J and P open house pics!

My friend Markus and I headed east to check out the J and P open house this weekend. I put over 1300 break in miles on the 53 and had an amazing three days. we stayed at Kody Wisner's place. He is a great guy and builds a lot of neat bikes.

Here is the storm that chased us all the way down to Iowa. On our trip down it only rained for ten minutes, I wish I could say that about the trip back lol.

Here is a pic of Markus and I in front of a giant strawberry. I am a sucker for cheesy big tourist traps like this. I try to stop at most of them.

This is a 09 curtiss twin that my friend Steve Huntzinger restored. Everything on this bike is so nicely done. It looks like jewelery. I am amazed at the work that he can do. Amazing stuff!

There was a big arlen ness exhibit at the museum. There were about ten of the neatest Arlen Ness bikes at the show. 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Arlen's shop, he has done it all and probably has a great perspective and view on things over the last four decades. He is the ruler of all rulers.

J and P photos part 1

I ran into my friend buzz and Cris who are both riding 15 harleys in the cannonball. I didn't get a picture of cris though.


Here is an original paint 1912 Henderson. I love this bike. I have a couple hundred pics of it in a glass case that I took at the old location. They hadn't moved the glass over yet, so I was able to see it with out a barrier. what an amazing piece. It is the only original paint one known to exist



Here is a pic of me and smoothness. This is the most amazing bike. When I was a little kid I had the ness catalogue with this on the cover and I would stare at it for hours. Arlen Ness is one of my heroes, he has truly done it all and is an innovator and leader in the mc world. Whenever I saw him this weekend there was like a white aura glowing around him, he seriously glows. he is the best!




Here is a pic of the 53 rolling over to 2000 miles. I love it when all the numbers move at once.





Here is a pic of a bunch of wind mills. These things are so damn big.

J and P pictures part 2

Here is a pic of me with John, he started j and p cycles thirty years ago with his wife jill and grew the business into the number one aftermarket mail order business. I first met him when I was a hyperactive add eight or nine year old. He has always been a nice guy and I am lucky to call him my friend.


Here is a pic of the fifty three outside with the 46 that we built for auto gem Tom. It is so neat to see tom out riding his bike. When Marcus and I first rolled into town we went to the americ inn to meet up with some friends and the bike was out in the parking lot. It makes me so happy to see bikes that we built being used! Thanks tom!



Here is a pic of me ringing my gloves out and getting ready to leave Anamosa. It just started pouring when we rolled into town at eight am.




Here is a pic that I took of Markus on his 98 heritage springer. I remember seeing these bikes when they first came out and thinking they were the coolest things. I was so excited about how nice the horn covers looked. They were so much closer to an old cover from the thirties or forties when compared to reproduction ones. I remember ordering three of them when I was 12 lol, why wasn't I playing baseball like normal kids.




Here are all of the bugs on my windshield. Over all I had an amazing weekend of hanging out with good friends, looking at old bikes, putting break in miles on, and relaxing. Things have been getting really crazy at the shop lately and I forgot how much fun old bikes are.

fc53 and Ds 42

This little hump between the springs was used on 42 springers. This is a tough bugger to find. I have seen them on xa forks wr forks and big twin forks!


This is a rolling chassis that my friend and I put together a couple days ago. It is a 42 el that my dad and I are building for a friend in Texas. It is so nice! It will be skyway blue with all the goo gaw shit on it. I am excited for this bike!



OOOO check out the early brazed hub and one of our grease zercs. That's right, we make our own grease zercs. I am obsessive over little details like this!




I also made some good headway on the 53! The motor and transmission are mounted for good. I am going to put a pair of s3 tires on it today!





I tried mounting this oil filter and did not have much luck with it fitting the way that it is supposed to. I get pretty frustrated with reproduction parts that dont fit. I am not sure which route I will go on the oil filter, I'll think about it over the weekend and make a decision next week.

Knuckleheads bringing people together!

I met Markus on my flight home from Cincinatti in February this year. At the airport in Aberdeen I invited him out to the shop to ride knuckleheads. He came out yesterday and I gave him five minute tutorial on how to ride a rocker clutch and he was off! I have so much fun teaching people how to ride old bikes. Here is a link to a video that he shot while riding our 47, I am glad he had so much fun!


http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1482053817261&ref=mf

T Shirts

My dad and I never really saw the need for a shop t shirt, but through the years a lot of people have asked about if they could buy one. We finally bit the bullet and decided to have some made, so anyways here are the final proofs. Jim Ward did the art work for them . He is an absolute pleasure to work with. If you are thinking about coming up with a new logo or tshirt look him up at www.idologos.com If you want one of our shirts shoot me an email at amcayouthprogram@hotmail.com and I will get you on the list. They should be ready by the second week of July!

panheads and knuckleheads oh my

Here is a 53 fl that I will be putting together in the coming weeks. It is for my friend Frankie from Omaha. this is a fun little bike.


Rear 3/4!



Here is some old junk knucklehead that is missing a few fins.




Welded in place





And the other one installed. This is a tough repair to notice raw, and once it is painted no one will ever know I was there!

DB 36!!!!!!!!!!!

Well my dad, neil, Sheldon and I worked late into the night to get this bike done. I was up until three, and woke up right at six to finish it up. We worked hard and got everything together, filled it with gas, and the darn right petcock leaks like a siv. It will only take a couple hours to fix so that isn't to big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. I am very happy with how it turned out and can't wait to ride it!


WHOA! this bike is very nice. I am sending out one of our new rear header pipes to get chrome plated for this bike. the one that is on it now is the only part that isn't up to snuff. That is an original aircleaner! HOly moly!



This is how a dash should fit up against the tank. That seam is perfect. take notes!




WHOA man o man o man. This bike makes me speechless. I have to get the early shift pivot bolt cad plated still. I love the color of these decals. They have a really nice deep gold color! The paint and body work is flawless on this beast thanks to the world renowned Larry Medwig! Thanks Larry for making our hillbilly farmer fixing look nice!

foot board studs!

Well I spent the morning finishing up the front foot board studs for Ofive. Early 36s have different studs, they do not have a provision in the threaded part for a front crashbar since early thirty six crashbars mount to the sidecar loops. I got the dimensions off of an o.p. bike when I was in highschool.


Here is the finished stud ready to parkerize.



It is always nice to test fit stuff! I think the strangest thing about this set up is the lack of a washer between the brake pedal mount and the foot board stud. It is right though and just like originals

36 progress and new friends!

Here is a picture of a 36 37 kickstand bracket that I have been saving for doug's 36 for two years. It has some nasty goober welds on it, but most original brackets do. These things take a beating!


My dad and I got our eternal combustion jackets and shirts in the mail today. We took this staged photo of them so you could see what they look like. we are not really peeing lol



Here it is all ground up and ready to mount. I had to build up both plates on the inside and file them to fit. I spent most of the day on this project, but it turned out well. It works exactly like it should. Also take note of the stop this is a 36 only piece and is actually two plates spot welded together. The transmission adjuster strap is of the same construction.




Mounted and ready for action!





These two folks showed up at our place today from Wisconsin. They took a roadtrip across two states to come see our operation and hang out for a bit. I asked them ten or fifteen different times where they were headed and they replied "Aberdeen" what a could deal and a great compliment!

early 36

Well I am back on Doug's 36. I am kind of sad to be almost done with it. This is such a great bike. Working on it is like being in a dream. It's kind of difficult to explain. Anyways, I took this pic so you could see the seat. I spent most of my day getting the t bar to fit. It was made by a fellow in ohio who I will not name. It took a ton of work to make it fit. I am satisfied with it now. In hindsight I would rather of used one of Micheal Breeding's seat ts.


Here are the freshlyre done gauge faces for the oil pressure gauge. Lee Armitage makes the new stickers. They are boss



Here is how the spring is installed. This was a struggle. I think that hd probably had elfs or sweatshop kids assembling these back in the day.




HEre is the finished gauge. It turned out well and works great.

pics from this weekend

Well my friend Gina and I spent the weekend riding the fifty three around Minnesota. We were supposed to go to her cousins wedding, but we ended up getting lost and just hanging out. It was a blast! It is probably the only normal weekend I will have this summer.


Here's a pic of Gina by the Minnesota sign. It rained most of the day on Saturday.



Here is a pic of Gina checking out Paul Bunyons boat anchor. I broke the prototype oil tank site gauge by over tightening it which is what caused the oil leak on the muffler. Woops.




The kickstand on the fifty three is a repro one, and I think that it was defective. The bike kept leaning over more and more every time I used it. by the end of the trip the bike was leaning over at a 30 degree angle. It must not have been heat treated properly. I will have to fix it before I take it for a ride.