McQueen's Indian Re-discovered

Thanks to Irish Rich's comments, I went back to the National Motorcycle Museum's website and found these photos.

I had seen these shots quite awhile ago and thought they were no longer up. I don't know how old the pictures are, or if the bike still there?

To it's left is a Wild Angels Dragon bike. What's the story on this one?

Are You Having a Great Taint?

Taint, It taint Christmas and it taint New Years.
It's that magical and wonderful period between them. A time for mischief and merry making.

Old Saint Taint, The patron saint of the Holiday.

I'm officially starting this New Holiday Tradition. The Five days of Taint start on the 26th and run through the 30th. The 28th will be the most important and celebrated date, as it's smack dab in the middle. The holiday's colors will be orange and blue.

From now on, be sure to wish all your friends and loved ones a Terrific Taint!

McQueen's Indian Agianagian

Photo likely taken at the Santa Paula airport. Photo used with permission of Barbie McQueen.

Back in Nov. 08 I did a post on Steve McQueen and also showed what was said to be his favorite bike. It was said because he would ride it when he was grubby and nobody would suspect it was him. I have a similar photo of him somewhere (grubbier than this), but found this one recently.

What prompted me to post this was an interesting anonymous comment about the Nov. 08 post that I just received yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Where is this bike? Cause if you want the truth about it I'm the person to tell it because I'm the one who built it for Steve. I built it for him cause I would not sell him mine. Which I still have the twin sitting in my shop. So piss off to who ever claims building this bike. And yes it was his favorite bike. YES it would be a mistake to restore it. It was built to look like my bike, "A Rat Bike" thats what he wanted.

J.D.

It would be very cool if J.D. would tell us more, possible send some photos, or perhaps identify himself.

Bam!, Xmas is Here

Time's Up

Only 366 days till next year.

This is How it Starts

Brass Balls FXR Concept Art

I recently did this Concept Art for Dar Holdsworth of Darwin Motorcycles (Brass Balls Bobbers), of a new model for 2010. The build of the first prototype will be documented in Cycle Source magazine and also on Bikernet.com.

For more info on this and his other bikes click on the following link:
http://www.brassballsbobbers.com/bikes

Dedicated Hardcore Blogs

I recently found these two blogs by hopscotching through a follower.


Click on logos to visit. There are a few Sportster only blogs but this is the first Evo only one I've seen.

The first one features an interesting and fairly unique point of view. Seems that the owner of the blog won't post anything but Blockheads (Evo's) and expresses (kidding or not), a disdain for earlier H-D's. The Blockhead name was thrown around when Evo's first came out and I wish it would have caught on more than it has. Anyway, it's a reminder of how segmented this sport (?) can be.

The blog puts down "Old School" and I can understand how someone might react to the recent craze in vintage chops but, since Evo's are 10 to 25 years old, they themselves aren't exactly New School.

I myself don't dig Twin Cams that much and feel that the Evo is the last true evolution of the classic H-D twin.

Some Evo owners probably now feel like Shovel owners did (maybe still do), not too long ago. Sort of like a lost step child instead of a favorite son.

Fike?

If a three wheeler is a trike, then what's a five wheeler? A Fike... a Pike?

Threesome

Tom McMullen aboard his Corvair powered trike. This photo was taken on the way home from the trike's second showing in '67 and was just before or right after he was pulled over by the police. It was published in AEE's Chopper catalog in '70. Other shots from this ordeal with the cops were originally published in the July 68 Cycle Guide which featured the trike's first completed photos. Tom contributed features on custom bikes to Cycle Guide before starting Street Chopper in '69.

Cheers!

Good to be Back In The Saddle Again

Electra-Glide... the only way to fly!

Back From The Dead

Up and Ready to Roll

I took my old iMac G5 to the Apple Store Sunday evening and told the tech at the Genius Bar my dilemma. He peaked inside and said it was indeed likely the power supply and if they had one in stock they could fix it on the spot. Also, since it's an easy fix there would be no labor charge (very cool!). They had one, took it in the back and said they would run it for a few minutes to make sure that was the only problem. 20-30 minutes later, and $94 lighter, I was on my way. That's a whole lot better than buying a new machine and losing half my data.

My wife and I have both had nothing but good experiences with the Apple Store so far. She's been given two new batteries for her laptop and when my Mac was 1 1/2 year old and out of warranty (for some unknown reason), they did a $950 repair for free. I only wish other businesses stood behind their products like that.

Technical Difficulties

Please be Patient

I'm experiencing problems with my Mac. It's shutting down periodically very abruptly. I'm backing up tons of files before it conks out completely so, I may not be posting much for awhile.

Gift Ideas?

H-D T-shirts sure have changed. I like these better than the shirts today (especially the psychedelic trademark and XLCH), albeit not so tight fitting.