West Coast Choppers CFL

These are still one of my favorite chopper frames. We've got this CFL project going together this week.  This one is an original 2 up, running  Paughco's narrow springer and rolling on a set of Roland Sands Designs, Diesels. It's going to be powered by an 113" S&S backed by a Baker 6speed. Stay tuned, it's happening now.  

2012 Monster Energy Supercross, On Board With Josh Grant

Easyriders Bike Show Tour 2012 Anaheim Ca.

Easyriders opened up their 2012 bike show tour this year at the Anaheim Convention Center. Pomona  had been the venue for the past fifteen or so years but for some reason unknown to me, they moved it. Anyway, since it was really close to the shop, we brought a few bikes over Friday evening. Here's some of what we saw around the show before it opened.      

Leo Romero 2006 Sprotster 883r Project

Leo's buddy, Timothy called us one day and asked if we could help out one of his riders with his bike. He didn't really know what was wrong with it but he knew it didn't run. So, we gave Leo a call and set a time to pick it up. When I got to his house he opened the garage to reveal this 883r that had seen much better days. Most of it was in boxes, flat tires and missing a bunch of parts and dirtier than any 2066 should ever be. Leo's job requires him to travel a lot so he just didn't have time to deal with it anymore. He asked if we could get it sorted out and back on the road. And since he's been riding his Night Train around for the last two years, the little 883 was not going to feed his need anymore. So he also asked us to give him a little more power. Well, it's almost done, Leo. The good people at Branch-O'keefe, Zippers, Andrews, JE, Dyna Tech, Thunder Header, and Mikuni have all helped us help you get a little more power.            

Bud Hemstreet Part 2

A couple of days ago, I showed you some pic of Buds Big Block Chevy powered '55 Dodge Pickup. After I shot the pictures he offered to take me for a ride, of course I accepted.. So, we hop in the truck, he fires it up and immediately starts to clear it out by giving it a few good 3500ish rpm revs. Now, I been on quite a few rides like this, with all kinds of different people. And, most of the time, you get in the car, they find a little open road and stomp on the gas. However, as soon as the car really starts to come to life, they take their foot of the pedal and look at you ask, what do you think? Usually I'll just say, wow, that's nice. But, what I'm really thinking is, what was that? Did you just shit yourself? Well, I didn't have any of those thoughts during my ride with Bud. He pulled that thing out of the neighborhood to Del Amo Blvd. and waited for traffic to clear. When it was clear, pulls onto Del Amo, loads up the drive line and launches it. He stayed in it through first and second gear and did not get out of it till halfway through third. Then, hard on the brakes to make the stop at Clark. It was really cool. So i tell him, wow Bud, you're pretty crazy. He just says, na, that was nothing, I'm licensed to drive a 7 second car. What???  Turns out, in his younger days, he did a little drag racing. When I say younger I mean in 2006, when he was over 80 year old. Check it out..       

Monster Energy, AMA Supercross Is Back This Weekend In Anaheim

Bud Hemstreet' 1955 Dodge Ram Shallow Bed

I met Bud about 10 years ago. His chick lives across the street from us so I see him pretty often. Just about every time I see him he's in his Toyota Avalon. Well, a couple months ago, I pull up to my house and see this thing sitting across the street, parked on the street. At first glance I think, that's a clean, restored truck, I wonder who owns it. But, I had stuff to do so I just went about my business. Then later that afternoon I hear someone get into a car. I hear them as they turn the key and start to crank it over. When it comes to life, it sounds really nasty so I  look out my front window and see Bud  pulling away in this truck. So, the next time I see him, he's in his Avalon of course but I stopped him and asked about this truck he was driving. He tells me it's his old work truck from his auto repair shop. He bought it back in 1962 with a bad crank shaft. Yeah, I said 1962, Bud is 87 years old. He ran his shop, Busy B garage from 1954 to 1967 in Norwalk Ca. Check out the phone number on the door, that was his OG number! Anyway he fixed the crank shaft issue and drove it up until 2003 when he and his son started the restoration. This time around they spliced in a Nova front clip to give him some brakes and better steering. They also used a Ford 9" rear end with 3.90 gears. That nasty sound I heard comes from a 500" Chevy big block that bud says makes about 550hp. Behind that is a Art Car 200r trans with a 2500 converter. Body and paint were done at Barry Whites shop in Corona. These picture were taken with a cell phone and don't do this truck any favors but, this is a very well sorted project. I'll have another story about Bud later too. For now though, here's the truck...