A round peg in a square hole.

Sunday I took a little road trip to go pick up a 1965 BSA A65 for one of my next projects.

The people I purchased it from were like, "you sure it's going to fit in your Jeep? Sure you don't want to rent a trailer?"

To their surprise it fit in like a glove!

The sound of beezzzzzz..zz..zz.z.z.

Special #6 has been getting some nice write ups(buzz) the past week or so. You can check it out at:

http://www.bikeexif.com/harley-sportster-custom-2

and most recently at:

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/08/24/speed-shop-design-special-6-by-chris-flechtner/

Thank you all for your support.

Chris

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Thank you Jim!

I just received a great set of photos of Speed Shop Special #6 from Jim Gianatsis at fastdates.com



The pin up shot will be in the upcoming 2011 Iron and Lace Calendar.



I think they came out really great. Thank you so much Jim for all your support and enthusiasm.



I can't wait to have my new builds in the Long Beach show next year!!!



See the rest of the set at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/motormaniac/sets/72157621956362249/

You learn something new every day!

Polishing steel

A simple and inexpensive way to remove rust from and polish steel surfaces by hand is to rub it with aluminium foil dipped in water. The aluminium foil is softer than steel, and will not scratch the surface. As heat is generated by rubbing friction, the aluminium will oxidize to produce aluminium oxide. Aluminium has a higher reduction potential than iron, and will therefore leach oxygen atoms away from any rust on the steel surface. Aluminium oxide is harder than steel, and the microscopic grains of aluminium oxide produced creates a fine metal polishing compound that smoothes the steel surface to a bright shine.

Slayer Espresso

I designed this machine last year with a team of crazy coffee scientists. I was in charge of the outer appearance and over all feel of the machine, the other guys did all the hard work! It was such a fun project and the machine is totally changing the way people think of espresso.

Check it out at www.slayerespresso.com

My pops circa 1969

Out in the sun

Here is a nice pic of Special #6 from the Long Beach show courtesy of Jim Gianatsis.

Datsuns are FUN!

This past Sunday I met a wonderful gentleman named Steve who had a donor 1965 Datsun Roadster he let me cut the dashboard out of. It was fun talking to him about his cars because he was the purist and I was the guy who can never leave stock stuff alone. I think he was a little horrified to hear of all the things I have done and plan to do to my 1969 Roadster ;)

These are his two cars.

#3

Actually the reality of it is the numbers I assign to my bikes are not in any particular order, this build was more like number seven... I think?



I surprised myself today as I scanned images for my upcoming website because I started feeling pretty nostalgic as I studied the details I had fabricated so many years ago. Made me wish I still had the bike but the reality of it is, you have to eat!



You just need to remember there will always be another one coming up that you will like even more.

Hot rods are NEVER finished...

For me that is the essence of a Hot Rod. When you build something from the ground up and think about every nook and cranny so many times you can't help but continually ask yourself, "how can this be better?". Well yesterday afternoon I had the urge to go into the shop and get my hands dirty. The bird catcher on my bike has always bothered me a little because when I'm riding it keeps my right leg from holding the bike tight when I need to maneuver quickly... a feeling I don't care for. So I decided to take a piece of scrap perforated aluminum and a velocity scoop I had made a year or so ago and make something all new for riding the bike. I will probably still show the bike with the Ford horn scoop on it but this one a a bit more practical.

I chamfered all the holes in the pref, it's .125" thick. Domed it in the press. Then a turned the scoop to take it like a stone setting and plannished the edge over with a hammer.

Almost too blingy for the bike but I like it!