Dream On

Honda Dream from the East Side Classic bike show.

On a side note, the first ride I ever had was straddling the gas tank on my uncle's Honda Dream. I was too young to even remember it.

Green & Gold CB Classic

 A nice green and gold Honda CB at the East Side Classic.

Oily Hands, Soapy Hands

Here's a tip for those who do their own maintenance, but need to have clean hands for work. (For example, I spend all day unpacking and sorting books - no one wants to pay $28.99 for the latest Stephen King if it's got 10W40 smudges on it). Sometimes it seems like no matter how much and how hard you scrub your hands, there's still grease left on your finger tips and in the creases of your knuckles. I read something somewhere a while back, and now I'm sharing it with you after years of field testing. Before you go out to the garage or driveway, or wherever you're going to change your oil or strip down your carburetor, dump a couple of drops of liquid dish detergent in your hand, and rub it all over your hands and fingers, coating everywhere that's about to get dirty. Give it a few minutes to dry, and it's like a liquid glove.

When you're done with the work, use Go-Jo, Fast Orange, or whatever your preferred hand cleaner is, and you should be left with completely clean hands.

You can thank me later when you're waiting tables and don't gross out your customers.

One Hot Motor

I saw a bike in the grocery store parking lot today. It looked different, so I went to check it out. Small displacement vertical twin cruiser. From the styling, I'm guessing a Yammie, but I wouldn't say so under oath.
A few years old, but not exactly "classic" age - maybe five to ten years old, but all the logos and insignia lost to time, use and rust. I respect that.

I also respect modifying a bike to make it yours. Cosmetically. Structurally. Even modifying the engine is cool, if you know what you're doing.

But here's the problem.

There were two hoses leading down from the neck area of the frame, and they were capped off, with the metal pieces welded to the frame. There's only one reason I can think of for hoses like this to be routed up from the motor area to the neck region, then back down in front of the downtubes. A radiator. Now, there are good reasons to modify many parts of an engine, but I can't think of a single reason that makes it a good idea to remove a radiator from a motor designed to run with it, then use that motor in Central Texas in the summer.

WTF?

Ain't Superstitious

This is what my trip meter said when I parked at work last Friday. Yeah, I parked and went in, anyway. But it did make me wonder what the day held in store.

East Side Classic XS650

Another photo set from the East Side Classic bike show.  If I'm wrong about this being an XS650, please message me so I can fix it.

Just about the coolest mirror placement I've ever seen.

East Side Classic ATX 2012

East Side Classic ATX 2012, a set on Flickr.

More from the East Side Classic bike show in Austin, TX 2012.

I'm playing around with using Flickr to post photos. The posting seems to be easier, but I'm not sure how I feel about how it posts. We'll see what happens.

Heavily Customized Metric V Twins

I recently went to the East Side Classic bike show in Austin, TX. Unfortunately, it was way too hot for my kids and my lady, so we couldn't stay as long as I would've liked. Fortunately, I was busy with the camera the whole time. I'll be posting some bike pix I took there. I think both of these kick-ass customs are Honda Shadows. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments section.

Cool-As-Shit fender struts.

Evidence that I do indeed drag my kids out in the heat so I can ogle purdy bikes