Autocult

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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: