2012 South to San Diego

Our yearly rides have fallen off a bit due to 'scheduling issues' between kids graduating and getting married, joining the military and and and ... well finally we got a chance to hit the road and get riding again. Not that we dont ride most of the time, but a weekend ride is like a day ride to me. I like to get on the bike and go for a week or more, now thats a RIDE!

This time we decided to take a little trip down south again to some warm country area, see some familiar sites in Santa Maria, do some winery visiting in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, trip on down thru Malibu, take a visit to the Reagan Library/Museum in Simi Valley and then end up in San Diego to see our son that is stationed at Camp Pendleton. About a 1400 mile roundtrip excursion for us to get some riding time in.

 The trip down from Sacramento area took us thru Hollister and The Pinnacles National Park via Hwy 25 and that brought us out to the little tiny town of San Miquel where there is a Mission and a few other buildings, one of them being a market to get a cold one!  Great open country riding with nobody else but us on the road for miles and miles and miles.

 Our first night stay was in the town of Santa Maria, so we stopped in Paso Robles and did some shopping for some great foods and wines and some other junk... and headed towards the coastline from there on good ole Hwy 101. The next day we packed up and rode out to wine country around there. Its seems like every direction you go around that area is "Wine Country"!!!!   Left, Right, Up or Down... we couldn't miss a winery if we tried!

 We ended up at Fess Parkers Place of business and we met a few new friends in the drinking business and had a few rounds with them. We purchased a few odds and ends to add to our collection and then went about our way.

 We found another little town calling out our name to STOP!... it was Los Olivios. Wow and I'm glad we did. We found Epiphany Wine Cellars and we loved the place. Found some great white wines (imagine that) and loaded up with a few to take back to our next stop in Santa Barbara to watch the sunsets with. Our ride down to SB was nice but we started hitting all the traffic that we had been away from for the past couple days.... it was back.

Epiphany Tasting Room

 

Our first view of the coast was staying in Goleta. SB was packed with people and the room rates were outrageous so we found a nice place on the beach and watched another day end.

 After leaving Goleta we headed into the mess of traffic mazes of southern California to Simi Valley. Once we got headed up the hill area it wasn't so bad all the way into the Reagan Library. It was during the week so there weren't too many people either. What a great opportunity to see the life and history of this man as just a 'man' and nothing more. The fact that he accomplished such great things within his lifetime should be incentive to us all to be better people.

The 40th President

"Tear Down That Wall Mr. Gorbachev"

  The  most amazing part of the library is the "Hanger" where they have Air Force One raked in a takeoff angle and looking out over the entire Simi Valley area. Without a doubt something truly inspiring.

 

After leaving the museum we headed out the maze again and opted for a ride down through Topanga Canyon back to the coast. This was a pretty nice ride and then we found our way onto Mulholland Hwy and made the ride through this hot rod historic area to Hwy #1 down to Malibu BABY! 

  A Malibu Beach sunset... This is what every snowbird dreams of seeing and we have it right here in our backyard. What a beautiful site! We stayed the Night in Malibu and hooked up with one of my best friends who just happened to be working down in the area. We met up for dinner and drinks and hung out and caught up on some old times. When we left the next morning we were riding along and found his road crew along our route to the Pacific Coast Hwy and blasted our horns at them. We pretty much followed PCH the remainder of the way down south as much as we could. Tried to stay off the freeways and see all the little towns... man there are a lot of them!

We did have a chance to look at a boat or two while we were down in the south area.
The USS MIDWAY MUSEUM in San Diego was one of them. Quite a big boat too!

This is where the Captain sits all tells people what to do!

 After having a nice visit with our son and his wife we rested up the night in SD before embarking on a long slab ride through the wilds of LA freeways all the way back up to Cambria for the night. It was going to prove to be a crazy day of lane-sharing and riding through stopped traffic like a bullet coming out of the barrel of a shotgun. But we made it thru with no scratches or bruises and found our way to the little hotel on the beach for yet another beautiful sunset - are there any others????

 

From Cambria we headed back up the coast on Hwy 1 thru San Simeon, Big Basin, Monterey and then Santa Cruz before heading inland to the bay area for Mountain View. Our last night on the road would be at The Shoreline Amphitheater for a little concert in the park to see Band Perry, Luke Bryan, and                          JASON ALDEAN - can you say COUNTRY!!!!!!  

WOW WHAT A SHOW!

  

On Our way back we rode the Hwy 9 mountain route through all the mountain towns and couldn't help but to stop at Alice's Restaurant on Hwy 35 at Woodside Rd. This place just oozes coolness for bikers of all types and genres. The it was cross the bay at San Mateo and hit the Highway for the long trek home.

Nice Ride!

Lost a Friend

My friend and fellow rider Sydney Sheppard (aka Fishwitch) passed away in her sleep back on Monday January 21st. This lady (and I use that term with the utmost respect) was without a doubt one of the most friendly people this old grumbly, grumpy, sawtooth, whippersnapper has ever met in my life. Her wit and just fun nature brought a smile to my face the first time we ever spoke.

Sydney will be missed, her presence on rides were always from the rear looking on and after everyone else, but she enjoyed being with and being a part of everyones world and always has a caring heart.

Thank you Lord for letting us cross paths in life, she has made me a better person for it.

Godspeed to you my friend, and you'll always have a place to ride with me and Tinker in our hearts.


Victory Tribute to Fishy

Been Away

Been away from riding for a bit other than the mundane riding to work and back... and some local rides around the Sierras. But its all good riding on the Vic. I've put about 7000 miles on the bike since getting it almost a year ago now and I really enjoy this bike. The handling is great and the response is unlike any other bike I have ridden over all my years. The bike really makes riding fun, the stereo lets you enjoy some music, and the bags let you take a few things along or just have space to take of some of that un-needed coverings as the day gets warmer.

I put on a Corbin seat and its ready for a the long haul to where ever the roads want to take me. Next trip we are planning is to Western Canada into Baanf National Park. Then next year we are going to take a southern route out to the Florida Keys and mark our very first transcontinental ride. Should be fun. Stay tuned!

GONE TO THE DARKSIDE~!

Well I finally found my way into the realm of VICTORY MOTORCYCLES!!!

I just purchased a new 2011 Victory Cross Country model which is only the second year of this models existence. The Cross Models - Cross Roads and Cross Country are termed XR and XC by native "Vicsters" and are based on the VISION forged aluminum frame and sport the latest 106 inch, 97 horsepower V-Twin Freedom engine. Hook all that up to a 6-Speed transmission and you are gonna find some fun on the roads someplace... fast!

Victory Motorycles are produced by POLARIS INDUSTRIES and they have hit another home run on their latest design setup yet again. Polaris is doing a great job with their new bike designs, their collaboration with the Ness group of guys, (Arlen, Cory and now Zach too) has definately given them a design advantage over the "straight and narrow" ideology of Harley Davidson. I think that once Arlen Ness got involved with the motorcycle engineering teams at Polaris it was a match made in biker heaven. The new and the old coming together and the results coming out of that relationship are pretty incredible.

I really fell in love with the Kingpin and a Hammer model back in '08 when I first rode them up in Oregon for a test ride, and my best friend bought a KingPin Tour model. I was impressed. When the XC came out it was a no brainer for me!... I needed a large bike with leg room length and HD just wasnt changing theirs in any way for long legged people. The HD Streetglide (HD/SG) was a bike I had ridden thru Glacier Park and although it was nice, it wasnt comfortable without having highway pegs that I could stretch my legs out on.

The XC has floorboards that are about 14" long and I can put my feet under me, in front or stretch them out to just my boot-heels and straight leg it without taking my feet off the boards. This was my main comfort reason for buying this bike. Then being lighter than the HD and able to carry more cargo, well thats a big plus too for me. I also found that the 106 inch motor versus a 96 inch motor as the stock offerring included in the MSRP was a huge VICTORY advantage. HD wants about an extra $5,000 for the 103 inch and up to $10,000 for the 110 inch motor options making a Streetglide CVO MSRP at $35,000!!!!! yea incredible... I know. And the bike and motor design are 20 years old!

I had a chance to ride the XC thru some pretty demanding terrain (Berryessa Knoxville Rd.) the past weekends and although parts of this road didnt allow for very high speed riding it did require some very demanding changes in speed and manuevering ability throughout the ride. Conditions changed constantly with speed, shifting and braking and the XC handled it great. The rear air suspension and inverted front was a big advantage to what would have been back wrenching on a HD/SG. The rear suspension is a mono-tube gas shock with constant rate linkage that reacts like a dirtbike. it has air assist for extra loading. It is very comfortable riding on these crappy CA roads!

Once onto the good portion of roadway outside of NAPA county, it was easy to roll on/off the throttle and spend some good times traversing through the sweepers in 4th and 5th gears. The torque is well suited to using one gear and finding your way through the turns nicely. In the tighter areas I found the constant downshifting messed with the EFI brain and it stumbled a bit, but after I learned to STOP riding it like a Harley that problem quit happening. Harleys require 'rapping the throttle before every downshift, the EFI does not like that!!!!

You can lean this bike hard into corners and it feels very light, it pulls (throttles) hard out of the corners with a very light front end but doesnt feel like its getting away from you, it feels very well grounded at all transitions from decel back to accel, in downhill or uphill situations. The braking is excellent with dual 4-pistons up front and a single 2 piston on the rear. Braking is very forgiving, must be ABS(?) because I was on it hard a few times and worried that it was gonna lockup, but it never did!

Stereo sounds great! and the seat is countoured enough to keep you in the right place. What more could I ask for? just some more time on it!

Dyna 2 is FOR SALE [SOLD]

After much contemplation and decision making I have decided to sell Dyna and move on to a bigger bike. I have owned this bike since it was brand new in 1998 and rode it home off the showroom floor in Beaverton, Oregon. It has been a great bike and it needs another good home with someone that wants to enjoy it.

This will be a big change in my 'riding life' as I have always liked chopper style bikes and have enjoyed them and all they have to offer. But my wife and I want to do some more long distance cross country rides and having a full bagger will suit my needs a bit better than a hot-rod bike.

Now dont let the chopper/hot-rod nametag fool you, this bike is a good touring bike and will handle the twisty roads better than any other Harley Davidson model out there. Thats what it was designed and built for. Its been all over the western United States and has been a joy to ride with even two-up before my wife started riding her own. This bike will pack up like the best of them and go the distance, but I'm ready for something bigger and "couch-ier".... Im getting older and my arse needs some good support!

So any takers? I can guarantee that everything is top notch on this bike because I put every part on it and know its entire history. Check out the build writeup and you can see every step I took.

Thanks for looking.

DYNA 2 Finally Completed!!!

DYNA-2 PROJECT COMPLETED

I want to give a big THANK YOU!!! and a huge acknowledgement to all the people that helped to make this project an overwhelming success in my eyes. I have owned this bike since it was brand spankin’ new in 1998 and when the time came to give the ole-girl a makeover the folks mentioned below came through and provided the help and things needed to make it all happen:

Thank You All for your patience in working with me and my ideas!

LOCAL FOLKS
Mid-Cal Cycle Supply of West Sacramento
Specialized Exhaust of Elk Grove
Mike Wilson Auto Body & Paint of Wilton
M-Pac Upholstery of Elk Grove
SJM Manufacturing of Portland
Davis Motorsports of Reno
AAA Plating of Sacramento
American Cycle of Orangevale
FinishMaster of Sacramento
Tri-C Machine Corp. of West Sacramento
Hose & Supply of West Sacramento

INTERNET SUPPLIERS
Demons Cycle Supply
KC International
2 Orange Harleys
American Classic Motors
Autodynamic / Motodynamic
Cyclehead
Robs Cycle Supply
Xtreme Cycle
Funk Motorsports
House of Harley Davidson
Woodstock Harley Davidson
Eastern Performance Cycles
MC Advantages
Total Performance (Formerly Daniel Boone)

CV Performance

NEW BIKE SPECIFICATIONS:

Billet Front End w/ 6 degree additional rake and 4” overstock length
Billet Headlamp assembly with HID bulb
Carllini Pullback bars
Arlen Ness Rad III Hand Controls
Billet Forward Controls
Billet Mirrors

Pro-Force Billet Air Intake w/ K&N Filter
21” x 2.15” 60 Spoke Front Wheel w/ Avon M90 Tire
18” x 4.25” 60 Spoke Rear Wheel w/ Avon 150mm Tire
Wilwood 4 Piston Brake Calipers – Front & Rear
Russell Stainless Braided Brake Lines, Oil Lines, Fuel Lines, Cables
Polished Mesh style Rotors
Billet Spoke style Pulley -1.125” x 70 Tooth
Secondary Drive Belt - 1.125”
Reworked Rear Swingarm – Shock mounts, Brake stop, Lower support
Reworked Frame – Removed struts & Passenger peg mounting points
200mm Rear Fender installed into frame, hidden struts, custom extension
Custom Rear Tail light Fixture LED with internal turn signals
Paul Yaffe Style Front Fender
Custom 3” Stretched flat top Gas Tank – Flush type cap
Custom Seat and Mounting
Custom Luggage Rack
Custom Chevrons on rack mount
Custom GPS Gauge Console with Garmin Nuvi 550

Modified CV Carburator
Rocker Mounted Speedo & Oil psi Gauge
House of Kolor Paint – Wild Candy Apple Red

THE DETAILS:

Dyna Makeover FINAL

FIRST RIDE

OK well Dyna "2" was completed this past weekend and I am very happy with the results. Took it out on a short road trip up to Plymouth to shake things down a bit and thats exactly what happened. All was good until about 10 miles from home when the brand new billet shifter pedal fell off the bike as I was turning into a parking lot. Oh well S-hit happens!

Then after that I come to find out that the rear caliper is leaking fluid. I tried tightening it over and over again but to no avail. It was obviously a product issue and Wilwood and their suppliers were happy to help me out.

The bike doesn't handle much different with the additional 6 degree rake and 4" overstock extension on the front. But it sure feels different looking over the front end, the whole bike just feels a bit bigger.

So a few more parts need some work and I need to get the gauges and windvest installed, but otherwise all seems ok at this point.

Heres some pics: (Click below, then click on Slideshow)

HARLEY DYNA 2 by PAUL

Dyna Makeover 7

FINAL ASSEMBLY

OK... So all the new parts that have had UPS and FED-EX delivering night and day to my little 'shop of horrors' is finally coming to fruition. It wasn't enough that my bike parts barely had time enough to dry in the paint booth and the painter never had a chance to see his final work product before I wisked them away to my shop. It was complete fervor working every night and getting everything together so that I could get back on the road and see my new ride twisting heads from every direction. This Dyna is going to be all that... and just when Harley Davidson decided to stop production on this model... Hmm what were they thinking???

Oh well they'd probably just steal all my ideas and make it into some new 'corporate chopper' for the metro-sexual crowd to try and take credit for in some shape or manner. Ok so I am rambling but nothing urks me more than some Wall Street college boy with a manicure, a pedicure and a "Harley"....

Back to the bike, I've decide to just leave the solid color (great decision) on the entire bike because what ever happened with this paint recipe and the application of it made it come out with so much personality that it would be a crime to cover up any inch of it with logos, pinstriping or any graphics. It is absolutley phenominal how it turned out.

So I made myself up a checklist of the installation steps and started going at it. Step 1-Wiring harness, 2)engine and 3)trans in first and connected up all the stuff.... and so on and so forth.

I got most everything put back together in about 1 week with only a couple hours here and there in the evenings. I wasn't in any hurry because the parts at the chromer would be the final holdup to this whole project due to being so busy. They weren't in any hurry to get my parts back to me. Not really a big deal to them, seen one chromed Harley part I guess you've seen them all. So I had time to burn.

Once the parts started going on and I could see the bike taking shape it was exciting to see. Alot of time was spent taping things up so that it wouldnt get scratched during the process. I used painters 'blue' tape and it works really well. It doesnt leave any adhesives or anything behind when you pull it back off.

Got all the "GO" parts on but came up a bit short on the "STOP" parts. Brakes lines were the wrong length and the fittings to make them fit right were wrong too. Had to re-order some more new parts. Had a shopping list of new chrome bolts and stuff to replace in the end and got it all figured out with my local guys Bruce and Robert at Mid-Cal Cycle.

The front end went on with all new bearings, forks went on without a hitch or a scratch... (Thank you God!) got to the rear end and got all the rear bolted up and WTF!!!! The rear pulley had zero clearance to the belt guard. It's always something right at the end, so I had to come up with different ideas on how to mount it without having to do any cutting or re-welding. I shoulda checked this on mockup but I DIDNT thinking it was no big deal. I got it figured out and actually like it better now with the bolt heads on the back side and chrome acorn nuts on the front. Added a larger wheel spacer and a new chrome axel nut and washer and No more clearance issues.

Wheels on, fenders and tank on, and all looking so damn good mmmm mmmm!

Did I mention that it looks good?????

The rear tailight is just freakin awesome, a company named MOTODYNAMIC makes LED lights for many metric bikes but none for the Harleys... (yet). I love this little bit of attention to detail and it is going to be the talk of the town. The turn blinkers are part of the light and blink with Yellow LED's. That is why you see no turn signals at the back end.

Only problem was with Harley Davidson (of course) designing their turn signal switching differently then everyone else. Can't make it simple and easy, they gotta do things the difficult way. I had to basically remove the turn signal 'smart-module' from the circuit and install a flasher relay instead because the smart module wouldnt "blink" the blinker! HD has some newfangled way to turn the lights OFF when idiot riders forget that they turned them on and it screws with the whole system. I got it figured out though... afterall I am an "E"-lectrician.

The LED lights look so nice and I think they are going to be much safer for bikers in the future. These lights are so BRIGHT!!! Night time aint no time to be messin with the likes of this here LED lighted bike.... White LED's light up the license plate frame too.

The light fixture itself was originally made for (dare I say it) a HONDA!... but I made some creative changes and made it fit my bike. The distributor thought I was nuts when I kept telling him "dont worry about what bike its for, I dont care, I just need one close dimensionally" and I found it. Then with some help from Tap Plastics I made it fit my bike the way I wanted it. Looks sic!!!!

More coming

Dyna Makeover 6

PAINTING

Here are some photos from the paint booth of Dyna with her new paint-job provided by Mike Wilson Auto Body. It doesnt look like much here in the stripped down version but in person the paint looks like it is so wet you could take a bath in it.

The House of Kolor recipe is:

Basecoat: Black
1st Coat: Candy Apple Red Basecoat
2nd Coat: Transparent Candy Cherry Red
3rd Coat: Urethane Clear



This is the frame with the integrated rear fender from a 2009 Softail 200mm rear end.

Close up of the rear fender with the fender struts hidden inside the fender itself. The fender extension has also been customized as part of the fender and now extends to swingarm.

This is the front fender, it is a Paul Yaffe look alike. This came out real nice too.

This is the custom tank that was originally made for a Softail also. The tunnel had to be cut out in the rear and replaced with a square channel to fit the Dyna frame assembly. The rear mount was also added. All the mounting points will be hidden. No gauges on this tank either, just a flat top with a pop-up gas cap.

The other parts that were color-matched were the swingarm, the top motor mount bracket, the horn mount bracket and the custom rear luggage rack brackets that I hand made. The rack part is actually from the new Harley Davidson Rocker FXCWC model.

So this "New" Dyna is going to have multiple personalities from many different Models.

Coming soon.... The New Dyna.

Dyna Makover 5

BODY WORK AND PAINT

Well the bike has been at Mike Wilson Autobody and Paint shop for the past 3 weeks and has undergone the unbelievable.... the idea that you can simply think up a paint color and have it come out as perfectly as your mind contrives it is... TOTALLY POSSIBLE!!!!

The color that my bike came out when it was finally finished was exactly like I had imagined it. I was almost to the point of losing sleep over this paint job because I was really worried that it wasn't going to turn out like I had planned. Let's just say that I'm sleeping very soundly now.


Before the paint got put on though we had some serious body work to complete. We had to fabricate and weld on a fender extension that typically on a Softail is just a cheap plastic piece bolted onto the swingarm. I didnt want a cheap ass plastic part on this bike, it's better than a Harley at this point! I found a donor fender from a Dyna Superglide and chopped it up. I did some pounding out and some welding here and there and it looked like a Frankenstein stitch job for a bit.

Then Mike got creative and did the beautiful body work that brought it all together. What a Craftsmen!. The fender extension now flows right into the vertical frame rails and looks just perfect. He added the continuation of the fender lip from the factory fender onto the extension also. You really cant tell where one stops and the other begins.



The guys at the shop worked some wonders on the other tins and then it was all sprayed out with House of Kolor paint provided by FinishMaster who helped me get the right colors together in a short amount of time.

The Painting Recipe: first we used a HOK Shimrin Black basecoat on everything, then a Candy Apple urethane basecoat, then on top of that we put a transparent Candy Cherry and then to top it off we coated it with many layers of clear urethane.

It came out so sweet I wanted to EAT IT!. I was playing with the idea of doing some graphics over the tops of the fenders and tank with some marbelizing and flames and then pinstriping it all. But... the color just came alive on its own and I didn't want to cover any of it up. So we left it just color only and it has an insane personality all its own with nothing else to distract your eyes away from it.

Pics of painted bike to come.... Final Assembly next