Mike: the Outlaw, Pearl, Slow Drag, or also known as Golden Rod
Bike mechanic, carpenter, artist, traveler, juke box junkie
He can deal with a motorcycle.
Example #1
For $23 and a brownie, he bought the rusted Superhawk above. Then he turned it into this, below...
His baby. After its recent rebuild, painting, and pin-striping, one would never guess its been all over the USA and down to the Panama Canal through Baja and back.
With the South American trip feeling so far away, its time again to hit the road, this time with our friends. Most get some sort of bike, then manipulate it; however, the Outlaw is starting from nothing. After SERIOUS effort and some bloodied knuckles, he had a piece with which to start his build.
And the chopping began.
From different peoples' junk piles or personal collections, he was given a wheel, then another wheel, a gas tank, and then a seat. He tracked down a free dirt- filled motor and got to wrenching.
Its starting to come together after some long days and nights.
Back at his home base where he works, the Cycle Stop, he gets into the details. Here, he is mounting the electronics into an old Johnson & Johnson first aid box he found.
Another good feature of his chopper is the exhaust he made. Its 2 pipes into 1, then back into 2 out the back. The pipes wrap to one side, then under and out the other side. The sound is deep and strong, but not crazy loud.
The kickstarter doesn't work, so splitting the case is in order. That's always a fun realization.
Its all a lot of work, but its spiced up with good humor and nice visits from our friends whom are daring enough to chance a spot of grease and a few beers.
Very conspicuous in a line up of ordinary bikes.
Meanwhile, he is stripping and restoring a bike for his brother as well. He and his brother, who will be flying in come show time, came up with the idea of the 555 back in the day. The Green Pile is a brotherly gift from the Outlaw.
The highlight of the "Green Pile" is the exhaust that wraps up under the seat and exits out of the cafe tail end. This is one of his first welding experiments.
Mike has his hands full and is hard to find as he hides out in the depths of these and many other projects. He often pops in to lend a hand with other's bikes as well, but one will best find him in a corner of a tooled garage refining his own personal art of motorcycles.
