New Trumps, too?!

You have got to be kidding me! After thinking about the previous post, I went to the Triumph site not really expecting anything new. What I found was the new Scrambler model. Holy cow! All this time I've been saying the CL350 we're working on is like a small Triumph. Well, now Triumph has a big CL350! Of course, I had to call Erik right away so he too could be tortured by the dreams.

Then as I looked at the local dealer's site, I noticed a new black and red color scheme for the Bonneville T-100. My response: "Oh, no..."

I've got a fever. I don't think cowbell is going to help.

New Brit Bikes (Now with 100% less Britain)

Well, huh... Looks like some of the old school British motorcycle brands are being reborn in the US.

There's a new Norton coming out of Oregon of all places -- It's a sporty cafe racer, too, which I find interesting, but justifiable based on Norton history. They claim it'll probably go for $15k once it's in full production.

Then there's a new Vincent company based in San Diego. Not sure how I feel about the Vincent prototypes from a stylistic POV, but I'm positive I'll never consider getting one as they seem to be planning for a $20k start point on the price range.

It's an interesting trend: Take advantage fo the current custom bike craze by buying out a legendary name and pumping out an upscale, high-dollar machine.

International Bright Young Thing

Funny. I was just telling my friend Erik about the International Male catalog last night. When I was in high school back in the late 80s, IM was a hot source for kids like me (ie: in the boonies of East Tennessee) to get some seriously queer fashion. That's queer as in different, y'all. I never even thought about buying a mesh tank top. ;)

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In much more butch news, Erik made some crazy progress on the CL350 while I was on vacation. Last night he showed me how the thing will start with the slightest press of the electric starter button. It definitely needs some tuning (timing, fuel mixture, etc.) and there are some ... uh ... idiosyncracies -- like when you rev it above 7000 RPM and the tachometer just goes BERSERK!!!

Then we worked on the clutch a little bit and got that working, so Erik took that little 35 year-old motorcycle for a spin around his neighborhood.

It's a runner!

Certified to Ride Motorcycles in Parking Lots

After a long, grueling weekend of standing out in a sunny parking lot, I have my Motorcycle Safety Foundation certification, which I need to take to the DMV to actually get my motorcycle endorsement. It was good times, and I definitely learned a ton.

Now I need a motorcycle, so these newly acquired skills don't whither away! ;)

P.S. For the morbid types out there: Only two people didn't get their certifications out of the twelve in our class.

Update

Hezzy and I have been a little crazy since we got back. For one thing, Wifey really wanted to paint the trim (baseboard, etc.) in the living room. Lucky for me, I haven't had to do much more than paper and mask for that. My primary excuse from here on out this weekend is, of course, my motorcycle class. Tonight was all classroom workbook/video type stuff. But the people seem fun, and I'm totally impressed by the diversity of the crowd in the class. We have a mother-daughter team, a couple/few older dudes, a father-son duo (junior is only 16), and then a couple guys that are probably in their twenties, one of which is an Air Force recruiter.

Also, thought I'd point out that Threadless is doing another $10 sale, and you can hurry up and pre-order the Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylors, if you are so inclined.

Oh, and the Red Sox are killing me.

City of Angels

At first light tomorrow, The Wife and I are off on a road trip to see her brother et al in LA. We'll be stopping off at Vegas for Saturday night at the Tropicana, but don't expect much material for FtN, as we will probably be just as likely just get a bite and hit the bed as we would be to spend time at the gaming tables.

Was this space for camera phone pics, but don't expect much more.

We'll probably be leaving the gang at Los Feliz on Wednesday and getting back in time for me to hit the ABATE class Friday evening.

Good times!

Honda CL350 Update

I am happy to report that my buddy Erik and I made some happy progress on the CL350 over the weekend. First, we got the carbs cleaned and rebuilt -- We're just going to give 'em a shot as-is before we worry about replacing any jets or anything like that.

Then - in what felt like a major leep forward - we figured out the electricals. We were worried that the whole thing was dead and would require us to strip the entire harness to track down bad connections. As it stands, though, once we figured out the correct combination of switch positions, most things seem to work. The horn doesn't sound on just battery power, but we'll see if that changes when the motor is running. We're also not too sure about the electric starter, but we're not quite to the point where we feel the need to worry about that too much.

Yesterday, I put the gas tank and the seat back on and test-fit the carbs with the throttle cable and so forth. I also gave a shot at fitting the pipes back on, but that's a bit too unwieldy for a single pair of hands.

We have a handful of parts we will need to order from Honda soon in order to button the whole thing up (and then there are various parts, like broken light lenses, that need replacement for mostly cosmetic reasons, but those can come as they come), but it's really looking like a motorbike now.

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Also worth noting (and somewhat exciting for me): I just signed up for the ABATE Basic Rider Course. So, at least I'm more likely to have my motorcycle endorsement before the Honda is road-worthy now. ;)

Talk about a slippery slope!

Today, I learned the basics of riding a motorcycle. My buddy Erik took me out in a field and put me on his 250 Honda dual-sport. It's such a forgiving bike that it managed to compensate for all but my worst starts, and once I was going, there was no problem keeping it steady, even when I double-shifted from first to third (something I need to work on, it seems).

I rode it back and forth for an hour or two, getting as high as third gear on the little dirt trail. I only managed to scare Erik once as I came around a turn slightly hot, fishtailing just the littlest bit. I thought it was good fun, of course, but he didn't want to explain to Heather if I ended up on my face.

I would still do the multi-day training course before I actually got the "M" added to my license and started riding on the streets, but man was it fun!

The Wife, afterward, asked "Was it fun, feeling the wind through your hair?" My answer: "Well, I had a helmet on..." "Good answer!" Tricky woman. ;)

So here's the kicker: I'm adopting Erik's basket case project bike.

Here's the first load of parts:

Honda parts

Exile's Disco 0-fer

Russell Mitchel of Exile Cycles has been on Discovery Channel's Biker Build-Off series, what... three times now? He's also lost out every time. The poor guy just can't get a break.

Granted, on the show last night, he build a friggin' trike. It was the coolest trike I'd ever seen, however. It was also technically very impressive. Those details and the fact that the bike the Detroit Brothers slapped together looked a mess (H referred to their glass oil pan as a "French coffee press".) gave him a fighting chance, I thought, but no.

Maybe it takes a very particular aesthetic to appreciate Russell's bikes, and most Americans just don't have it. Dunno.

At any rate, the guy still has people like George Clooney and Chris Cornell buying his bikes for buckets of cash, so we can't feel too badly for him, can we?

Me? I want something like a Sucker Punch Sally someday. (Like that'll ever happen...) I'm also a big fan of the Japanese-style choppers from Chica and Zero Engineering.