Tying Up Loose Ends

It's been a while since I posted last...that could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective...fore it's been a good thing.  I took the month of October off...for a small builder like me with low overhead and flexibility this is just what I needed to get to the juices flowing again.  After the completion of Veruca I was a bit burned out.  Now with renewed energy I'm back at it.  I have been going back and forth with the seat on my personal bike (the Duce) for a while and finally go around to doing what I wanted...I think it still needs a bit of tweaking but a bike is never done til you sell it...Veruca is up on the stand now ironing out a few bugs...this is not uncommon for custom builds, and with as much customization done to Veruca she will take some time to get her where I want her...the next bike coming up this month is the XS1100...by far my biggest bike I've ever built but with my recent string of 350 fours that have been coming across the lift I'm feeling ready for this beast...the RM 80ish ;0) is running like a top and has made many a loop around the neighborhood to keep it's 110 CCs pounding away all winter...for my late winter early spring I have another 350 four project (or two) in the works...things are heating up and with the start of snowboard season right around the corner I've got my hands full...

Veruca is Finished

It's been a year in the making but here she is in all her glory...Veruca the Salt Brat Racer...we wanted to creat the ultamate brats bike, and what is more bratty than Veruca Salt...the concept for this bike was to create a bike that would be the envy of Veruca herself....

I have always been a fan of gassers, and if you don't know what they are then Google that shit, anyway I wanted to create a bike that was honoring that genre of hot rod.  So I went looking for inspiration at many car shows and finally found what I was looking for at Beatersville in Louisville Kentucky.  While there in May of this year there was a parade of gassers that so immpressed me I knew I had to build Veruca in that style.  What I noticed about gassers was the juxtaposing of the rawness of the frames and the finish of the body and motors so I wanted to mimic...

The bold colors and graphics of these old beasts were a major influence on this bike as were the headers.  The stance needed to be spot on to pull off the look so we evened everything out and streched the swing arm.  These old cars were never much on supension so we decided to go with minimal travel in the rear with drag struts that have springs that only let the rear end move about a 1/4".  

I love the way that gassers were lightened up back then....drill a shit ton of holes in it...so we did the same...the rear sets are like fine swiss cheese as well as the front brake, and soon the rear, because you know a project is never done.  

One of the thing that gassers had to have as part of their regulations to race was an interior...to reflect this old school interior design we created a seat that had a similar role and by using a chrome tach as a part of the design

As far as engines go we wanted a super clean look that gassers were known for...so we powdercoated the side covers, painted the block and put a few highlights in gold....

All in all we are happy with the design, we are still tuning the bike and I will post some other builds soon...think 3 cb 350 fours at once...thanks for looking and just wait to see what we are doing next at Southern Hoosier Speed Shop

Veruca Continued

So we didnt get Veruca done by AMA Vintage Days but we are hoping to have her done by the Kentucky Kickdown...I just finished fabrication on the internal throttle and I'm in the middle of engine painting....here are a few pics...

Back in full swing

So the car has caused so any issues with my building of bikes it's not even funny... But hopefully that whole saga is behind me and I can focus on the task at hand.... Veruca...she has become a roller as of today and with a cleared schedule I will be throwing everything I have at her...JRod has the tank and is working on the paint...I'm neck deep in fabrication and polishing...one of the 5 or so bikes that is making up this build came with a lot of chrome and we are trying to salvage as much as we can....since the frame is being left raw steel I'm temped to just clean the vintage chrome and let the past shine through...we will see...here are a few picks to show some progress

Short on time with Veruca

AHHHHH!!!! I'm running out of time with Veruca...I got to get back to work on her to get her done by July 9....here are a few pics to keep you guessing

Back to Our Roots

So SoHo has its roots way back in the mid 80's when Cahill and I were building old bugs, corollas and then later musule cars.  So when we stumbled across a rare 1992 5 speed accord wagon ex, we knew what we had, but had no idea what we were getting into.  I started the project with the intent of using it as a daily driver parts hauler kid picker upper...after blowing out a tie rod replacing the cv joins, upper a arms, brakes and a stainless steel exhaust I was peeping for a summer of replacing the timing belt, tires and a chip up grade...well 6 weeks before the planned timing belt replacement it slipped.   So I replaced it and it didn't start...pulled the heads and found I had bent all the exhaust valves...so now as I continue to be bogged down by this project the bikes have taken a back seat.  Veruca is on the small front burner and the GT is on the back burner.  I have been so busy with the Accord for the past 6 months that the bikes have suffered...But with AMA fast approching I need to bring balance to the force and get my ass in gear...so here is a pic of Veruca to see her progress

Here is a pic of the vavles...

Mock up on the Salty Brat

Unlike some builders who want you to think that they pull their built bike out of their asses, I want people to see the process that goes into building a bike. So here is the latest on our Salty little Brat....

So Veruca is in mock up right now...this is often my favorite part of a build.  I enjoy bouncing ideas off of the guys at SoHo, we all work together very well.  As the mock up of the Katana swingarm continues we had to do some more cutting on the frame.  The majority of the unneeded tabs have been cut off along with the unneeded original rearset mounts.  The problem is that the rearsets are well, a problem.  We bent out the remaining stubs for the rearset, but needed to figure out rather quickly what the final placement will be.  Croucher has been a big help as always, and we have found a new prospect for SoHo who brings a ton of talent as a machinist for all kinds of little parts we will be making.  The goal is to spend less than $1000 dollars total on this build, so far including the bikes we are in for about $400.  Not bad, but with tires, chain seat, and handlebars yet to be purchased we will be pushing it.