Grant's Shovel

I generally don't feature bikes and cars that have had exposure in mainstream magazines, but I made an exception for Grant Peterson's Omaha Orange '78 Shovel.

It's been through a number of incarnations, and I saw it first in its orange guise in LA then at the Yokohama Mooneyes show in 2010, and couldn't take my eyes off it. And Grant of course is so nice, so smiley... so tall!

The bike will therefore be gracing GKM's pages soon, accompanied by some hopefully revealing facts about its creator... shot by our man in SoCal, Mark Kawakami.

Third new blog of the day...

Aaron Elliott has a new blog.

He's a Salinas Boy, a tremendously talented fabricator and we featured his beautiful Honda, shot by Mark Kawakami, in issue 19.

Meanwhile, across the Channel

Coincidences are weird, aren't they? Sometimes my life seems to be a series of them.

I had a dream last night about Johnny Routledge. It's a year next week since he died so the new year will be tough for his friends and family as memories of him re-focus.

This morning, my first back home after being away, I discovered an email from Loran in France, who built the Knuck you see here (and may have seen when we featured it in issue 17). This was the last bike Johnny shot for the magazine; he and I met Loran at the bar (Linkert Attacks France, 2010) and photographed his Knuck as the sun went down. Then we reconvened to talk art and motorcycles. The next day, Loran was awarded 'Best Knucklehead'.

Loran is a top bloke. He has a new blog called Mungochino. Check it out.

The photo above was one of Johnny's favourite images captured that warm evening.

Diet for the new year

Well, how was yours?

Mine was great, thanks. Turkey, Christmas pud, mince pies, my dad's never-ending supply of beer, little cousins dancing to punk rock, Hot Wheels, cold walks, my sister trying to stop weeing herself laughing.

Diet for the new year? Same as this year!

Let's start with Mochi and Shin's new blog... if you like Mochi's regular features in GKM, you'll want to bookmark this one:

HIGH OCTANE TOKYO

Last call

We'll be shipping final orders tomorrow (Friday), then we'll be taking a break for a week.

Have a great Christmas... and thank you for reading the blog, buying the magazine and wearing the t-shirts.

For those about to rock: I can't hear you

If you're still searching for the last-minute perfect gift for the guitar picker in your life, you could do worse than buy one of these.

My brother bought me this 'Plug & Play Tube Drive' for my birthday last month, and it's bloody amazing. It's like a tiny personal amp that allows you to play along with your iPod through your earphones... or, if you're crap, on your own without your iPod.

I learned to play as a kid by listening to records on our jumble sale Radiogram and strumming along, and it is the best way to learn... or hopefully, improve.

Genius. Ta bro.

Toshi

I just noticed on the excellent Southsiders blog that the upcoming issue of Men's File has a feature on Toshi.

I realised when I was at the Brooklyn Invitational that I was actually hanging out with the two coolest men on the planet: Toshi and Matt Davis. At Linkert Attacks in June, Toshi spent the whole weekend applying his vast knowledge of old H-Ds to problems experienced by riders at the event. He calmly wandered amongst the bikes with his tools, enabling people to get home.

Top, top bloke.

I have the utmost respect for him. If you want an insight into his many talents and interests, check out his blog.

WWNWW

Choose your Shovelhead! Tickets available now...

You can now buy your poster for Born Free 4, including tickets which give you the chance to win your choice of two 1969 Shovelheads: chopper or stocker, the choice is yours. And remember, a big change for this year is that you don't have to be present at the show to win... so even more reason to enter if you're in Europe!

You can buy tickets online through Lowbrow Customs or in person at various outlets in the LA area: The Garage Company, Classic Cycles, The Cycle Lodge... and soon at Dixie and TriCo.

And remember, you can keep up with all the latest details of the planet's best chopper show HERE.

This sums it up pretty well

Almost Famous

Switchblade, playing the biggest venues in town, '89. At least we didn't wear ties.

The Broders effect

It must be close to ten years ago when I featured Chris Broders' cool monochrome XLCH on the GK website. So it was nice to finally meet him face to face at the Mooneyes show and check out his stunning '49 Chevy, 'Cyaneyed', painted by The Harpoon.

Sorry for the crappy phone pic... you'll find photos to do this amazing car justice all over the web and magazines.

Good to meet you Chris!

Verona Bike Expo... we'll be there

Yep, if you're heading over for the enormous bike expo in Verona, Italy on 20-22 January, look out for us... we'll have a little stand there and you'll be able to buy some stuff and teach us some Italian.

If you haven't seen this by now

6 Over - Kick Start from Wild Honey Productions on Vimeo.

Here's your chance. The first thing I've seen in a while that's made me really, really want my bike back.

Yes... it's still in bits.

Invaders from Sweden

Joel's perfect Panhead, coming soon in GKM.

Photos by Ulf Forsberg.

Bust a move

Watched this on the plane to Japan. Piss funny.

Rothmans and rockabilly

Thirty years ago, that's pretty much where my money went.

¥Ask

Single pot Knuck... running

'46 Knuck (see below) was built by Duas Caras Cycles in Japan... it won Lucas Joyner's (Factory Metal Works) pick at the show.

Single pot Knuck

Even as I was studying it, I couldn't quite believe it.

Mental.

And that's before you even get to the molding, fabrication and all the other cool bits on this bike.

And yes, we saw video of it running.

King of the punx

One down, quite a few more to go.

Mr Monk, king of the punx, Tokyo.

Photo nicked off Pat-san.

Try TriCo

Remember, if you happen to be near Hollywood Blvd in LA, you can pick up a copy of GKM at the wonderful haunt-of-the-stars, TriCo.

You can also buy that other great little chopper magazine there... er... what's its name again... er...

Not your average NCP

Thank you Japan, I will miss you

- Posted on the move in Japan

Conrad's show and Delight cafe

Then we had a White Riot at the Punk Rock Bar and Mr Monk jumped on Con's head.















- Posted on the move in Japan

More showstoppers

Being asked to choose a motorcycle to receive an award at this show was nigh on impossible. Every bike in normal circumstances would be extraordinary.


















































































- Posted on the move in Japan