More Uncles and motorcycles

Over the past weekend Mrs. Surly and I went down to Seymour to hang out and went to a little party in honor of my Crazy Uncle who passed away last year. We had a great time and with the help of my Old Man, we dragged back Unk's 1971 BSA Lightning. He wanted us to have it and now we do. Not sure how joint ownership is going to shake out but this would be the third BSA twin and fourth total BSA I have been the proud (or partial) owner of. One of my friends is a motorcycle savant and has a set of sleeved carbs for this baby. With those and a little TLC, I could have this thing running in a weekend. If only I had a weekend.

The Beesa in STB's pickup.

In an unfortunate coincidence, another uncle passed away a few years ago as well. He had a 1969 XLH Sportster. I eluded to it back in June of 2011. There was a bunch of stuff that we helped sell for my aunt but understandably, she wasn't ready to sell the scooter at the time. I respectfully asked for right of first refusal and long story short...I'm picking it up on Sunday.

There's a sporting motorcycle hidden somewhere in this picture.

So I've been trying to keep the garage and my life uncluttered and I wind up with half a motorcycle and a Harley. Well I suppose that since it's Independence Day here in the good old U.S. of A the purchase of some Milwaukee iron offsets the partial ownership of the BSA from jolly old England.

This would be the target. Pic lifted from The Zon

It certainly warrants it's own post(s), but this is what I'm thinking I'll do with the Sporty. The blue bike is what it would have looked like originally. The Old Man thinks the hardtail is a bad idea. I don't know why that would make any difference to him considering he has about 10 bikes and only one is rideable. If it's parked, what difference would it make if it's uncomfortable? Just kidding Chief. I think making something like the above would be pretty attainable without too much money being spent. Of course, I've said that before.

Happy Independence Day!

In the meantime...

As usual, I've got a lot happening. But while you are waiting patiently take a look at this nice knuck. These pictures were taken by Mark Kawakami over at joyridesartco.blogspot.com. Mark is a fantastic bike photographer. My favorite, actually. Pretty much all of the posed, lit pics I've ever taken of bikes were done in hopes of pulling off his style. I digress. I'm guessing TVI will dig this one.

For a bike that's got all the cliche stuff going on, this is a really cool build. The suede black is just right. I love those grips. I'm really digging the axed tanks. It's subtle in this shot, as it should be. Built by Kurt Morrow.

You can really see the payoff of the ax job here. Nice and skinny. Great photos, great build. Go over to Marks site and look at the rest of the pics.

I'm talking bout my generation.

Vans 4Q Sk8-Mid Lmtd from Utility Board Supply on Vimeo.


I used to skate. I read Thrasher and TWS. I had a BMX phase as well. The motorcycle thing was always going on but there were a few years there where I skated a lot. I still have my board and my bike. I'm 39. The guy in the video is Max Schaaf. He's 'bout the same age. He's a pro skater and chopper builder. He was in Thrasher and TWS as well as a bunch of bike mags. What am I getting at? I don't know. This video is kind of neat and I think says an enormous amount about my generation. Or at least one slice of it. There's quite a bit of my Dad's generation floating around in that video but filtered through the eyes of a big kid who's 38 going on 17.Not a bad looking shoe but probably a little too much $. I'm sure every inch of that scoot looks exactly the way he want's it to. Sounds like it runs well.