Saturday, December 7, 2013

Make It Or Break It........







Top 5 Saturday. The Parts you put on your bike do make a difference. There are the obvious things like motor and frame but for me it is all about the small details. I especially love hand made one off pieces that were well thought out and executed nicely. I have never been a "It Has To Be Perfect" kinda guy but I do try and get parts I build done to the best of my ability. I need to know they are not going to fail while on my bike and to date  have never had a single piece I have built on my customers bikes or mine fail on the road. So with that here is my Top 5 list of parts that can make or break your build.

Number 1. Handlebars and controls. Granted I am not talking about stock bikes. Handlebars are supposed to do a job, which is one thing to be comfortable and the other is to look good. True I have in the past made the look good first then the later. I do not like any kind of bars with weird angles, bends or steps in them. There is no faster way to find out if the owner is a asshat then if he has a set of 1 1/2 super bent radius z bars with fangs on the ends. WTF Simple will always be better. Lately I have been running the same risers 10" up with some narrowed drag bars. It puts my hands right in front of me and since I ride one handed 90% of the time it is comfy. I put some 10 inch mini apes on the Crack pipe and narrowed them almost 4 inches last night. So far they feel and look good. 

Number 2. Exhausted. Another part that has a very important job. They are supposed to remove the gases from your motor first and do it properly. Second of course is looks and third is sound. Most of you have never thought about what a tuned exhaust system is really meant to do. Your motor needs some back pressure to help make it run more proficient. These guys that run drag pipes with no baffles are actually robbing them selves of horsepower. those drag pipes are or were designed for DRAG RACING. That is they were meant to be run at wide fucking open for 10 seconds or so. You would also have a carb set up for that exact application. WIDE FUCKING OPEN. For my Crack Pipe this time I built a 2 into 1 set up that is tuned to with in 1/4 inch. Meaning the front pipe and rear pipe are almost exactly the same. Tuned. Each cylinder will have the same back pressure and hence should actually make a little bit more power. Again with exhaust the simpler the better. I always try and have three mounts and I always make sure I can actually pick my bike up by the exhaust. Never had a single problem since using this technique. I think when I had the crack pipe in version 2 I only had two mounts and the front pipe would fall off the front head and after a couple of times of that I added a third mount. No more issues.

Number 3. Seating situation. I will be the first to admit that chopper seats SUCK. They look good first then just suck after that. They are terrible and if I had any sense I would ride a stock bike with a GIANT CUSHY ASS PILLOW. But to no avail I have good taste and I suffer for style. What you still do have to do is mount the fucking things correctly. Springs should be tight on the seat and the frame. A lot of people use those bung things with a cotter pin. They suck and after a while your springs will collapse. As for you seat pivot go ahead a buy a nice one from Fab Kevin or Biltwell. All the others look like shit or are so flimsy they will break in the worst possible situation ever.

Number 4. No Rats Rest. This goes for your wiring. Single handed most important thing most people don't even think about. It makes your lights work, bike run, bike charge, etc etc. The best wiring job you can do is one that no one will notice. I like looking at a bike and not see any wiring. You ,may have a few hanging out and for those I always use cloth wire. Looks good and works great. 

Number 5. Rubber Side Down. Anyone in the now knows that tires are all about preference. I love Avon MKII tires and Speedmasters. They work great and look good. I have also ran Firestones and Dunlops. All great tires. Granted I ride choppers and am not slaying curves. The tires you choose need to add to the look of your bike not take away from it. Nothing erks me more then seeing a cool bike then noticing they put some fucked up CHENG SHIN 30 dollar tire on there bike. Come on and go the little extra mile and put good tires on your bike.

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