Max Schaaf's super neat flat framed shovelhead

I was cruising around in my iPhoto library and found these pictures I took a while back at a Sinners' 4th of July festival of debauchery up in the LBC .

It was the first time I got to see this bike in person up close , and it's trippy all the way to the bone . First of all , it's a mag fired generator shovel in a flathead frame , and if that's not enough to sizzle your sausage , there are tons of little tweaks and touches all over this thing that will give you hours & hours of enjoyment .

Lots of rad little tricks and neat details that make this bike stand out from the regular bike night crowd . . . it actually stands out from a lot of the bikes you see by people who build bikes for a living all day long .

This guy pulls off some pretty cool shit and I think this is a good example of his fucked up vision .

Santa is back.......

And this time it's personal..........

Neat old timey points covers for sale

I had these made by my dear friend Dave Freston , also known internationally as Chopper Dave . He does sand casting and is a real craftsman . I found this old pendant at a swapmeet a long time ago and had him cast it in thick ass aluminum . Never before seen till right now !

They're made to fit a cone motor shovelhead , & they're hand made and hand polished right here in the good old US of A ( Long Beach to be exact ) .

I only have 10 of these so if you want one , email me and I'll let you know if they are still available . If I run out before I get to you , you'll go on a list and I'll have a second run made asap . As soon as I get them made I'll get back to you and we can make the transaction .

They're $55 shipped to your door .

Screws not included , but I figure if you have an old ass Hoggly Fergalson like I do , you already have a cruddy old stock points cover & you can just use the screws you have . If not , let me know and I'll scrounge a few up for you .

I can't promise they'll get to you by Christmas , but I'll mail them off as fast as I get your email .

Please don't post on here to get one , email me at maquee@cox.net and that way I can give you my paypal info .

The Caliente Tropics

This is an actual mid century motor lodge in Palm Springs and it sort of became our new , inexpensive " Vegas " for a while . Amy & I used to go to Las Vegas and throw away weekends like they were old newspapers . We went to Vegas together for the first time with my mom and Amy fell in love with it . So much so that we eventually got married there . . . that's another story .

So we discovered Palm Springs and the Caliente Tropics through the Tiki Oasis , which is an annual tiki party / seminar that celebrates tikis and the strange kitschy drunken culture that grew up around them . I never went to the Oasis while they were in Palm Springs but after seeing pictures from the event , that hotel was suddenly on our radar . We had to go check it out , and once we did we were hooked .

It's a survivor that made it through the 60's and 70's and the near death of Palm Springs as a living city due to it's out of the way location and old hermity population . It made it through the 80's when palm springs was a shit hole spring break dive bar and college kids ran rough shot over it's aging mid century facade and tired old bars , leaving piles of garbage and STD's in their wake . It survived the 90's due in no small part to the efforts of Sony Bono , who after a 4 year stint as mayor , actually resurrected the town and build the architecture of it's new success as a thriving community and in important resort destination that is now a thriving economic hot spot in the desert .

This place is a survivor and it's changed hands a few times , but we love it and we love the tikis that watch over it . . . if you are thinking about a little vacation or a quick weekend out of town that won't break your bank , try Palm Springs and try the Caliente Tropics . See if you can find all the different tikis hiding on the grounds .

I'll give you a hint , it's more fun after a few Mai Tais .

Caliente Tropics

7 PM , about 2 weeks before Christmas and it's a balmy 77 degrees out side

Why not take a picture of my own bike , just for fun .

Got his motor running

This is my friend Mikey and I ( everyone ) gives him a lot of ( good natured ) shit because he's Mikey and he thrives on it ( sometimes ) . . . but he built this bike by himself ( with the help of a few friends ) and it pretty much rules .

He rides it all over the place and somehow has managed to stay out of jail and stay a live on it , for twice as long ( more by some peoples accounts ) than anyone figured .

I'll be the first one to call someone out if I think they're blowing it but I'll also be the first one to give credit where it's due , and he deserves a high 5 for this one .

Great job MIkey .

Now get out on the highway !

Not only did Han shoot first ....

He shot a girl....

I'm not going to be using these things anytime soon , so I want someone I know to have them

The guy I got them from said they were more than likely older Sportster bags .

I was told they're smaller than FL / big twin bags and they look original , from what I can tell . I'm no expert but these are real nice whatever they are and will bolt right on , just in time for christmas shopping !

I think $300 would be a fair price . Let me know who you are and when you want to come get them !

So who knew , you could still ride in the front of the Monorail with the pilot . . .

I did .

We went to Disneyland last weekend and stayed the night in the fancy Disney resort hotel . It was a lot of fun and everyone had a good time but Vaughn actually knew what was going on this time and he went out of his mind . We had one day of Disneyland and the second day at the California Adventure park . On the second day it was a rainy but we met some friends who were celebrating a birthday and we had a great time in the bad weather . It only rained for the first half of the day and it was actually super fun running from ride to ride , trying to find a ride that was long enough and inside enough to keep the rain off .

By about 3:00 it had dried up and all the rest of the birthday guests had arrived and we got to enjoy some cold but dry theme park good times .

That night we went to elecTRONica and saw robot dancing girls ( Vaughn's words ) and lots of neon lights and laser beams . So this was the last time we can take Vaughn to Disneyland for free , and we're thinking about annual passes for next time . I'm thinking now that he knows how much fun it is up there that he's going to be wanting to be going a lot more , and that will make it a little less painful in the wallet .

All said and done it was a little pricey , but the crazy memories that were revisited on me and the fun new memories that we made were worth it .

So yes , you can still ride in the nose of the Monorail . Amy had no idea and was impressed with my knowledge of the Monorail seating arrangements . . .



You can still find the exact physical center of the park , if you know where to look for it . . .



You can still drive around in a submarine . . .





And during the Christmas season , you can still wonder if the largest pile of gifts you've ever seen ( in your long 3 years of Christmases ) , contain anything that might belong to you . . .




Amy's boss bought us the room for her 15 years of working the sales department grind at Foundation Skate Co. Thanks Tod , it was a blast in no small part because of you . You're a good guy and a good friend . . . here's to many more !

Have a good weekend, or else......

A gift from a friend

I'll give you a hint , the numbers are proofs


more about this later . . .

I stole this picture from a different blog

And I don't generally like to take other people's pictures that are already posted and repost them , but this one made me stop and think for a second . I've been riding scooters & motorcycles almost all my life , in one form or another . I've gone on " long rides " and been far away from home and had to put my trust in my machine to start and run and get me back alive . . . but this is some other kind of shit .

Being from the west coast and riding out to the east coast on a stripped down , purposely minimized motorcycle with everything you need ( hopefully ) strapped to your back in case you brake down or have to stop for a quick repair , man that's fucking cool . I've never done anything like that .

Personally I can only imagine the feeling of waking up in the morning that far from home and feeling those first few moments when you're still mostly asleep when everything's still calm & perfect . You have no problems and the world is right , then slowly you start coming too and realize , oh shit today I have to ride back home . . . to the other side of the country ! You get geared up and have some breakfast , load up the bike and then one more time you throw your leg over the machine and jump down on the kicker , only to feel the motor roar to life just like it should .

The sun is out , but air is cold as fuck that early in the morning . You can see you breath , and your face is starting to get numb , you wish you had a few more pairs of gloves , or some extra pants to wear under the ones you have on already but you also know that soon enough the day will warm up and the scenery will change and the coast will start getting closer , but now it's time to get going .

Fucking - a , that's some neat shit . To be that far from home and the one thing that can get you back safely , that you built with your own hands , that if it decided to could ruin the whole rest of the trip on a whim by not working suddenly for some mysterious reason . . . to put your trust in a machine that requires so much care and maintenance and love and urgency and to get on and stomp that motor to life at the beginning of the homeward half of a ride like that . . . that's awesome .

This picture made me feel all that stuff .




Taken from Kemosabe and the Lodge , the link is over there in the links part of the blog .

succulents

Amy's new thing is succulents . Tiny little cactuses , kind of .

A friend of ours had to move out of her house and gave amy a whole shit load of these little guys and now she is succulent crazy , and trying to figure out where to put all of them . They don't really take up any room , but Vaughn loves to take them apart because well , they're fun to take apart . Try it sometime . You'll get yelled at by whoever owns it , but it's pretty cool regardless .

Anyhow , here's a few of Amy's succulents . Nice start for a monday I'd say .

sneak peak

My friend Jay is going to be selling a basket case shovelhead here in a minute through me , we just need to take some pictures of all the stuff and make it more enticing .

This is the motor though and as you can see , the air cleaner will be worth the price alone . Stay tuned and get your piggy banks ready . It's titled HD and has just about everything you'll need to get your knees in the breeze , except for the skill to put it all together .

That's up to you I guess .

what's going on here

7 of 9

That phrase means different things to different people . Just a few numbers in no real order or code , you would think . When you're talking to someone like me it means this . . .



Because I'm a dork and I'm a trekie and generally a nerd of sorts . I grew up and made it work for me , but for the most part I have the mental state of mind of a 16 year old boy . Go figure .

However , I have a friend who is a skateboarder and he made a limited run of skateboards that have his original graphic , just like his old pro model from the 80's . I guess he only made 9 of them and it was kind of top secret stuff . . . .



My wife works at Tum Yeto where they made them and she was there when they showed up and asked Doug if she could have one for me . Guess which number she picked .



Who's more of a nerd . . . the nerd , or the wife who marries the nerd ( and then naturally , over the course of our relationship has become a nerd herself . . . )

I love my life !

1983 FXRT...

If you have FXR fever let me say (as one who suffers from it) I feel your pain, it is a crippling ailment that has no cure, the only thing that helps is getting your knees in the breeze or to witness the FXR in all its glory. Me and the ol' lady took a ride down to our friends shop on Saturday, got a little rain but it was worth it when I walked in and saw this.... 83 FXRT with all the trimmings fairing, bags, trunk all the gauges and only 3174 on the odometer, truly a fine specimen. So next time it rains go ride around to your local shop it might just be worth it..

What did you do???

More good times & urban camping

Camping pretty much always rules . Even camping on a parking lot is fun if you have good friends and a huge beautiful ocean to trip out on while you're parked . We went down to Silver Strand state beach a few weekends ago and did some hobo style / gypsy camp / power parking .

We were about 20 feet from the beach and it was a real nice and quiet . A few families across from us were there for a birthday party for some kid so there was a medium amount of well mannered revelry going on . The only casualty was when Dave's son biffed it on his bike and bit his lip pretty hard . Luckily it was at the end of the bike ride / stroll and a few cookies and a couple hugs later and he was right as rain and ready to rock again .

If you've never been to the strand it's pretty amazing . The state beach is really calm and nice and on the bay side there's lots of great nature to check out if you're into leisurely strolls . After a bottle of cheap wine I was feeling pretty leisurely so off we went . A good view of Nasco and the shipyard as well as a bunch of destroyers and battleships & a few big carriers . Lots of paved trails and places to go and neat things to check out .

It was just a one nighter , we live pretty close to the beach so it was in & out . Over the bridge and into the strand . . . but it was really cool and left me wanting more . We need to get a few more mountain campouts now that the nights up there are starting to cool off , and maybe a desert trip in before it starts getting too cold . . .

Leia and Blutarsky.....

Ummmm.............

Much like the shirt a few post back......

I've been sort of partial to the '77 lately and have been ignoring the Buell

I got this bike from a good friend a few years ago and rode the piss out of it for a good while . It was my go to bike whenever the '56 was down , which as it turned out was pretty often because I took it apart every few months and redid it .

Seemingly endless horsepower , comfortable , fast and quick ( and I'm no tiny tot ) and good old plain fun to ride . I need to get it tuned a little and there are a few things I want to clean up a here & there , but I'd like to go for a long ride on this one someday and just see where it takes me on a couple tanks of gas .

I might need to hook Amy up for christmas time . . .

She loves Pink Floyd too . . . combo bonus !

Little Iron Man

At first we couldn't get him in it , now it's hard to get it off of him !

The sins of the father are often visited on the son . . .

In this case , the sin is of being a Star Wars nerd and my kid thinking that Star Wars is also pretty awesome as well . This is Vaughn and his buddy Thurston , in the middle of a heated battle between a Tie fighter , and an X-wing . I think they were taking a little break in the conflict to have their picture taken although it does look like Thurston is pulling off a sneak attack on Vaughn's 6 o'clock !

This kind of stuff gives me an upset stomach whenever I see it

All it takes is one bad decision to ruin your whole night , and this is a great example of not knowing that you fucked up before you've even left your house . . .

I was at the Apple store buying some technology yesterday with my wife and I turned around to see this staring back at me . I could tell pretty quickly he wasn't who his shirt depicted him as being .

I was suddenly lost trying to figure out if he was just some dude who thought the shirt with skulls on it was cool , or if it was actually some kind of MC that just didn't get the memo , or what . As soon as I took the picture he was on his way so I didn't get to ask him where he got the sweet gear or where I might score one for myself .

The proper authorities have been informed however . If anyone who reads this blog knows anything about this shirt or who makes it , drop a line so I can pass it on .

Not a lifestyle , but a way of life . . .

Righteous iron at the compound

I took this picture a few days before my buddy Jay sold his sporty . I think we had just come back form a ride through coronado into IB and back up through Chula Vista . He had just finished putting it back together after a teardown and paint job .

This pictures seems calm or peaceful to me for some reason .

I think that's because shortly after I took this picture we ended up in the backyard having some drinks in the shade . Bro~mance style .

There are lots of moments that define who you are and where your life is headed in different ways . . .

This is one of those moments .

It's hard to explain how this makes a dad feel . . . . Little kids play kissing , buddies goofing around . At 3 years old you aren't very romantic , but still even a 3 year old knows what a kiss means . He seems Daddy & Mommy kissing all the time so he gets it . This is a heartbreaker moment for sure .

One of many to come in my life and hopefully I'm around long enough to see more and more of these amazing moments unfold .

I think this is officially ( unofficially ) Vaughn's first real ( pretend ) girlfriend .