You lucky subscribers!

Scarlett's been busy, just for you.

Coming soon.

Maz, the Bulldog, '91

From the late, great Heavy Duty magazine.

The same year I bought my first Sporty. I was under the influence in all sorts of ways.

Magazine clearout: Classic Bike

Classic Bike Magazine (UK), all good condition.

Top: 11 x 2010 issues (missing February). £19 including p&p in UK, more for overseas.

Middle: 9 x 2009 issues (missing January, February, August). £17 inc. p&p in UK, more for overseas.

Bottom: 7 x 2008 issues, 3 x 2007 issues. £18 inc. p&p in UK, more for overseas.

I need the space! I will combine shipping for all or any of these. Make me an offer for the whole bunch (see The Classic Motorcycle below, still available), whatever.

choppers@greasykulture.com

New DicE... with tech!

Pulled the new issue of DicE from the my dog's chops yesterday... and besides all the usual cool cycles and stuff, there's a very clear – and for me, timely – 'how to' feature on installing a Primo primary drive. It's also highly amusing.

Geddit. And support the independents!

Magazine clearout: The Classic Motor Cycle

11 issues, good condition (a couple still in wrapper), 2009-10.

Every 2009 issue EXCEPT January & April; plus January 2010 issue. An added bonus is that my brother writes for 'em!

£19, including post in UK. Will post overseas, but shipping will be quite a bit more (3kgs).

choppers@greasykulture.com

Jokers!

These guys were riding killer sickles when everyone else in Europe was still polishing their billet...

Pre-order issue 20, out next week

If you want to be sure you're amongst the first to receive the new issue of GKM which will ship at the end of next week, you can pre-order a six-issue (one year) subscription or individual copies from the GKM Store right now.

Issue 20 brings you:

The Frank Kaisler column: Lunchbox testing
Time’s on my side: Damon York’s Triumph (cover)
Yes, this was a raffle prize! The Born Free 2 Pan
Tasty: top notch Top Shelf Customs Shovelhead
Amazing ’47/’57 German Magnum bob-job
Rob White's '36/'46 Indian Chief bobber
Crazy daze: Tjebbe’s ‘76 Shovel
Pete’s GKM Project Triumph... finally revealed
The changing face of Mochi’s ’62 Panhead
First bike, first build, first place in its first show: Keith's Evo Sporty
Tokyo’s fastest Shovel? Rikiya’s chop
Dad’s influence: Teach’s Strange Brew Knucklehead

For Shaky Mike, Dean...

...and anyone else who loves Cavan.

I found this documentary on an old VHS the other day. 'Blue Suede Shoes' is a real mish-mash of a film, and mostly looks at the impact Bill Haley had on the UK, with footage of him playing at The Royalty. There is also footage of other bands (Freddie Fingers Lee, Matchbox) from Caister in '79 (including this clip).

If you never went to Caister in the 'good old days', this film sums it up brilliantly... mix of Teds and rockabillies, fighting security, having a good time. I got into this scene in the early eighties, and at my local venues like The Royalty and The Cherry Tree you would still have a 'mixed' crowd: the old Teds and the young rockin' kids glowering at each other across the dance floor.

Good times.

The lair of Von Daz

2008. I miss hanging out here on a Saturday afternoon. Von Daz's place in Marrickville was home to his Chevy kustom, Trident-powered Triton and supercharged Trumpet flattracker... all owner-built and mental in the best possible way.

Add the odd chopper, a couple of stock Triumphs, newly-acquired vintage Speedway bikes (we rode one of them on the street the afternoon these were taken) and a fridge full of Carlton Draught and it was always good times, all the way.

Still reading this mate? Hope you're well! How's that twin-engined Triumph dragbike coming along?

Hardcore Swiss shovel

My friend Oli from Belgium (check out his Pan in issue 13) was recently on the slopes in Switzerland and spotted this "short leg Shovel, ridden by a real biker" he says. The owner's name is Hubert... who points out he is actually 'Sud-Tyrol-Italian'!

Proper, survivalist Euro chopper. Cool.

SOLD::Magazine clearout: Bigtwin::SOLD

11 issues of the Dutch choppers & customs magazine, ranging from 2006 to present.

These are big, heavy, quality publications in good nick.

£27 including postage in UK (they weigh nearly 4kg). More for overseas.

Email me: choppers@greasykulture.com

More mags coming soon!

SOLD::Magazine clearout: Kopteri::SOLD

Finland's chopper mag, random issues from the most recent to some from a few years back.

Seven issues: 75, 77, 82, 88, 96, 97, 98. All good condition.

£15 including post in the UK. Will post overseas but it will cost you more. Email me at choppers@greasykulture.com

SOLD::Magazine clearout: Ol' Skool Rodz (rare issues)::SOLD

Issues 2-4, 6 & 7. From March 2004 – Jan 2005. Good condition. Some of these are sold out. Close to $100 worth if you ordered from the mag's website.

£20 including postage, UK only. Will post overseas at your expense.

First email to choppers@greasykulture.com gets 'em.

SOLD::Magazine clearout: Barracuda Magazine::SOLD

The early issues of this mag ("Yesterday's stag magazine of the future today!") are very scarce. These are from 1999-2000 and are in good nick.

You get issues 7-10 of Barracuda, plus one copy of 'Varla', similar content: vintage style pin-ups, hot rods, kustom kulture.

£15 including postage, UK only. Will ship overseas at your expense.

First email to choppers@greasykulture.com gets 'em.

SOLD::Magazine clearout: The Horse, Backstreet Choppers::SOLD

28 issues, dating from July 2003 – Nov 2008.

Numbers 33-38, 49, 51, 53, 55-61, 63-65, 68, 69, 71, 74, 75, 77-79, 83. All good condition.

Highlight features: Chopper Dave's Super Freak, Chica's Rumbler, Cole Foster's Gold Flathead, Four Aces' Blue 45, Jesse James's Vanilla Gorilla... plus Josh Mills, Bill Dodge, FabKevin, Walt Siegl etc etc.

Price: £50 including postage, UK only. Will ship elsewhere but shipping will kill (7kgs).

First email to choppers@greasykulture.com (followed by payment) gets 'em.

Lots more mags to come.

Nice belt

Pan paint: the saga drags on

You may remember I was getting a little preoccupied with trying to track down what my Panhead's paint is. I thought I'd established it wasn't an OEM Harley shade, until I spotted Two-Pan Dan's bike (top) on the Jockey Journal. The colour looked identical to mine.

Hallelujah.

I got hold of him (thanks, Jock-E-Shift) and hoped he might reveal what Harley model my unusual shade of green originated with.

But no, turns out it's a GM colour: Emerald Green.

Well, whoever suggested it was a Ford colour (Bullitt Mustang) was closer than most it seems.

The Bear necessities

I've just been sent a tuck 'n' roll seat and matching p-pad by Adam and Kath Nickel, proprietors of the very fine Bear Parts Co in Queensland, Australia.

Once you get these Bates replicas in your hands, only then do you realise what pale imitations the rest of the so-called 'Bates style' seats on the market are. (And believe me, some of the others available are WOEFUL.) Adam and Kath have gone to almost unbelievable lengths to get the detailing and feel of the Bear Parts Co seats correct.

These things are flippin' lovely. And worth every cent. If they're good enough for Mike Davis to put on the Born Free Panhead, they're good enough for you!

Buy yours here.

"Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them."

Another decade gone?

Shocking.

Nice day for it.

Two weeks until the Book of Revelations.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Some of my friends send me proper letters... and even better, drawings.

In this smoke and mirrors age of instant image gratification and endless computer wizardry, paper, pens and imagination make me happy.

Do you know who made this seat?

It's the Solo Seat 2" Padding. Distributed by Hap Jones (these pics are from one of their late 60s catalogues).

Can someone enlighten me?

Deathtraps MC swapmeet, April 9

With a new location.

Golden Gate Park, '67

For my friends putting ironheads together right now... a little more inspiration.

Cheap Knuck available

Yep, you know it... $25 is enough to make this handbuilt '46 yours.

If you aren't planning on attending Born Free 3 in June, this should be all the incentive you need to make arrangements now. A Kiyo-built Knucklehead? Wow.

Get your ticket and poster here.

Well 'ARD

With so much dreadful news coming from Japan right now, I felt like celebrating something positive today from the land of the perfect motorcycle.

This pre-unit was another one of hundreds of gems that caught my eye at Yokohama. So much harder than it looks to get line, proportion and stance this right.

Chrome won't get you home

But new sissy bar is going for a dip anyway.

Benny and Zip are doing a sterling job. If you are in the UK and want a chopper built or a part fabricated, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

I'm pleased I'm finally getting some use out of my NOS Wassell chrome fender which has been hanging around the shed like a bad conscience for years.

Sweet seventies Shovel

Tjebbe looks like he's living a feature from a '70s issue of Street Chopper! Crazy Frank fender, 10" over wideglide, twisted struts... can ya dig it?

In the new issue, out April 1.

Guilty pleasures

I've mentioned them before, but as I seem to be on a bit of a trip back down memory lane to the grating eighties (see The Loveless, below) The Stray Cats naturally sprang to mind.

Or, more specifically, Brian Setzer. See, in the early eighties, before the Internet or even VHS players, your tastes as a youngster were influenced by what you could find in magazines and album covers and hear on the radio or in clubs.

Brian was the first guy I'd ever seen on Harleys like this (before I'd discovered American bike mags)... and I liked the pared-back fiftiesness of them. Harley caps, engineer boots (even the appalling Johnsons double-buckle versions they're wearing on the album cover), cut-off bowling shirts... I fell for it all. I remember reading in NME how he'd ridden his old Panhead from London to Paris to hang with the French HA, and I lapped it up.

So thanks Brian. I hate to admit it, but you were a cool cat back in the very early days before the mullet and the orchestra... and you introduced me to some nice bikes before anyone else.

(Thanks to Danny Franssen for the top photo, which he scanned from an old French mag).

Leather Boys, Angels, SpeedFreaks, Freewheelers...

Which one are you then?

Harley Outside/Indian Inside

Junky Special, Tokyo.

Another super-cool store I'd have needed a big bank loan to buy anything in.

Motorcycle Gangs in America (Camera magazine, Nov '67)