HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL !

Wow !! How about that, here we are, 2020 and no flying cars or motorcycles.  As a kid I saw the Jetson cartoons and they said in 2020 there are flying automobiles, but its now 2020 and all 4 wheels are still firmly stuck on the tarmac.  but a new year and much to do that is for certain.

The festive season has gone by the wayside and now things need to continue forward like the momentum of my next Motorcycle, this was going to be a laid back build, accumulate a few parts and ease into building something to celebrate my 20th anniversary as a bike builder and parts designer, then the phone rings, a gentleman asked if I was still fiddling about with my mechanical machines, and of course I said yes.

He then informed me who he was and he took my tenacious Ton bike to the Sturgis show a few years back and is now creating another new event held at Sturgis in August, to celebrate older builders that have been in business for 20 years and still going, well that is what I am celebrating this year and he wanted to see if I could build a bike for the show in South Dakota that so many thousands of people flock to once a year.

 

Jeez I would be honored to be in amongst the best of the best there and whilst most of them will be choppers, I will build MY style bike, no point creating a chopper for Sturgis, I mean, its so hard to create something so unique in 7 months and I am sure that have seen it before, so, as with my original Plan, I hope to build a caff bike that put me on the map, but with a few different bits of styling to show of my little bit of homebase skill I still have in my skull.

My old Black and Gold Dunstall bike caused quite a stir and a bike I should of kept onto if I could of, so I thought what better way than to do something in that style as people know me for Cafe machines, so, even though this will be a tough thing to complete in the times scale, as I have other commitments, I have to try and get into creating a tough looking tarmac eating Caff bike that shows what I am about.  Of course some will scoff and say I should of done something else, but, I want to celebrate my 20 years here with the bike that put me on the map, and what better way is to do something that I love, the Good old Ton up Cafe Racer Machine.

 

And so it begins, I had an old frame that a friend donated to me, someone had ran it as a Cafe back in the 70’s in LA and I am glad to be able to do something with this old rusty chassis and this is where we start the New year by working in my garage, doing what I enjoy. Look Below and you can see I removed the stock front end and managed to wedge a GSXR upside front end in its place and, am happy with the thicker fat look up front.

No idea on what I am going to do 100%, but I am hoping to get this to look how I have imagined it for quite a long time, money and parts are what will hold me up, but we shall see how we go.

So, here we go with a few videos of what I have managed to do over New Years Eve, and New years Day, bit of fun working in the garage over these resting days LOL.

I just wanted to show you lot what I do myself and using minimal tools in the garage, this will be a fun build thats for sure.

I am lucky that I have good neighbors right?

OK, I have cut the frame rails and wanted to show you how easy it is to fit the slugs into the frame, so that the hoop fits over the slugs for a snug fit.

Still a little more to go, but hoping this is giving you some insight to what I do when I am creating my machines in the garage.

A little closer to what i want to achieve, just needed my compressor on, and of course, a drill and a air grinder.

I am glad that we have good weather , and I have accomplished quite a bit today.

I made a little bit of noise but, my neighbors know what I do and are fine with that.

With the day coming to an end, I was happy with all I managed to accomplish to be honest.

I hope that you are enjoying these little snippets of what I have done over the last 2 days?

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Steve Carpenter

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