El Guapo - More Mockup

Hodaka!!?!?!?? That's right, a Hodaka SL250 Thunderdog fuel tank. I found this bad boy on Ebay for a meager price, and it showed up today. As mentioned during the intro of El Guapo, I really wanted a beefy, blocky looking tank. And this bad boy does the job. It is substantially bigger than the original CL90 tank, and comes with plain sides. As in knee pads, no badges, no chrome pieces. Just a nice big area for some custom paint work.

Just a quick mock-up of a seat, trying to get an idea how long to make it, and what shape looks good:

I shortened the seat, then added a luggage rack from a Honda C100, and a little scrap piece of back fender from a Yamaha GT80, just to get a profile view:

Just an idea to see what a hard case looks like on the back:


These shots also give me an idea of what I want my rear ride height to be. It looks like my rear shock need to be around 15-16" from eye to eye. Unfortunately, I don't have any shocks that length, and most small bikes shocks are shorter by a couple inches. I've done a little research, and some XR250 twin shocks seems to be in that range. That would let me avoid spending $200 on new shocks.

And remember, the rear tire will be getting quite a bit bigger. Likely a 3.5x18, instead of the little 2.75x18 on there now.

El Guapo - Wheel and Frame Mockup V1

This is when I start posting pictures of the bike as I put more stuff on it. It doesn't look like a motorcycle yet, but just use your imagination. I was really pleased to find that a 21" front wheel off an SL125 would fit. I'll be mounting a much chunkier rear tire, likely a 3.5"x18, so the rear will be more balanced. I'll also need longer rear shocks, something about ttthhiiissss much longer.

El Guapo - Parts Deliveries

Two of several parts deliveries have been made this week for El Guapo. Including...

A pair of front fork boots and an engine gasket set, courtesy of Classic Scooter Parts. I placed the order on Sunday, and they arrived Monday. Fantastic service.

Then today, this awesome package arrived. It looked like something Mr. A would pack up, since it was pieced together from about five pieces of cardboard.

Busting out the big guns to open it:

Hooray! A complete front wheel assembly from a Honda SL125. 21" front diameter wheel, instead of an 18" The chrome wheels is flawless, and the hub is fantastic. The 2.75x21 Bridgestone tire might even prove useable.

I'm hoping to get two more top end engine seals in later this week, then I can see about getting the motor pack together. I might even see about mocking up the frame for some measurements.

Happy Belated Canada Day!

I realized how late I am in thanking my family members, that help me to celebrate Canada Day. Luckily for me, Canada day lasted for weeks, as I was able to enjoy the following:

Lots of beer and candy! Speaking of beers, the package included some Scrimshaw and quite possibly the most delicious beer I have enjoyed in quite some time, an Eel River Organic Porter. So incredibly roasty and tasty. I would be totally happy if a 6-pack of this found its way into my Christmas stocking. Hint hint.

Brew day at Doug's house

Crescent City

El Guapo Concept

El Guapo Begins

Since the Miyata is nearly finished, and I've been bored, I decided to start another little bike project. I've had this grand plan to create a 1960s Scrambler. Some knobby tires, high-mount exhaust, taller suspension etc. I happen to have a handful of Honda S90/CL90 parts bikes, so I grabbed one of them and stripped it down. He will be called "El Guapo" from now on.

I had several complete engines to start with, and tore this down in about thirty minutes. Everything is quite clean, with no rust or scouring in the cylinder. Even the valves and cylinder head look great.

These bikes have an interesting pressed steel frame, that mounts the horizontal OHC Honda motor. One of the keys to getting the right look, is finding a proper tank. I have both S90 and CL90 tanks, as shown below.

CL90 tank. I like this overall shape, I just want the tank to be a bit bulkier:

The S90 tank is more rounded, and more cafe looking, especially with the chrome side covers:

I also had this Bridgestone 90 Mountain tank sitting on the shelf.


I need to do up some sketches of what I'm looking for. Then I can start scouring ebay for a suitable tank.

Chris H.

Big Hank Keeps Rolling

Bringing the Topolino "Home"

We helped Mr. A tow the Topolino back to his garage. Some photos for proof:

Hebrew Bittersweet RIPA

mmmm, so tastey

Loads of Beer, Mead, and Wine brewing

I have been fairly busy the last couple weeks in the brew shop. And by brew shop, I mean kitchen and back porch. I've brewed up some plum wine, mint mead, and just finished a batch of Pale Ale this morning. Here are some notes about each:

Last Sunday, I had noticed how big and luscious the small plums were getting on our front and rear plum trees. These are the little plums off the ornamental trees. Usually you don't eat them, as they are pretty tart. But this year, they were much larger, and quite sweet. So I picked about 8 pounds of them, and on Tuesday night while Susan was off playing bunko, I got funky. Actually, I started the process on Monday night. I filled the mash tun with 3 gallons of 155 degree water, and threw in the eight pounds of plums. I just slit the skin on the plums, to the meat would get in contact with the hot water. I let that sit for 24 hours. Come Tuesday night, All the meat of the plums has turned into luscious goo, with the skins and pits sitting on the false bottom. So I racked off the sweet plum juice, added some sugar and red wine yeast. It has been extremely active in fermentation all week.

Yesterday we were out and about, and I asked Susan what type of mead flavor she would like. We both ended up saying mint. So we picked up a bottle of Monin Frosted Mint syrup. I added that to the 4# of honey and water, and a packet of ale yeast. That too is bubbling away like a demon.

This morning I brewed up a batch of Pale Ale, using a pound of Belgium Aromatic Malt and a pound of Honey Malt for specialty grains. Two row completed the recipe, along with Magnum and Cascade harvest hops for bittering, and crystal and citra hops for flavor and aroma. I'll likely drop hop with more citra. This should be a good drinkable beer in about 3-4 weeks.

More Barn Owls

This little guy decided to take a rest down on the floor, in the corner of the main production building at work. I'm about 6 feet from him.

Did somebody blink?

Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet

The annual show and swap meet at the Elks Lodge was today. So I set the Indy 500 on record, and rode the beastly Miyata over. I didn't see many swap meet parts I needed, but was part of a few conversations between old timers talking about how rare and valuable an old crusty Honda S90 is. "When was the last time you saw an S90, sonny?" "Um, I've got four of them on the side of my garage." Here are some snaps, with a few captions.

Stunning BSA:

Front forks on the BSA

Hot little Rudge:

How the Ariel Square Four gets its name:

This was one of about a dozen original crusty old bikes:

Landspeed racer, complete with supercharger:

This was one of three bikes with mixed chassis and engines. This was a Greeves and a Triumph:

Love these old school leading link front ends:

Another crossbreed:

Great weather, great bikes, and a lot of old codgers shooting the shit about bikes. My kinda event.

Old Photos

Just some photos of yours truly:

L to R: Sis amanda, Cousin Lori, Mom and her sweet afro, and me

Me, sis, mom, and Gampa, playing his banjo:

Grandpa Dick and Grandma Pauline:

Me and Sis, and my bright blond hair:

Me at 1 day old, with Dad wearing his finest robe:

New Mash Tun

I realize I'm pretty far behind the times when it comes to my brewing equipment, but I finally built a mash tun out of a 5-gal cooler. I made up a false bottom out of some stainless sheet, drilling a bunch of 3/32" holes in it. The end result was more room for mashing all grain recipes. I also built a simple wort chiller too, which did a great job of cooling the wort down to 70 degrees in a matter of minutes.

Stainless false bottom:

Mash tun, made out of cooler:

Tonight I broke out the equipment and brewed up a 2.5gal Imperial Red Rye recipe:

- 3 pounds of two row

- 1 pound of crystal 60

- 1 pound of rye

- 1 pound of belgium aromatic

1/2oz of magnum at 45 minutes

1/2oz of cascade at 20 minutes

1/4oz of citra at 5 minutes

1/4oz of crystal at 5 minutes

1/2 teaspoon irish moss

1/2 teaspoon gypsum

1 packet S-05 Dry yeast

OG = 1.079

Estimated gravity of 8.9% abv

IBU = 46

Bisquit Malt Pale Ale

Owl Video

Co-worker Brian got video. Apparently he drank 10 gallons of coffee before shooting this, as he is shaking like a demon.

Owl Cam

We have four owl nests at work. This is just one of them, located about three stories up in the batch plant. We have to scare momma owl out of the room, which gives us about 2 minutes to take pictures and get the hell out before she comes back.

Baby owls are ugly. And no, the two little ones in the green spotlight (from Brian's camera) are not dead. They are just smaller.