Born Free weekend

i went down to LA with the XS and the harley for born free 4. it was an epic weekend to say the least

 wildfires in utah :( lots of people losing their homes. we were under a cloud of smoke for an hour of driving

 the day before the show, we went to the beach! so much fun and refreshing

the show was huge!

 nice paint

 water-cooled knucklehead

 Max Schaaf had the craziest gastank i've seen, very nice bike. i really liked the stance.
after the show i saw Max and gave him some praise, he was having trouble kicking his pan, he asked me to kick it over for him! but he got it going that last kick before i could give it a shot...
all the pro builders were very nice. Caleb Owens won the biker series. lot of good bike builders getting recognition with awards.

 one of the few XS that was there surprisingly... lots of nice work on this

 great engraving

  the show was winding down so i brought my bike over to the Pangeaspeed booth where i was hanging out all afternoon, i needed to load up my gear. we wanted to swim in the nearby lake after the show, but they said "no swimming"

 the harley broke down on the way to Chabott Engineering. i think its the voltage regulator (18v is too high!)

 we made it to Shinya's shop

 Shinya is very talanted! very inspirational bikes

then we went for a good canyon ride! the california canyons are very long. shinya rode the CB450, Ayu rode her SR500, and Cal borrowed Shinya's ironhead. very fun!

more wildfires back in utah...

i met a lot of cool people, i look forward to seeing everyone next year
thanks for looking!
-greg

Golden Spike

my friend David Newkirk shot some photos of my XS650 chopper before i take it down to the Born Free show in LA later this week. these are just a few, there will be more to come.

i came up with a name for it a few weeks ago while assembling it.
Golden Spike

thanks!
-Greg

XS engine cover

I cut this engine cover a little bit, I didn't like how it had a different angle than the electrical box, so I trimmed it back, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Also, I'm trying polishing (kinda) for the first time. The engine cover was pretty oxidized before, I hit it with some 220 grit, then brown polishing compound.
It's nowhere close to mirror finish, but it's cleaned up, I don't want it too shiny.

Nickel plated

I got the XS bits back from the plater today. I decided on nickel, rather than chrome. I figured it'd complement the brass nicely.

Escalante

Tins painted

I had Old School Helmets paint my tins. It looks good! I can wait to see this stuff on my XS!

Good beginning of the week, and summer

The last couple days have been rad. Moto Monday was last night, there were definitely some cool bikes there.

I got some parts from The Factory Metal Works for the triumph chopper, so I got it running and took it around the block, I've still gotta get a proper rear tire and fender. Then I'll look more balanced.