FreeBird - Another take..

Here is another poster of Freebird ... cool eh?

Tunes from the movie ... And its Lynyrd Skynyrd !!! oh YEAH !!

1.Workin' For MCA

2.I Ain't the One

3.Saturday Night Special

4.Whiskey Rock-a-Roller

5.Travellin' Man

6.Searching

7.What's Your Name

8.That Smell

9.Gimme Three Steps

10.Call Me the Breeze

11.T For Texas (Blue Yodel No.1)

12.Sweet Home Alabama

13.Free Bird

14.Dixie

FreeBird - How much can three men take?

*some images are taken from The Sun*

Freebird - A Funny british movie with a lot of their one-liners, magic mushrooms, cannabis ganja, beers and bikes bikes and bikes ...

I am not going to be some arse and giving the plot away.. and for those who havent watch it yet.

Go get yourself the Dvd, blu-ray or whatever it is... and laugh the shit out from your pants.

Project Cafe - Assembling continues ...

Front end - checked
Rear shocks - checked
Swing arm - checked
Rear Wheel - checked
Engine and ancillaries - checked
:- engine been painted Black High Temp gloss on the bottom end while the top end I maintained with High Temp Silver -:

Hell Ride

having a thought of not getting my hands and fingers cover with oil and grease today, I managed to dig in my old crates and found this bike flick movie. Clean it up a bit and pop it into the dvd player. Actually I kinda watched it sometime ago and fall asleep in between. What the heck, wanna give it another chance and maybe its reallly good? Presents by Mr Pulp Fiction himself, with Easy Rider Hopper, Bad Ass Vinnie Jones, Michael Madsen, ok ok and KungFu David Carradine involvement.., how can it go wrong, right? WRONG!!

Ok, from the beginning we know that its a B-Grade movie, similar style with all other Tarantino's GrindHouse films. Old style filming and directing. But this one has those wrong actors playing the wrong role. For example : we know L.Bishop is the writer, director,producer and etc.etc in this flick.., but him playing a character named Pistolero ? I think he 'act' too much in it to pretend to be one and why do he always have to move with his head 'pop' forward? Furthermore, he got a bad-hair in it.

To play the 'Taiko' character in this flick, I personally think M.Madsen should be Pistolero.

I dont wanna be a spoiler-arse, Get the DVD, open up your brain and take whatever is inside out, Sew it back, Pop the Dvd in the player and press the play button. You can treat it like the PC screensaver.., hear nothing.., only see bike pics flowing and moving across that Plasma of yours.... Not bad actually.

Hell Ride - More Shots

1 + 1 + 1 .... err .. probably approx. age totaled up to 700-years-old ole' bikers

Original 'Easy Rider" actor, Cool Mr Hopper on an Indian

Writer, Director, Producer & Bad-hair 'Taiko' in Hell Ride

another pic of him... look closely, he kinda resemblance Pacino

to do some justice to this B-grade bike flick, I think this dude (Michael Madsen), should be the 'Taiko" of the Victors

Project Cafe - Bars

Been having a slight 'headache' deciding which bar to mount on 'Project Cafe'. Tried a few bars and finally decided to put on the black 'slight' straight one that you see in the pic. I wanted it low and sleek and slightly wider to compensate on the custom tank that I am gonna mount on to the frame.

-' from this pic you can see clearly that the original rear brake pedal still mounted on the frame work. That will go very soon as I am gonna machine and custom mount some 'rear sets' ' -

Project Cafe - Assembling

'Cafe racer' back from the paint shop. Its time for the assembling. Started by mounting on the mini-triple, front forks, light housing and the front wheel. Many internal components for the front forks has been changed. ie: new internal damping coils/springs, seals, gaitors, and most important.. heavy duty 'thicker' fork oil.

Project Cafe - Wheel Options

Had some headache on the color choices of the wheels,
- wanted to maintain the chrome spokes and chrome 'lip'.
- or black spokes with chrome 'lip'
.. that's the 2 options I am actually looking at ....

.. but I have decided to go all out and keep it ALL BLACK ..., that'll give it a more period look.

The Beeza in the Bedroom - An article

Here is an article I've read and I would like to share it with you ::

"Years ago, I lived in sunny Sydney, Australia, where nearly every sparkling morning signaled a motorcycle day. I was content with my trusty old Vincent Rapide and my new 750 SS Ducati, but I still read the weekend cycle classifieds. One Saturday, there was a brief but tempting three-line ad for a BSA Gold Star.

Britain's famous 500cc "Goldie" was one of the most coveted '50s-era racing motorcycles. BSA stood for "Birmingham Small Arms," one of England's top armaments suppliers. When it wasn't waging war, it built sporting motorcycles.

Temperamental, hard to start, difficult to ride well, and wickedly quick, the beautiful "Beeza" was a bike men lusted after, but only a lucky few could have one.

Surely, there couldn't be any harm in looking.

The man who answered the phone said I was his first caller. He directed me to an address in Sefton, a working-class neighborhood in Sydney's Western Suburbs, located a few miles past an urban sprawl of factories and light industry.

The street's brick, semidetached row houses all looked alike. Many numbers were faded or missing, so it took awhile to find number 63. Walking up a neatly tended path, I was excited to see the bike. At the door, John Hearne, a trim-looking man in his 20s, introduced me to his strikingly attractive young wife, Fiona. She smiled shyly, looking strangely pleased to see me. He was cool, almost as if he weren't interested in selling his motorcycle.

Even though there was a garage tucked behind the house, we headed straight inside and into a small back bedroom. I couldn't figure it out. Once inside, I saw why: There, between the double bed and the wall, stood the prettiest Gold Star I'd ever seen. The chrome sparkled, the black enamel shone and the glittering wheels set my heart pounding. I waited, wondering what would happen next.

"We're living here with me mum and dad," John admitted. The grim look on Fiona's face told me all I needed to know about that arrangement. "We're planning to use the money from the sale of the BSA as a down payment for a place of our own," his wife volunteered. Glancing sideways sharply, John frowned at his wife, as though she'd betrayed a confidence.

To break the awkwardness of the moment, I asked if he'd start the bike. He was proud to comply. After maneuvering the immaculate machine through the kitchen to the back porch, he skillfully found the compression point. Tickling the big Amal Grand Prix carburetor until pungent fuel dripped past the float, John retarded the ignition, raised the valve lifter and kicked down smartly on the starting lever. The bike settled into a fast but very even idle with that characteristic spitting sound common to well-tuned BSA singles. He looked up and grinned. I smiled back.

"Nice," I said. "Too right," he replied, using the Aussie vernacular for "You bet."

Fiona left us for a moment. "Look, I never intended to sell this bike," he sighed. "Still don't really want to. I bought it in a basket five years ago. It's taken me all this time to rebuild it. I'll show you the bills, the used bits and all the receipts. Spared no expense, I did."

His words came faster and faster. "Me brother's a Speedway Champion and he helped. You'll see from the logbook," he said, handing over a battered green packet, "I'm the sixth owner. The machine spent most of its life on the Isle of Man. You know, where they run the TT."

I gave the bike a quick going over. It was perfect. The classic 4-gallon BSA Clubman tank had been replaced with a 5-gallon Lyta aluminum racing tank, and an Eddie Dow finned side plate had been added.

There wasn't one burred bolt. The machine looked better than the day it had rolled out of Birmingham in the summer of 1961. Bargaining on the basis of flaws would be a waste of time, an insult to the painstaking work John had done. We both knew it. This motorcycle was very special.

"Are you sure you want to sell it?" I asked, suddenly torn between wanting the motorcycle and hating to see him give up all the work he'd done. "I have to," he replied sadly. "And I've got to get every penny of the asking price." Fiona came back and stood looking anxiously over his shoulder. We were soon joined by her beamy, fierce-looking mother-in-law. She, too, wanted to see how we were getting on.

There was no need to ride the bike. I knew it was right. "I'll give you what you want," I said, "and I'll give you something else. I'll promise if I ever sell this motorcycle, you can have the first chance to buy it back." He was silent for a moment, obviously disappointed that I'd decided so quickly. He sighed, nodding. Fiona squealed and hugged him. The deal was done.

As I wrote the deposit check, my hand trembled. Driving home, I felt strange. The happiness I'd expected to feel in discovering the perfect Gold Star was tempered by what the sale meant to John Hearne. He'd traded one kind of freedom for another. It seemed a curious bargain.

A few days later, John and Fiona appeared at my lock-up garage, the BSA carefully tied down in the bed of his Holden Utility pickup. We unloaded the machine with the reverence military pallbearers show a soldier's coffin. He took a few minutes to show me the starting drill and to say good-bye.

Sitting on the bike for the last time, he caressed the clip-on bars and the fuel tank as a lover would. "It's easy to start," he said, as he demonstrated the complicated drill. When the Goldie fired, he shouted over the loud idle: "Keep the revs between 1,500 and 2,000. There's no way you can get a proper tickover [idle] with a GP carbie. It's geared high, so slip the clutch a little in 1st. With this sprocket, mate, you can top 115."

John smiled bravely as he packed up his truck, but I'm sure I saw the hint of a tear. Fiona stood still, sensitive to the solemnity of the moment. She silently took his hand. When they left, I turned to the bike and tried unsuccessfully for an hour to start it.

I owned the Goldie for three years. That BSA had its own special aura — aloof, elite, forbidding. I never registered it, preferring to start it up only very occasionally and riding it at vintage bike meets. It's odd, I suppose, but I never really felt as if it were truly mine.

After returning to the States, I succumbed to an overwhelming temptation to buy an old Ferrari. To afford it, I had to sell my motorcycles, including a Velocette Venom bought sight unseen from England, along with the Ducati and the Vincent.

Before advertising the "Beeza," I kept my promise to John Hearne, and I sent him a letter.

"If you'd like your Goldie back," I wrote, "you can have it for the price you sold it to me. I'll split the cost of crating and shipping it to Australia. I've hardly used it. I'd like you to have it again."

Two months passed. He didn't reply. I tried phoning unsuccessfully. Finally, I sold the Gold Star to Chris Wimpey, a California photographer.

In the years since, I wondered if John Hearne's new house brought him the satisfaction his classic motorcycle so obviously provided. I wondered why he hadn't responded to my letter. Long after the bike was sold, I still somehow expected to hear from him. But there was no completing the circle.

The bike's new owner created a poster of the BSA. Preserved on a dramatic black background, the Gold Star's cool perfection recaptures the moment I first saw it in John and Fiona Hearne's bedroom.

And that's the way I like to remember it."

Project Cafe - More Graphics

More shots of the graphics and paint work..... Beautiful !!....

Project Cafe - Graphics

Next in are the graphics for the tank and body components. Wanted a different fonts where you can't just simply pick out from the PC or any computer fonts searches. So, I decided to sketch and write the 'Bullet" word with my own hand-writing.
That'll be the only 'one-off' font and the only one you can get. White color with red- stripping running across, black and red fonts... How cool can that be.....

Project Retro - Test Run

Some weeks ago, a friend asking me to mock and build up a bike and wanted it to be a retro look... I agreed and take on that small 'job'.... Last night, decided to bring out Project Retro for a test-run and it gives me a helluva time !
Yeah right, helluva idling time instead of riding time. Weathers bad, stranded, Carbs running rich, overflow, ... Good!!.. at least I've got some additional things to tinkle with.

Project Retro :: Is Another project that I am on. And the built-up pics and write up will be up soon..... that'll be another stories and another time... till then...

Project Cafe - Paint Job

Its time for a good lick of paint.., wanted to maintain the 50's 'cafe racer look so I opt for the "English White". As we don't have the real 'English White' in this part of the world.., A good mixture of various varieties to get the color as close to the 'E-W' that I wanted. And I decided to lick the frame with gloss black.

Cool Old Classic Ride - Star Logo

Got myself a cool ride last week, an old classic and huge, star logo-ed. As usual, gonna mingle around with it here and there to make it better..., always wanted one. Huge, comfort and cool .... maybe its for sale after I am done with it....

Project Cafe - Fire it Up..

After the mock up and alignment, its time to fire it up ....!! burn it... burn !!..

Project Cafe - Mocked Up

After stripped to bare frames, got myself a rotten tank, a 7/8" steel pipe to do all the mocked up. This is the mock up stage and its very important to get all fabrications on mountings, brackets, positions, etc etc etc right.....

cruising tunes for today :
hurts so good - john cougar mellencamp
summer of 69' - bryan adams
babe - styx

Project Cafe

This is one of the project that I do-up a while back and thought I can share with you people out there. Here is the base frame for the 'project-cafe'. It is based upon the 50's British cafe racer. The based frame shots, fully stripped and bare naked.

British Triumph and Nippon Honda

These are a few shoots I've taken a while back in the capital, Its the Great Britain's Mighty Triumph and the Nippon's Honda CB Twin Cylinders. That's enough to make your saliva drooling. Its not for sale even you lay down some doughs.....