Another Year awaits, Have Fun Building your Machine

Well, what a bloody tough year we have all had, for me it has been crazy, what with moving to another location as well as catching Covid and then on Christmas day catching an awful cold with the same symptoms of Covid but without the temperatures, its been a long battle throughout.  From having some of my suppliers completely closing down due to the Virus to some retiring early, I have had to come up with some more ideas for parts and apparel to have for the coming year we await.

But, the positive side to this awful dilemma we are all facing right now is, we have some time in our garages. sheds or back yards, to turn a wrench, help a mate or give a whole new project a go and take any frustrations out of what’s going on in the world and turn it into a working machine that is yours and yours alone.

I love making parts or building new rides, its a therapy and an escape from life’s woes to be honest, and also there are many many failure before I find something that fits and works as it should, so for those who are trying it on your own, or building your own machine, Failure is a learning curve, we all do it and not only once. I have almost given up on a particular piece I was trying to make, I left if for a day or two and when I head a fresh brain, it all clicked and worked.

Do not be afraid to fail, I have sat and pondered and even been seen to shout at the parts calling it all sorts of names but in the end we managed to come up with a result that we are happy with, the fun is in the creating at most of course, taking your ride out and stretching its legs for the first time is such a thrill and the Euphoria is un measurable, but what I am trying to say is

Dont Give up”  There are many friends on the internet that can I advise, heck, I even put my phone and text number on my website so people can text me, rather than waiting all weekend for an answer from a company phone, i want to help the best way I can, its not all about sales for me, its Service and the camaraderie of the fellow builder.

I am hoping that this coming 2021, we can all have fun in what we do and maybe even meet at an event or on the tarmac, or at the very least, on the end of the phone of email, there is something self gratifying when you complete something on your own machine and I receive many emails and photos from customers who have really enjoyed creating a unique Motorcycle that they want to personalize for themselves.

Hoping that you can get some time and turn a wrench and have fun with that two wheeled machine of yours and maybe I can help with parts or advice?

Wishing you ALL a very Happy New year that’s almost upon us and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your orders from around the globe, you all Rock!!!!

 

Here is a little video I saw on you tube of a guy with minimal tools rebuilding his little Honda Cub.

A HONDA CB750K I Aptly Named The NUT BASHER

I forget to add pics of Motorcycles that I have built over the years and some times I kick my self for not posting anything, but today I will overcome my forgetfulness and add some photos of a fun creation I built using parts that I had around the shop.

 

I wanted to build something that was a cool reference to Cafe Racer styled Motorcycles back in the day but, of course using a later motorcycle but, still early enough to be classes a classic and I started off with a 1971 CB750 Honda four that was just basically a frame, I had a bunch of boxes with parts in them and over time, I started to put a few things together.

I had an old Fiberglass Racing Gas tank that I thought would be just the job, I fitted it to the frame and sat on the bike, immediately crushing my nuts, that’s when the Penny dropped and I thought what an apt name for the bike and thought if I did it in the style of the Norton Logo, this would look pretty Classic.

I chose to go the traditional deep Black Color and then pin line around it in Gold, as that would really give it the 1950’s era British Motorcycle look that went along with Norton, BSA, Triumph and Matchless, as well as the Vincent of course.

 

Now the Gas tank has a Ton Of clear sprayed on it, I had to test fit it to the frame, as I had powder coated the frame Gloss Black and Built the Motor to an 836cc and wedged her back in the chassis, the bike was looking really good and I was happy about this, but now I had to come up with a Classic styled seat unit for the Nut Basher, so I went the whole hog and built one from scratch.

I tried all sorts of ideas until something clicked, but had to thing of a cool way of mounting a tail light and I wanted to have the light incorporated into the seat hump.  I chose to French the rear Led tail light into the cowl, and although it took a full day, it came out really well indeed and was super stoked that I had gone this route on the NutBasher Machine.

It sat on the frame just right and I attached snaps to the sides of the until so I could pull the cover off and get to any documents I need, or remove the seat if I ever needed to quickly, I also made sure there was a ton of clear coat applied just incase I scratched it and could buff it out on final fit etc.

I was super happy with the way the seat unit fitted and the tail light assembly was Classic looking but in fact was an Led stop light that was as bright as Einstein.

I wanted to put a lot of detail into this creation as I knew it would turn many heads where ever it ended up, this Fuel tank held 5.5 Gallons and that made for some great riding, without worrying about running out of squirt, but it sure was bloody heavy once the tank was filled up to the top.

She was a Long and thin Motorcycle that screamed out Nostalgia, it ran hard as nails and breathed really well as it has a hand made 4 into 1 Racing exhaust that was built in less than 3 hours by a Indy Racing mechanic, this would really exit the gases well and have never heard something so mean in all my life.

This was created by a top Indy exhaust builder and designer and he didnt even need the bike to make it, just an upside down engine, it was so cool to see him knock this out.

A sheer work of art and it fitted like a glove too, this was made in Inconel and a one off like this, nobody in the world will have one like this. The material is as I said Inconel  that refers to a family of trademarked high strength austenitic nickel-chromium-iron alloys that have exceptional anti-corrosion and heat-resistance properties. … Burns Stainless recommends Inconel 625 alloy for exhaust systems due to its excellent strength, corrosion resistance and fabricability. And it sure stood up to my fire breathing 836 motor no problems at all.

This is such a nice system, shame to coat it Black but I want the bike to have a lot of Black parts on it, so ceramic coated it will get and I am sure it will look great.

This Motorcycle will not just look fast, it will haul so much arse, it will leave people scratching their heads as it goes by, and the roar from the exhaust will stay with them for a lifetime I should think.

Another thing that I do and nobody ever did back then was, make my own gauge faces, I have created many over the years and this Ton Up machine needed a great set of gauge faces to give the top end of the bike some class too.  So I went with a Roaring Tiger, Synonymous with the 1950’s Triumphs and colorful to say the least.

These are really easy to apply and give your tired old gauges a brand new lease of life, also very unique and personal to your bike, something that I have been very proud of.

I even repaint the needles and add a longer Red line to the end, so you can clearly see where the needle is pointing at speed, also if you look, I have readjusted the configuration of the gauge faces and they digits start at a different position than the stock factory versions.

Not sure that you will notice but, I also changed the 100 to the word TON, which of course means the magic 100 MPH and a milestone in Café Racers back in the day to reach that Golden triple digit. I also added my own Oil Light warning  display of which has a High Beam and Neutral light, just to keep you informed as to what’s going on up top.

The Motor was totally rebuilt, the head was Ported and polished and has an 836 Yoshi kit inside the jugs, this pulled like a steam train and of course, stainless Allen head bolts throughout the whole engine. I also drilled the starter Motor cover and fitted bronze mesh for a cool Look.

Rear Hub got my Custom drilling and Polishing detail, as well as rear brake arm, I sure loved creating this Motorcycle and always enjoy doing my own thing to it.

I machined my own Motor mount to follow the fins of the engine and on ALL motors, I have always run an Alcohol filled Oil Pressure gauge, to give me a true reading of actual engine oil pressure, through the oil galley.

Cerakoted exhaust system looks great against the Silver and Polished Aluminum of the inline four engine, I used Italian rear sets to give this bike a wee bit more aggressive stance when you are sat upon it. I sell many pairs of these and dead easy to fit, they function so well and smooth, I try and use these on the majority of my creations.

All clean and new, this bike ran so well, it was like a new wrist watch to be honest and sure do miss this Beast of a Motorcycle, but enjoyed every minute building it.

Rear sets look pretty darn cool, I drilled and polished the sprocket cover too, for that Racy look and give it a little more Bling, personal choice but I have fun doing that.

The Grips you may find to be from somewhere else, and you would be right, I used Original 1970’s Schwinn Bicycle grips, put them in Boiling water and then pushed them onto the handlebars, they fitted snug as a bug when they cooled down and look great and flow with the piggy back shock reservoir’s.

 

A tall drink of water for sure, running on 18 inch rims and Bridgestone tires, a Combination I have used many many times, these have great grip in all weather but of course, have a nice Classic tread pattern too.

I have always been a fan of how this bike has sat, she looks ready to race off down the road from any angle, I also made sure that the front fender sat tightly to the tire.

I also removed the fender stays to clean the look up at front and I think that it works well, I hand drilled the front rotor and you can see much polishing of Aluminum was done to give this bike some class.

There really is a lot of detail that you will not notice at first but hope you like what I have done, we are all different and have many styles we like, but I get a lot of emails about this build and thought that it was time that I shared it with you lot.

I should of made a mold of the gas tank as I really liked that shape, even with the Chin Divot at the front of the tank, that goes back to the early TT days and stream lining.

Everything redone, even machines the Oil Filter Housing to give it some fins, a thoroughly pleasing to the eye motorbike that I am quite proud of creating.

Thanks for looking at The Nut Basher, I hope you liked what I have done to this old inline Four Honda and I continue to build and make parts for these 500 pounders.

Thank you for reading about this bike, if I can help you with Parts, Service or just if you are stuck, you can email or text me. carpy@carpyscaferacers.com carpysgarage@aol.com or TEXT 714-598-8392

A New Year is almost upon us, what does it bring to the people in the two wheeled world?

Sitting in my office, looking at the fog bank rolling in across the front of the window, reminds me of years gone by when I was back in England, I had an old garage that was built in the 1960’s, the doors were missing and I shared the area with 9 other garages, closed in by a wall and agate, the Fog would roll in just like today and I continued to work on one of my projects, be it a 2 or 4 wheeled model and just shrug the weather off.  Today the Fog is surrounding me but I have been fortunate to have an office now and as I type this, the New Concrete slab that has just been poured for my new workshop, is hardening and hopefully in a months time, the steel Barn can be constructed and give me a new chapter in my life of Building and manufacturing parts for Motorcycles and Hot Rods.

This Covid Virus has really turned the globe on its head and many times I have heard news of friends and family catching this awful strain, I too submitted to it, even with 2 shots, but, the world is now evolving and in a way, getting used to life with a mask and Social distancing.  I mean, Life has to go on, we have to live, survive and of course put bread on the table.

I see a few companies starting back up, albeit on a smaller scale, but we have to carry on and get back on track, and not look back at the sad and painful year or so that has gone by.  I am getting enquiries on commissioned builds but am not ready to commit to contracts on these until I know where I am with my New Workshop etc. and want to take my time to equip the barn with the tools I need to do what I do.

But, 2022 is just around the next apex and I can see it approaching a bit faster now, I see a way better year ahead for all thank god and look forward to attending some shows and exhibitions etc. to show people New parts, builds and also just Human Communication, something I do miss of course, without communication, I have no input into what people like, want or are hoping to see in our two wheeled family and with the new Year offering hope with Vaccinations and the like, I believe that we can slowly get back into gear and enjoy the hobby that we all love.

 

I love all Motorcycles and really enjoy chatting to other builders, some of who simply knock my socks off with their own creations that leave my proverbial jaw continually slammed on the ground in amazement of their skills and creativity.

I think that as a builder and manufacturer, we all feed off input and the importunateness of shows and meetings etc. is Vital in the industry that we are in, and looking forward to attending a few shows next year, even if its just to stretch my creativity legs so to speak.  I really do enjoy talking with Customers about their needs and what makes their crank turn and even though I still receive many phone calls and emails, its always great to see the Client in person.

So, here’s to a way better year and look forward to seeing some of you on the tarmac, always great to hear from you all and get an idea of what you are creating at home.