Elvis on the Move - Motorcycle Adventure Travel

So I've been hit with some extremely bad news. The guy who was going to ship my bike for me can't do it anymore. So my $300 shipping bill looks like it's going to jump to $1700. After all this hard work I've done there is a good chance that I'm not going to be able to take my trip. I'm so effin depressed I could cry. All the time, sweat, and money for nothing. I'll never know what it feels like to be broken down in Bratislava. I'll never know what unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell tastes like out of a wooden keg. I won't get to surprise the entire village of Jadrtovac as I cruise into town on my Canada bike with 24 liters of Karlovacko Pivo (beer) strapped to the back seat. This is a cruel joke. If this were an 80's movie we would have a bad guy challenging me to a race and everyone would come over and help finish the bike, and someone would be a rat and tell the bad guy what we were doing, and then we would show up at the race and they would try to ...

Happy Canada Day everybody. And happy Independence Day to all of my American cousins. So it's crunch time now. The bike is coming together and the cosmetic work is practically done. Take a look at the paint scheme. The reassembly is coming together pretty good. I'm still a little worried about the electrical and the wiring harness. Oh... and a little thing called rebuilding an engine. You can't forget that. The rolling frame is put together and I just need to reattach the front forks and wheels to get it done. I have been making countless trips across the border to pick up little odds and ends that I have been buying on the Internet. And before you ask I am not declaring any of my purchases to the border guards. How do I get away with this? Well I always have a bag full of cheese, butter, eggs, and milk. Let me tell you, I went across the border 4 times last week so if you lactose intolerant do no come to my house under any circumstances. I was very excited last night. I or...

A great man named George Bush said it best when he said,"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." That's what happened to me. I showed up at the specialty coatings guy's shop on Saturday and what happened? He didn't show up...AGAIN! Am I a complete idiot? Don't answer that one. To much nodding causes cancer. Really, it does! I swear! OK maybe it doesn't, but I don't need a bunch of people with nothing better to do than reading this blog criticizing me. Besides, I'm pretty bummed out right now. I waited foolishly at the shop for over two hours and two extra large double-doubles (for my International readers 'double-double' is Canadian talk for 'coffee with two creams and two sugars'). The guys at their other shop that does the anodizing showed up for work so I left my exhaust pipes there and t...

I just got off the phone with Ryan from Surf Tech in Port Moody and we’re on! Tomorrow morning at 9am it’s the beginning of the end for the cosmetics on this bike. If all goes well the ceramics on the exhaust and the powder coating on the frame will get done and I’ll be reassembling by Sunday. Not likely but it would be nice. Yesterday I fabricated a couple of brackets to put the new seat on and then I just kind of guessed at where they should be welded to my frame. Until I try to put the gas tank on I won’t know if I got it right or not. That’s just the way I roll though. Take a lot of time and effort to do things twice; the wrong way and then the right way. It’s really the only way to learn as far as I’m concerned. And besides, anything worth doing is worth doing twice. Take a look at a couple of pictures of me in the shop. So my list of things to do is getting shorter, yet it’s still a long list. Here’s what I have left to do: Buy the new LED tail light and signal lights. M...

So how bad do you think I feel? I went over to Surf Tech Coatings on Saturday to get my exhaust coated and the guy wasn’t there. The whole shop was locked up tighter than Fort Knox, and looked more abandoned than the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes. What nerve?!? I mean, I even bought beer and cash to bribe the guy to give me a lower price. I drive all the way there and nothing… nada… nil. I’m so pissed off that I have to drink a beer immediately and then chase it down with another beer right after. That made me feel a bit better so I had to celebrate my mood change with another beer. I vow to take my business elsewhere and I call my buddy Jimmy up. Good News!!! He’s having a barbecue down at his dealership. What a stroke of luck? Barbecue tastes really good with beer. I stop in; have a couple burgers, drink a beer, and leave. Quick and dirty just like me. Since I’m not getting any real work done I go by the local Princess Auto. They have a paint gun on sale for $15. How can I ...

I checked my email this morning and I'm finding that I'm irritating my readership again. My intention was to publish a blog a day, but I’ve been terribly remiss. So here I am again finding myself apologizing for not being on top of things here. Sorry. Now leave me alone and read the blog damn you. I’ve been asked how the bike is coming… actually; I’ve been asked if the bike is done. The answer is, it’s not coming together very quickly. I’ve been busy. I’ve still managed to get some stuff done, but I need some uninterrupted time to get right down to it. I have stripped the bike and removed the paint from all the pieces. What I need to do now is put all the frame pieces together the way I want and then take it all apart again for painting. Then I will put it all back together and add an engine. Here’s a picture of what she looks like right now. I’ve changes the tank and seat and now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the rear fender. Since I can’t really get much done...

Alright, alright... I know. I haven't penned a new post for quite some time and I'm truly sorry. I have been very thoughtless to my loyal following, but I have been busy. Last week I had to go to Edmonton for the Canadian mining show. I know what you're thinking, "Wow! How did he get so lucky?". Yeah... I'm charmed. You know the working in the mining industry is pretty close to being a rock star. Girls, drugs, booze. It's just party, party, party. Yeah right. All week I just wanted to be working on my motorbike but that damn thing called work got in the way again. It wasn't a bad trip by any stretch of the imagination, but Edmonton is definitely not for me. Too dry and dusty and my hotel as in the middle of the ghetto. The trade show was quite social and I did make a few friends. Here are some pictures: My new Chieftain. I've been made an honorary tribesmen. Where is the Congo anyways? The best part of the trip was going to the Potash mine in Saska...

So I stripped the bike down completely! My pipes were rusted to ruin, at least so I thought . I took them to the shop and stuck them in the Shot Blaster. Now look at them! Unbelievable. And i didn't have to lift a finger. Life is good!

Well the day had to come sooner than later. I have a lot of work that needs to get done and I'm quickly running out of hours to do it with. I know I said my goodbye's to my bike already but I decided to take her out for another ride for 'one last time'. The big swap meet was in town so my buddy Benjamin rode out and we hooked up later in the afternoon. It was raining pretty hard but I thought what the heck! I didn't dress well for the rain, blue jeans and a windbreaker. I wasn't going very far so I figured I could tough it out. I really do need to invest in proper motorcycle apparel. It would make life a lot more comfortable. I met up with Benjamin and his friend at McDonald's and I accompanied them for a piece down the highway. It's been awhile since I've ridden in a pack and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I bid them farewell and doubled back stopping at a couple of places on the way home. Of course I had to push start the beast everytime so I looked quit...

Most of my posts are about me and what I have been doing. While they are typically bike related sometimes they are more of a rant to keep me out of the clock tower with the bottle of Southern Comfort and the high powered Italian assault rifle. This posting is about someone else: I am a regular over at another forum dedicated to the bikes I ride. Although there is a wealth of information over there, like any forum, the problem is anyone can have an opinion and 7 times out of 10 its wrong. There are a few people I trust there and even fewer with good taste when it comes to rebuilding their rides. I have seen some nice rebuilds and some crappy ones but never one that deserved to be praised publicly, until now. I go through pretty much every motorcycle website that has anything to do with Yamaha Maxims and Secas. Recently, I checked out a build page titled "83 SECA 650 Cafe Project". When I clicked on the link the first picture I saw was this: the before shot Looks a lot like my ...