I went for a nice Christmas ride last week with my friend Jay .

He has this oddball BWM style rig with a sidecar and he rides the shit out of it . We decided to go for a ride down into Imperial beach where he grew up as a little kid before he moved to Chula Vista when his folks split up . I hadn't been down there in ages and it's really been cleaned up a lot .

On the way back up we decided to stop at a San Diego brit bike legend , Sonny Angels . It was closed because it was a Sunday , but we got to peek in through the windows and see all kinds of super neat Nortons & Ducattis and Triumphs .

more nerdy awesome

Who says you have to like one or the other . . . I'll take both !

Star Trek and Star Wars both rule for different amazing reasons . Can't we all get along !!!

Stolen from Chopper Dave's site

We took this picture while we were shooting for the Horse magazine feature . I was apparently having a great time .

I can't see how it didn't make the cover !

Free plug time for the guys at Strider

My son just had his second birthday and he got a Strider running bike . If you want to know more about them go to the site in my links " training wheels suck " and read up on it .

If you have a kid , or know someone with a kid that is around 2 and you want them to be able to ride a bike with pedals before they're 3 , then this is the deal for sure . I've bought several of these for friends of mine and they are all super balanced and little rippers now .

I'm going to take this one apart and trick it out a little , my friend Mikey is going to stripe it up some and I might put some different grips on it . . . but I'm excited to see how he takes to it . He already pushes it all over the house yelling about his cycle and " mommy , daddy bike bike ! Stuff like that .

The mini cut is optional but adds to his outlaw lifestyle . Not available from Strider however .

so , Disneyland . . .

We went to Disneyland for the first time with Vaughn a few weeks ago and he loved it . We took the train up the coast which is about a 2 hour ride and when you figure in the cost of parking and gas & the stress of driving and crazy people , it's actually pretty economic and lots of scenic fun .



We got there at about 11 o:clock and the park was almost empty . We didn't wait more than 5 minutes on the first 3 rides we went on . Jungle boat ride was great , and then we tried Pirates and he loved it . Next one was Autotopia and he was barely tall enough to go on that ride , but made it by almost an inch . Amy thought he lucked out due to his puffy hair-do .



Of course we had to get the obligatory Mickey hat , he loved it . . .



Then the reason we were there showed up . Our friends Mark & Kristin have November birthdays and Mark had never been in the Enchanted Tiki Room . . . well that didn't last very long . This is Vaughn's favorite Aunt & Uncle , Mark & Kristen . Also his God parents for good measure .



What would a trip to Disneyland be without screaming babies , so we decided to try the Haunted Mansion with no luck , he loved it !



From there it was just a short train ride to the Small World and of course since we already know that Vaughn loves trains , it was a no brainer that he would go shit house for the little steam engine around the park . Amy went a little crazy as well . . . maybe she had too much trains for one day already .



That was pretty much the end of our day at Disneyland as we had been there already for a good amount and Vaughn was starting to lose steam . He held up pretty well though and just when I thought that the day couldn't get any better . . . bing bang pow . It was owned by this guy .



We caught a cab back to Angel stadium , and he caught a brief second wind waiting for the train home .




That didn't last long though & we all caught some much needed Z's on the way back down the rail . . . see you next time Disneyland !

Davey Beardo's 'Lil stinker , Christmas blowout , $5500

The nice paint job is not on it anymore, but lets be honest you don't want someone else's paint do you? Custom Freddy Hernandez frame , home made custom stainless exhaust , lots of details and tweeks on this machine . Don't let this one get away !

E-mail me with any questions. lildaveyrocks@yahoo.com

Buy this bike or I will come find you and hunt you down & send you straight to Valhalla !!!!

This is a flyer I made for a band i used to be in

The guy who played the other guitar was named Doug , and he died a while ago due to some substance type situation he had going . The drummer also died but he died on his own terms by his own hand . His name was Ed . They were both pretty good guys and at the time good friends . Sometimes I think about that time in my life , I had just graduated from high school ( well 5 years after high school , seems like forever . . . ) and everything was so surreal .

I had been tattooing out of my house for a few years at that time after tattooing out of a shop that used to be down town on State street and Broadway . I would do a few tattoos during the week and make my rent , then go play shitty rock music with my friends a few nights a month and get drink coupons & get laid here & there .

When I wasn't tattooing on friends for wine or pizza or a few bucks ( if I actually needed money for rent or mushrooms or something tangible ) , we were partying and staying up for days at my house . It was a pretty neat existence for a while , but I can't imagine that kind of abuse to myself now days . A steady diet of late night mexican food , cheap wine & whiskey , sleeping till noon or later and hosting 3 & 4 night long parties in my living room took its toll and I'm glad I got out when I did . For that I'm thankful . . . I have a very long list of friends who didn't .

I guess the live fast die young shit wasn't all it was cracked up to be .

this is a series I call , wandering around my garage

Vaughn as a monkey , at sunset , Oct 31 2009

this is how I spent my day on Halloween

I went to a party at our daycare for the parents & kids that went there , and as soon as I walked in , 4 kids started to cry , 2 got scared and left the room and one who was dressed up as a clone trooper ran over to me to get a picture taken .

Mister little helmet , monster feet .

I got the parts cleaned up for the front end and bolted it all together

I think it looks good and makes the front end look even more slammed . I've always loved how these frontends looked all bulky and heavy looking . Nothing nimble about this wild hog , it's fat , low & heavy, all the way .

who wouldn't want one of these

Talk about living it up . . . I checked eBay and of course there were 2 of them for sale .

My son the mad scientist

Sometimes in the morning we watch motorcycle clips on Youtube and he gets pretty fired up . This is his " crazy chopper " face .

I call this one " what a bunch of scumbags "

Enjoy

The new bike is in the compound and ready for a gentle massage

Like I said in an earlier post , This bike is pretty much what I wanted . Almost an anti-chopper . Don't get me wrong here , I still love me some fast , dangerous , loud , chopped up rigid jalopies . that will never change , but I felt it was time to slow down a little . This bike is not going to be a bobber , or chopper or brat style , or anything that is currently being touted by the lifestyle mentors of the world .

It's just going to be a good old Harley .



I plan on making simple , easy changes . Nothing that can't be done over the course of a day or two of fucking around in the garage with a few friends . I want it to stay a driver throughout the whole process . Tweek on it here & there , but no major teardowns or alterations .

First I'm going to put the tins back on the forks . I love that look and it will be weird bolting shit back onto a bike instead of hacking it off for a change . Then I'm adding some taller , more narrow bars . I have a set of Johnny Chop baby apes that a good friend gave me a while ago and they have been just waiting for a bike like this to come along .

I just got a set of '08 springer softail risers off ebay again , gotta love the new / old style of some of the factory parts these days . I had to get new risers because I didn't want to cut up the bars I plan on running & the risers on the bike now are for 2 piece bars .

Then I plan on putting a 16" wheel up front in a nice full fender to finish the effect . Total luxury ride , with a starter and working brakes front & rear .

Maybe some mids or buddy style pegs just for foot options .

Down here these style of bikes are referred to as Ghetto Blasters , or Barrio Bombers because in the Mexican neighborhoods during the 70's this was how they did it . Lowered bikes with tall bars & a fancy paint job .I might have to wait on the paint though .

Shit I might even leave the bags on for a while just to be a dork . I also plan on making it a 2-up bike so me and the O.L. can go for a righteous putt to the local wine bar , or all you can eat / mimosa breakfast joints in our neighborhood . The bags will be nice if it gets chilly and I need to pack a sweater vest or a pair of mittens or some chapstick .

Knees = breeze .

This bike is not only visually a lot different from my last bike , but also very slow and relaxed comparatively . When I would leave a curb on the '56 I would either shoot off like a rocket , or stall it . Lots of power and minimal room for slipping the clutch and playing it cool . This bike just rolls it on . 74" of stock HD horsepower , and as the previous owner Hatch told me . . . " Just about everything is fresh , including...top end 10 thou over molykote pistons, fresh heads, chains, battery, wiring, starter, tires, tubes, etc etc etc. "


and as you can clearly see , Vaughn is very excited about a pile of new tires laying around .

The right place at the right time

Swap meets , yard sales , garage sales , things laying in an alley , you name it I love other peoples up for grabs or discarded stuff . So it was no surprise that we decided to go to a swap meet one saturday morning about 15 years ago . There's a local swap meet that we generally always go to but this morning we decided to go to one that is down in my old neighborhood that I grew up in . The spring Valley swap meet , is in a town about 10 minutes away from Bonita which is where I grew up and where my dad still lives , So we decided to go see him & my mom and then swing by the swap meet for some other peoples junk .

As we're strolling through the isles I see an easy up with a bunch of musical instruments . Mostly brass , a few guitars and way in the back a bunch of congas & hand drums of different shapes & sizes . I decide to see if there are any name brand guitars and when I realize they are all junkers I look back into the shadows to peek at the drums . . .

I see one that is all scribbled & painted on . I can tell what it is , but in the dim light and with it slightly obscured by a few other drums , it's hard to really tell what I'm looking at . I get a shiver and think to myself , " man what if that's a dutch striped conga drum .

I get a little closer and start moving the other drums out of the way and there it is . Obviously very old , automotive style pin striping . I start to breathe a little faster as I scan it for a signature . . . nope , nope , nothing . . . shit who did this shit ?

Then on top of the conga there this wild round asymmetrical design with a small barely readable signature and a date . Watson '58 .

Shit that's not Dutch . . . wait Watson ? LARRY WATSON ?

I ask how much for this busted up old drum , and someone says $20 . I say how about $15 . . . deal and done .

A little time goes by and I contact mister Larry Watson through this hot rod shop that was sharing a complex up north and since they are having an open house I should bring it up to have him verify it for me . I do and he does , and we talk for almost an hour with him sharing stories about when he did that for his dad so long ago and that was actually the only one like that he had ever done . He actually remembered it well and pulled out a wad of bills and started peeling them off . " how much will it take " he asked me . It's not for sale , is all I came up with .

Talk about the holy grail of swap meet finds ! I've only ever seriously thought of getting rid of it once but was quickly talked out of it .

I thought I would put it up on here for posterity .

I had one then then had to sell sell it, now i got one again...

Ya an SR-500 1978 it was sitting for like 20 years. I cleaned the plug, checked the bowl, got some gas in it and bam fired right up . I got some plans for it, I think it will make a good Prunetucky street tracker. Stay tuned for this one...

There she goes , one single tear . . .

Well , mister truck guy was very nice and promised me that the old girl would be in good hands and taken good care of . It's always sad when one of your little ones grow up and leave the nest , but there are exciting times on the horizon . The new owner seems like a pretty good guy and is really excited to get it on . I hope he manages to get all the inspection stuff out of the way easily and no hassles , then gets a full tank and some good times !

Martin , I hope you have as much fun on it as I did . I'll miss the old heap , but I'm cleaning the garage up in honour of the new baby on it's way !

A few people took notice of her a long the way , Greasy Kulture featured her , as did The Horse magazine just recently , and soon to come out , a little footage in the new Two Wheeled Terrors video .

Good times had & good times to come .











Here you go Martin , loaded up and strapped down . You'll have her soon !

So the '56 is sold . . .

and soon it will be in a box & on it's way to my new friend in Germany named Martin . I thought this one would hang around more than this , but a deal was struck and that's how it goes . All this just as it was featured in the current issue of The Horse . Everyone go out and buy one , the article is actually really neat and layed out pretty cool .

I should have waited since the bike is a celebrity now , Greasy Kulture and now the Horse . I could have gotten a few more grand , but no biggie . . . the guy who bought it sounds pretty cool and super into it . I think it's going to a good home .

Anyhow , now that money has changed hands , I thought I would give everyone a sneek peek at what's next on deck .

Details & changes to follow , once it hit's the ground from Florida I'll be tearing into it .

Romantic lighting for a romantic evening

Ridin' dirty . . . ridin' small

I'm going to be somewhere near the stripper dunk tank , more than likely

As it turned out , the location got shut down due to a suggestion from SDPD apparently so it was moved to the clubhouse instead . It's always nice to get to be invited to go hangout with everyone at the clubhouse , but it was hot as shit out there in Hell Cajon and I had a plumber coming to my house at 3 so I stood around for a few hours , got the first half of a sunburn and came home .

All that being said , it was a nice time .

I'll be here this weekend,

cheesy rider , in the beginning it seemed so innocent

Another Gary Frye creation

Style and grace . . . gotta love it

Self explanatory

This little gem rolled up in front of my house yesterday

My friend Matt has another friend Reaps and this bike belongs to him I guess . It's his San Diego bike , because apparently he lives up in San Jose or something and he likes to have a bike in town that he can use when he's down here .

Anyhow Matt is the keeper of the bike while Reaps is out of town and he decided to spend an hour trying to kick over the mag fired goodness , start it up and then drive it over .

Vintage panhead chopper gnar .