2005 Suzuki RM250

I'd had a handful of 125's, and ready to step up. This was a Transworld test bike that came back to Suzuki and needed a good home. I took it for one ride and then down to the frame. 

Plan was for a hybrid MX/desert bike. Light and simple like a track machine, but 18" wheel, and more low end power for the desert. It came down to the frame for powder (really Suzuki? Gray?) 

Fresh everything and lots of carbon fiber to keep it light. FMF Gnarly and Q silencer, some minor jetting wrapped up the motor. Number was s celebration of my age at the time. Race Tech did the suspension and it will likely stand as the fastest I've ever gone through the woops on a motorcycle. I doubt I ever saw the potential of the bike and soon swapped it for another DRZ400. Buddy I swapped it to still has it, but has ridden the hell out of it and it's pretty tattered. Cool to see it do what I built it for. 

Paige's first Pit Bike - Circa 2005ish

Nothing cooler than building a motorcycle with your daughter! We sourced most of the parts from Ebay after she capped out her mini quad and decided two wheels would be OK. Looks like Drew is helping , too. 

Tapping on the top triple. This bike was built with a bunch of love and was stone reliable. It's was eventually handed down to the little brother and he's long outgrown it. Can;t bring myself to sell it. 

Some test fitting before the motor went in. 

Finished machine and appropriate shirt. Love this kid. 

Not even sure what's happening here...

1986 Sportster

This one belonged to a buddy that wanted it restored so he could give it to his some to retire dad. A noble build indeed, but a really bad bike. The first gen Evo sporties ran the stater inside the clutch basket and and few if any had a functional charging system. Eitherway, it was my first Harley build and a cool experience. 

They come apart pretty easy! This was long before I had a bench, so work was done on the floor. 

Ready for powder coating. 

This was near finished bike (pipe and a few other tweaks still pending). Nothing fancy, but other than charging issue was fun to ride. 

I eventually took it back apart and made it into some sort of abortion bobber to use as Burly's first cover bike. It was better as a stocker. It ended up with another friend who eventually sold it. 

2008 RM85 - The Kids bike

This one is my oldest's machine. He burned through a few smaller versions and at 13 went to this one. He rode the piss out of it and we even took a few MX classes together. This may also be the point in time that he got faster than me. 

He brought home a good report card, and wanted to "bling" out his bike as a reward. Hard to argue that. This is the little sister helping gut it. 

This is what was left by then end of the evening. Bike was a pivotal point for Drew, as he learned how to read a manual, understand a torque spec and lace wheels. Really the transformation from kid turning a bolt because he was asked to wrench that understood what he was doing and how to do it right. 

This is finished bike on its inaugural run.  He was by far my favorite riding partner. maybe because at 13 he and I ran at the same pace, but more likely because of some kid/parent relationship that let us enjoy the ride without ever having to utter a word. A "T" in the road? No worries, a simple nod and we were both back on the gas. He's also the only one that would get up at the crack of dawn with me to enjoy the velcro like traction of a rare desert rain. 

Also his last bike, as he sold it to buy his first car.  Pretty sure my passion for dirt waned shortly after. 

1980 something Suzuki LT250

File this under "What the hell was I thinking?" Belonged to my niece and was really just a neglected pile of shit. At the time, I'd never built a quad and it seemed like a cool challenge. I feel differently now. 

As I tore into it, more and more of the thing revealed itself to be fucked. 

Like this...

Down to the frame it went and everything blue went to my powdercoater for a glossy black with a subtle white flake clear. Obviously rims ended up bubble gum pink. Apparently her cheer team colors were black and pink, so the quad needed to match. 

Learned the painful process that is front end alignment.  Two wheeled tings do not need this process and that alone might be reason enough to avoid future 4 wheeled things. 

Of course it wanted all new bears, sprockets, pads and tires, too. 

This is finished version. She was super stoked and it ran like a bat out of hell. I on the other hand vowed to never build another quad. 

2000 Yamaha YZ125

This one sort of passed through my garage and is one of the very few that I did not build personally. Nephew Alex built his first bike (a YZ85) in my garage and because of it chose a life as a factory race mechanic (I'm sure I owe him an apology for that). This is his YZ125 and he did a ground up redo. 

Attention to detail and rapt concentration even back then. 

Bike worked great when he was done. Nice work Alex. 

Niece, Shaleene doing the modeling duties.  

2000 Harley FLHT

This was huge for me. First new bike ever and by far the most expensive thing I'd ever bought. I worked at PM and had ridden just about everything before falling in love with the baggers. At this point in the custom bike timeline the Harley of choice was the Softail and touring machines were relegated to the old folks. In fact my coworkers refered to it as the Geezerglide. I on the other hand loved it. Some stylish wheels and seat and I rode the piss out of it. It eventually got pipes and Progressive shocks, too. 

Used it in a catalog so it got the high end photoshoot treatment. 

...and the skanky model, as well. Eventually sold it to the husband of a coworker who still has it, although with maybe 6 original pieces on it. It was the beginning of my love for the Harleys and timed nicely to the custom bagger trend. I built it 6 years before the Street Glide came out! 

One of the first helmet cams. Spitting lanes on the way to work. Did this pretty solid for an entire year, only getting in a car a few times during that period. 

Misc Bikes

Drew's first shifter bike. KX60. Picked it up cheap and did a fresh top end and minor maintenance. He struggled with the clutch at first, but thanks to a secret local riding spot we got him sorted and within a month or so he was able to get through the gears and fly it as well. In fact his skill set leaned more towards jumping than bike control and he soon flat landed it from 10 feet int he air and grenaded the stock shock. An Ebay replacement from the same year 80 put him back in the dirt, but he was soon more rider than the bike could handle and the RM65 in the background replaced it after one season. 

This is a LEM 50. Sort of an Italian weed eater with some suspension. It was an automatic so a good transition machine from the ATC. He had a buddy with a similar bike and the two of them ripped up the desert. 

This is right after he got his head around two wheels. He crashed a lot at first and we had to hide behind the motorhome to practice so he was not embarrassed. By the second trip to the desert he could hold it wide open. 

The venerable TW200. Bought it from a buddy for my wife to learn on. This is my with my daughter. She loved to ride it and would become so relaxed she'd nearly fall asleep. Wife decided it would not turn left and had to go. No really...

This is one of the few pics of the RM125 I had. It was a demo machine from Suzuki and other than setting up suspension for my weight I never modd'd it. The 911 is mocking of the kids 199 plate. 

This is a sad story and one of very few bikes that came through my garage and did not leave a runner. Won it for $50 in the early days of Ebay. Brought it home and had it running that weekend. Decided to make a mini street tracker out of it and had started collecting parts when my wife got sick and all the priorities changed.  I put it in the Recycler (Probably before Craigs List!) as a free father and son project. Gave it to the first dad/son that called me. Hope they made something cool out of it. 

90's Honda XR650L

Bought this from my boss at the time. Bike would get ridden once a year and then abandoned until the next. He finally gave up and sold it to me cheap. A carb rebuild and some garage time was all it needed. This was my re-entry into the dirt scene and it was probably the early 2000's.  

First ride was Skyline trail above Corona. Ran into a guy on the way down that soon showed us the entire Cleveland National Forest trail and we've been riding it since. 

Weird, I look fat in this...  

The crazy red gear is inspired by the snow we ended up in later that day. Although I'm on a Honda, this was the beginning of my DRZ fetish.  The new buddy Mark had one and I really liked it. It was lighter and easier to ride than the clunky XR650L

My buddy Shane called me up shortly after I got the bike to tell me he had picked up a machine as well. He showed up at my house with the identical Honda. Weird. I eventually sold it and picked up a DRZ400. 

1982 Honda ATC70

Bought this one for my oldest's 5th birthday. Had to pick up another one in order to complete it. All the while hiding everything so it would be a surprise. He rode the wheels off of it. 

Happy guy and his first internal combustion machine. Love this kid. 

This is over a decade later. We had sold it to a buddy who neglected it. It came back for some love. This is the same kid at 16!