Monthly Archives: August 2020

A New Era is now here but, we shall always be riding our Motorcycles, no matter what is thrown at us!

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
31 Aug

CORONA DIARIES 2020 from the  deep warm depths of La Mirada. California

August is now out the window, on its toes and halfway down the road, thanking god that his part of 2020 is now in the can and hopefully the next time August comes around, we might be able to life a more normal lifestyle.  I mean, the one we have now sucks like a new Dyson and I will be glad when we can count down the 2020 timer on December 31st approaching midnight.

Things here have been quite crazy work wise, as I have exhaust orders up the Ying Yang and many daily custom parts flying out as soon as I make them, which tells me that people are at home building and creating their own unique two wheeled machines and I am super stoked to see that you are putting all your frustrations and down time to great use and at the end of your build, you would of created your own transportation and can enjoy 2021 way better than this year.

So today i thought I would put some vidoes on my Blog to help your day and week for that fact, go by a little easier.

And for the next segment of two wheeled entertainment.
Life in the megalopolis can grind down even the most badass individual. When the city rubs Aki the wrong way one too many times, she hustles her way onto some sweet retro custom motorcycles and gets gone… Tokyo Gone.

Next up is the amazing Jody Millhouse of Thornton Hundred motorcycles, which is based in good old Blighty, over in Milton Keynes, home of the Concrete Cows.

Thornton Hundred Motorcycles work using the latest in CAD design and CAM manufacturing technology to create truly unique designs. They are constantly re-investing and with every success comes fresh investment into new products and manufacturing techniques. They are dedicated to creating a relaxed and personal buying experience from our workshop that is based just outside of Milton Keynes, near Junction 15 just off the M1. They are also committed to delivering exceptional customer service, responding to all enquiries in a timely manner, inside and outside of working hours.

Now, check out just one build of a Brand new 2020 Triumph Bobber, as Jody takes a new ride apart and transforms it into what I would call a “Fat Attack” and creates a beast of a machine that has Cad Custom parts, hand made stainless exhaust and Custom Lower trees, I loved the clip ons that use a snap ring, very Novel. May not be your Cup of Tea but wanted to share his video as he creates some awesome works of moving art. You will have to put up with the odd commercial in between the build but its worth the look at the quality that Jody is known for.

Sunday and many an hour getting this CB550F Dialled in.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
23 Aug

A Super Hot Weekend, why do I attempt such crazy work when the weather is like this? I guess we all do right?

A long day but managed to get the old carbs out as the idle was not functioning, but a complete redo was needed and boy what a pain in the arse the 550 carbs are top get out of the frame.

I dont know what Honda was thinking and if you are like me, you dont have time to look for a service manual and then read through all the jargon as to the correct way to remove the carbs.

Honda never want to share photos to make it easier, so no quick way there, I looked at the bike and just went ahead and took it on as a Customers machine and went from there.

Sure, I have worked on over 100 of these bikes but they all had the air box missing and now I know why, as they are a fecking Royal pain in the rear thats why, but I did manage to figure it out and as it was 100 degree’s in the Garage, I had to be as quick as I could muster, but that plan went right out of the crappers window and I struggled for quite some time to be honest.

But now I can look back and laugh, well maybe now LOL, it required a lot of patience and I had run out after 20 minutes and the swear jar is filled to the brim now, but much better for it.

The Carbs are on tight and I had to undo the air filter box and move it back about half an inch as thats all it would go and no matter how fecking hard I tried, I could not get the whole air filter box out, probably because the breather hose was catching but I did not want to remove it if I didn’t have to. I then managed to remove the rubber hoses from the air box and that gave me a little wiggle room to get the carbs off but not much.

I managed to pull the carbs out from the Left, but many people told me they will only go in and out from the right, so no idea how I managed that but, they came out and undamaged too.

The carbs needed a complete overhaul and I checked the rest of the bike over, the throttle cables are OK but I could do with new ones, I didn’t have a pair on hand, so lubed up the originals and they function great. but, putting the carbs back in is not as easy as 760’s, especially if you are using the stock air box.  I basically did the same thing but this time I headed from others and went in from the right.  And after much swearing, sweating and a lot of grunting, I got the carbs to get to their position, and- to help the carbs fit back into the intake manifolds, I put a smearing of axle bearing grease around each opening.

Plop, they went in, I did up the hose clamps on the manifolds and then I covered the air box rubbers in WD40 and then slipped them back into their positions, rotating until sat flush in the box.

After reconnecting the clutch cable and throttle cables and more hoses than a bloody fire truck, I emptied gas tank of the old fuel and bunged that in my van, as that will run on anything.

Bought some higher octane gas and poured her in and the bike fired up right on the first go and idles lovely now, pumped tires up and took her for a little blast up to about 60 mph around the houses and it runs great now.

So, any of you attempting to put carbs on or off and still use the stock factory air box, take heed, use WD40 and grease as it really helps and get those rubber hoses off the air box first to give you a little wiggle room.

A nice all together machine, Genuine 11K miles and now she fires right up and rides quite well to be honest, I do think I will replace the tires as these are original ones and I will feel happier with new rubber on this machine as this is now my Girlfriends bike and I want to make sure all is good for her to take out anytime she wishes.

What amazes me is how damn quiet the bike is with that big old chrome Cannon perched at the rear of the bike, but, its staying on there as the bike is too original to mess with to be honest and would like to keep a stocker around anyway.

I will do a few more things to the bike as we go along, I would like to powder coat the main stand and kick stand at some point, so may buy another set and do it when I feel like I have some coating to do, that way Jennifer can still use the bike and no real down time needed.

I am happy that the bike now fires up right away and purrs away to its hearts content, this will be a keeper and I am sure will only get miles on it around the countryside where it will reside in an old style barn.

Hope that you like the Blog today? As I am sure that many of you can relate to the trials and tribulations that we have to go through sometimes, just to keep these machines running?

Have fun with your machine and I am here to help or advise if I can, this is a big family when it comes to 2 wheeled machines and thank you for taking your own time to read my exploits and hope that it made you smile at least once?

 

Thursday and almost the weekend.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
13 Aug

As we approach the weekend, I am sure there are many of you that will be sweating your arses off in the garage, shed or back yard, trying to put your long term project together and give you something to do while many places have forced you to stay at home.

Be it a Tracker, Brat, Cafe Racer or restoring it to stock, I am always here to help with questions and as I have built so many of these inline fours over the 20 years here in California, I am always happy to give advice as to help you repair your big 4 machine and get it back on the tarmac once more. Below was an Old 70’s bike I found and got running in just 2 hours.

Spending time in your work area with your machine has never been more exciting to be honest in these times, as you can focus and continue to build a machine to your style and color and the only thing stopping you is your imagination.

I always have things to do or finish or even for that matter, make a brand new part for the SOHC and this month is no different, I have a massive undertaking for a lot of exhaust systems and Hoop conversions right now but I will succeed and get this all done.

I love what I do and thank you all for your emails, phone calls and texts about building or supplying parts to you, and I strive to push the envelope all the while.

Have fun and remember I am just a text away if you need help or direction, Motorcycle Building and riding should be fun, we all stress when we get stuck, but I am here to at least try and help you from pulling your hair out. Thanks for reading my little Blog today and hope I can help you with your Motorcycle.

Something to watch whilst you are at home.

Sunday and plenty to do in the Garage

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
09 Aug

Hey you lot, hope things are OK with everyone?  And you are trying to get on with your Motorcycle Project in this Pandemic. I am still flat out playing catch up and thats a good thing to be busy.

With the weekend crashing by so fast, its hard to sometimes catch up on a daily Blog, but I try as I know many people read what I am up to etc and like to hear from readers of the things they are doing to their 2 wheeled machines in this strange times that we are in right now.

I have a multitude of things I have to try and get sorted, over 50 more exhausts to build, more Tee shirts to design and I have a 550 Honda to Rebuild Carbs, a Triumph Scrambler that needs a service and a bunch of Customer orders I need to pack and get ready to ship for tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be my 58th Birthday, hard to believe that I am approaching that bloody Golden age in 2 years, but I feel like I am in my 30’s and thats because I have a great girlfriend that helps me in what I do and achieve, and having a strong support system is paramount when it comes to a business.  And with Jennifer at my side, we can accomplish much more than if i was trying to do it all on my own. She rides her Own Motorcycle and I am so fortunate that she has the same passions and interest as I do, we make a great team.

 

Well, I am going to get a few things done but I was thinking of things I may like to do some day and I thought about Hill Climbing on two wheels, its a fantastic sport for spectators too, maybe one day I will have a go, id prefer a Vintage bike but hey if the opportunity arises, I’d give these bikes a shot. Have a great Sunday everyone.

 

Friday at last, the weekend begins

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
07 Aug

Its that time at last, Friday evening, its nice to know that the weekend is now here, I have many orders to try and get out the door and tomorrow I shall be up early so i can pack a bunch more orders to send to my Customers.  It’s my Birthday Monday and although i have to work, I am blessed to have another year of doing what I love and I shall be churning more parts out this week for sure.

Have a Great weekend all of you and hope you get some time to work on your steed or even get to ride it.

Exhaust Systems update

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
05 Aug

The time is flying her in Southern California, I am so busy right now, mostly with exhausts and making other parts for our beloved Machines, etc and I really appreciate you supporting me in these times that we are in right now.Volume is a little quiet but just wanted to say hello to ALL you out there.

A CB500 Honda with a Tough Attitude

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
05 Aug

I sometimes have to kick myself to remind me that I have created all these Custom Motorcycles sometimes, its amazing that I still have a fluid creativity when it comes to two wheeled powered machines and the next bike i want to show you is a great stealthy bike that I sometimes wish I had kept.

I dont have the best pics of this machine as I had a shitty camera, but at least I got some pics that you can make out what I did to this old 1972 CB500 Machine. It needed a lot of work and was a non runner and missing a lot of parts but I was sure I could build something fun and affordable with what I had as spare bits and bobs scattered around the garage.

The old girl needed some help and I used what I could with parts I had around my garage, this was many years ago now and I had a few 750 parts in the rafters, so thought I may as well use some of them and see how this goes, but nothing ventured, nothing gained is my saying and it was fun to piece this little 4 banger back together, of course in bigger clothes than it had stock, but thats what I liked about this challenge.

The Motor kicked over, so I cleaned up the carbs and she ran quite well, so I thought that I may as well have some fun on a budget and see what I can create in a short amount of time. The engine was really responsive to be honest and as I had a 48 Tooth CB750 sprocket on the back, I knew she would boogie along as soon as the flag dropped.

I had an old beaten up 1982 CB750F Gas tank that had seen better days, so I cut out the flap and gas tank lock and welded it closed, drilled a 2 inch hole and fitted a Monza Style Aluminum Gas cap and then set about and hand hammered the tank for that old Manx look, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this big old tank.

I Polished the forks and rebuilt the internals, then laced some 750 rims up and drilled the front brake rotor as well as rebuilding and polishing the front brake caliper too.

Braided hoses on the brake made sure this puppy would stop when you grabbed a handful of Anchor, I pressed out the Curved license plate as I wanted the old school British look.

Like I said, a mish mash of parts but cost nothing to put together to be honest and this was almost 20 years ago now too, time sure does fly when you are having some fun with Motorcycle parts.

I used a Harley 16 New rim for the rear and Shod both rims with Bridgestone tires as I like the handling of those boots. The rear seat tail piece is off an old Kawazaki Z1 race bike.

I used the stock shocks and swing arm to save some money and had an old Mac system that I never used and was sat up in the rafters, so I threw that on and it sounded ok with a shortened baffle and rejetted Carbs.

The clubman handle bars and the long tank, gave for a fun lay down cafe feel to it and was a blast to ride, it had a taller rear sprocket, so it got out of the gate real quick.

Even all them years ago, I was using Oil pressure gauges as its a quick way to make sure your heart beat is pumping in the motor, had to make an extension pipe to be able to connect under finned cover.

She sits nice and high for a 500 and boy was it snappy off the line, the first three gears and you were almost at 80 mph, what a fun machine to blap about town on.

Hazy pic but glad I still had some images left of this old 500 Honda and hope you like it too?

I sold it to a guy in Pasadena who then phones me to say a car ran over it and dragged down the road for a few blocks, it no longer exists, big shame as it was a great little Bar hopper Cafe Machine.

 

 

One of my Old Dunstall 750 Honda machines

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
03 Aug

Wow! Where does the time go these days?  I literally forgot about building this bike and found some tiny photos someone took of me, so thought I would try and show them on here, so you can see this Classic machine once again.

Fun times when I lived in the City Of Orange, where I crated so many Motorcycles in my garage and worked everyday from Dusk til Dawn, creating cool crates out of Original old CB750 bikes that had been stored away for years or simply left outside to let the elements tear them up.

As you can see, I managed to rebuild an old Cafe Bike, it had Paul Dunstall 5 gallon Tank and a TT syle Manx Seat assembly, and was such a blast to ride around when I got it to fire up.

I had a set of Borrani rims on it too with Paul Dunstall rear sets, a rare find these days thats for sure, but this was a great little set up that I wanted to blap around town on for a while.

I have owned quite a few Dunstall Machines over these past 20 years or so and never tire of stretching their necks out on the back roads, just pure Nostalgia.

It had Dunstall Clip on’s and an Old Yoshimura 4 into 1 system too, I found it in boxes at a Garage sale in Los Angeles and dragged it all home with me with a big smile on my face.

The old girl ran pretty good once I had sorted out the carb issue, 3 blocked idles jets and a dirty needle base, then she wanted to fly, but- the Tires were rock hard, so decided it was time to revamp this old bike as I had a Customer wanted something on these lines but with more color.

The rear tire got wore out pretty quick and lucky for me, I get on with my neighbors as they got used to my daily shenanigans with Motorcycles etc.

Laying down more smoke than a Beginners BBQ lesson, I wanted to make sure that I had a little fun with this machine before I did some changes to it for a new customer.

I really didnt have any photos of this machine as I was so busy building multiple bikes, but wish I had taken a bunch back then to show others all these years later.

As you can see, I fitted one of my New 5 Gallon Dunstall style TT Tanks and one of my Custom seats too, this Motorcycle with its Candy Tangerine was a head turner in the Sun.

Hope that the Owner still has it and is racing about having a Blast as much as I did with this Classic cafe bike, it was fun to put together and maybe I will see it again one day?

New ride arrives at the stable 1977 HONDA CB550F SUPER SPORT

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
02 Aug

Well, a fun weekend and today being Sunday, I have plenty to do back in the workshop as we acquired another two wheeled machine that is a real classic find and glad that I was able to snag it from the buyer.

It does pay off to go through a few listings from time to time on the social media pages and Facebook was no exception- I was just periodically scrolling through the bikes for sale page and all of a sudden, this Burgundy Honda 550 came into my View.

To be honest I was surprised to see it in the condition it was in, so I messaged the owner and wondered what he would take for it, as I had just spend a few quid on presents for my girlfriends birthday and a few bills had come up lately, so wasn’t really in the market for a ride at this moment in time. But I thought I would see what the person could tell me about the little inline four and maybe I could go and look at it.

The owner was a young fella that acquired the bike from his grandfather recently, it is a one owner from new 1977 Super Sport, so I made plans to come down on Saturday and take a peek and this classic Honda Four Motorcycle.

I drove down with my Girlfriend Jennifer to Los Angeles , its only about 35 minutes drive, so in the Big White Transit we went and before I knew it we were there, with no where to park, so parked up down a side street and left my Girlfriend with the van, as LA is notorious for parking finds or being towed etc.  And then walked about a Block to the underground parking where the bike was located, I got there and I was pleasantly surprised how nice the machine was.

It ran OK but didn’t idle and the chap said its only got 11,000 Genuine miles on it, he used to ride it on the weekends as it was his granddads, and he purchased it from him in Minnesota and then had to move to LA to work, and didn’t want to take it on the freeways, and needed a bigger motorcycle, he said his granddad bought it from the dealer brand new in 77 and had never dropped it and looked after the bike. I knew that the problem was probably just the slow jets were blocked and a rebuild isn’t too much of a deal to get that purring right again.

The bike Sissy Bar on the back with the chrome rack and a big Chromed Crash bar at the front to protect the engine etc, both purchased back in the day in 1977 from the dealer, not the lovelies of choices but that was the thing to have back then, but that wouldn’t take too long to remove from the machine to look cool ones again.  The deal was struck and gave the guy the cash, he was happy and so was I, I happily pushed the bike around the corner and up the sidewalk for a block, feeling happy that I just acquired a true classic machine.

As soon as I turned the corner, I could see Jennifer by the van, rear doors open and the ramp already laid out, but what I then notices was a Huge smile on Jennifer’s face, she said ” I love it!”

I knew I was in trouble then, as she asked if she could have it, and of course, being the big hearted guy that I am, I melted to her and now we have a CB550F in our driveway.

The first thing I did, was remove the old sissy bar and rear luggage rack, we shall keep it in storage in case Jennifer goes out and needs to load the bike up or go camping etc, but I removed the Sissy bar and the front Chromed Crash bar with the cruise pegs on, the bike looks like it did when it was on the showroom now.

Will clean her up a little over the weekend and during the week, it does need the slow jets cleaned but will get into that another day, but its super clean for the year and wanted to share the bike with you on my Blog, to see what you think, this is a keeper and will get used for sure.  Nice to know there are still a few about like this and glad I took the time to follow up on this inline four.

Thanks for reading my Blog today and see what we sometimes get up to on the weekend, Motorcycling is a great hobby that turned into a Career for me and never tire of it.