In response to the IronboneR, I thought I'd remember my roots and post up some IronHEAD...

She was nothing but a pain in my ass (and the worst beginners bike ever), and I was obviously trying hard to be a dirtbag...
But I started my fetish for ruining good tanks with a sandblaster and rattlecans, and tearing up a perfectly fine (ugly-ass) seat...
Oh yeah...this had to have been Ft. Hood TX (First Team!!) around 96-97'ish.

IRONBONEr

This is mybike I purchased from a one-armed man at the farmers market. One hundred bucks and this precious array of rust and rubber (aka a 1980 cx500D) was all mine.  In order to get my bike road worthy I purchased a new frame with a title so I can register it under the new title (The previous owner lost the title and didn't want to go through the MD duplicate title process).  I have never worked on a street bike before so this project will pop my cherry on bike building

The old frame is on the left and the new one is on the right.  However I have currently encountred three major differences.  One the bumpers for the tanks are different, I will grind the ones of and weld on tabs on the new one.  The second is the seat/gas tank mount is one inch further forward on the new frame so I will cut off the old one and weld it on the new frame.  The third is that the rear sissy bar tabs are 1 3/4 in thinner on the rear.......I will address this problem later

After about 4 hours of dissasebly my bike was in peices and on the shelf.  Pretty simple I just put the engine on a tire and pulled the frame off of it.

A few hours into the assembly and this is how she looks.  I am at somewhat of a standstill until I can figure out how to correct the frame and/or what I will do to it.  I know the obvious solution for the tail is to cut it off and make it a one seater.  But I would like to get it goin somewhat stock for the time bieng and keep it a two seater.

Helter-Skelter

So, I bought this bike 4 years ago in the attempt to start vintage racing. This is how I got it:

Not too bad, ran like a raped ape. After coming back down to Earth, and realizing I have no time to tie my shoes let alone go racing all over the East Coast, my boys (Austin in middle, Jared on right) and I decided to go the bobber route. The goal was for a cool, light bobber with a budget under $2000. So, we started with a bolt-on hardtail from Factory Metal Works:

Since then, over the past 2 years we have been slowly adding and customizing a little bit at a time including:

Rear Brake Pedal Brackets
Rear Brake Rod
Seat Leaf Spring Mount
Rear Fender (the how-to video made for school was the first post)
New Front Wheel/Brake
Kickstand
Z-bars
Rebuilt Amal 930
Tires/Tubes
Chain
License Plate Mount
Headlight/Taillight
Oil Tank/Oil Lines
Clutch
Seat Pan/Cover

Everything we did was hand-fabbed and parts bought from the 'Bay or swap meets to keep costs low.

So, this is where I am at the start of this BBB:

A lot in this picture is just mocked up, so a lot of work still to do.

Just so there is photo evidence:
The before pic...when she was pretty:

And after I OD'd on Pontiac:
Never mind...those pics are on the old hard drive I guess...


And what she's lookin' like now, a few days after this crap-bet/build-off got started. Stoopid motivating asshat/friends...

The Official Start of the BreakdownBrokedownBuildoff

Ok, so this whole Blog thing started with Casey challenging our manhood when he scored a CX500 for $100. Dickhead. The 3 other shitbags that add to this Blog had motorcycle in one state of disrepair or another, so Casey said that he could get his running and on the road before the rest of us. So, the shit-talking started and the BreakdownBrokedownBuildoff was spawned. The BBB is now a contest between 4 garage mechanic wannabees trying to finish their bike before all the others. Steak dinners and alcohol is up for grabs, and there is no better motivation than meat and beer. Each of us has a totally different type of bike; streetfighter, cafe, cruiser, and vintage bobber. So, here is the skinny: 

Competitor lists:

Aaron "Short Horn":

1) Tires changed

2) New springs in front forks & new polished legs swapped on

3) Rebuild front AND rear brakes

4) Finish seat, get some kind of upholstery/leather on it that was not sewn by a male claiming to be a God.

5) Fix headlight bucket, and paint it black.

Casey "Shadetree Dynamo":

1,2,3) Swap frames (counts as 3)

4) Forks

5) Brakes

Terry "Fuck You it's not a Girl's name":

1) Gas Tank

2) Battery Box

3,4) Engine Swap (counts as 2)

5) Lights and tuning

Chewie:

1) Chain Tensioner

2) Mufflers

3) Oil System Plumbing and Cleaning

4) Clutch/Kickstarter Fix

5) Front Brakes

To win the contest, we need to ride our bike to another betting member's house under it's own power with everything on teh above list completed. If we do it, that person has to buy/cook you a steak dinner. We only have to pick one person, then the bet is left to the remaining people. The bet is over when there is a clear loser, so basically one person doesn't get a steak dinner.

Then, all of us go help the last person.

The goal of all this madness is that we
all ride together to the Leonardtown, MD Car Show April 29th, enter our bikes to beat those stocker H-Ds, and get a beer and a steak for dinner.

Each of us will be posting pics and updates throughout our builds to keep each other jealous and motivated.

This is minimalistic, simple, cheap bike building. None of us has money, time, professional friends, or fancy tools and workshops. The work that comes from the BBB is done on late nights and weekends and is fueled on blood, beer, brotherhood, and dreams of having a solid bike we made with our own hands. Fuck you if you don't like it, come drink if you do.

Poppin' the Cherry

The first post on the Blog of garage hacking, confused, SoMD bike builders.