love.... cycles

sorry for the overflow of motorbike posts lately, its due to the shit summer we are having and with snowboarding months away i'm getting obsessed with bikes.

so the other day i came across the blog of the heralded bike shop Love Cycles. Now this dude is sweet; he makes cool old school chops and that fact that he and i share the same physique and hairstyle (well, not anymore for me) just makes me want to buy a bike from him. Plus with a name like Love Cycles, you've just got to be down.

i'm gonna start saving my pennies and hopefully one day, i will have some love in my garage... hopefully

speed racers

Recently, Nan and the boys went up to Oregon Raceway to test out their rides and driving skills on the track. while i wasn't there, Nan has been raving about the experience every since.

now, I really dropped the ball on putting his video footage together, but better late than never i always say. so sit back and enjoy 8 minutes or 3.5 laps of ORP - nice drivin nanny boy!

by the way, i still hate techno, or trance or whatever you call it. but the footage is nan's so he picked the track; it does work well though

baggers and wolf shirts

Johnny boy and I dropped in on the Trev Deeley Show and Shine this weekend as we learned the unfortunate news that the Gastown motorcycle show may be cancelled for this year. So with the classic "I'm only gonna enter if you do" lines, we entered our bikes in the show and tested out our luck for the day. Strangely this years show had easily the lowest turnout that I have seen in ages, and while the bagger scene is obviously alive and well, the sporty and chop catagories were totally under-represented. That being the case, John and I were up against two other sporties - one which was an ode to the canucks with some crazy canucks thrown on it, and the other being a very clean, flame jobed 1200C. Despite this, people were hyped on the bikes and the feedback on the builds was super positive. In the end, John and I finished the day, winning the category; with John in second and me sneaking out the win which is actually funny as hell as neither of us expected anything.


the steeds

Additionally, a couple of Johnny's buds came out also with sporties which resulted in the highlight of the day; cruising 4 pack to the city = awesome.

the homies

Easily my favourite of the show. Built by world renowned bike builder Paul Cox, this thing took 3 years to build and the detail and workmanship was amazing


Overall, a pretty amazing day with some serious laughs and good times. Nice work fella's

he's a winner!!!!

I must be crazy

its true, i really must be nuts. Only a month or so after getting my bike all dailed and running, I already have the itch to build another one. Yes, I stated that I would probably never do it again, but for some strange reason I actually miss working on something. I know it's weird, but its true. This time around I am thinking about building a classic chop - you know, ole school engine, kickstart(?) and skinnier than a cracked out NYC fashion model. Who knows if it will really happen as cash is tight, and the priority is getting the house in order- but if I come across an old panhead motor or bike…. I may drop in.. Yes, I am insane

These are the bikes that are responsible for my latest craze - damn you all.




above are the two that started the craze, this years and last years born free giveaway bikes


easily my favorite bike of the past few years. chicago willies panhead - i love everything about this bike.

back on the chain gang

So after snaping the belt drive on my bike I manned up and did what I should have done in the first place: convert it to a chain drive. It was a messy install, but the bike runs better and in my opinion looks a lot better than it did with that tired old rear sprocket. Yep, I should have messed with the gearing to make the bike quicker at low speeds, but I thought it best just to stick with the stock ratios.

And I know the chain is a bit too loose in this shot - it has since been tightened up and is much better

the macho man, Randy Savage

By now you probably have heard that one of the biggest legends in wrestling, the "macho man" randy savage passed away yesterday. While i'm completely out of touch with wrestling today, we were pure wrestling nerds back in the day; and the macho man was one of the best. as a tribute to the macho man, i'm gonna go home and drop the elbow on my kitchen table. if i don't post an update in a month you'll know that it didn't go well

one interesting note is that elizabeth, savage's manager/wife actually died in 2003 of a drug and alcohol overdose at lex luger's house! what a shock, she always appeared so wholesome, hahaha

should have left it stock vol. 12

to prove that cheese is a universal term, i present to you the first motorcycle should have left it stock feature.
Now, take a moment and look this thing over - bags all over the place and a cockpit that would give twiggy from buck rogers a woody.

good lord

Boardin on the brain

getting older sucks. seriously, the more you get older the more responsibilities you have and the less time you get to do the things you love. For me, that's snowboarding. Now this past season i had a record low days on the hill and after complaining about it i finally decided to do something about it. So, i took 2 days off work in february, and told no one that i was off work. I snowboarded 4 days in a row (with the weekend) and it was easily the best shit ever. On day 2 Seymour recieved 50 cm's of snow and i was up there bright and early to shred the powder. Due to the snow Mystery chair was closed and i didnt feel like hiking so i hitup lodge chair for the day. it was such an amazing day that i had to break out the gopro and capture the action - so here i present 3 runs at mount seymour, easily the best day of my season

Colt Fake - Back again

so, i've featured madman Colt Fake's BMX parts here and here - while checkin the interweb the other day i stumbled across another section of savagery from mr fake and just had to post it. check the nonsense from Banned 4 life

shakedown run

after dealing with the coldest april on record we finally got a nice sunny day in vancouver. I hadn't had the chance to really shake the bike down so this was finally my chance. Johnny boy bought out his new (just finished) nighster and it was on.

here's a shitty little vid i put together for proof of the fun. enjoy!


while this was indeed an awesome day, today turned out different as my drive belt snapped, leaving me stranded a good 10 miles from home, good times

Its alive..... alive!!!!!

after months of stress, work, stress, financial strife and more stress the bike is finally done. it runs well and turned out almost how i wanted it to be. thanks to the wife for bein so patient with my crazyness, and obsessions. a few minor details to work out and i hope to not touch a grinder for the rest of the year

proof that it actually runs. sorry for my ass being on predominate display

getting my ass kicked

Recently some work buddies coaxed me into attending a Mixed Martial Arts training class. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, “Nick, in an MMA class? Why?” and my answer is simply, “why, not” as I think you should try everything in life, even if its not your thing.

So off I went to Versus training, which is aptly located just off skid row on Hastings Street. When I arrived at the spot I was told that the Brazilian Jijitsu MMA training takes place in the basement (or dungeon) of the shop, so I tentatively cruised down to the basement. Once there, my expectations of attitude laden, muscle head’s in affliction shirts was quickly dashed, as the whole thing was the complete opposite; regular dudes stretchin around with absolutley no attitude.

For the next hour or so, the instructor taught us how to get in and out of moves, while also subjecting us to some intense warm up drills. After warm ups, and a bit of instruction it was time to practice the moves; yeah, it was weird havin’ some random dude jacked up next to my crotch, but once I was past that, it was actually pretty cool to learn how much “thinking” goes into this whole grappling thing.

Yep, I’ve seen MMA dudes on tv and thought “man, why are these guys so outta gas, they’re just rolling around on the floor?” but when the free grappling session of the training started, I quickly realized how amazingly fit MMA dudes are, and also how freaking tough it is when you are getting worked on the ground.

At the end of the class, and after having my ass handed to me for an hour straight; my final thoughts were how amazing of an experience the whole thing was. Will I go back? You ask? While my body is still sore from the whole thing, I will definetley go back.

If you wanna check out the whole thing, Versus is offering 2 FREE classes, check it out here

marketing genius!

a friend of mine sent me these old school ads that i just had to post. check out the genius marketing from back in the dayz....

maybe you single cats should try this at the bar

oh shit!

progress pics cont....

working as much as i can on getting the bike buttoned up and ready for action. finished the paint, mounts, etc... right now i'm knee deep in wiring and on getting the small details done (which take forever). Nan dropped by the other day and snapped off a couple of iphone pics of the progress. almost there... hopefully the thing will start, haha



if you are wondering where i got the idea for the paint, i completely jacked boltsactions seth huot's old paintjob that he was running on his nightster. sorry seth, hope you're not too pissed about it

schaaf + vans = success!

max schaff is dope. his 4Q blog is all time, and he's killin it in the bike and still enjoying popularity in the skate scene. with all this, it's about time brands back this dude, and Utility Board Supply and Vans are on it with this solid pro model shoe. check out the video and buy the shoe from Utility Board supply

essential viewing - liberty vintage motorcycles

one thing i like about getting older is that you can finally drop the "i've got an open mind, i love everything" crap and say exactly what you feel about things. nowadays, i have no problem saying that RnB sucks, and that dudes with pony tails look like wankers.

watchin this video reminds me of this. as this dude tells it like he sees it, and doesn't give a shit. while i don't completely agree with everything he says, the film is amazingly shot and is definetley essential viewing, check it!

Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles from Etsy on Vimeo.

jacked from pipeburn, thanks

do the right thing

unless you've been living under a rock - you know the good people of Japan are experiencing a truly heart breaking situation. while the blog usually serves as a spot for excessive shit talk, this whole thing reminds of how quickly things can change. One thing for sure is that we are insanely lucky to live the lives we do, and for that we should do what we can to help. the most accesible way is to donate via this link - do, it. it's the right thing to do. now, go hug everyone that matters to you. do it

goodbye iphone.....

Yes, its true. My iphone died the other day; I was gutted. It’s been tough coping for the past few days as it was my alarm clock, camera, personal arcade, planner, internet device and yeah, and even my phone. To all those people that I say I’m gonna call, I actually have a real excuse now as I have lost all of your phone numbers. I’m working on getting my details together again, but its gonna take some time.


not my phone. but i needed something to illustrate the broken phone point

Anyone got an iphone 4 they would like to donate?

teasers!

Finally got my engine back and had a couple of good days work on the bike. Almost finished mock up with a couple of little details here and there left to take care of, so i just had to roll it outta the garage and check it out in the sun. just a tease though.... next up paint!

not bad, if i do say so myself

after the mock up, i jetted over to Johnny boy's to help out on the first mods with his new nightster. now, john's last bike was banger, but i'm predicting that this one will cause some serious freakouts. first up, change out the stock bars to some masterblasters & pop a new air cleaner on (pics of that to come)

ahh, so nice and clean. if only it knew whats in its future...

the new bars are sick. j-man, getting ready for a test ride

world of wheels show

UPDATED WITH NEW PICS!

so this past weekend the wife, the boy and I ventured out to the Fraser Valley World of Wheels hot rod n' bike show at Tradex in Abbotsford. While i'm not much of a muscle car guy, i'll take any opportunity to check out some cool cars and bikes. Walking into the show, we were met with some rockabily music, and a bunch of gals clad in 50's clothing. the 50's vibe was so strong that i expected to see the fonz rolling around the corner at any time.

ohhh yeah, i love it

Jimmy shine's so cal speed shop show stopper, no paint on that thing. just cleared

Jokes aside, there was some serious rides at this place; with a killer selection of rat rods, muscle cars, classic rides and my favorite, some ol school hot rod trucks. unfortunatley, i forgot my camera in the car so the only pics i have are some shit iphone ones. I will be uploading some more as the wife's iphone was also used, but these will have to do for now

classic bug

the dude was doing some amazing pin striping; i felt like i should slick back my hair and throw on a leather jacket, total greaser style

yeah, yeah, number 9 cycles again



cobra. who cares if its probably a kit, its nuts


slick fully custom roadster