Murray's wall shot

                                          Seth and I for a rip up to Murray's for some Lucas

TROG or BUST!!!

In an effort to raise $ to get the Virginia Mule out to the Jersey shore for the Race of Gentlemen I'm going to be making a lmited run of t-shirts. Lee Bullock's rendition of the Mule will be on the front and my TROG race #75 on the back. They will be printed on white t-shirts made in the USA.

Click the link on the sidebar to go to the store and thanks in advance for your support!!!

The Race of Gentlemen 2015

It's been a year since I updated this blog and a lot has happened. Ray and I finished up the UL motor, transmission and overall mock up of the bike. I then took it over to the Farm, where Seth and I finished up a lot of little details and got it up and running. I named the bike the Virginia Mule, as it came from Virginia, found in a field and it's a UL, hence the Mule. I entered the Mule into consideration for a spot to race on the Jersey shore under the race of Gentlemen. And the Mule made the cut!! And I'm so stoked!! Here's a couple pictures of where the bikes at, need to do a couple more things before October but I'm in good shape to get them done.

I love the backdrop of the barn out at the farm...

Update and The Race of Gentlemen

Wow! Its been awhile since I updated this blog. Lost track of time and got sidetracked, but I’ve been steady working on the 38UL. In one of my earlier posts you’ll remember that the cases needed serious attention and they got it. A great friend of mine, Ray, took to them with a TIG torch and made it so they will live to fight another day. While digging through magazines both new and old looking for inspiration, I started to favor an older look for the flathead, a 40’s-50’s style, a real bobber if we need to throw labels around. Also some months ago via email I got a hold of Mel who is a member of the Oilers car club and one of the main dudes responsible for The Race of Gentlemen (TROG) out on the Jersey shore this October. They were taking submissions for bikes to race on the beach. Pre 1948 and need to look the part are the guidelines. I started doing some more research online and in books and was really digging the TT style some big twins were clothed in, along with the hill climb and Jack Pine style motorcycles. So thoughts were thunked and an idea was formed and I was stoked on it. We’re building the 38UL to be like a bike that would’ve been built back in the 40’s and raced around hayfields for fun, maybe climbed a couple hills or two and traversed cross country in a Jack Pine race. The idea is to build the bike like old hot rodders would’ve done it, what we don’t have, we’ll make! Handmade parts, with respect to the time period and the innovation of the era. Some poor farm boys from Michigan wouldn’t have sprung for the factory hill climb right side gas tank that holds oil and neither will we! We’ll cut up the old horseshoe for the fittings and make our own, more money for beer! Now, that also allows us to not have to buy the factory TT oil tank that is shorter so you can raise the transmission for better cornering. Being that the oil tank is now out of the picture we can make stands that will raise our transmission up an 1” or so. What about the battery? Magneto is the answer son. We’ll also need a rear mudguard, pressed into service for the job will be a spare tire cover from a Model A that would’ve been lying around the old farmstead. You get the picture I’m sure, I’m going to post some examples of what I’m talking about style wise. 

Of course we had to rebuild the old motor and were almost done with that now. I picked up a Victory Library book on building flatheads and were doing some of the tricks mentioned in the book. Ray took to relieving the cylinders and cleaning up the ports for better flow. I’d like to have the cams re-ground but I don’t think time will allow for that now. Speaking of time, I need to email Mel again and make sure everything is still a go for getting the bike in the race. I’ll be posting more here about the progress and the race and do a better job of keeping this blog updated. I’ll also post some links to the race and other blogs of dudes that are in the race or supporting it so you can check out what’s happening. It’s been so cool working on this old beast and I hope the Michigan Mutt gets to see the Jersey shore.

For you instagrammers that read this make sure you follow @theraceofgentlemen and also @oilerscarclub

A Sort-Of-Special 80

Whoa man, this is a far out Flathead! My good friend Leo let me borrow his Big Bike from July 1970 with this pink 43 ULH chopper on the cover. I had saw the cover shot of the bike floating around on the web for sometime. Then I saw it awhile back on Freedom Machine & Accessories blog, Harpoon was diggin' on it I believe.  This is probably a way too far out path for myself and the UL to go down, but who knows? I ran 4 over tubes on my Cone Nose, early super glide front end. I dug just riding down over curbs and carvin corners. Now I'm running early sportster tubes which I think are 1" under the stock super glide ones and I love the nimbeness of it, responds better? maybe.

and last but certainly not least, my Cone Nose habit as it sits, on a sunnier day a few weeks ago.

A Flatheaded Run Hog -Choppers magazine 1973

I first saw this bike when Irish Rich shared it online and I kept an eye out for the magazine. The bike looked the business and I wanted to know it's story.  From the first line of the article I was not disappointed...

And this last shot is from Irish Rich's Applied machete blog. It's after the Choppers article because the K-model he spoke of has been built is in the background. Looks like the only difference is the blacked out pipes. Normally I'm not an 8 over with a little bit of rake kinda guy but this chopper just looks ready to roll the miles. Which is exactly what it sounds like it did. So much inspiration in reading about that being done with these early motors and Flat headed ones at that!

The Resurrection Begins on the 38UL

The previous owner of my 38 motor decided to fill in the pock marks on the cases with some kind of aluminum filler. It looked like shit, no two ways about it. Some kind of putty that supposedly would polish out to look like aluminum. But it looked like shit. My buddy has access to a nice blasting cabinet at work and he said I could use it today so I took him up on it. They cleaned up nicely but Crater Face would be a fitting nickname for these case halves. It looks as if this motor sat buried in the dirt. I'm confident that all can be fixed with the almighty TIG. Here are some shots of the 75 year old cases all washed up after blasting.

The flywheel assembly was supposedly trued but it didn't appear to be, seemed way too loose. I took it up to Stevensons in Wayne, MI and they said that everything appears new but that it was just assembled, not trued. So they're torquing and truing and I just have to get these cases ready for the crank.