SEMA motorcycles

[johnnydanger]

Here are some shots of wacky bikes from the SEMA show. No crazy BMWs, but definitely some weird stuff.

[VetteRacer]

That at SEMA going on in Vegas?
Still in town?

Matt

[johnnydanger]

Yeah, SEMA vegas. Just got home today though I usually stay the whole week plus 2-3 days on each end. I work for H&R Special Springs, which shows every year so I usually have to drive a vehicle and back plus setup, take photos, and break down. For more SEMA pics (H&R centric) go to http://www.hrsprings.com/ and click on the "SEMA 2005 Live Coverage" image on the main page.

In any case, I'll have to look you up next year. Especially if I end up having my bike down there! There was talk this year of throwing my S in a trailer so that I'd have wheels to get around, scout for photo shoots, etc.

Cheers.

[HugoVW]

The bike with the FAT front tire looks cool...I wonder how it corners

[johnnydanger]

Yeah that's what I thought! With the crazy chopper rake I don't think it corners at all. But I did see a Buell based custom bike leaving the MotoGP this year that had a front tire that size and it had a STEEP front fork. He seemed to get around corners okay. Pretty crazy though!

[VetteRacer]

Johnny: Hopefully next year I will have my K bike back on the road, so if nothing else thats up for grabs

I didnt hear about the show until too late... I REALLY need to sit down and figure out all my interests and research what comes to vegas and when, I have friends in most industries so could get passes for alot of the events.. Maybe for the 06 year I will see alot

[bradzdotcom]

i like the #78 chopper. it looks like the work of that jesse kid out of phoenix. can't member his last name.

[repoe3]

it is him...it was at laguna in the paddock...jesse rooke.

repoe3

[bradzdotcom]

yep, that's him.
the bmx kid. i like his stuff.

[JonyRR]

yeah, the #78 chopper is kinda neat. I DO like 'performance' choppers, just not that krap from the cheezeheads at OCC. Anyone catch the SV1000 Chopper at laguna, all in flat black; It sounded very badazz and drew a crowd whenever it fired up..
and the 'rat patrol scoot above w/ the M134 mini on the side looks like the hot setup for those crowded-freeway cellphone goombahs; there's a fully-functional M134 replica out there, BTW, that shoots BB's...3000 rpm (that's rounds per minute, in this case). all in stainless, the blurb says it cuts up cars and fridges...yippee, another toy for the overgrown boys!!....and legal to own

[bradzdotcom]

if i member correctly, he went from bmx to mx and wadded himself up.

i like his combo of bicycle beach cruiser and high-perf motor.
Jesse is very creative guy. he does a really nice single sided rear swingarm/single sided front springer
(pretty cool) beach cruiser set-up. plop in a different motor, dragster bars, front brake and i'd ride it.


my only problem (besides not having the coin to even buy a rolling chassis), is deciding
exactly what kind of helmet you'd wear with something like that?

i guess, overall, how would you dress?
teflon jeans, engineer boots, leather jacket?

i refuse to wear fingerless gloves.

hey, speaking of, has anybody tried one of these left grip actuated clutches that the chopper guys are making?

probably not.
betcha most of you guys have never even ridden a chopper!

[JonyRR]

au contraire, BZDC. One of my main sponsors during my brief, ill-fated dirt-track 'career' was a gen-u-ine 1%'er, old buddy 'big Tom' of Outsiders MC fame. (local Western WA fame,anyway). He had a rat panhead with suicide shifting and all the REAL 1%er accoutriments (including that 'special' space in the 'crank'cases, #ahem, *if ya know what I mean*. It was actually pretty cool...a surprisingly fast POS, when it ran, which was periodically. Aother one of *those* guys had a fair XR750, and someone else bought tires and gas. All in all, a brief shining moment in a past that I'd rather not think about all the time, but sometimes...it was....neat. and kinda fun to have 'em all at the races, sometimes, when getting protested for illegal parts *grin*
i STILL want to build a GENUINE perofrmance chopper....C&J frame, upside down forks, PM wheels, RBRSR racing 135" turbo-orca motor. There ARE fast harleys out ther, just not a LOT of 'em

[Steve Carlton]

I remember you saying you needed a beach-bomber. I searched Rooke's website and came across this in the archives. You were wondering if you could get away with a wetsuit cap, gloves, and booties for the 0.7 mi jaunt, IIRC...

[bradzdotcom]

aw come on, that's a total, complete, obvious fake.

all my friends know that for the last 20 years or so, i've only used former neighbor/buddy/friend bruce jones surfboards.

don't know what that piece of crap is in the foto, but "I WOULDN"T ride it."

and you couldn't drag my butt out there in that walmart spring wetsuit neither.
(though, i must say...thanx for the imaginary waist measurement).

[bradzdotcom]

jony~
why is it that those guys are scary/fun at the same time?
i got to sit with sonnny barger a few times, pre-op, pre-prison.
didn't seem like too bad of a guy...but was mostly into politics.

if i won the lottery, it'd be nice to have one of jesse's single sided frames with a nice hi-perf motor and real brakes to ride on the occasional sunday, down to the hangout.......just to watch the jaws drop.

since one of those bikes, finished with their labor, is in the 70~100k category, it really wouldn't be something i'd ride too much, as opposed to invested in.
ain't seen a one-off custom that loses value yet!
my money dude says it has a better return than a duplex in las vegas. plus you can't ride/admire a duplex for a couple of years.

(don't tell these other guys, ok? they might cry.)

[branners]

It is nice to see how the 'others' live. No such thing as an ugly motorbike. Unless you include the new KTM roadie...

[JonyRR]

BZDC:
'ain't seen a one-off custom that loses value yet!'. *sigh* I know. I just can't believe that bubble hasen't burst yet. Around the time I do one (and I really believe I could come up with something as wild-n-crazy as those OCC fuulz do, cause it AIN'T engineering or rocket science, just decent tig welding, bondo or lead molding and a few coats of paint) 'merika and the world will wake up and realize what insanity they've been squandering good money on. I'm hoping the Real Estate bubble don't burst either as I'm living in my retirement fund, for various reasons I don't care to get any more OT on.
REAL 1%'er's, not 'chainsaw the accountant' are a vansihing breed. Most of 'em nowadays are just criminals, but back when I finally got to stay in one place for more'n a year growing up (father in the service doing all sorts of stuff I still don't know about completely) the dude down-the-street was totally into choppers...the real kind you build yourself and not farm out to some wanna-be-tough-guy botique. For a kid who didn't play ball sports and in fact detested them and who ate/slept/dreamed/lived/loved motorcycles, he was god. Once I got my first dirt bike, that was it, forget school, grades, all that unpleasant stuff, just wanna ride. Once I got big enough and good enough, I got to take a spin on Big Tom's panhead; once I demonstated I could outride all those Outsiders who lived in that house by that time, I became their pet...and they DID have lotsa money *ahem*, from where I wouldn't know, cough, gag, hack, sniff*, and they DID buy gas, tires, eventaully a couple-a bikes. (at least I HOPE they bought them). I certainly didn't question where it came from, I was only too happy to ride anything provided, as all the money that ever came in went right out again on mo'sikkles (how do you make a million in racing? spend two million, substitute any figure you like, but you always spend more, dontcha?)
Looking back on that other reality from the mists of middle-aged, mortgaged, security-clearanced, great-credit respectability, it was a.....maybe not magical time, but it was cool in many respects and I wouldn't trade it for 4 years at Harvard for any amount of money or anything else. Having a few Outsiders around to glower at protest/teardown time never hurt either *grin*.