American Cycle Service

A nice simple tailight

2012-01-23T19:18:00.010-05:00

You will need in no particular order:

1 1/2 round aluminum stock

snapring internal

led light cluster 1"

plexiglass

stainless bolt

and a sealer of some kind....if your led isn't water proofed.

Take your measurements, do your planning and take your time.

Tools of the trade!

2012-01-23T19:06:00.003-05:00

Lapping it up...

2012-01-23T19:05:00.002-05:00

Engine work.... blended seats.

2012-01-23T18:43:00.006-05:00

We have been working on a Shovelhead for the last few weeks at the shop. My customer found this 82 fx on Ebay. The seller swore it was freshly rebuilt and ready to run.... It wasn't.

we are stoking this motor to a 4 5/8" and adding 9.5-1 compression forged pistons, andrews B cam, blended valve seats, dual plug heads (machined for compression release valves) , 3 angle cut seats, s&s E carb, dyna ignition, and a balanced and trued lower end.

Just talking about it makes me a little misty.

Period Correct ... yep

2012-01-11T09:49:00.001-05:00

(stolen from the Wargasser blog)

Tasty shovelhead - for sale $4500 SOLD

2012-01-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

A friend of ours is selling this '73 Shovelhead. Matching numbers, original tanks, PM rear disk brake. Asking $4500 - won't last long. SOLD

Making a vented gas cap

2012-01-07T17:04:00.000-05:00

We will need a vented gas cap for the custom tank Lee fabbed up for Alex's bike. Alex picked up a nice clean billet cap and neck from Lowbrow Customs, but it wasn't vented. Lee threw it on the lathe, drilled a small 1/16th" hole through the top, and then drilled and tapped through the bottom to fit a threaded sintered filter:

the cap and filter:

Setting it up on the lathe for the tap guide:

Presto! A cool looking vented gas cap (filter will be threaded in a little farther before installation):

Once the gas tank is set up for its final mounting position, we will drill the position for the gas cap at the very top of the tank. Lee is thinking of adding a small piece of spare exhaust pipe (which is the exact outer diameter of the cap sleeve) to extend the filler cap out of the tank a little.

Feuling cam plate and S&S cams

2012-01-06T23:34:00.000-05:00

Will be installing a Feuling hi-flo cam plate and oil pump along with an S&S 510 lift cams into an '06 Twin Cam B motor this week.

Autocult

2011-12-23T22:47:00.001-05:00

There has been a lot of buzz about this coming for a while, but if you are into choppers / hot rods / skateboarding / photography / lowbrow art / surfing / alternative cultural history, or just want to spend some time soaking in one of the coolest mags around, Issue No. 1 of "Autocult" is now available, if you are lucky enough to find one.

If not, try Autocult

For those that miss the now-defunct "Garage" magazine, this will fill the void.

Working on Alex's tank

2011-12-21T20:47:00.000-05:00

Getting closer to finishing the tank for Alex's brat-style sportster. The tank has already been narrowed and shaped a little, but we decided that it needed a little more height up front, and needed to be cut down a bit in the back so that it sat up a little more on the bike.

Alex and Lee, bending and shaping the extensions for the front of the tank:

Alex, checking out the riding position (tank hasn't been finished yet, and still hasn't been trimmed at the back):

After shaping the extensions a little more with a softbag and mallets, Lee welds it up:

Here is a comparison with a standard sporty tank - you can see how much taller and narrower it is:

Marking out how much of the rear to cut off, after the front extension has been added:

Lee, (after rechecking the cut marks about 15 times) cutting off the rear part of the tank to level it off:

(mostly) finished tank. Still need to put a bit of cut-out in the very back of the tank where it will sit on the frame, but you get an idea of the position now:

Alex's bike - more progress

2011-12-15T10:56:00.000-05:00

So here is Alex's bratstyle bike, coming together a bit more. The 21" front wheel is now on, and Lee mocked up some exhaust pipes with turnouts. Alex liked them, so they were welded up, and look good:

Notice chopper ninjas hidden in picture:

Bike is really starting to come together. Lee is still looking a bit of a tunnel in the bottom rear of the tank to get the front of it up a bit higher:

Now mocking up the fender and cleaning up the rat's nest of stock wiring. Starting to look bad-ass. Hence the chopper guerillas are starting to take an interest:

Street Chopper magazine!

2011-12-15T10:41:00.001-05:00

This month, Street Chopper magazine has a four-page feature on Rob's bike (plus a cool two-page photo of him kickstarting it in the opening contents page of the magazine). Very cool article, with photos by Rémi Thériault. The whole issue is great - I don't think I can recall seeing so many cool bikes in a single magazine issue. Since Jeff Holt took over the reigns, Street Chopper just seems to get better and better.

Alex's Bratstyle - bars

2011-12-15T10:15:00.001-05:00

For Alex's bratstyle build, we are fabbing up a set of window bars. Initially, we tried out a set with 14" rise, but once Alex sat on the bike, we cut 2" off of them, and found the size was perfect.

Lee, doing some fab work on the bars:

Initial height (with the new double whitewall rear tire, seat, and the shorter Progressive shocks - already looking cooler):

Here are the finished bars. Alex will be shaving down the clamps and levers for the clutch and brake.

6 Over - teaser trailer

2011-12-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

Dice Magazine looks like it is going to slay with this one. For those stuck inside for the long Canadian winter, this (along with the El Diablo Ride DVD from Lowbrow, if they ever actually make it available) should keep the chopper fire burning until riding season comes back around

Alex's "Brat Style" sportster

2011-12-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Alex, who plays drums for a band in Ottawa, came in and wanted to draw attention away from the vag on his sportster. When he isn't drinking PBR and shopping at Urban Outfitters, Alex has been cooking up ideas from the Japanese "Brat Style" bikes from guys like the guys at Crazy Orange MC

With that in mind, he whipped up this cool sketch and brought it in. He said he would have liked to have gone with one of the short, crazy turned up rear fenders, but was worried that might throw too much spray on to his pants, and as a card-carrying hipster he can't afford to let those skinny jeans shrink and get any smaller.

So here is the "before" image - a nice little scoot, but not really going to light any fires:

Here's a quick first mockup, with some cut-down Progressive shocks, and positioning the gas tank. The plan is to go with a 21" up front, cut the tank down smaller and more narrow, and fab up some cool window bars.

Here Lee has taken 1 3/4" out of the centre of the tank just to try out the width. The plan is still to cut some height off the bottom of the tank and reshape it a little to make it smaller as well:

Rob's Pan is lead story on Chop Cult today

2011-08-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

Today Rob's panhead had a feature story on Chop Cult, check it out (link is below the picture):

Rob's Panhead (Chop Cult story)

2011-08-14T11:40:00.000-04:00

Its Sunday morning. Too busy to ride today, so instead I'd thought I would throw this vid from Rouser:

Hello-Moto from rouser on Vimeo.

Cool V-Rod?

2011-08-13T16:20:00.000-04:00

For years, I have loved the VR engine, inspired by the VR1000 race bike, but I have never really liked the long, heavy unwieldy chassis that Harley has insisted on putting it in.

A couple of builders have made a stab at seeing what that powerful engine would be like in a chassis that actual handles, and I have to admit I like the idea a lot. (I particularly like the first one, which makes the radiator a lot less obtrusive). What do you think?

Rob's Panhead wins trophy

2011-08-02T20:05:00.000-04:00

Pretty rad, considering the number and quality of the bikes at the Greasebag show. Rob's bike was picked as one of the twelve trophy bikes. There were no categories, no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc... and the only criteria was the judges decided it was cool. I think extra points were awarded for riding the shit out of the bike. The best kind of show.

The bike actually got a huge amount of attention while it was down South, and some of our friends are featuring it on some of their sites as well:

11th Hour Industries

Rob, happy with his trophy (notice the American Cycle Service shirt! I think the lettering on the shirt is about the same colour as Rob's sunburnt forehead):

The bikes of the Greasebag Jamboree 2011

2011-08-02T19:44:00.000-04:00

I can honestly say that I have not seen so many cool bikes in one place at the same time. Between the bikes that turned up at the Dice party in Boston, to those on the ride, to those that showed up later at the campground, and finally to those at the bike show on Sunday (many of which weren't even entered in the show itself), the weekend was choc full'o' bad-ass choppers.

Wayne, from Acme choppers, was one of the major sponsors at the show (which was held at Acme choppers itself in Laconia). I have to send special thanks to Wayne, who got me back on the road after the regulator failed on my Panhead. This is Wayne's personal Panhead, which used to belong to his uncle:

If you haven't visited Acme Choppers, Wayne's shovelhead is worth making the trip to see just by itself:

Greasebag Jamboree 2011

2011-08-02T19:30:00.000-04:00

Rob rode down for the Greasebag this year. After the party on Friday night, the pack met up and assembled in Boston, then did a 200km ride up through the Massachusetts and New Hampshire countryside before arriving at a private campsite in Laconia. I don't have any pics of the group ride, but it was a sight to see 70-80 vintage choppers riding in formation up through the small towns, scaring old ladies, making babies cry, and exciting the local talent.

Assembling for the ride:

Walter (from Kickstart Cycle Supply) and Magoo (from Biltwell) sharing some laughs en route:

Arriving at the campsite:

Just to get an idea how cool an event this was, the sponsors provided free beer and food. That's right, FREE BEER.

These guys kept us laughing all night (at least until the "guests" showed up courtesy of the Choppahead crew)

Dice Magazine / Greasebag pre-run party, Boston

2011-08-02T19:08:00.000-04:00

This year, prior to the Greasebag Jamboree, Grail organized a Dice Magazine party at the Baseball Tavern, right next to Fenway Park in Boston. Three floors of punk rock and ska bands, motorcycle fiends, and pre-Greasebag goodness. Luckily the meet-up for the ride the next day wasn't until 11am, so there was time to put away some ibuprofen and gatorade...

Matt D from Dice, along with Matt O'C from MadRiverMotorCo:

If you haven't checked out Dice magazine, you need to.

CTV story on Lee and Eric

2011-07-15T15:06:00.000-04:00

Lee and Eric were recently featured in a story on CTV news (click on photo for link to video):

CTV Maximum Motorcycles

Fork stop / headlight mount

2011-07-10T16:53:00.000-04:00

We wrestled with how to make a clean and distinctive fork stops and headlight mount for Rob's panhead. Rob is running 41mm Hydraglide legs in a set of super-narrow Mullins Chaindrive triple trees. Initially, we had drilled the lower triple tree and had made up a set of stainless bullets for the fork stops, but then (in typical fashion) Lee was staring at the bike late one night and came up with the idea of doing a combined fork stop / headlight mount.

Lower triple tree drilled and tapped, and the fork stop block tacked in place to the frame headstock:

Headlight mount tacked to fork stop bullets:

Finished welding and given a rough polishing (piece was done entirely in stainless, like most of Lee's fabricated parts):

... and the finished piece. Frame still needs to get painted, and the piece will get a final polishing on the wheel, but it turned out nice, clean, simple, and unique.

Liberty Vintage

2011-07-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

Since I posted the blog entry from Grant at FMA below, I figured that I should also post this beautiful short film about vintage mechanic Adam Cramer, with some interesting comments about de-industrialization and the loss of the "can-do" attitude that created this country. It covers a similar theme to Matthew Crawford's recent Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work. I love the scene where you can see him using vacuum gauges to balance the four carbs on a CB750 (or similar). How many people even know how to do that anymore?

Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles from Etsy on Vimeo.

2011-07-09T10:31:00.000-04:00

Skill, Craft, Pride, Cost, and the decline of the minds of youth and America

A while back, Grant from Freedom Machinery and Accessories posted this on his blog, and I thought it was useful food for thought on craftmanship, quality, and our consumer culture in North America:

So we don't have the time to preach much here and it's not really our thing, but i saw a comment elsewhere that prometed me to get riled up a bit about people's (mostly American's) lack of valuing hardwork and skilled labor. I know everyone is not a millionaire and can't afford to buy the best of the best all the time or even hardly ever, but does that mean you have to poo-poo a nice well made product?
As a small biz owner (FMA) that does our best to make and sell the best American Made product we can, my ears perk when someone verbally shuns/or discredits a nice product in favor of a cheap, massed produced alternative. It's one thing to just not buy it but to make a stink about the more expensive item made with pride in small quantites that will far outlast the cheap alternative is beyond me. For the record this wasn't born from anything to do with FMA.
I know it is big biz to make a ton of stuff for cheap in a third world country and fill the shelves at walmart and sell it at a low price, but do you want to be forced to buy everything only at walmart or an equivelant? sure it serves it's purpose, but come on! While in Japan this last time i became more aware of their goods and the general public's style and put-togetherness, not to mention those that were/are "into" something.
There is an abundance of quality handmade goods in Japan from leather, to jewelry, to cloths, that are all killer! Sure it all costs a decent price, but people (even the general public) over there see the value in that item and spend the money for it. It was weird to see people on the train with like a really nice cast key hook hanging from there handtooled belt next to another handtooled wallet. I knew each item probably cost $300 each too! But these things are "for life" items and will be around far longer than some Hanna Montana wallet from the aforementioned discount store.
Let me be clear that i don't have money to blow on crazy expensive stuff, but something like a wallet i would send some coin on because i will use it for the next 15+ years.
This sort of idea comes into play a lot in America in fab/bike/hot rod shops. I worked in many and we would get tire kickers that would want killer one-off, tig welded, fab work done for assembly line mig welded prices. They couldn't comprehend the combination of the amount of work, tools, and skill and then put a price on it. Would they want to do their job for a much discounted rate? no, so why should someone that has a skill making something with their hands not be able to charge what it should be worth without someone (who has probably made nothing of value with their hands) complaining about the price when they wouldn't be a customer anyway? Don't like it, don't buy it no matter if it is metalwork, a pair of pants, custom boots, an oil painting, etc...
i just heard today on NPR that the government is possibly cutting funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS. Great, hopefully america will eventually die from diabeties and obesity, as they sit in front of American Idol and learn nothing. We don't need to teach people about art, music, and culture because thats boring, huh? Football and TMZ is more important. I know i am getting off track here, but i come from a family of musicians, artists, and craftsmen and think all of these things are important to building people's minds. I also noticed in Japan a lack of sweat pants, flip flops, and anything related to being "white trash" or anything that shares that same mentality, what a concept. (insert your smart allec remark about why i should move there if i don't like it here).

I think we should do more to help and protect small buisness, skilled crafts, music, the arts. I learned to weld because i couldn't afford to pay someone to do it for me. Poverty is not much of an excuse in my book because i have made a lot out of little to work with and feel as if there isn't enough time in life to to, make, see, and experiance all the things i want (that i know of at this time!). I studied photograghy because i couldn't draw, my brother got all that skill and one of my sisters is getting her masters in photography! Amazing, i love it! even though i have shot dozens of covers and had stuff in books and magazines world wide, she is blowing me out of the water!
Create, build, organize, just do something besides complain or gossip.
Be passionate about something, no matter what is cool or not cool for that matter. Do it because you love it, they way you want it. Not satified with something, do it better or at least try!
Who cares what we do in SoCal, who cares what the midwest is doing, east coast, etc, surround yourself with people you can learn from. Learning is one of the coolest things EVER and you can do it everyday! And for those that know it all, it's what you learn after you know it all that really counts.

I know i am way off on a tangent on top of a soapbox, but i guess i needed to get it out. I am not even going to edit or spell check this thing, hope it makes some sense...Talk is cheap, do something.

what are you doing? what would you like to do?

Born Free 3

2011-07-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

By all accounts, the Born Free 3 show out in California was the show of the season for vintage and home-built choppers. We've been following the pics and stories that have been appearing on Chop Cult and some of the other blogs, and there were some tasty bikes and a pretty cool vibe. Not to mention the cool 1942 Knucklehead chopper that Garage Company built for the show, which was then raffled off for $25!

Check out this vid from the crew at Us Vs. Them:

Pics of some of the bikes, courtesy of Chop Cult

The Greasebag Jamboree

2011-07-02T09:46:00.000-04:00

Oh it’s on like donkey kong.
Greasebag. 2011. It's motherfucking back.
Mark your calenders and start cranking on your garage projects so they’re ready in time. Rob is going to be riding down with his Panhead, and Lee might make the trip as well.

You can find details here, but I have summarized it below:
http://www.greasebag.com/

Greasebag Jamboree (Chop Cult)
They also have a Facebook Page:
Greasebag Jamboree (Facebook)

The greasebag is now going to be a 3-day, Fri-Sat-Sun event.
Friday: Dice Magazine pre-party Friday night in Boston!

Damn straight, the Dice boys are coming out to celebrate with us and throw down the first ever Boston Dice Party. It's going to be at the Baseball Tavern on Boylston. Booze, bands, bikes, babes.... all the b's are covered. We'll have drink deals and a hook up for hotel rooms across the street at the HoJo's for all you out-of-towners and drunkards that won't be able to ride home after showing your alcoholic prowess. We're teaming up on this one with the Rippin’est Town Rally to throw down large. Huge party. Get stoked and start preparing your liver.

The bands are booked:
THE ALLSTONIANS
FOR THE WORSE
SKA-PREST
THE EGOS
REVILERS
Allstonians and Ska-Prest are ska, For The Worse and Revilers are punk, and the Egos are garage rock.
The baseball tavern is a 4-story club. A roof deck, a 2nd floor lounge, the first floor main bar, and the basement. The bands will be in the basement. There will be a reasonable cover charge to get into the basement (somewhere between $5-$9), but there will be no cover charge in the main bar and the floors above. There will be a dj downstairs doing music between sets.
There is a HoJo directly across the street from the club. If you're coming from out of town and just want to roll out of the bar into shelter, we've got a great group rate for the night.
If you mention "scooter rally" when you book, you'll get a room for $135. I know that might seem pricey, but that's a really good deal for a room in downtown boston. Get 4 of your buds and split it - totally doable, and it's literally right across the street from the bar. The joint is old school class with a swimming pool, Tiki bar, Chinese restaurant & parking that is visible from most rooms

Saturday: Ride New England backroads from MA to NH. Camp. Drink. Terrorize the locals. Pass out.
Sunday: Ride to Acme Choppers in Laconia for the bike show and party. Eat, drink, get stupid.

Bike Show: Nothing is changing here, same as it ever was. 13 winners, no classes, no categories, no best of show, no people's choice. The best 13 bikes bring home the glory - end of story.
The greasebag is no longer during bike week.
Yeah, we’re done with that shit. The last weekend in July will be the new date for the greasebag moving forward. Better weather, less douchery. Win-win for us. No traffic, no overpriced everything. Plenty of killer roads to ride and less bro-dudes to deal with.

Admission is still free. There will be a $15 fee for camping saturday night, but the flip side is free food and beer. That's right, free food and beer.

Montreal Bike & Tattoo Show

2011-06-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

Rob's bike attracted a lot of attention at the Montreal Bike & Tattoo Show

Lee chatting with Paul Cox

Show that frame who's boss!

2011-06-25T19:43:00.000-04:00

Lee, giving a Panhead frame some tough love...

Remi Theriault

2011-06-25T19:39:00.000-04:00

Our friend photographer Remi Theriault has been coming out over the spring and winter to take shots of the shop and some of the bikes. Some his shots will likely be appearing in a magazine later this summer, so we can't show those. But here are some he took with his Hasselblad medium-format camera. You can see more of Remi's work at his site and blog: Remi Theriault: Le Blog

"Toonz" doing some striping

2011-06-25T19:19:00.000-04:00

Timmy "Toonz" Feher, who painted Rob's Panhead, dropped by the shop to do some pinstriping and gold leaf on Rob's helmet (photos by Remi)

2011-06-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

Totally diggin' this knucklehead racer from Hot Dock Customs in Japan. Even has a springer fork!

(reposted from FOG)

American Cycle Bike featured in Revolution Magazine

2011-06-25T18:32:00.000-04:00

Rob's panhead got a three-page feature in Revolution magazine. I'm sure it made a bit of a contrast from their usual stable of fat-tire, airbrushed-skull choppers. Still, nice to see our work in print (even if they did edit out virtually all mention of the shop itself)

2011-06-25T17:31:00.000-04:00

Finished this bike for Scott just in time for the Custom Show in Montreal. Scott comes from a sportbike background, and wanted something a little different for this bobber. We built him this bike using a Canadian Maximum Motorcycles 0/0 frame, an Ultima 113 cu. inch engine and 6-speed tranny, customized Vance and Hines exhaust, and a lot of other custom features.

Firing it up!

2011-06-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

Rob's 1953 Panhead gets fired up for the first time after five months getting rebuilt from the ground up at the shop

2011-06-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

Mid controls and clutch linkage coming together. The mids were bent from solid square-stock stainless with Anderen-style pegs, and the linkage has had a heim joint and gussets added to it

2011-06-23T21:09:00.001-04:00

Cutting the Biltwell Keystone bars down for Rob's panhead