here are some iphone pictures from Beatersillve.

apparently this blog is becoming more about motorcycles and less about pictures

i still haven't broke out any of my real cameras in a while. i just haven't been feeling it right now. but here are some more camera phone pics of my yamaha.





it's required some sort of work after pretty much every ride so far. from getting my idle and clutch dialed in (making first gear a real pain in the ass for a while there), to troubleshooting, finding, and resolving the source of my charging issue, to oil leaks from the notoriously bad pushrod seal (which is fixed but it looks like i have another leak from the output shaft seal), to dumb things like the kick stand not quite sitting right and dragging every time i turn left (which i was able to fix for free! small victory!) and now a turn signal bulb that blew and kind of melted (which is a special little bulb that no one has so i'm waiting for it to show up in the mail).

but these are all things to be expected with an old motorcycle (that was then custom built in 4 days) and honestly, getting to work on it and know it has been half the fun. for any of you thinking of doing the same, don't expect it to be a maintenance free thing. that's what they sell new motorcycles for.

it appears that dirty connections and worn brushes are, in fact, the majority of all xs650 charging issues. check them first.



new brushes..



plenty of charge..



i'm hoping my bulb comes in this week as the rain is supposed to stop pretty soon and i want to ride it to iron out the rest of these quirks. i'm hoping to ride it to this years Beatersville show in Louisville which will be my first 100+ mile trip on her. seems like a good place to end up.

motorcycle.

this is my 1982 yamaha xs650 cafe racer. i've wanted to build one of these for so many years now. i was always putting it off and then it hit me... stop putting it off. just do it. here's a bunch of instagram pictures of it in the making. my friend and i built it in 4 long days. he owns a shop. he's some sort of wizard.

this is what it looked like the day i got it.

teardown begins.

test fitting seat (legendary motorcycles), tank (from an xs750) and bars (biltwell).

 we did a lot of this.

to end up with something like this.





we worked some more magic and paint.

and ultimately came out with this.

america. a short story of motorcycles and tattoos

tomorrow, i [basically] finish my back piece [minus a final session for touchup].

thursday, i drive to krossover customs with this old thing in tow.



where we'll be spending the next few days (and nights) cutting it up and swapping old parts for these.

stay tuned for the exciting conclusion coming Sunday. or maybe Monday. ('cause i know you're on the edge of your seat with anticipation.

some more pictures asheville

I finally got some rolls of film back and here are some shots from our long weekend in Asheville.

I love this first picture. While not the most interesting, it reminds me of just how nice pictures from my Hasselblad can be. It also shows me how much better indiefilmlab's scanners are versus my own. I will be shooting more medium format as a result.



We had a suite at Hotel Indigo. The table looked like this most of the time we were there.



There was a very nice living room (as seen above) with a nice, big balcony.



And giant windows with mountain views in the bedroom.



Here are some of the sights from the room.



The Grove Arcade (not an arcade like video games, it's full of shops and apartments).



I liked the way this building looked sitting all alone in the parking lot.



Anyway enough from the room! How about some shots from around town.

Under a bridge in the River Arts District (RAD)



graffiti.



graffiti.



and more graffiti.



cool staircases in the Grove Arcade.



outside one of the shops.



delapidated buildings.



obligatory shot of my feet.