Friday, December 21, 2012
SoHo v SoFo
Ok so now Louisville is trying to copy my idea...granted Soho is a well know area and all but me putting it to mean SOuthern HOosier has been my twist on it for years...(just look at all my coaster brake road bike ive built in the style of the little 500 which i have dubbed SoHo style) now they want to jazz up Fourth Street with the name SoFo (SOuth FOurth Street) uggggghhhh....let it be know far and wide I was using SOHO way before SOFO.... My first post on this blog came only after years of calling Southern Indiana SoHo...at least mine was out before their announcement so no one can accuse me of copying...bitter?...maybe... Thinking there is a conspiracy with black helicopters watching and listen to my thoughts...defiantly!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The trim down continues
The GT is loosing a lot of weight these days...I've been trimming and trimming it back. The bike started with a published dry weight of over 350 lbs...not sure where it is now but I can flick it around the garage with little effort. I have been trimming off all the unneeded tabs and smoothing the frame down with a angle grinder with a cut off wheel and 120 grit flap wheel. It's starting to look very clean .
In my opinion a bike is only as good as the parts that are unseen, that why I take my time to smooth out all the tab cut offs and what ever else slag I find from the original manufacturing process. That to me separates the builder from the hack, taking the time to go the extra step on things that only you know are there...
In my opinion a bike is only as good as the parts that are unseen, that why I take my time to smooth out all the tab cut offs and what ever else slag I find from the original manufacturing process. That to me separates the builder from the hack, taking the time to go the extra step on things that only you know are there...
Thursday, December 6, 2012
From the Alley to SoHo
Alley Rat Speed Shop is now SoHo Speed Shop...I'll Explain
As first a Southern and then a Hoosier I have been torn between two world. You wouldn't think that a river and a bridge would make that much difference in a person life or the life of a motorcycle shop, but it does. When I first started out on the quest to become a motorcycle builder I was under the influence of the Louisville bike scene...(bicycle that is) and I was looking to my alley cat roots to build upon, and I did. The first bike that I built was a play on the load bicycles that were being built at the time and to the Japanese culture that I hold so dear, but that was just the beginning As I have matured in my thoughts on motorcycles I have begun to go back to the roots of cafe bikes even more and I wanted to more generalize the name of the shop to reflect that. I'm still a rat at heart but it's not all about rat rods and and bicycles anymore....and I feel like a name is needed that more reflected the refinement and style that I want to put out into the world.... edgy style with home town flair and a southern twang.
With this in mind I have re-branded the shop Southern Hoosier Speed Shop...SoHo Speed Shop for short. We are focused on building fast two stroke Japanese bikes with style. We are primarily interested in cafe racers but have been working on several designs for bikes that are going to highlight our fabrication abilities. Our current build is a 1973 Suzuki GT250 that will be a billboard for what we will do in the future. It has many unique feature that we hope will draw attention to our mission. We hope to debut the bike at Beatersville in Louisville Kentucky Sunday May 27 2013. Then we are taking it on the road to AMA Vintage Days July 19-21 2013 and will be posted up at the Cafe Racer TV pavilion hanging with the folks from Louisville Vintage Motorworks. Then its on to Barber Vintage Festival October 11-13 2013, with what ever events we can find in between, with the bike finally coming up for sale at that show.
This is the GT the day it was bought at AMA Vintage Days 2012...Nice but average
I rode the bike all summer...What a great little bike
The beginnings of mock up on the GT
As first a Southern and then a Hoosier I have been torn between two world. You wouldn't think that a river and a bridge would make that much difference in a person life or the life of a motorcycle shop, but it does. When I first started out on the quest to become a motorcycle builder I was under the influence of the Louisville bike scene...(bicycle that is) and I was looking to my alley cat roots to build upon, and I did. The first bike that I built was a play on the load bicycles that were being built at the time and to the Japanese culture that I hold so dear, but that was just the beginning As I have matured in my thoughts on motorcycles I have begun to go back to the roots of cafe bikes even more and I wanted to more generalize the name of the shop to reflect that. I'm still a rat at heart but it's not all about rat rods and and bicycles anymore....and I feel like a name is needed that more reflected the refinement and style that I want to put out into the world.... edgy style with home town flair and a southern twang.
With this in mind I have re-branded the shop Southern Hoosier Speed Shop...SoHo Speed Shop for short. We are focused on building fast two stroke Japanese bikes with style. We are primarily interested in cafe racers but have been working on several designs for bikes that are going to highlight our fabrication abilities. Our current build is a 1973 Suzuki GT250 that will be a billboard for what we will do in the future. It has many unique feature that we hope will draw attention to our mission. We hope to debut the bike at Beatersville in Louisville Kentucky Sunday May 27 2013. Then we are taking it on the road to AMA Vintage Days July 19-21 2013 and will be posted up at the Cafe Racer TV pavilion hanging with the folks from Louisville Vintage Motorworks. Then its on to Barber Vintage Festival October 11-13 2013, with what ever events we can find in between, with the bike finally coming up for sale at that show.
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