New Old Bike

Yes, I’ve been neglecting the blogs, Faceyoubook, TV; don’t even know what’s happing on SOA. Is it still on? Neglecting damn near everything but work. That shit can really get in the way of life. But I’ve grown to like sleeping inside and eating regularly so I’ll have to continue paying taxes. I think the only good thing about my day job is that it supports my real job of working on my bikes.


The ’02 Ultra is back in one piece with a few changes. A nice fresh 95-inch, S&S 510G gear drive cams, Fueling cam plate, oil pump & lifters, S&S intake and Hooker exhaust. The front brake system was rebuilt with Brembo’s from a 2010. The rear brake and forks are next. When you put a whole lot of go into one of these things, you’ve got to put in a whole lot of whoa also.

Sparkplug Therapy

I’m not sure what happened. I was following the instructions to check the sparkplug gap. This sure seemed like a lot of BS just to checks plug gaps, but the Company service manual said so. It must be the truth.


It was about the time I noticed the cat sitting in the doorway laughing at me, that I also noticed the instructions were for checking piston gaps, not plug gaps. Stupid me, guess the cat got me. She changed the page while I wasn’t looking. That’s OK. When she gets hungry I’ll give her the instructions for the coffee pot instead of the can opener.

Busted Shoe

I’m either going blind or getting one of those old-fart things in the brain. I just had the primary open a few weeks ago and didn’t see the screwed up adjuster shoe. It’s not a new crack. Looking at it with a loupe, the edges are smooth and it’s discolored by oil. So it’s been vibrating against itself for a while. I only found it because my cheap ass put the cover on with the old gasket and it leaked. So I had to buy a new gasket. 21 dollars down the drain.


It’s one of those things that could last ten years or ten minutes. Hard to say. What would happen if it broke at 90 MPH? Would the chain just slap the crap out of the housing? Would a piece jamb and destroy the whole thing, lock the wheel and leave me for buzzard food in the middle of the Desert somewhere? Guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and spend the 8 bucks for a new one. Just seems like the responsible thing to do.

'02 FLHTCUI UPDATE

This is for IHG just because she asked. That and I can’t say no to a pretty girl.


It’s back in one piece. There are some changes from the previous picture. I’ll let you guess what they are. I got to meet the last owner. He purchased it in Santa Barbara, CA in Oct. of 2001. That’s kool because now I’ve got a history of all the modifications you can’t see. And this thing has a bunch of them. All performance or comfort changes. No extra do-dads that serve no purpose. While still keeping a mainly stock appearance.

The way it is here is the way I’ll probably keep it. The only things I want to add is the full saddlebag guards and a luggage rack on the trunk. And if anybody has any they ain’t using…..

'02 FLHTCUI

So, ya’ find a deal on a used Dresser. One owner and well maintained. It runs perfectly fine just the way it is. So friggin what. It’s not the way ‘I’ want it.


So what to do with it? Take it home. Snap a picture so you remember what it looked like before you screw it up, then push it into the garage. After several hours of a caffeine induced coma, (you can substitute you recreational substance of choice), you wind up with a pile up junk. Maybe it’ll run again maybe it won’t. Boys will be boys.

Road Tunes On The Cheap

Shit happens when you get old. Like me wanting to put some tunes on my Heritage. I figured it might be nice to have something to listen to other than my co-pilot beating on my back a saying “I gotta’ piss”.

Now there are a lot of options out there to make this happen most of them just aren’t my options. The faring option? No way. To much smokes and coffee money. Speakers on the handlebars? Maybe. But you still gotta’ do something with the amp. Generally they get stashed in a windshield pouch or saddlebag. Both of which are not easily accessibly and lend to exposed wires. Plus I don’t really care for speakers on the bars. They stick out to far and screw up the flow lines.

So you’ve got this empty space between the bars and windshield that looked like something would fit there. Now to find it. There’s a lot of stuff out there on the www. Some cheap some way on the overkill side. I just wanted something to listen to Dean Martin on, not blast the paint off my tank with hippie music. I finally settled on a company out of Brooklyn, NY named Gooddeals18. They sell Shark Audio, which is a brand I’ve never heard of.

Judging by their pricing I guessed it would be poorly assembled crap from China. I was correct. I also knew I was going to disassemble every part. The speaker grills were painted to cover the ‘shark’ logo. Tabs were shaved down on the inside and fiber washers were added between the speaker and grill mounts. Never mistake a speaker with a mechanical vibration with a blown speaker. Two different things. The amp was striped and repainted. Again, to cover up the logo. Sorry folks over at Shark, but I don’t do advertising, just sarcasm.

The mount is 1/16 steel plate, 1” bar clamps, some welding, drilling and a project box mounted underneath to hide the wires. The amp plays my operas via a AUX input, USB or SD. Plus it has a FM tuner. The specs say its 250W. I doubt it, but don’t really care. Going down the road fast, of course, I can hear the tunes just fine at about 80% volume. The speakers shocked the shit out of me. The sound is excellent. The buttons on the amp are a little small, but at 3.25 inches across the front what do you expect. It doesn’t take long for your fingers to memorize what’s what. The only thing I really need is the volume control while moving. When I find a Glide that no longer needs its handlebar volume control and housing I’ll solder it into the amp.

All things considered, except for me being out about a hundred bucks, I think it’ll do what I want, for now. Other modifications are pending.

Holiday Music

I know the ‘holidays’ are over, but I saw a cool Christmas Carol on youze-a-boob and thought I’d share.  

Click here I think.

False Advertising?

Ran across this advertisement in the January 2012 ‘Thunder Press’. I’ve got a question if anybody can answer it. Is this the throttle thingy that AZ-HOLE Performance uses on all their bikes? The ad sure seems to imply it.

New Years Message

Yesterday I was inspired with a New Years message for the World.


I stopped at Dave’s to see what was going on. My inspiration did not occur there. All we did at Dave’s was play with his son’s toys. What else do you expect two grown men to do? New toys, let’s play! My inspiration took place a few blocks from there.

On the way home I saw a bike waiting to pull out into traffic. For an instance I thought I recognized the bike, but the rider was all wrong. I watched in the mirror and let him get next to me. Yep, that was the bike. I hadn’t seen it in over ten years, but I was the same bike. The rider was vaguely familiar. I shouted over: “Do I know you?” He just shrugged.

We pulled on the shoulder. After the introductions were made, it was the SOB I logged a butt-load of miles with years ago. I thought he moved out of the area. He looked like shit. I mean really bad. Like he just crawled out from under a f’ing rock. The bike looked good. So we gabbed like two old hens at a picket fence for a while. This is when I was suddenly inspired with the wisdom of the world.

Since I’ve seen him: Mom died. Inherited her house. It’s a small house and he can barely afford the taxes. Son and his wife moved in. Has a live in girlfriend. Laid-off eight months ago. On pain meds from a bad back. And, his ex-wife moved in! WTF! Now there’s a Brother that needs help. Not help with life, it’s your life and you live it how you want. He’s not much of a wrench; so maybe I could help save him a few bucks on a car or bike repair. Maybe just sit and let him bend my ear for a while. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

Here’s the part that really pissed on my inspiration. We both still have the same phone number and the others number in our damn cells. Just drifted away. I’ll be getting a hold of him this weekend to see if I can’t help out a old Bro that’s been through the meat grinder.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that as fucked up as this world is getting we all need a little help once in a while. Or we can help someone else with our special skills. And I mean help, not charity. Most of the folks I know won’t accept charity. But they will accept help from a friend.

So the words in this song are my New Years message to the World.