Made the whole thing worthwhile. Well that among other things.
-Chris
10/31/08
Dishong's 96"
This was infront of the museum at CA bike week.
Made the whole thing worthwhile. Well that among other things.
-Chris
Made the whole thing worthwhile. Well that among other things.
-Chris
10/30/08
TRASH
I have always thought Hal Robinson's sketches and drawings were bitchin and epitomized real biker shit and pretty much a whole era gone by in a great way. I came across this the other day and there was no way I was letting it go. Watch for pics from it in the near future. Here is to Hal!!!
-Chris
-Chris
45 frame with a bigtwin tranny mount?
Paughco now makes them is the word on the interwebs Josh!
I stole this pic from some site not sure where, sorry.
-chris
I stole this pic from some site not sure where, sorry.
-chris
10/29/08
10/28/08
Potato, Potato, Potato...
It would seem neither war, unemployment, political uncertainty nor economic meltdown can stop The Motor Company from idling down the highway. Click here to read H-D's 2007 stock report. In today's Wall Street rebound, Harley stock jumped 12.7%. That's probably little consolation to anyone who bought H-D stock at $47 in 2003. In these troubled times, current model-year iron is the LAST place we'd pour our hard-earned dollars. The safer bet: refurb your old bike, repurpose your old parts and revive your local scene by attending swap meets, organizing bike nights and going on long rides with good friends.
Photo Scroll Test
I'm messing with some new slide show software and wanted to test it out here. This is a photo collection of Sportsters I've poached off the innerwebs. -Bill
Here's another with several thousand pics just to see if we can make this thing puke. EDR2008:
Here's another with several thousand pics just to see if we can make this thing puke. EDR2008:
10/27/08
Mall of Confusion
Last weekend we joined forces with our friends Kutty Noteboom and Duane Ballard to showcase our lowbrow biker ethos among the leather and lace crowd at the 25th Annual Love Ride. To everyone who visited our booth, thanks for your support. To Kutty's lovely wife Jamie, thanks for the cocktails. And to Lisa Ballard and family, thanks for toughing it out with us. You guys made it a great weekend!
For every one of these at the Love Ride…
There were 7,000 of these. The 25-acre motorcycle parking lot on day three was chubby apes and saddle bags as far as the eye could see.
The LA County Fairgrounds is home to the NHRA Hot Rod and Drag Racing Musuem. Kutty's father gave us a tour of the place, and it is awesome. A must-see for motorheads.
The Chitown Hustler was a treasured funny car in my Hot Wheels arsenal.
George Barris' work was well represented at the NHRA Musuem.
The Indian Owner's Club was hosting their annual meeting on the front steps of the NHRA Musuem, and this was where the coolest motorcycles of the weekend could be found.
Sweet Evil-inspired Indian minibike restoration.
I heart dirt trackers.
Throw lights on this and you'd be the baddest motherscratcher at Bike Night ANYWHERE in the U S of A.
If you think California Bike Week and The Love Ride is Mecca for badass iron, think again. Here's a random sampling of the cavalcade of kooks who came to The Love Ride to hawk their wares:
If you think California Bike Week and The Love Ride is Mecca for badass iron, think again. Here's a random sampling of the cavalcade of kooks who came to The Love Ride to hawk their wares:
Sexican. Rhymes with "Mexican." I asked.
Big Belly Crew.
Bra Ladys (SIC)
Outlaw lifestyle (felony conviction not included)
Deliciously Evil.
How, you might be asking, do the 40,000 members of SoCal's denim and leather set pay for all this rad merch? H-D Visa!
Working on it!
You might have noticed we are tweaking the blog, so things are a little screwy while we dial it in. Email is also in the process of being switched over to new hosts, so if you get bounce-back messages from chris@biltwellinc.com or info@biltwellinc.com, just try back in a couple hours and we'll have it working.
10/24/08
Caught in the act...
So, we decided to go to the California Bike Week. It's an experiment really, we've all been to lots of these kind of events but never as a vendor. Since Biltwell's inception, we've been to Gypsy Runs, EDR's, Ground Zero's and a bunch of DicE parties–events we love. This was an attempt to step outside our circle of comfort and go to a mainstream "biker" event and see if we got laughed out of the place for not having enough tribal-doo rag flair, or see if people were ready to embrace our brand of flake helmets, chromoly bars and do-it-yourself pipe kits, etc. (What does a Dyna™ rider need with a weld-on seat bracket?) Well, so far we ran into a bunch of people we know and the vibe has been really good. Stacking things in our favor was going with friends Duane Ballard and family, and Kutty and the Hippy Killer crew. If it sucked, at least we'd have some good people to share the misery with.
Everything in California is a hustle. Even the week has been reduced to three days. When did that happen? Whatever, we can't afford to be out of the shop for a real week anyway, so Friday through Sunday will work just fine. After day one, I have to say the event has run without a hitch. The staff is cool, the organization is top notch and the crowd has been welcoming. Saturday and Sunday are expected to be packed, so as a vendor that's gotta be good.
The highlight today was an exercise in irony. BF Josh roped me into going to an Official Harley Davidson casting call. Seriously. They have a squad of cougars running around enlisting jackasses like us into taking head shots for the motor factory. They want "real" bikers for some shit HD is working on. Actual quotes from the Cougar Squad: "Do you ride a Harley? No? Well, you have some sweet tattoos... That'll work!" How I got into this is beside me, my tats are all old, uncool and mostly hidden. I guess they needed a fat guy with some weak facial hair. Josh rides a Triumph and Duane drank the Honda Chopper punch a long time ago. Get the irony part yet? It was real weird and we all wore official HD jackets and held up booking cards for a few photos. We hoped to learn the secret handshake, but they never let that out. Damn! Of course they loved Chris but he swore he only had one tattoo and didn't ride a Harley. Smart. Enjoy the pics, it'll probably cost me my life, I'm sure Josh and Duane are gonna kill me for posting them but here they are...
Josh in his sweet "Outlaw Biker" pose.
DB was confused at the inseam question on the model release form. "I don't own any pants, how should I know what my inseam measurement is?"
If anyone is going, we're under the pole barn shade-covers, come on by and say hello.
-Bill
Everything in California is a hustle. Even the week has been reduced to three days. When did that happen? Whatever, we can't afford to be out of the shop for a real week anyway, so Friday through Sunday will work just fine. After day one, I have to say the event has run without a hitch. The staff is cool, the organization is top notch and the crowd has been welcoming. Saturday and Sunday are expected to be packed, so as a vendor that's gotta be good.
The highlight today was an exercise in irony. BF Josh roped me into going to an Official Harley Davidson casting call. Seriously. They have a squad of cougars running around enlisting jackasses like us into taking head shots for the motor factory. They want "real" bikers for some shit HD is working on. Actual quotes from the Cougar Squad: "Do you ride a Harley? No? Well, you have some sweet tattoos... That'll work!" How I got into this is beside me, my tats are all old, uncool and mostly hidden. I guess they needed a fat guy with some weak facial hair. Josh rides a Triumph and Duane drank the Honda Chopper punch a long time ago. Get the irony part yet? It was real weird and we all wore official HD jackets and held up booking cards for a few photos. We hoped to learn the secret handshake, but they never let that out. Damn! Of course they loved Chris but he swore he only had one tattoo and didn't ride a Harley. Smart. Enjoy the pics, it'll probably cost me my life, I'm sure Josh and Duane are gonna kill me for posting them but here they are...
Josh in his sweet "Outlaw Biker" pose.
DB was confused at the inseam question on the model release form. "I don't own any pants, how should I know what my inseam measurement is?"
If anyone is going, we're under the pole barn shade-covers, come on by and say hello.
-Bill
10/23/08
Purple People Eater
Purple Helmets now available here and for a custom striped hand job, I mean a pinstriped custom hand err uhmm go here if you want Shawn to stripe your helmet. Thanks for the pics Shawn!
10/22/08
California Bike Week and Flat Track Racing
This weekend is the annual Love Ride and we will be there setting up a booth and hopefully seeing the races! West Coast Flat Track Series info here.
10/21/08
P*S Mags
I stumbled on to this great little collection of 70's-era Army P*S magazines tonight. Want to teach a bunch of dipshits the right way to use a torque-mulitplying wrench extension or properly identify an M-60 tank? How 'bout preach the gospel about things like tire wear or the importance of cotter pins? How better than to wrap it up with cheesy (but witty) limericks and a hot cartoon girl named Connie Rod? These old mags are pure gearhead porn. Sure they are still put out by the Army today, but by the looks of a few of these 'ol Miss Rod may have retired and been replaced by multi-ethnic, multi-gender, fully-clothed versions that just don't quite cut the rust like the classics by Will Eisner, Klaus Nordling and Mike Ploog.
Cray-Zee Kay-Zee
Check out Will's neat KZ650. Lots of love out there for CB's and XS's, but I hardly ever see chopped KZ's, let alone ones this tight. Diggin' those mags. Good work, Will. The Friscos look nice on there, and he's gonna add a solo seat bracket and exhaust tips soon too. Thanks for the pics!
-Bill
10/20/08
Online Media Alert: XL Forums
Sportster dudes who want news and info on their beloved "ladies bikes" will enjoy this site. I know I do. Check it out next time you have a question about your Sporty... it's packed with info.
Jimmy's 883
Jimmy ordered some of our parts thru Lick's and this is a great example of what why we made these Struts. They bolt on, blend in and are stout as Guiness! The Keystones work well too and you don't have to change out cable lenths so they are a pretty easy bolt as well. First of the year they will be available with dimples so stock stuff will fit with no mods. Thanks for the pics Jimmy!
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