The 345

The 345 finally arrived with me. So stoked to own such a class bike, and to have bought it from someone that I class as a good mate, even though we haven't met.

My buddy Jason (Bearpaws) over in Kenosha put this sweet baby together about 18 months ago. Even when he was building it I knew that when he sold it I had to buy it off him!

Sure enough Jason decided he needed a new project, so the street scrambler made way for this baby. Shipping took a while, but it finally reached me today!

It's absolute class. A but rough around the edges, but I love that! I have a few bits I want to change a little as most people do, but ultimately it's a great little bike put together by a good dude.

Tank progress

Got the second side of the tank leaded up on Thursday and got the worst of the filing done.

Really liking how it's coming on!

Moulded Flame Tank

Got cracking on a moulded tank yesterday, thought I would share it with you. The deal is to use a new wassell style tank and have moulded flames on it. Normally it would use car body filler, but my intention is to either chrome or nickel plate, so I'll be using lead to fill it.

First step was the flames. I must have drawn them on over 20 times, then cleaned the sharpie off (with the wifeys nail polish remover). This is the design I stuck with...



Next up I roughly engraved the design into the tank and cleaned off all the pen.

I bought 4mm steel rod and tacked it on the tank. Tacking and bending as I went...







Once it was all laid out I cleaned back some if the welds that would show (most welds were done on the filling side). Then I filled inside with lead ..



I only had enough lead for one side, and it looked a right mess. Sometimes you need things to look a mess before they look good.

With some filing and sanding it was starting to look like I wanted. Still some low spots, and extra filling to do, but for the first try, I'm more than happy.







I'll update when I crack on and get it done...

Greasy Kulture - GKM

The postie delivered the lastest GKM mag yesterday, so stoked to have the bike included in it.
It's the only mag that I subscribe to these days; always a good write up and story behind the bikes rather than a lot of mags that seem to be going down the route of just arty shots and minimal text about the bike/builder/owner.

Such a proud moment to have my little Xs in with the quality bikes that are featured.

This is such a timely event for me. Now being in the grips of fatherhood it's something to show my boy when he grows up. Even the wife is suitably impressed- not a normal reaction whenever a sentence is formed with the word "bike" in it.

It's a quality publication that has never failed to deliver in my eyes. If you haven't seen it- treat yourself to a subscription; it's well worth the cash.