moribund garage

Bats In The Belfry

2011-06-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Heal What Ails You.

More From The Skate Demo

2011-04-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Garrett, Jay, Trent and The Nomad
From September 2010 Skate Demo at Dark Horse Brewery
See Jay ripping here too. From Love Cycles Blog:
http://lovecycles.blogspot.com/2011/02/mini-ramp-sessions.html

2011-02-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

My good pal Derek Ketchum took this last year at Gilmore Car Museum for Relix's MC/CC "Relix Riot"

2011-02-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

Being from the Mitten State, I had to steal this from COC.
Holton - just northeast of Muskegon.

...Quickly Becoming Mortal

2011-02-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

Mr. Anzalone Likes Kitties.
Or he's cleaning up whatever blood ran off the plastic...

2010-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Forgot about these, from back in July.
Cora digs scootin'.

2010-10-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

2010-10-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you Catie Mae Watson for choking up your Papa Cabe.
Words are absent, and that's as good as it gets.

2010-09-30T11:30:00.001-07:00

If only to remain at just a glance,

or a step away and not be pushed
I'd give it all today.

No greener pasture forgets the future

nor any candle burning at both ends

can remove the still frames caught at that moment.

2010-09-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Praise of Violet Fire,
Scope of it put in check by release;
Kept sane once again.
Praise of Violet Fire,
Ascend above misery.
Searching new chapters without reason

Nevermore.

...Small Victories...

2010-05-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sleeves and down tube extensions in. Need to fit them a little tighter and they're gold, Pony Boy.

Touch up on some of the 50+ year old welds, plus split sleeves made for supporting severely pitted lower frame tubes.

Tannis, TCB, baby...

Every Pan likes to go for a ride to see it's next life.

...Change 2012...

2010-05-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Churchill/Watson for 2012

...Oh, .45, why do I love thee..?

2010-05-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

Cinematic awesomeness of the mid-nineties

...The Glory Belle...

2010-05-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

I like this bike. Just time to true up the wheels. The rear hops worse than a one-legged man playing double dutch.

Making use of the adjustable trees

Old foot peg to kicker peg, from the used/junk cache

...Randoms From Above Ground...

2010-05-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Some rockers I got from a used parts and junk cache I bought

Moribund

Ahh, yes... The bootleg Body Count silk screen I bought while at a huge flea market in Madrid is finally hanging up again.
Kiss my ass, Tipper Gore.

It creeps in me like heroin

Neat old fiberglass tank

SX 175 tank

I really dig the Mothers Choppers sticker

Snap-On Mugs before the PC po-leese had to ruin it

...The Life of the Violet Fire...

2010-05-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Heart, manufactured in 1959
What was once a breathing, moving machine has laid dormant; and soon awaits a new home.

Reseal with some James Steel Core Gaskets and a new Colony engine sprocket seal.
Tanny's spinning up a new spacer at .336"

Upper end was done four years ago, and is spotless. Damn nice to see.

Assuring murderous movement forward in all four gears since sometime in the mid to late 1940's.
The tails were purchased in a load of used and junk parts a few years back.

...Under My Influences...

2010-04-26T11:02:00.001-07:00

Why is it the good die young..?

...Soon to be The Violet Fire...

2010-04-24T19:15:00.001-07:00

Beautifully trimmed and fit to the stock bung forging and tubes.
Tannis is the man.

New Neck
New backbone
Mechanical brake anchor tab removed
Lined up and waiting for 1.125"

***
Did you lie
when you said you needed
the cool of the night
to caress your deepest thoughts?
Violet Fire
***

...The Story of the Lodestone...

2010-04-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

Simmering in the Samhain of my soul since 2001

My uncle Rick left an impression on me in the spring of 1996, giving me the deal of my life to buy his old '74 sporty while in I was in auto college, making payments when I could for the princely sum of $1000. Therein lies the disease through which I have lived the last 16 years of my life. The sporty is no longer in my possession, but still in the family.

My second purchase was a 1959 Pan in a '65+ swing arm frame a local cycle enthusiast named Kenny Kipp. Kenny was a good friend for a long time; a stand-up guy, fair and honest. He died last year after his heart finally gave out. For what I have learned, live and breathe now, he is partially responsible.

A fair total indeed I paid for a running Panhead. I would consider Kenny to be responsible for plunging me into the madness that IS kick-only; and for the shape my right knee and ankle are in. I know he won't feel guilty, though. I can't express the amount of knowledge and experience I gained through owning that bike. There was a mass of history with that purchase, and I have been lucky enough to add to it. I am stoked that it lives on for this project; another frame, another springer and more revs for its flywheels.

Then I ran into this long love affair.
I was lucky to receive a call from my girlfriend, telling me to call this Rick guy she worked with. He had a rolling chopper chassis he was looking sell. When I checked it out, I found it was a molded smooth Paughco at about 40 degrees, an early hydraulic HD front end with a 21" wheel, an old self-supported Corbin Gentry king queen seat, a molded and smoothed fat bob rigid style fender with a cat face tail light and a wheel with a gold insert, one that I'd never seen on a motorcycle before, housing an HD '67-'72 juice hub & drum. After talking to Rick, I learned he got it from a guy from Athens, MI who had a shop down there. We found a price and I rolled it out of his garage and into my (tiny) one.

The frame underwent numerous cuts and ideas, but to no real fruition. I traded it to a pal a couple years ago for a trailer. It still sits in Tanny's garage/shop, awaiting the chopping it has always truly deserved. The seat was decoration then given to a pal for modification to his '49 Pan. The rear fender was cut, sanded and butchered for another project that I have no recall of. '98-'03 was a bit of a blur in spots. The front end was swapped onto my pan, as I peddled the one I had to the pal with the '49. The Cat Face went to a sickly raked, barely running Honda 750 to L.B., another pal I shared a shop with at the time.

The wheel was too cool and different to separate myself from. Later research said it looked like a "Gold Digger" style wheel. Yes, it once was anodized gold, but it got stuck in a box of shit to get sand blasted years back on accident...so it got some cast gray, and here it is.

The current frame (49-52) came along from a guy name Jack Sueme, from Bellevue, MI - as a friend knew I had, he knew I was looking for an HD Rigid. This gem came with an oil tank and upper engine mount. Back to where my girlfriend works, a fellow named Andy talked to Jack, who had an old wishbone in his basement. Jack was in the Navy out East in '72 when he picked the frame up for $50. I high-tailed it up to Bellevue, MI and cut Jack a check. Soon after, I was thanking the graceful chopper God for a nice little basement find.

About 6 years ago, I nabbed the narrow springer from a local ex-chopper dude named Squid. I lived across the street from him at the time, and was there for a 4th of July Party when I spotted it in the rafters of a small garage he had. "I bought that back in 1969 and rode it on my '52." I nearly lost my tongue trying to ask him what he wanted for it. A little harassment later, he sold it to me. I have to update the info he gave me, as I have forgotten details of the who, what , when, where etc.

The the pullbacks I bought at the Kalamazoo swap meet a couple years ago from a place out of Jackson, MI.

More info and pictures to come

2010-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

LODESTONE REVIVAL

First, this picture was stolen; from where, I don't recall. It is not mine, nor do I want to imply that it is. I will lay claim to it being an inspiring photo, though.
One can see the magnetism it inherently holds, from its creator's hands; a vision of a previous disposition. It's an answer to a searching man's yearn to feel it, to make it, to mold it into the roadway's Sunday Best...A tempest of polarity, a lodestone, the center of revival, where steel collects and forms; The art of picking and saving and scrounging and waiting ten years for the right vision to come along, naturally evolving into loud, murderous movement.

Is It Worth The Risk To Be Revived...

2009-06-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

"Head burning drunk

I don't need none

That's right man, I'm fine

But what I've got to know

Is have I wasted time?

My eyes are blind

To almost everything you see.

And I'm drowning through sorrow

- You recognize me -

Be me for a change

Under the silk

In a box of pine

And that's dying -

Is it worth it to be revived..?"

The very definition of Moribund, looks to be forgotten

Be-spiderwebbed and dust covered.

Ravines in the conscious mean more than the day

Is alive.

So once again, the path of the fingers pluck and peck

Sitting close to the heated screen and

It is revived.

Once Moribund

Now humming a tune

In its classic form and ridden as it once was

Asphalt Justice

For a once forgotten machine...

The notes from above ground will roll on

Notes From Above Ground...

2008-06-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

BILLETPROOF 2008

I made it to and fro Billetproof Detroit, 2008... Although I was plagued by some clutch issues, loosening of my springer axles nuts and our chase vehicle losing and loosening rear wheel lug nuts, all was well and we partied all day and into the evening. The show was cool as usual and getting bigger. The Pan ran great and survived a sweet burnout. Shit, the only bikes in the burnout pit belonged to the SpeeshifterS - my '59, Dirty Steve's '49 and Dirty Dorothy The Triumph Tramp. We met up with a fellow friend and Brit Iron man "Mark" at the show and went to Boomer's for some post-party food & spirits, pool and mechanical bull riding for the ladies. We headed back to the hotel, where we continued to indulge in many frosty brews and party liquor. We continued our evening's adventure out in the hotel parking lot where the hotel stashed all of the old beds, couches, dressers, chairs, lamps, and other breakables while they refurbished the interior. We set up our own little camp and trudged on, until the pizza guy and rain came, simulataneously. The delivery guy kind of looked like Powder... Nice fella...
All good fun. More photos to come...

RMJ

Notes from above ground...

2008-05-21T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is from about 1972, of my pop, on his Honda 450; the first of his Honda chops.

Photos of him on his bikes are few and far between. Maybe more will pop up.

History...

Hooligan Honda Bobber is complete... for now.

2008-03-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hot Rod Flatz paint and some shakey novice pinstriping...

Be there Bitchez!

2008-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Yeah this is us...

2008-03-03T09:00:00.001-08:00

Tan-Dawg and Mad Johnny- Heavy Rebel Weekender 2007

Congratulations to Cabe on the birth of his second daughter- poor bastard- I know just what he's in for- I have two daughters myself... I'll always have a warm shop and a cold PBR for ya big fella- we can go over how to scare the hell outta all those horny high school boys so they don't dare touch your daughters!

Notes & Photos From The Undergound

2008-02-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

The 2 scariest things in my life: Corabelle and Layne. Cora is 3 now, and Layne is brand new. Cora is ready to lose her mind with wonderment with being a big sister.

My latest and greatest. This is Layne Winfield Churchill. She was born 6 weeks premature at 4 lbs, 14 oz, but has been a frickin' trooper. She was in Bronson Methodist Hospital's Neonatal Infant Care Unit, in Kalamazoo MI. She will be home this weekend, most likely. Mom is doing well, and getting back to her old ways of giving me shit about all the stuff I leave lying around the house.

Aaaahhhhh... Ruyter Suys... My fairy God-Mother. She was Super Cool to us.

My girlfriend and I went down to Blue Cats in Knoxville in '01 for Nashville Pussy. Good time. Hung out after the show for a while - A Great Birthday Present!

Jeremy, Bianca Butthole (Bianca Halstead - RIP) & myself - Bianca was killed in a car accident December, 1 month after this photo... What a loss. She was cool & very friendly. The bar shut down, so we were down and out for brew. She and Blair gave us brews from the band's stash. Hells fuckin' yeah!
Betty Blowtorch opened the show in Knoxville and blew my fuckin' doors off!

The one and only Tracy Almazon from (ex) Nashville Pussy. She was cool, too. My gal and I had a blast and the bands treated us great.

Some more choice parts for one of the '59 Chops. Steel clutch release lever. I'll spin up a couple pins for it soon. Hope to run a bunch of parts in some powdercoat soon. I scored the caliper (brand new take-off) from a friend for a half-gallon of Crown Royal - I'll do business anytime, Muff...

Notes & Photos From The Underground's Past

2008-02-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

The first of many mods to the old '59 - lots of bad decisions made while riding this bike, but many miles run...

As I brought the '59 home in 2000

If there ever was an "old school" I hope this will qualify, at least for Generation "Why?"
'89-'90 - Ron Allen deck, Indy trucks, Santa Cruz Wheels and Deadbolt Kingpins. My old buddy, Billy Scott in the background

Fresh out 'o High School in '95 - Spain in June, Atlanta in July & off to Auto College in August

Isn't this the photo every parent fear, their daughter's boyfriend and her climbing on the back of his motorbike? I think I remember, 1997: Green Dickies, low-cut Docs, black snowmobiling helmet and yeah, a wife beater... Take that, society! Lots of fun had then.

They sure don't make kids that cool these days...

Baccus Creek, MI, just outside of Houghton Lake. That was a fun trip. Late Spring of '99, I think.

Notes from Moribund's Underground

2008-02-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

A favorite piece of "chop" history of mine, found in a local guy's used parts pile a couple years ago

Cool adjustable trees I am thinking about running and other assorted big twin goodies

A pic of some cool tanks and seat we're putting on the SpeedshifterS Nasty Nikkki '70's Sporty

Here we have the rare and elusive '48 Wishbone... I'll be assembling this with my other '59 Pan and 4 sp. trans, currently sitting in a '65 and up swing arm frame. Bought the sporty tank off my pal Devo. Probably run mechanical rear brake, gotta choose between a springer and hydraulic front end I have in the underground, here.

I wanted to add a sissy bar this year - I disassembled a bent front fork off of an old Jammer from long ago, cut the legs off and here I am with a beefy set of tubes to construct a sissy bar made for the canyons through which I will be riding here on my lovely Michigan roads. How's about that gas tax, Jenny?

- Madjohnny

The Pink Ladies

2008-02-06T04:37:00.001-08:00

Moribund Garage Girlz

Things have been happening in Moribund Garage #1....

2008-02-04T09:09:00.001-08:00

The Honda CL450 Bobber is getting really close.

Over the weekend I got the pipes wrapped, the throttle and clutch cables installed and the catch can plumbed.

Last week I fabricated a new fender strut/sissy bar mount- much happier with this one- it was the third.

Basically down to wireing, a little fuel line work, front brake bleed, and addition of fluids.

It has come a long ways from the AHRMA racer you see below.

Not happy... unless I'm hauling ass...

2008-01-25T04:39:00.001-08:00

T-Dawg doing a little vintage roadracing a couple of years back.

The Notorious Tan~Dawg

2008-01-25T04:36:00.001-08:00

...long, long ago...in a galaxy far away...

Mad Johnny

2008-01-25T04:34:00.000-08:00

The King of Rock & Roll

1975 Norton Cafe Racer

2008-01-25T04:25:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a back burner project... however it will certainly be given our full attention eventually. 1973 750 frame, 75' 850 engine and transmission. After market manx style tank, etc. I'll turn that Panhead riding Mad Johnny into a proper English gentleman if it's the last thing I ever do...

Bonefanger the Superbike

2008-01-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

Our other ride is not your mother... it's this crazy thing!

Mad Johnny's current mode of transportation.

2008-01-18T08:40:00.001-08:00

"Mad Johnny" wrenching early in life...

2008-01-18T08:36:00.003-08:00