Sturgis store!

HEY, I wanted help spread the word that my friends Beach and Train from http://www.thebeachcruiser.com/blog/, have recently opened up a Sturgis merchandise store. Here, http://www.thebeachcruiser.com/catalog/index.php, you can get top of the line quality authentic Sturgis gear.

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They offer a wide variety of top of the line quality merchandise at a very fair price. I can't buy this kind of stuff at the dealer for less.

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The following is "bits and pieces" from their post on July 4th.

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The Sturgis store is up. The shirts come in all the normal sizes s-xxxl and some in 4x. These are great shirts and the prices are excellent. There are also jackets & other cool items and memoroabilia. The store will be open all year long and there will be new inventory posted often.We are proud of this effort and the goods are first class!!! The prices can’t be beat, the site is secure and everything will be shipped on a timely basis.
Get your stuff here before, during and after the event. Sturgis belongs to everyone in the biker community so: wear something cool that shows you support the GREATEST motorcycle event in the world!!!

Signs, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin out the scenery, breaking my mind, do this don't do that, can't you read the sign?

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Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, I went on a walk with my Mother in law at our family cabin. We spotted a sign that was very funny. It's stuck in my telephone's camera for now. I'll have to get it out and post it at a later time. This brought me to this post about signs. This picture I speak of, It was going to be in this post, but none the less. I'll post without it.

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When we got home from the cabin, I quickly unpacked, and headed out for the open road for a ride on my motorcycle. As I was out, I passed many signs that I've seen and noticed several times before.

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It seems signs fall into three main categories.

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Signs that tell us what we can, or cannot do, such as no tresspassing, posted speed limits, or stop signs, Etc. .

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Signs that mark landmarks, such as street signs.

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Signs that advertize something.

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And while riding on a motorcycle, signs that just plain make us smile, such as Twisty road ahead signs.

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I'll be sure to post more signs that make me smile in the future.

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Ann Nelson from Random Thoughts blog had a great post that included some funny signs from Canada.

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Check these out!http://annnelson.blogspot.com/2008/07/3-reasons-why-i-love-canada.html

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Old small town bar T-shirt

When I was a kid growing up, I lived in a rather small rural town. There were more bars there at one time than you could possibly think is necessary.

Anyway, there was a bar there that no longer exists. Too bad, Cause I'd go and get one of their T-shirts today if I could.

The bar was called ..... The B & D Bar.
Now I'm not sure what B & D actually meant. I'm guessing it was the initials for the owner's.
But we kids all knew it to mean Bikers & Drunks.

Remember being a kid, singing along with the tunes on the radio, and not having the faintest idea what the lyrics really meant half the time, untill you got a litle older?

Well, the B & D Bar had a T-shirt kinda like that. It had a picture of a Booze bottle on the front, and a picture of a poker table and cards on the back. The shirt read.... Liquor in the front, and Poker in the rear at the B & D Bar. What a classic! Wish I owned one! I was too young to get one when the bar was still around. My parents would have killed me.
I know it has no class but I still want it!
I also know I can go on the internet and have one made, or buy someone elses version of this shirt, but to me, it wouldn't be the same. I guess tying it to an old biker bar that I grew up by has some kind of sentimental value to it, if you can put sentiment on crass stuff like this anyway.

Can Am and Piaggio

I was cruising through Mora, MN when a bright yellow Can Am Spyder caught my eye.
It was parked at the end of the driveway for Caswell Cycle for just that purpose.
I was immediately sucked in. I had to do the double take, back up and pull into the drive to get some photos.

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Of course I could not stop here. I have always been curious about these since I first found out about them from Lucky at http://pizzacrusade.blogspot.com/ when he posted on Tuesday March 11th, 2008 his Spotted in the Wild post.

I had to stop in and inqure. I spoke to Ryan, one of the salesmen. He was friendly and courteous to deal with. I had to ask how much the yellow Can Am was going for. He said $16,299.00, and they have a silver one going for $15,900.00. These things area really sweet. Check out the suspensions, etc from the photos. I wouldn't give up my Harley for one, but wouldn't mind having one in addition to the Harley.

While I was inside talking to Ryan and taking photos, as they so graciously let me do (without knowing of my blog, or free advertisement it might bring), I spotted another Moto. of interest. a Piaggio MP3. It's got dual front wheels that tilt simultaneousley, as you steer. It's very stable, and needs no kickstand. It has 3 different models, and the photo you see below of this does also come with a normal sized shorty windshield that only extends up about as far as the tops of the handlebars if you prefer.
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If you are interested in purchasing a Can-Am Spyder, or a Piaggio MP3, or any other sporting equipment/rides, stop by or give the folks at Caswell Cycle a call.

Ryan can be reached at (320) 679-1383, or you can ask for one of the owners, Les & Kaye Caswell. You can even check out their website at www.caswellcycle.com

Got beer? Harley fan? Have I got the Fridge. for you!

A while back, on June 5th, 2008, Questioned
Borrowed from Rick Slark's Keep the rubber side down. http://keeptherubbersidedown.net/2008/06/04/questioned/ was posted on my site.

One of the questions was:

Do people think you are obsessed with motorcycles?

And I answered:

Yep, and damn proud of it. It is part of who I am.

Well, Here's a little proof of that.

I free hand layed out with fine line tape, masked off and custom painted my Garage/Shop beer Fridge.
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Yep, Damn proud to be a biker, and a bit obsessed.

My weekend in review

This weekend held no major riding for me, as I happily committed myself to breaking my eldest nephew into the fine art of burping, farting, and fishing. We invited him to his first "Man" outing. He is five years old. Myself, my son, father in law, brother in law and his 5 yr old went camping. Needless to say, we all had a blast. It was well worth forgoing a weekend ride.

Just to scratch the itch, I did hop on the bike for a cruise around the neighborhood (literally) last night.


So since I don't have much else to leave you with today, I give you ... "one liner biker wit"....

Loud pipes drown out the voices in my head.

Got Cake?

Yesterday evening, I was watching Food T.V., and caught an episode of the Ace of Cakes. I am glad I have DVR or I wouldn't have been able to stop the T.V. show, and get my digital camera, and rewind to capture these pictures.
Being an artist, I can really appreciate some of the stuff these folks create on this show with cake. Duff and his crew made a Harley Davidson Electra Glide Motorcycle cake!
Friggin cool! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Please excuse the poor quality, these are pictures of my television , not pictures captures from the Web.
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Vetter Fairings

On Tuesday 6-23-08, Doug Klassen of Fourty Years on Two Wheels http://40on2.blogspot.com/ had a great post about his past, when he was a news film courier. http://40on2.blogspot.com/2008/06/news-film-courier.html. Take a moment to read it, then pop on back here to finish reading this post.

He has a picture of the old BMW he used to ride. I love nostalgic bikes. I also get a kick out of the Vetter fairing on it. I've never seen one on a BMW before. It just goes to show you learn something new all the time.

Anyway, This reminded me instantly of when I was a kid. I remember sitting in the livingroom on the floor, watching the great big old console style television. There was a commercial that I used to see frequently. This commercial is one of the things that sparked my love for motorcycles. It was (I believe) a Honda commercial. They showed a Motorcycle cruising really fast on a curvy road and it had a Windjammer fairing by Vetter. Heck, I went on for a few years thinking that Windjammer was actually the name of the Honda motorcycle that I coveted so much. L.O.L.! It's kinda like hearing a song when you are a kid, or even an adult, thinking you know the lyrics, only to find out you've been singing them in your head wrong for quite some time.

Several motorcycles into my beginning to be a real biker, I picked up a 1981 Honda Goldwing GL1100. This was the old style with the Windjammer Vetter fairing. Cooincidence? I wonder.
Anyone who has followed my blog might be wondering, sooo...If you were wondering, the answer is Yes, I customized it too.

non biker related joke

This not biker related, but a friend just shared this with me, and I felt I should pass it along.

Ben Franklin once said: "In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria." In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli,(E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop. However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer or tequila, rum, whiskey, (other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting. Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. It is my duty as your friend and also because of my deep concern for your health.

Glider Rider's response to yesterday's post is really F'n funny!

Lady Rides a lot, A.K.A Glider rider http://ladyridesalot.blogspot.com/responded to yesterday's post with the three stages in a man's life. Really Funny!

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Got to check it out. LMFAO!

http://ladyridesalot.blogspot.com/2008/06/three-stages-of-mans-life.html

Three things I know about women.

Joker recently posted http://harley-davidson-mystique.blogspot.com/2008/06/say-hi-to-keeley.html Quote" I'd be home bonding with my two boys. I also missed a ride up to Bub's Barbecue this morning. Some times you just have to take one for the team - if you don't want to find all your stuff scattered all over your front lawn and driveway anyway."End quote.

I comment Joker for this, but it reminds me of the three things I know about women.

1) If she is happy, I am happy.

2) If she aint happy, aint no one happy.

and.....

3) If she aint happy for a really long time, I aint happy with half my sh*t!

But seriously, I make time for my family and give up riding time quite oftern because as much as I love motorcycles, riding and the biker brotherhood, I love my wife, kids, and family more than anything in the world.

O.K., I'm done being mushy now.

Tech. tip #6....Saving your scratched paint.

Before you spend money on a paint job for a minor scrape or scratch, have a shop look at it to see if they can wet sand and buff out the scratch on the paint. Don’t be afraid to try wet sanding and buffing before paying for that new paint that someone is trying to sell you. You have nothing to loose.

When I used to work in a body shop, I did wet sanding and buffing all the time to get rid of scrapes and scratches. Plus, I usually did it for free. I was honest about it if I thought I could get out the scrape or scratch without burning through the clear coat. This was a great future sales technique, because a satisfied customer would always come back when they done F’d up their vehicle good in an accident. It was an almost guaranteed comeback to have their collision work done at the shop.

Try a detail shop if you don’t trust the body shop to be honest. The detail shop has nothing to gain by burning through the clear, as you would not have to pay for the job, or shouldn’t anyway if they did burn through your clear coat, where as the body shop does have something to gain, a paint job. However, I know lots of body shop guys who do the same thing I did when I was in the shops still. They too solicit free work on small jobs to gain a bigger future sale. Sometimes the small scratch wet sand and buff job isn’t even worth their paperwork, as it can take only a few minutes to get them out. You just have to feel the shop out, and go with your instincts to see if they are going to really try to help you, and not try to get a sale for paint by burning through the clear coat deliberately. Just like anything, there are honest shops, and not so honest shops.

Sometimes the scratches are just too deep, and that can’t always be found out without trying to wet sand and buff out the scratch. So if you find an honest shop and they try, they’ll be up front with you and let you know it is a 50/50 shot.

Biker joke (Warning) "mildly explicit"

Three men, a Doctor, and Lawyer, and Biker were sitting at a bar drinking, and shoting the sh*t.
They got to talking about what they got their wives for their last anniversaries.

The doctor took sip of his martini and said I got my wife a diamond ring and a Mercedes. That way if she didn't like the diamond ring, she would know how much I love her because of the very expensive car I bought her.

The lawyer took a sip of his scotch and said I got my wife a pearl necklace and a trip to the Bahamas. That way she would know how much I love her, even if she didn't like the necklace.

The biker took a big swig of his beer, farted, and burped, and said I got my wife a Harley t-shirt, and a vibrator. That whay if she didn't like the shirt she could go "F" herself.

Ba-Dum-Bum

Just because you can doesn't mean you necessarily should.

I, being a custom painter an all by ex trade, love all things custom. I do like some stock stuff too, but almost, (O.K.) everything I've ever owned, has practically been customized in some way. I used to not know when to quit. I couldn't always judge when enough was enough, and more was too much. My wife has been great at pointing out when I've reached this point over the years, and has helped me find subtlty in customs. This makes for a classy custom look, rather than loud and what I consider gaudy custom. I've been working on perfecting this over the years, and have actually started getting a reputation for subtle custom paint that some folks have noticed, and even commented on.

This brings me to, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you necesarily should."
I've been a fan of customs as long as I can remember. I do even love customs that are not subtle, however, I've seen some stuff out there that makes me wonder why? Again "Just because you can, doesn't mean you necesarily should."

I'm not going to pick on any one bike builder/artist, because without pushing the envelope on going to extremes, all things would remain stagnant, however, while pushing extremes, can't you look at the bike-paint job, etc. and go, O.K., that's enough, lets call it good before it goes to the point of being just plain rediculous. Who wants to ride this Sh*t anyway? And if it's just for show, What a waste. O.K. Done ranting. Thanks for listening to me. This post was inspired by a rediculous custom that I saw recently. Great bike builder known for Extremes.

Just a phase... Yeah right!

And your parents thought it was just a phase!




Boy did they get that one wrong!

Been gone for awhile

Sorry about my absenteism on my comments last week, but I was on the North Shore on a camping trip with the wife and kids, and no computer service up there.

I brought back some pictures to share.


Cool lighthouse



Split Rock Lighthouse



Gooseberry Falls running with high fast water



More Gooseberry Falls



North Shore in the Gun Flint



North Shore in the Gun Flint



I collect knives, So I had to bring home this souveneir!






I checked my google reader. Over 100 and some blog posts unread!
I'll never get caught up!
Nice to be back.

A beautiful picture from my ride today

I was on a back country road takin in the scenery, and had to take a picure as it was such a breathtaking road.

Figured I'd share it with you.

Isn't it beautiful?

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I did have to watch closely for sheep though. I didn't want to hit one with the bike!

New technology in elcetric motorcycles

I hear there is a more powerfull longer lasting battery coming in the market that will make electric motorcycles the wave of the future.

Obummer

Joker of Harley Davidson Mystique, recently did a political post called Obummer. http://harley-davidson-mystique.blogspot.com/2008/06/obummer.html



Well here is my custom painted gas tank version:



This is one of my friends at the bike shop washing sand out of a really nice custom bike's gas tank.

The owner of the bike must have really pissed someone off!

OBUMMER!!!!!

Gas prices skyrocketing again