FXRP

Thanks Ti!

Nice

Cruiser

My old ride, almost as much fun as a bike

Lurkin

Manx? Not sure. Nice to live in an area that hasn't been picked over. There's a VW Notchback in the same town.

Deer

Does your town have one of these signs?

Im still here

Been busy moving a couple hours north. More to come...

Its Coming...

Perfect

Snow is coming

Cold run into town today, threw some Stabil in the Z for the hibernation. I don't mind winter, but I HATE snow removal. Endless shoveling and pushing a snowblower around sucks!

Toecutter is at it again

Nice Job!

Supposedly real deal for sale on the bay... $50 large

......

progress....?

MACHINE from matt machine on Vimeo.

Double Punches

So while driving around getting pissed at the drivers and the town in general, I noticed these two signs within 5 minutes of each other. It lightened up the day a bit... Been busy trying to buy a house with a shop, figure out details of a move, and secure a job jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. No worries, more motorcycle etc. content to come

Good Day

Lots going on here at the Pastime headquarters. Been working like a mad man, not on my bike but in the forest. Just got back from 14 days in Oregon just south of Hood. No shower for 14 days. Sketchy fire. Me and the little lady are also making a move a couple hours north. This means I will be moving the shop, but most likely will be able to have my set-up within walking distance, which will be a big help.
    Today I finally got to spend a coupla minutes with the old guy I have seen riding a '51? Pan chop around town for the past 10 years or so. The guy is a ghost. I usually just catch a quick glimpse of him heading out of town. I did catch him getting groceries on it last summer at the local grocery store, and chatted him up for a minute. He keeps to himself and was of few words, I did notice he had a THICK German accent. So today I got the chance to meet him at his place...He was fairly quiet at first, until maybe he realized I wasn't going to rip him off, and just wanted to check out his Pan. As with most guys like this I have talked to, it's hard to make it inside their lair. He was friendly though, and decided I was trustworthy. He had the Pan inside stashed away, among a couple other bikes. This bike has been his daily ride and his only mode of transportation for who knows how long. I asked why it was stashed away, and he went on to tell me he had suffered a stroke and his left foot wasn't currently cooperating. He had lost use of the whole left side of his body for a bit, but regained everything except that damn stubborn foot. He was bummed about not being able to rip around on that bike. He originally built it in 1970. He produced a photo album with a pic of the bike with a 18" over glide front end on it, the first version. He went on to explain that Peter Fonda had a 15 over on his bike, so he built his to one up him! Today the bike sits with a stock glide front end, yellow frame, sporty tank frisco mounted, carb mounted on the left side, upswept pipes, rad sissy bar, bates style solo and p-pad, flat fender, mouse trap etc. Really sweet set-up. Original frame. He went on to ask how much I thought it was worth. It was refreshing to meet someone with no internet access, no idea how much folks are getting for parts these days, just stoked on his bike still. I decided out of respect that taking any photos would be rude, and I was honest with him about how much I thought his bike was worth. He seemed satisfied with that. We chatted for a half hour more, he took down my name and phone number, I wished him good luck with the foot. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have that bike, and the fairly large amount of rare parts he had laying around. It would make me just as happy if his foot started working and he could again be in the wind on that sweet Pan. He had made it this far with the bike, it just wouldn't be right to have it end that way.

My day at work...

More Choppers

This is turning into one of those places you end up when you google "chopper" and your not looking for helicopters...but here are some anyway. Been super busy at work! Maybe a few of you got stuck in the traffic when we closed Tumwater canyon for this fire? If you look closely in the 1st pic., you can see the highway below. The hike to the point (from the highway below) where the pic. was taken is brutal.

Viewdale

Viewdale drive in. Overgrown with weeds, forgotten about, and for sale. Was riding around and noticed the gate was open so I snuck in... Nobody around. I'm sure this piece of history will be swiftly removed and replace with something "better". Glad I got to have a moment with it before its gone. On a better note I remembered I can get non-ethanol gas and even 110 octane from one of the local gas places. Burned a tank on purpose just to try it out, bike ran killer. I'll be going back to get 5 gallons of TRICK to mix with some premium...I pulled up and the guys that run the place were checkin out the Z using phrases such as "extended swingarm" and "dragbike" reminiscing about their buddies that used to run 900's and 1000's back in the seventies and early 80's. Pretty cool.

Back to the Pan

Thanks T.P. for posting this photo. This is what my Panhead looked like when I found it and brought it home. Looks good to go right? What you don't see is the completely stuck front forks, water in the engine itself, tons of bondo on all but the fenders, bent bars, clapped out primary set-up, seat that isn't attached to anything (but its a Bates pan) trashed exhaust, the list goes on. I sat at my shop today and stared at the current Pan, the way it sits today, and pondered the exhaust. If I had to do it all again, I would have carefully just rebuilt everything needed to safely propel me down the highway, and left the rest alone. This bike was cool as hell just like this! Damn. Maybe I will tell the whole story one of these days from the adventure we had getting this bike...

Work.

These are a few images from the past few days. Some of the expensive toys we get to play with from time to time. The rest of this fire was pretty boring, and when it wasn't I was too busy to get out the camera...Anyway, this is all part of what I do for a living.

Done.

Table for my woman is done. I promise the next post will be far more manly, pipes for the Pan are coming up next.

Day Off!!

Level

Been busy making something non-motorcycle related for the lady.

Fresh Chain

The old one was making me nervous, so I stopped in and saw Mitch cause I have better shit (like riding, getting shit done) to do on my one day off this week. 20 minutes later Im out the door, no appointment necessary either. Good job, good indy shop, shout out. Thanks dude!

DB Cooper...

A friend sends this in, a pic taken directly from the airline literature. Funny as hell! This lady is NOT fucking around. Riding her invisible chopper right out the door.

If only they all fit like this...

Sometimes, it's just one of those days.

Tool Bag

Darin wanted a couple flaps sewn into his leather tool bag to keep out the dirt etc...so I sewed somebody's dirtbag leather jacket into it. Should do the trick

The Toecutter

The Toecutter got cut on, had 8" of intestine removed cuz The Toecutter ate too much popcorn back in the day....Go wish him well HERE      He said myself and Darin could have his chopper if he didn't make it through, well I received a hilarious voicemail promptly after he woke up all slurred and groggy, stating that he was still alive and that we could not have his chopper! funny shit, and I'm stoked you get to keep your bike buddy.

4th of July ride

Leavenworth-Waterville-Douglass-Chelan and back. Super fun ride, Waterville is like an abandoned Mayberry. I think people get it stuck in their heads that Washington is Seattle. Rainy etc. While Seattle is cool, the Eastern side of the state has a way lower population, and much drier high desert like climate. Anyway, all of you that don't live here just keep thinking it rains all the time. Its terrible here, really. Oh, and its funny watching people cringe and make spazzy gestures when the Kerker screams by their open car windows on an uphill pass.

America!

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th