Ray's shop

Ray is a legend in Brooklyn. He builds bikes and creates extraordinary paintings. His studio and workshop are in one building; he is also taking care of some of the Invitational bikes, including Dean's lovely Pan.

He wasn't around this morning (that's him in the hat drinking with Matt in one of the pictures down below) but his '56 Effie was. He's a diamond bloke and has made us feel very welcome.

- Posted on the move in Brooklyn

On the street

Chevys, sweet T3 cafe, Trevor's '76 Sporty, Matt @ Union Pool.

It's all happening... And it's not happening for another two days.

















- Posted on the move in Brooklyn

Matt's Sturgis

Like the day it rolled off the factory floor.

- Posted on the move in Brooklyn

Over heah!

- Posted on the move in Brooklyn

Landing gear

- Posted on the move in Brooklyn

No sleep till...

Congratulations Anna and Andy

Have a wonderful day.

So sorry I couldn't be there.

Musical Youth

Was going through some boxes this morning and found these. They need plastic sleeves really as some of them are getting pretty ratty.

I like to imagine my kids opening this box when I'm gone and trying to work out how to get sound out of these funny old discs.

More from Maryland

Frank Kaisler gives the parallel twins an outing in issue 23.

Don't miss it!

Take two

DicE mag outtakes.

© Gareth Buddo

These don't appear for sale here often

'63 Duo Glide. Looks nicely unfucked-with. Wonder what his reserve is?

On UK Ebay now.

Akira's FXS Low Rider

I love this bike. Do you know how hard it is to make a swingarm bike look good with a king and queen seat? Yes. Very hard.

With some subtle frame mods, Akira – who used to work for Bratstyle – has achieved a great stance with his Shovel. As he says, it's 'wife friendly'!

See more in the new issue, out around October 1.

RIP Jerry Leiber

Only just heard the news.

Jerry Leiber died on 22 August. Here he is (above, right) with his songwriting partner, Mike Stoller and some other guy.

Yes, they wrote 'Hound Dog', but also many of the greatest songs (in my opinion) of the fifties: Kansas City, Lucky Lips, Yakety Yak, There goes my baby, Treat me nice...

Imagine this: Leiber and Stoller started writing together in 1950; by 1953 they'd seen their songs recorded by such artists as Jimmy Witherspoon, Little Esther, Charles Brown, Little Willie Littlefield, Ray Charles and “Big Mama” Thornton.

BSH... best cover in a long time

I used to buy BSH regularly in the early nineties, but found less and less in it of interest. Then I got cross with them when they asked to shoot my Shovel at great inconvenience to me (we were moving to Australia literally the next week), then never published the feature.

Since coming back to the UK a couple of years ago, I have got to know Blue a little bit who – as anyone who knows her knows – is a lovely woman with a penchant for traditionally-styled custom bikes. As a result, BSH's content has been improving dramatically; and this latest issue is the best I can remember in a long, long time.

Superb cover. So nice to see two great bikes (and blokes) on the cover instead of a bird draped over a bike that looks like the back of a washing machine. Plus there is good coverage of the Hot Rod Hayride (thanks for the photo Blue... I think!), and a number of feature bikes I would gladly have welcomed to GKM.

But it was amusing to read Stu's report on the Baron's latest build at the end of the mag, where GKM and DicE get a namecheck, but starts: "There can be no debate about what cultural trend happens to be flavour of the month at the moment. It might not have an all-encompassing name... but... devotees of the latest fashion don't really need one."

Funny.

This "latest fashion" is something that BSH completely ignored over 15 years ago, when magazines like Iron Horse were featuring SoCal-style Panhead choppers and as-found Indian bobbers. This current "cultural trend" must have been what inspired me to build my rigid Shovel... 13 years ago. Perhaps that's why BSH dropped it back then... it just didn't meld well enough with their well-established GSXR-chopper/Reliant trike content.

So, how interesting to see the great British custom bike mag starting to get it... but still not get it at all.

I live opposite a biker bar

OK, OK, it's a pub. But it's a magnet for some of the area's proper British bikers... those that are not swayed by the vagaries of fashion; who wouldn't dream of swapping their camo gear, Storming the Castle t-shirts and hair dye for Pendletons, Vans and hair grease.

You don't even need a bike to be a proper British biker; a trike is better, and you don't need to bother with a silly motorcycle licence. And you can pull a caravan, or a trailer to rallies where you can sit around campfires sharing your vegan fare with other caravan-haulers. Ever heard a Robin Reliant engine through straight pipes? I have, outside my office window, numerous times a day.

I've never been a biker. And this is why. Although as my wife says as she looks at me pitifully, "at least they're riding."

Mike D

If you know Mike, you'll know he has the best stories.

I was laughing so much when he was telling me how he came across his as-raced-in-the-sixties T120C.

Anyway, you can read about it in the next issue. I don't know where Mike finds the energy: fettling so many cool bikes, working a day job, raising a family, running the Cycle Lodge and organising Born Free... 4.

Good to talk to you again Mike.

Photos by Mark Kawakami

Always late

My wife was listening to Bob Harris tonight while cooking the dinner and called me in... "They're playing Lefty!". Had a little dance to a song that was no.1 in the chart 60 years ago today.

Makes me hope there is a little bar in Brooklyn where Tip Top Daddy and I can drink a few brews and listen to Lefty and the rest. Makes me think of my old truck that was my haven, my shrine to old country music, where I could turn up the volume and get lost in sentimentality.

Apologies for the video; turn it up and listen to a voice that is as plaintive as they come.

A shadow of its former self

My Pan's still in bits, thanks for asking. Bits that are scattered all over the UK.

Boz has most of the engine down in Kent, and is balancing the crank and honing those barrels... as... we... speak.

Richard has the rest of the bike in Lincolnshire.

And I have the photos. And the memories (thanks Gareth).

Won't be long though. I hope.