Summer is Approaching

Finally everyone is starting to detox from their wrenching addiction and we are actually able to do what these machines are intended to do, ride around look cool and find old barns with proper retro backgrounds for iphone photo-opts. 

soon...

take a left, shotgun, motion capture.

Terry the Tramp and Out Bad, a book review.

My first question I asked myself as I began to read about the adventures of the "Green Machine" was, wait a second how many Terry the Tramps are there?  To my ignorance, I guess there are more than two but definitively more than one.  Then again, a stupid question, I mean, how many people out there are nicknamed Big Dog or Lil' Mike?!

Anyway, as the readership will figure out this book is about yet another MC from the state of CA, and I found the book very informative and demystifying.  If anyone you know is facing a RICO case, this book like Barger's chapter on RICO is uplifting and inspiring-fighting the panopticon of authoritarian discipline and control!  The most gratifying aspect of this book is not so much the focus on MC's getting into trouble but trouble finding MC's.  That trouble is usually spelled by a combination of three government issued letters.

Throughout the entire book, whether at the beginning of Terry's life where he was rebuilding and cleaning up an entire hand me down Panhead with gasoline and a toothbrush or explaining the shift from choppers to baggers with the discovery of the Evo, Terry the Tramp focuses on motorcycles, runs, and the life on a motorcycle.  Terry the Tramp eloquently traces the history of a club, as it tells the chronology of clubs uniting into a confederation of clubs, the differences between AMA and MMA, and gives you an exciting story without that bullshit menacing deep voice so cleverly crafted by History Channel.  At least with Sons of Anarchy we know is creating a fantasy world, whereas the federally funded History Channel is just lying while passing as fact.  "Truth" is stranger than fiction.

This book is a spit in the face to the TV nonsense out there and reminds the reader, yes, motorcycles and runs are very much part of the often mythical world of MC's.

Then we got Out Bad, reads like an angry manifesto against the ATF that exposes the interconnectedness between national police agencies and TV entertainment.  Since the onset of national and international TV in the 1960s police agencies throughout this county have had backdoor access to how reality is reflected back at us through the TV screen.  Whether its the local 6 o'clock news or international TV shows like America's Most Wanted, the State's agenda flows through entertainment-news.  This book does a great job in showing how police operations are motivated by big money and news and entertainment movie cameras alike.  What depresses me though is the harsh reality that people's lives have to first be ruined and locked away, as a sort of primitive accumulation, for our entertainment and the citizens need to feel safe.

You could say there is an ongoing war between rebels and the State for the hearts and minds of the general populous.  But then again, it seems that the rebel armies within the world of MC's are living the life rather than fighting for it. Rightly so, as society becomes more and more under the influence and control of authority and greed, live your life while you still have a chance.

Out Bad does an excellent job exposing the many overlapping ATF operations, snitches, and confidential informants that litter the MC stomping grounds of the American Southwest.  There seems to be a connection between RICO cases and snitches and a glaring omission of guilt the stems from government police agencies that conduct these snitch operations within the world of MC's. The Out Bad author, Donald Charles Davis also writes an interesting blog for those who like the blurring lines between bikes, laws, and freedom the Aging Rebel 

I am not naive enough to think that every little detail within the club world is a federal conspiracy.  But if Barger's vindication for all clubs out there in his win against RICO in 1979, like many other legal victories within the world of clubs ain't enough convince you.  At least, it proves that until the day police agencies are able to show meeting minutes which prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that clubs, on a club level, are engaged in "organized crime", I know I will continue to enjoy the romanticism and lure of Motorcycle Clubs as the battle with agencies to be left alone.

After all, if it one thing I have learned in life and in books, it's that it takes to many police agencies, to many snitches, and two much ignorance to weave the web of RICO that it keeps me up at night.

     After all, this is what it's about...

A thing to go and do.

Evo Bratster, Just another quick flip...

Rumor has it, its for sale.

76 again.

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum....Bum again!

Swap Pics

Antique Motorcycle Club of America Show and Swap May 18-19.

AMCA Show and Swap Meet

From the CBA Swap Meet to the AMCA Vintage Show and Swap in May (18-19).

So yesterday we loaded up all the unused chopbob parts and crap that usually just sits on the shelves, all those genuine Harley parts that come on our best friend Craig's junkers, and headed down to the CBA Charlotte Swap Meet (already looking forward for the fall swap).  We got their early and weathered the storm, it turned out to be a really nice day.  Though the crowd was a bit smaller than usual everyone was in good spirits.  Anyway, this nice old man, one of those amazing dudes straight from Stereotypicalville let us know about the upcoming vintage show and swap meet in Denton, NC, the AMCA's Southern National Meet.  Oh ya and he was wearing an awesome shirt that read, "Harley Davidsons are for Policemen and other undesirables. Indian Motorcycles." He's got all of us there, cops and Harley's what a damn shame.

In other news, got my bike out of the shop and its a damn monsoon out there, go figure.
   

Inglorious Basterds

http://bastardbash.blogspot.com/

This might be something worth while come August...

too much locktite...

progress has its rewards...

oops.

Charlotte Swap Meet

Link: http://www.charlottecba.org/

Time to dig through boxes!

Unlike Smokeout, the CBA swap meet is an event that you can look forward two twice a year. Well that is not exactly true, since you can look forward to Smokeout twice a year as well, before you go and after you. Anyway, this winter has been long and slow moving for us. Spring couldn't come any faster.

Evo bratster

Where will we go from here?!

Merry XXXmas

optimus prime

so far she just wants to stay wide open and the flat tires ain't helping...it's alive, it's alive! now some serious cosmetic work cause this transformer color scheme just isn't gonna cut it...

Winter?

CB750 winter project

Born Losers...

What a jem, its like Reefer Madness, Dukes of Hazard, and History Gangland journalism all in one!

iron on garage.

ironhead heading out the door.

asheville sunset

Vac it up...

Asheville, NC weekend.

Good food and when the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed for winter you take the Parkway north and then turn onto the Elk Mountain Scenic Highway its the shit.

more pics later...

the 76er lost its tail light.

The Wheels in the Parking Deck Go Round and Round.

Much to do about an xs.

To chop or not to chop, that is the question. Flip it for something more chop worthy or hack into it and let the retro dudes cry over it?

what is a "sprum"?

So one day I got to put on a freshly painted fender, to give me that winter shine, and I realized that after everything was back on the rear wheel is tight as all hell and the chain is kinda hopping around. "What the hell, nothing some good revs won't fix," I think to myself, wrong! Nothing some engineering, physics, and welding can't fix. So yea, after me having shaved off what was left of the old rivets a bud of mine stitched me up and I am ready to go. Now, I just hope that my oil leak calms down and my rear tail light stays on...

The CBA Charlotte, NC swapmet

Today we took ourselves a nice little day trip down to Charlotte, http://www.charlottecba.org/,  and walked among the rusty old old parts and dreamt(spelling?) about having some thousands of dollars to pick up, oh you know, those panheads just sitting around next to that old man's table, but nah, instead, picked up some nick-knacks.

Pics to come.

Bum750

We are going to start building a cb750 bratbob! 

drum brake rivets never last.

all of a sudden my rear wheel started to feel alittle bit unbalanced....

Another Iron Project.

more to come...

...

flip flop.

another good day another good angle.

Ironhead rolling on 16s.

Meet Batman. This beauty got away from us all to soon. But hey, with it gone on to better and bigger things. With the long southern summer finally over and this weekend feeling all to fallish its going to be real nice to get back into the shop with space heaters and friends. Build em up!