OK, OK, here is JaPanhead finished!

OK, I get it, we suck! After several people have asked me for them, and only 6 weeks since we last posted any updates...

here are pics of JaPanhead finished.

The bike has long been a daily rider, and has a pile of miles on it. Starts easy, runs great, and Dennis says it's a blast to ride. Come by the shop and check it out, or look for it at several local Arlington and Falls Church watering holes.

Triumph Come Home

Recently we've started attending some rallies and shows to showcase what we do. In June we went to Triumph Come Home held at the White Rose MC just outside of York PA who is famous for their hill climbing events and hill (it's a lot steeper in person than in the photos). The event was a three day ordeal of selling T-shirts riding Triumphs (some Panhead use too) on and off road and having a blast.

We were going to build a wheel while at the show, but someone forgot the hub hardware...

All of the bikes lined up, we made up signage describing the history and what we are doing to each bike.

The second row of bikes, talk about quality parking

We rode the TR6C, the '50 TR5 and my chopper to the top of the hill climb... via the access road which wasn't exactly paved.

Thanks to a late night and last minute reassembly, we had to re-time Shaggy's '58 Trophy Bird using only what we had available to us at the time so a ruler and cigarette cellophane had to do. Started right up once re-timed and the mag nut tightened down.

JaPanhead's Tank - Finally!!!

Back to our schedule of posting about once a month....

Here is the final piece to the entire JaPanhead project - the tank.

Dennis decided he liked the look of this Cole Foster tank at the beginning, but if you look at the early posts on the bike you can see that we modified it quite a bit. The petcocks were removed, the mounting was converted to jap style, and we welded a panel in the front to narrow the opening of the tunnel.

We decided to go a bit overboard with the finishing, so we ground down and reshaped the tank a bit with a combination of body solder and metal fillers, powder coated it, and then painted it. The top of the tank got a coat of Dupont chromabase in black, then cleared and sanded. Next, Dennis spent a good deal of time laying out the striping. Afterwards we shot the white, then more clear - followed by a several stage hand sand and polish.

The last bit was the hand pinstriping done by Pinstripe Chris is blue.

It really turned out great! If you have a chance to swing by the shop, come and take a look!

Everything but the tank....

So it's been another month since we updated the blog....

Here is JaPanhead done and ready for a tank. More on the tank soon!

Finally coming together!

These shots were taken before Daytona this year (yeah, I know...they should have been posted last month). Final assembly of JaPanhead. Lots of attention to detail here. Carefull re-wiring (tucked in the frame), last minute modifications, and so on. One of the things to notice is the removal of the catch can. It turned out great, but we decided to go a different route.

Powder coating JaPanhead's cylinders

In addition to the rebuild of the chassis, the engine got a quick freshening up (and some prettying up). Junior drew the short straw this time!

Frame powder-coating and reassembly

OK, so we had another long bit between posts. Daytona is upon us again, and things have been hectic!

Check out the powdercoating and the start to JaPanhead's rebirth. The plan the entire time was that this bike was going to get some crazy scheme done to it, including the frame. After a ton of consideration, Dennis went with...

that's right, black. You just can't beat a black frame, I don't care what anyone says. Bike looks awesome!

JaPanhead - Stripped for rebuild

Been sick, so no new posts for a while. Here is JaPanhead's frame, stripped down, surfaced rust removed, and cleaned. Next comes powder coating!

Junior's Chopper - on the road!

Junior and I running his bike up and down the road in the cold. It's tagged and insured, and getting some shakedown miles before Daytona. It's a blast to ride, and pretty quick too. I would need to have about 2 inches removed from each leg in order to ride in any distance though.

JaPanhead - Last ride before rebuild

Daytona is coming up again, so it's time to tear down the bike and finally make her pretty! The goal for last year was getting the bike running to take around while we were in Daytona, and this year's goal was to have it finished for the trip. The last year has been spent getting all the details right, and now it's time for a tear down. More updates soon!

JaPanhead gets a rear fender

...and some exhaust tips. They kinda go together.

Junior's Chopper - Done with phase one

This is what a unit chopper/bobber should look like! Just the right balance everywhere, and it runs great too. It's ready for a good shakedown, and then he'll take it back apart for final finishing (after Daytona). I really love the headlight. It's an old Indian Chief one, which a spun brass rim made to fit the lucas 6.5 inch fitted to early post-war Triumphs.

JaPanhead - custom seat pad

The seat pan was always something not quite done on JaPanhead. It has spent the last year sporting a custom bent pan, more recently with a quick powdercoat job on it. Dennis started playing around with getting some padding on it. He took a workshop floor pad, cut, glued, and shaped it. It was originally supposed to be covered soon after, but it looks pretty cool, so it's staying that way for now.

Josh is freakin nuts!

So it's Saturday night and it's about 18 degrees outside. I can see the excitement of getting your bike running for the first time since 'the incident'. I can even see excitement of trying out the new foot clutch/hand shift setup. I'm not convinced that a sane man does the test ride in nothing but a wife-beater though. Bike ran well...

JaPanhead - Titanium fasteners

So Dennis has his birthday a while back, his wife asks him what he wants, and he says "custom titanium fasteners for the bike". Not sure how much weight savings we are getting here, but you have to admit that they really look good!