Ola Amigos

F..& A.. man. Am finding it hard to keep you guys updated. Actually, am finding it hard to keep myself updated. So, it's been almost one month since I posted. Can't hardly remember what happened since then. Let me back track a bit and see if my memory serves me well. uhmm, yeah... last time we spoke I was thinking of buying a mobile crane so I could move heavy stuff around, such as my XS motor. Well, it's still in the planning phase as I have not purchased it yet. Am waiting to move into my new house (that is if the banker is nice enough to lend me money). So, not much as happened on the XS 650. I played around with it and purchased few items but have not done much except mounting the front end, the back wheel and some leftover to see what it could look like.

Well the shape's all right. I purchased a faked oil tank for TC Bros to hide the electric as well as a 2 gallons gas tank.

I want to give her a moto cross look so I also purchase some half and half tires.

I have a head light which bought few years back from See See Motorcycles in Portland Oregon which I have had on my shelve for a while,

and bits and pieces laying around such as weld-on gas cap from LA Chop Rod which will look good when finished.

. I have dismantle a few thing on the motor and there is no ignition on the bike. The guy that sold it to me was just a liar. The stator and charging system will have to be changed, and I have yet opened the engine to see the status of the pistons and valves. We'll see when the time come. At present, I need to get this bloody motor in so I can do all the alignement. In the meantime, Sam from Southern was still working on my Shovel.

It turned out clutch plate/bolt (don't know how you call this thing) was cracked and need to be removed. Since it was an after market spare it had to be ordered fm Rivera or DBL

, and to make the matter worse the gear shifter was also bent and needed to be replaced. Anyway, after 3,5 months in the shop for an 8 hours job, I sold half of my kidney and pay the bill. I am kidding here. They did a fantastic job and it is money well spent. Remember folks, HD will never work on such bikes so pls do the favor of always supporting your local workshop. I took it home on saturday and damm did it feel good. The handle bar was a bit loose which was surprising considering I had put some brand new bushing. I took it apart when I got home and can find the cause.

It might be the holes on the triple tree are to wide. It's seriously strange, never had that happen. I need to find a solution. Anyway, it is still rideable and I have rode over the week end like I had stole it.

And it sounds good too. Need to figure out how to upload videos and I will make you listen. That's all for now.

Ola Hijo

Wasn't gonna write for few days, but it's 3pm and need to stay at work till 5pm so need to kill couple of hours. I did go to Harbour Freight to check out mobile crane and they got one that seems ok. 179 bucks for 1,5 mob crane ain't too bad.

Did not buy it though. Am in process of buying a house so if I show up at home with over 100 dollar purchase, there is a high likelyhood am gonna have to give some explanation and can't be bother those days. Anyway, so went into my garage last night and looked at what I could do. First I needed to pick up the motor which was still laying on the floor. So with help of my son I brought it up on the bench.

Then I said to myself, let clean the fucker...

and so I started.

For some strange reason the previous owner has painted the cylinder and made a mess of the lower case. It really looks bad.

So I decided I would try my miracle product. This tips was given to me by some BMW builder who used Aluminium BBQ paint color to pain cylinder. It does f..g work and make parts looked like they have been sanded or repainted. So I tried on the XS. and yeahhhh, it works too.

So I put the engine up and cleaned it some more. Now I wait to receive the engine stands so I can put it up and start working on it.

Alternatively, I will buy the mobile crane, put the engine in and work on the mock up. The purchase of the house will dictate.

Ola Ombres

Just a quicky today. Decided to go back in the workshop and cleanup my mess. Picked up the motor and made it stand up and took the grinding machine and chop some of the leftover from previous owner, so I could start with a clean sheet.

It took a while to get this s.. out, and even longer to grind the frame to clean state. But aftre couple of hours of hard labor, looks like the frame is ready to start the mock up. I have kept the back fender plate holder in case I need it but if not I will just cut it and toss it away.

Now am face with same issue. I need to get the bloody motor inside the frame. Considering I got no life; hence no friend, looks like I'll have to buy one of those mobile crane at Harbour Freight to get it in. Let me sleep on it.

Ola Companeros

There you go, could not wait to be back in the US. Vacation in Europe was a nightmare. Am not longer used to sleep without AC, I sweated like a pig over there. Luckily weather wasn't that nice. Anyway, next year I will try to stick around and ride my bikes. So what has f.. happened since I left. Not too much am afraid... I did sell my Redneck chopper in France to get some quick cash.

I sold it for a bargain (for France that is) but need to get rid of the thing. I was not gonna ride it and my wife felt it was too much for her. So, without regret I let it go. So long my friend and have a good life. The guy that bought it is fully in love with that type of machine, so at least I made someone happy. My happyness comes from the fact that it wont take anymore space in my garage. So, as I said I flew back to Houston. First thing was to check with Southern about the Stator change. As usual, when they opened the primary

they found out, one of the Rivera primary belt drive part was cracked and that it was only a matter of time until it came apart. So here it goes again, gonna have to sell one kidney to replace the bloody part. But worst part of it is the bike won't be available for a while. One other thing, was that my welding of the safety gas tank and on the licence plate holder was not as good as expected and that it was already showing some signs of weaknesses. So much for my welding skills... At least I was happy to present Shovel #2 to Madam.

but as I was expecting it was not exactly what she had expected. The colour was nice and all, but it was simply too heavy for her. Indeed it was. She sermoned me to look for a sportster after selling the shovel. So, I will wait to get Shovel #1 back, and probably sell shovel #2. We'll see. So I was left with my longhaul XS650 project. To start with, it wanted to get rid of the tank holder.

So I used the angler grinder to get it off. And then I took bits and pieces off which I know I won't need

And as you can see, I try to put the engine back into the frame and fucked it all up. After approx one hour of battle, I gave up and decided it was time to go to bed. I will need to figure out how to put it back in or alternatively buy a mobile crane. This was the sad story of my evening. will get back to you with new adventure

Ola Ombres

You ain't gonna believe it. I thought I was finished with bikes for the next few weeks as I was heading vacation. But yesterday, as I was surfing the net, killing time in my office watching the clock goes by, I came about a strange little add for an XS650. It said something along the following lines: Basket Case Bike, used to ride well, took it apart 6 months ago to have the frame powder coated but lost interest, title in hands, looking for few Benjamin Franklin, the bike use to look like this:

not very pretty but for that price worth giving the guy a call. Did not have much hope cause the bike had been posted for more than one day and I was leaving to europe the next day at noon which did not give me much time but what the f.... Surprisingly enough the bike was still for sale but it was located about 2hrs away and did not have much time. So I offer to come and pick it up immediately but tough luck the guys could not make it in the evening. He was only available at 6am the next day. So, fuck it, woke up at 4 and drove up there. The bloke was a nature freak, he lived in the middle of the forest, protected by millions of fucking mosquidos. Anyway, to make long story short, I picked up the bike from a dark shed, and drove home. Good thing I had my 4x4 cause I got stuck trying to leave the bloody place.

Then I store everything in my workshop, so it will be ready for some serious work when I return from holidays.

Now am at the airport so you won't hear fm me again for the next few weeks.....

Ola Chicos

Well, just about to get 3 weeks off. Actually not sure I will rest with all the travelling and jet lag but what the h... man gotta do what a man gotta do..... Anyway, left with putting everything back together until I get my flh or panhead front end.

It'll do for now.

Ola Hermanos

Where the f... was I ?????? oh yeah, I had left my chopper at Southern for the summer so they could fix the stator plug in the primary. So there was only one bike in my garage and not much time left for me in Houston before heading off to South of France for a well deserved vacation.

More precisely Corsica, the most beautiful island in the world. Trust me.... Anyway, I decided I would repaint shovel #2 to the colour my wife had selected. As a start, got to get the baby naked.

Then I started grinding, and grinding, and grinding. Felt like Daniel Larusso in Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off....

and the usual primer

And then I started to paint. The idea was to painted purple, white and silver. I had picked up the color at the local Autozone shop.

Just need to clear coat the thing a few time and remount everything and it should be fine. atta boy !!!!!!