks Magazine Announces Expansion of Senior Editorial Team (Way to go Steve B!!!!)

2009-10-29T12:14:00.002-07:00

Just when you thought that every ray of hope was lost and that it was a waste of time to curb jump and park at the local B&M motorcycle magazine establishments, a frakin' miracle happens and a real world FXR riding hero gets hired at one of the few great magazines left on the market...This is huge...really folks!

Monday's are my saturday's...welcome to my weekend!

2009-10-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

4th day of nightshift...reading...

2009-10-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

I spent about a half an hour trying to process all the editorializing about Buell, the President of Harley Davidson, greed, and the future of Harley Davidson...geeze I'm thinking Harley should have killed Buell off a long time ago, no one has talked about Buell this much since...anyway my eyeballs are bleeding from the insanity...it felt like reading Neolib's 100mph ranting about...anything...so as soon as I can process my own thoughts about Erik Buell, Eddie Willers and Keith Wandell, I will editorialize my own self...

One more before I go from... peopleofwalmart.com

2009-10-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Jus sayin'

2009-10-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Nightshift again folks...see ya in 4...

2009-10-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

I don't have cable TV, so I can't watch FX shows...

2009-10-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

But I have been around overly dramatic guys on Harley's who take themselves too serious...

One of my co-workers DVR's it and we are all going to go have a "SOA" party some night...lighten up people...

NFK fix of the day, A reminder for Tom to take pictures and what needs not be explained!

2009-10-15T06:59:00.001-07:00

CB350 Lament

2009-10-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Of all my warm feelings about Capitalism, my favorite is the feeling when a manufacturer sees a need and fills it. Even when they are ripping off an obvious style or product. It is no secret that the early Honda styling of their twins were aimed at those who bought British bikes and the current Cruiser styling is aimed at those who want to buy a Harley. But for whatever reason, the need that the customer needed filling was not being met and another manufacturer saw the need, stepped in and filled that need.

The hatred toward Walmarts is an obvious example. It is stated that Walmarts makes it tough for small businesses in small towns to compete with them. Not true, all they have to do is try to compete. For years mid-size grocery stores took advantage of farm communities who would had to drive many miles for groceries and supplies. They had a limited selection and didn't care. The town I live in has just such a store, I pass it by and drive an hour to Walmarts, not just for price and selection, and they are open hours I can shop there, but because they saw a need and filled it. My local grocery store still refuses to listen to the customers who WANT to shop locally. My local grocery refuses to add items I have requested, (there is a multitude of factories that work around the clock right across the river from them, and they refuse to stock foods like protein bars and healthy foods that can carry workers thru the night. And their prices are at least 40% higher. Walmarts does not carry that much clout that they can save 40% over what the smaller chains can purchase.) The smaller chains set back and watch Walmarts grow into a giant, only because of their philosophy of giving the customer what they want. (I do find it interesting that when the working class makes a purchasing decision with their money that it is looked at as low class, but when the upper class makes a like minded decision not frequent one business over another, it's "just business.")

I found it to be an interesting juxtaposition when Ben sent me a couple photos and was telling me about his adventure with his friend Shawn's CB350 and compared it to his Vulcan. I'll let Ben tell it in his own words.

... So my buddy Shawn from Omaha just got back from his 10 day trip on his KZ750 to the Salt Flats. He rode his CB350 Honda down last week to tell us about the trip and got here about 5 pm.
I wanted him to check out my project Vulcan so we traded bikes for about a half hour.
I rode the CB so he could try my Vulcan.

The CB would not idle at stop lights, the electric starter quit working 2 weeks earlier. And it took a lot of kicks to start it every time it died.
Power was bad, (I have owned a pile of Cb350’s and a great CL360 so I know what the power should be like.) it was terrible off the line, really weak everywhere. (that didn’t stop me from flogging it however! Fun bike! I forgot how much I can enjoy one!)

He WAS going to ride home to Omaha that night, until I told him that something was wrong with his bike and we needed to work on it.
I wasn't about to let him ride it back home like that.
So we fired up the cigars, and went to work.
So, we pulled his plugs... rich.
Checked his points...Off.
And his starter may have actually been dragging 100% of the time.

I pulled the drive chain and gear from the starter out, and I actually got Tom Rose on the speaker phone and tired to get him to convince Shawn to toss his starter… didn’t work. But I think Shawn will come around in time.
Cleaned his plugs, filed, cleaned and set his points.
So, we finally got done at 12:15 am... it started with ONE kick, and idle perfectly.
HUGE power increase, didn't try to stall at all.
Epic win!

We had a cold snap that night, and the next morning when he went to leave it was about 40 degrees. He wasn’t really dressed for it, but thought he could make it ok. He left at 5:30 stopped and bought some rain gear at the Wal-Mart (He couldn’t have gotten that stuff ANYWHERE else in town! Flynch is totally right about Wal-Mart) ...he then hit the truck stop for breakfast and to wait for the sun to come up…then he realized that he had lost 1 quart of oil all over his motor and the road.

He called me up and came back... turns out his starter drive cover gasket was leaking. The whole back of the bike was covered in oil. Including his back tire!
Epic fail!
Not sure if we got the gasket bunched up, or what happened, but I cleaned it all up real good, (gasket remover and sharp razor blades folks!) used some very carefully applied amounts of RTV silicon and buttoned it up... TIGHT.
I went back to work and told him to give it an hour to dry and then try it.

IT worked and he rode it home... it 50 degree weather and rain. It’s a 2.5 hour ride on the interstate back to Omaha from here.
He was cold. He survived. Bike runs beautiful now.

That cigar was real good though.

So Ben are you ready to trade Shawn for is CB350? And is Shawn ready to get a late model Jap cruiser to fill his traveling needs?

Still missing summer...

2009-10-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

This sport kicks ass!

2009-10-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

The ever capable FXR.

2009-10-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

I think one of the biggest sins committed against the FXR is that of trying to make it look to “Harleyish.” I have seen Wide Glide front ends, springers, 21” front wheels, (even the factory attempted this, though I did like the Super glide style tank they used with the offset gas bung,) I have seen raked out front ends, fringe covering the side panels, ape hangers, forward controls, and in the case of the former owner of my FXR, chrome side covers slathered with “Live to Ride” googaw from stem to stern.

When I discovered Steve B’s FXR, I bookmarked 45dgree.com and kept going backto it as a blueprint of how I wanted to re-engineer my FXR. Badass and functional. Serious and stylish. While I won’t build mine as a replica/tribute, he sure built a FXR which inspires me…and just like me, he isn’t afraid to change things around to see what works and find what does.

Steve B. can relate. When he bought his FXRSP from the original owner who was selling it because of a divorce, it was covered in LTR treatment. Steve, living in both the IH era and Connecticut, wasn’t about to build his FXR as if he were trying to get laid at Hooters’ bike night in North Hollywood. He lived in the greater NYC area, he had to build a bike that suited his riding and sheet metal battling environment. He started building and experimenting with modifications to his bike to make it what Erik Buell had originally designed to be, the do everything and never let them see you sweat bike.

Dual Sport touring bike…before there was such a thing? Check.

Convertible touring bike? Check.

Lane splitting NYC curb jumper? Check.

Blacked out and Classy enough to take the wife to the local Valet parking required restaurant…hey it’s a FXR! Fucking eh!

Blacked out in a manner that causes the over-done user-repellent flat black crowd to scratch their head and wonder what kind of motorcycle it is… “Yo dude, is that like a new Honda Nightstar/ShadesofCustom…hey I’m wearing my new Dickies and Work Jacket…did you see my bias plied tires?” Yeah Steve, I’m afraid either we were ahead of our time or we were trendsetters. I’m going to blame you; you worked for a magazine that had more readers than I did. (Can we just blame Buzz? The obvious trendsetter!)

Fast and great handling curve carver, (well it is a FXR, that’s kind of a given, but the 89” S&S stroker kit installed by Tom Haner of H&L Performance really upped the ante.) You know that Erik is secretly reading my blog right? You know he is! How proud he must be!

I really dig the blacked out treatment on his FXR. I’ve joked about my driveway, but it really is rough and my shortcut to work is a downhill, (or uphill on the way home,) gravel road and I leave my bike outside in the rain at work…black works for me the same way it works for Steve… polyester aesthetics; rinse and ride. Plus it looks great. But what really stands out is that Steve’s bike was built as a real rider, you can look at the changes and see that he messed around with what worked and changed it according to what suited his need. I really dig his Cut-up Gunfighter solo seat…those Gunfighter seats were butt ugly to start with; another weak attempt at making an FXR look Harleyish…just like that gawd awful Warbird fairing kit Hamsters used to install on their FXRs. (I should have my readers dig thru their old mags, and scan pictures of the gawd awful renditions of FXRs the Hamsters did…) However, Steve made the Gunfighter seat actually attractive thanks to a Sawzall and a good fling!

Steve can been found at 45dgree.com (where you can also find a updated version of Walt Siegl’s Shovelhead…the very same Walt Siegl featured years ago in IH with a primer grey shovelhead built by English Don, Steg and Indian Larry.) You can also find Steve at SteveB’s leatherworks; http://steveb.biz/2008/

Hopefully next spring Steve will give us here at the Chronicle a curb jumping epic celebration of Industrial NYC …stayed tuned!

AtlasFlynched indeed!

Remembering the summer, minus the mud and cold rain.

2009-10-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Call your back's sister a tramp...

2009-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I wish...I wish I knew someone who had a crane who went to Burning Man every year...

2009-10-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

I used to know an artist who wanted to be a bike builder who brazed his art work together and it was fine as long as it was mounted on the wall, but once it made it's way to a bike, it crashed to the earth. His inability to create a functioning piece of art changed the way I viewed a lot of things, art and motorcycles and what was considered function versus the cosmetic appeal of a two wheel machine...I think about it a lot, especially when I find myself looking at a motorcycle that excites my eye yet I know deep down that it can still be beat on all accounts by a 15 year old Honda Pacific Coast...but this work of art, this is functioning...this is an artist who understands industrial tooling....this is BeingJohnMalkovich on acid...be sure to watch the guys other videos...creepy yes...very...cool none the less in a what a person with artistic inspiration and a back hoe can do!

By the way if someone was to build this, Sarah has volunteered her sculpture building skills to the project...would make a great home schooling project....jus sayin'...

Good Morning Sao Paulo...and all the other visitors I have had this morning!!!!

2009-10-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

I love reading all the locations of all my blog readers...France, Sweden, Ohio, Illinois, Hull Iowa....it makes me wonder what it is like in thos towns...Brooklyn...the list is huge! Send me a picture and a little report about your town...I love to travel, and love travel shows...I love finding places that are interesting that tour shows and magazines haven't a clue about...

My internet server is gawd awful slow this morning...I have Hughes Net so that should explain it all...I cannot even check my hotmail to get my photos off of...as soon as I get a better connection, the articles will be returning...Steve B's is shaping up nicely, KFNA sent me a kickass garage photo...Andy's and Ben just sent me a great article with great photos... and I want to do a little photo plg for Michael Lichter's photostream which the above photo was "borrowed" from...he takes such great action shots.

When Punk rock girls were scary and not just depressed. I used to own a copy of Reform School girls! (on Beta at that...) Stolen from Killboy...another great action photographer...who would have thunk a Voyager would look so cool chopped? Hey isn't the Voyager an American made motorcycle? Go Lincoln!

Stay tuned and send me those shots...and hell use this posting this morning as a guestbook, shout out and say where you are today!

Mudfight!

2009-10-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

The continuing saga and harassment of ChopperDave....

2009-10-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

We, (here at the Chronicle) stole this from Loud fast rules....ChopperDave...we are awaiting pictures of Dave on a FXR...we know he really wants one.

The Walmarts tour, life on the prairie, Homesteaders, barns, FXR's...explotation and Andy Hogger and me.

2009-10-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had to go to Tractor Supply for some horse bedding and chainsaw premix, (Husquavarna bitches... and only use Stihl or Husky chain lube...everything else is too thin and will run out before you run out of fuel..not good for your chain or bar, little tip from your Uncle Flynch there...) But anyway luckily Tractor Supply, due to great American capitalist thinking are usually located near Walmarts...like the one in Madison Indidna, and I enjoy Walmarts so much, it truly is the modern melting pot, there is no lifestyle be forced down your throat, a brightly lit metal pole structure that functions only to sell you affordable everything so you can spend the rest of your hard earned pay on other things like your family, your lifestyle and FXR's...and I got to thinking that as a celebration of the American spirit...HELL the human spirit, and my love of Capitalism, I am requesting that my viewers...readers send me pictures of them at Walmart's, beit on their bikes, shopping with their family, the wild things, bumper stickers and friends...Really...I am sick of Walmarts being aligned with poor white trash instead of the great American Capitalist corporation...so send me your shots to supermotard@live.com and I will publish them! And speaking of viewers, I noticed I have quite the international following...is there a Walmarts in Lazio? Or the Netherlands...or France?...hell Royal Oaks Michigan for that matter...send me your shots!

Not that this is relevent to this picture, but if anyone would like to donate a camera to Tom Rose, so that I could publish pictures of Tom and his adventures instead of two hot chicks kissing, then send it to....
Mountain Legacy Inc.P.O. Box 828Dubois, WY

Ben dug out an old blog of his that celebrates his life as a sodbuster...I recently found out that Ben lives a couple miles from the first homestead in America and that Ben's family has been sodbusting and homesteading since the beginning...I had called Ben to talk to him while I waited fro a pizza and he was telling me about an interview he saw on TV where a FBI agent claimed that the FBI tapes every fifth phone call...I listened, figuring Ben had been on flat land too much, put my aluminum foil beenie on and went inside to get my pizza. While waiting inline, I listened to an Amish gentleman telling me he had just visited the Homestead Museum in Beatrice Nebraska...whoah...every fifth phone call eh? Was the Amish man really a FBI agent...that would be a great undercover disguise...but what is investigating? Agora Agri business? Hardly in our area, a few farmers markets and seasonal pumpkin sales...no Agora Agribusiness in much more profitable in Kentucky and North Carolina...(there was anopther huge Moonshine bust in Wilksboro, the tip of Thunder road folks!) But anyway I wrote ALL of that to turn you onto Ben's other blog,

http://scienceandthesodbuster.blogspot.com/

This is a barn I like, we are getting ready to build a new barn and I like looking at the pictures so I can think about the landscaping and excavation that needs to be done.

Sarah showing off her muscles in the dining room! (you go girl!)

Another barn I like...I like the corral around it too...

And Andy Hogger (and Lisa)...whose article is coming soon...along with more article written by Andy about motorcycling in NYC...right Andy?

Objective

2009-10-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Me: I would like to get my tags for the bike I bought a month ago.

DMV lady: OK...you have the wrong paperwork...

Me:...uh...I haven't given it to you...

DMV lady:..oh yeah...

Me: Here it is nice DMV lady...

DMV lady: It's wrong...next...

Me: (lookinga round at the empty room...)uh...that was what the dealer gave me...

DMV lady:(crickets chirping..)

OK, been a couple rough days...bike is in garage waiting for dealer to get done argueing with DMV on my behalf...actucally they refered to the company... we will see how that goes...in the mean time as I wind back up...enjoy this song, just to prove I am objective about everything...music, a good song is a good song...and oh yeah...

Fuck Kayne West...George does like Black people.

Random non-FXR stuff...

2009-10-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yep, me and the wife in Philly last year!

Andy Hoffer and friends...

Brad, don't do it...don't make Atlas Shrugged with Angie...and quit quoting the Fountainhead with reference to New Orleans...but did you hear the Fountainhead quote in Battlestar Galactica?

This is a great photo by the infamous Scott Genghis Wong of the Seedy X-Bar and grill!

Andy Hoffer's girlfriend Lisa working on his bike...

Ben the Guzzi hunter....

2009-10-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

Kalgon take me away...

2009-10-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I get up this morning and write a couple articles, Steve B's and Angy Hoffers and about the time I amfinished, the computer crashes...FN crashes...FN Bill Gates you suck...and I have to go to work in a few hours for a week of Night shift...but never fail readers, here are some great pictures of Elvis's customers bike...Long LIve the King!

The Original Tank Girl!

2009-10-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Recycle or Die

2009-10-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Elvis has a mission statement in his FAQ's about reusing the boxes he sends his FXR parts in and ask you to reuse them to lessen the carbon footprint on the planet...OK so it's a bit Cali crunchy..but he has a good point, not everyone has a wood stove (like me) that needs kindling and it does piss me off to think that anyone would put cardboard in the garbage instead of burning it or using it as a shim for a cozy window in a Corvair.

And since we joke about my youngest son, Angus having psychic abilities, it came to no surprise when I read Elvis' request on his website today while writing his article...since the day that Fed Ex dropped off the giant box, Angus demanded he wanted a Taxi cab made from the box and luckily I have a creative wife which made good reuse of Elvis' shipping container...(though it seems that cat enjoys it just as much...) Angus saving the planet...already!

Elvis' Place...Riding with the King!

2009-10-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows or should know that I am a hopeless Capitalist...AtlasFlynched...no duh...so when I needed some parts for my FXR, I was giddy with excitement and full of Rush Limbaugh sized joy to find a fine American Capitalist who could fill my FXR needs and do an excellent job at it. Hell how FN American is it that you can find a company that deals solely in an obsolete motorcycle that didn't sell all that great to start with but has such a loyal following that...well hell requires a company that deals in parts for them?!!! (Thank Gawd there is a cult of people who has been rescuing former Hamster FXR's and returning to near perfect condition...though there may not be enough paint stripper to fix xome of those teal green and pink FXR's...)

I needed some small parts for my FXR, a brake pedal, a shifter, a couple odds and ends linkage parts and a Wicked Weasel front fender. And going to the dealer to buy FXR parts...well you all have your own experiences trying to buy functioning equipment from your local dealer...let alone FXR parts...hell you may as well try to get Buell parts...but Low and behold Elvis in Cali had just what I needed for a fair price and delivered promptly...even though I ordered them the week of the G4 summit and Fed Ex sent me a notice that extra security may slow down my delivery...but the fine Capitalist at Fed Ex also knew how tough it was riding a FXR with forward controls up my driveway is...

Elvis's website is great, always changing and having every single thing you could want for a FXR...Cop and otherwise...He has an Arlen Ness/Danny Grey seat I want and a set of floorboards...my birthday is coming up, (hint hint girls...) so I'm hoping...I visit his website just to see the cool stuff he gets in regularly...I want one of those cop fairing he has listed today on sale...to bad it cost about the same price as the siding I need for the house...(which is fair considering that Elvis is safely storing FXR's parts for future generations, he deserves to make a handsome profit...ain't that America!...it must warm Ayn's heart!)

Elvis also has built some interesting FXR's, though not quite my style, interesting none the less, they are far more interesting then the former Hamster built FXR's and that gawd awful Orange and lime green FXR that Randy Smith built...I really dig the Sportster powered FXR he built, though that kinda ruins the ability to have kickstart and magnetos... I really dig the hard bagged XLS barred FXR's he builds! Those are ready for serious riders and Zombie hunters!

For the next couple days, (while I am on night shift and not really functioning properly in the day light,) I will be posting some great FXR's ridden by Elvis's customers...

Go here for all your apocalyptic FXR needs!

http://www.elvisplace.com/ Tell him Flynch or Tom Rose sent you and get an Autographed postcard signed personally by Elvis!

If there was any justice in the world...

2009-10-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

John Hiatt would be the biggest Country Music star just shy of Hank Williams senior. The guy writes better songs than Toby Keith with one handed tied behind his back and fresh off the wagon bottle of Seagrams in the other. Hell if there was any justice people would be yelling for bands to play "Memphis in the Meantime" at biker parties instead of Freebird, (aka the worst song ever written...and should be banned from radio airplay forever..puhleese it's poorly performed rip-off of "Green Grass and high tides"...in the same manner that "Smells like Teen Spirit" is a bad Pixies rip-off..)

But anyway this is the build up to the next article I am about to post!

Softail of the day?

2009-10-04T01:10:00.000-07:00

Boobies!..(sorry they make me laugh...no duh...)

2009-10-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hot Chicks and Bill Dozer Pix

2009-10-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

Softail we can be proud of ...(or what one would look like if it rode up my driveway...)

2009-10-02T00:33:00.000-07:00

Waiting for Andy Hogger to send me pix of his....

Yep...

2009-10-02T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Pancho Run 2009

2009-10-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

I am really digging on these chopper runs that are happening these days...I hope (pray even) that they don't use huff trucks. I'd like to believe that perfecting the art of mechanical science is becoming so good that people will trust their builds (and rebuilds) of their choppers, to ride hard and long, independent of an engineer in Detroit's knowledge of building a truck that can pull a trailer behind a group of motorcycles.