True East M/C

I used to wish I was back in the womb. It was a much simpler time then. I got to lounge around all day in a bubble of warm stomach sauce while meals were delivered, pre-chewed, straight into my tummy. The hardest thing I had to do was grow thumbs. Yeah, those sure were good times.

:::sigh:::

But now things suck ass. I have to work all day, my rent is too high and my favorite hobby is sleeping. Recently, I've started to lose my mind. I realized my only hope was to find some security, and I needed it fast.

Well, John over at FTWCO came like a white knight in my hour of need. He raced off to the nearest post office astride his motorized two-wheeled steed, his long brown hair flowing in the wind and smelling of rich sandalwood and aged leather. In John's sweat glistening arms he carefully caressed a large priority mail packing envelope. He insisted upon priority mail, so that all would know the importance he placed on his mission of mercy.

His care package arrived today revealing EXACTLY what I needed: an FTWCO Motorrad hoodie!!! Tears of relief streamed down my face ad I donned the sweatshirt. Instantly, I was comforted in 9.75oz enzyme-washed 80/20 Cotton Polyester blend. Black with "Motorrad Racing" in house golden yellow on front, with the same color and larger "Championship" art on back, the sweatshirt shields me from the hardships of life. It takes me back to that special place I long for which I was evicted from at birth. Suddenly, life is much brighter. Food seems to taste richer. The air - more crisp.

The hoodie gives me the confidence and security I need as an avid flat track racer. With my FTWCO hoodie I feel safe enough to take on any challenge. Bring on the mile!

Thank you John! FTWCO forever!!!!

I was walking Hank this morning along 7th street between Ave. C & D when a maintenance worker for one of the buildings started yelling "SNAKE!!! Stay back!!!" There were four men with brooms running around a parked car making a huge scene. Granted, snake sightings are unusual in NYC, there are several large community gardens in my neighborhood which make ideal habitats. However judging by the way the four were acting you would have thought there was a monster-sized Anaconda lurking about.

I walked over and handed Hank's leash to the first worker and instructed him to hold the dog. I should note that while four grown men were shitting their pants, Hank was totally calm and disinterested. I'm actually surprised at how he didn't even bark when I handed him off to go play Steve Irwin.


What I actually found was a small Common Garter Snake. I grabbed an empty soda bottle from the nearest recycling bin, carefully scooped up the snake and coerced it into the bottle by sticking him in head first.


Safe from broom wielding maintenance workers, Hank and I took the snake home. Once the dog was fed, I grabbed my camera and brought the snake over to the East River Park, which runs down Manhattan's east side along the river. I released the snake in an area of the park that is heavily wooded, free from lawn mowers, pets or brooms.


The diet of the common garter snake consists mainly of amphibians and earthworms, but also fish, small birds, toads and rodents. (Not former rappers or maintenance workers)


From rattlesnakes in Arizona, black snakes and copperheads on my cousin's property in Virginia to my college roommate's pet boa constrictor, I have been around snakes my entire life. It is necessary to mention I also know how to identify the differences between poisonous an non-poisonous snakes and the correct way to approach and pick them up. I believe we all should have healthy respect for snakes and the importance they play in our environment.

Sixth St. Racing tearing up Oakland Valley Speedway, NY

All photos by the amazing Becky Kosch

I'll post race photos soon.

I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

- Patrick Bateman, American Psycho

Peter thought it would be hilarious if he decorated my new Trackmaster 750 with some stickers. I hope he likes how I'm keeping the dust off his new KTM and helmet. Five boxes of cling wrap and I feel a whole lot better.

See, I'm learning to channel my rage effectively and keep an even keel.

Today was truly like Christmas at Sixth St Specials. UPS delivered the boxes from Fritz and needless to say I was foaming at the mouth to put the bike back together.

Words fail me so I'll let Fritz's magic speak for itself.

It's time to go fast and turn left! Flat Track season has officially begun.

(A HUGE thank you to Vander for letting me steal his truck for the day!)

My mind....it is a-blown!!!!

You can check out some of Fritz's work here

Chipotle...

Like Chico D, just another sad attempt by white people to act Mexican.

Francis: Today's my birthday and my father says I can have anything I want.
Pee-wee: Good for you and your father.
Francis: So guess what I want.
Pee-wee: A new brain?
Francis: No. Your bike!

I turned 36 today (YIKES!) and I'm truly fortunate to be surrounded by people who care about me. Clearly, they also know I have a one track mind.



My girlfriend, with the help of the Scottish master of subterfuge Hugh, located and picked up this rarest of the rare Tachometer for my pre-unit Triumph project. There's a great little page of info on The Velobanjogent



If the tach wasn't enough she also dropped this Morgo gear drive oil pump in my lap. I'm pretty sure she's gunning for a ring. Either way, its working. I've been dying to get one of these bad boys for the pre-unit as I've bumped the motor up to a short rod 750 and it will be needing all the oil it can get.



Peter whipped up this cnc machined cover for the ARD magneto on my race bike. I needed to take photos of it before the bike went around the track a few times.



Fumi welded up these super strong exhaust brackets for my champion Triumph 500 flat tracker. The original brackets were total crap and I've broken a few pairs. Notice the tags are in Japanese. Left in Japanese is "Hi da ri" and right is "Mi gi".

It's getting up to 70 degrees today and we're hittin' the road! My manager Janni and I both refuse to take the train all the way out to Bumblefuck, NJ for our quarterly meetings.

I scored this suh-weeet cover for my pre-unit project. Who says Mondays suck? (and after the news I received on Friday I needed something good)

There were few things I was looking forward to while attending American Supercamp's advanced racer course at the end of April as much as getting to hang out with instructor, Scott Larm. It's an understatement to say the news of his death is truly devastating.

Whether tearing it up on the track or in NYC dive bars, Scooter always made it an event. He was a fierce racer and instructor who always had a positive attitude, incredible sense of humor and magnetic personality. I can't remember a moment when he wasn't surrounded by the junior racers who looked up to him so much.

Scooter had a huge impact on my racing and my life. Without a doubt, the world has lost one of it's greatest. I'm so honored to be able to call him my friend. My thoughts and prayers are with Scott's family.

Rest in peace #387

Scott's obituary

Scooter and the American Supercamp crew - April 2009:

"Tron" (1982) was one of the first films from a major studio to use computer graphics extensively and spawned an entire franchise of video games, action figures and comics. When I was 8 years old I really couldn't comprehend just how revolutionary the film was but, like most kids my age, but watching the light cycle scene served as one of those pinnacle moments in my life that led to a life long obsession with motorcycles.



Disney finally released the official trailer for the long rumored "Tron Legacy," which has a release date of December 2010. With a Ducati SportClassic racing around the real world and new and improved light cycles in the virtual world, I can't help but wonder how many 8 year old kids sitting in the audience will be infected with the same passion for bikes as I was 28 years ago.



Official site here

After a season of racing my Champion framed Triumph 500 flat tracker with a rattle can paint job, my friend Fritz Schenck took my tank & tail (almost by force) to give it a proper paint job. To be honest, the bike didn't quite look right next to the metal flake cobalt and silver of my Trackmaster framed Triumph 750.

Fritz is most famous for his restorations of several of Ed Roth's cars such as the Megacycle, The Druid Princess as well as clones of the Mysterion and The Outlaw. If that wasn't impressive enough, Fritz has reiceved high acclaim for his own creation, The Roswell Rod, and served as the go to guy for incredible paint jobs for some of Indian Larry's most famous bikes as well as the Indian Larry Legacy Biker Build-Off Bikes.

I told Fritz he was crazy to want to paint a race bike, considering how much abuse they take. I should note calling Fritz crazy is pretty much stating the obvious. Fritz's response was "So? I'll just repaint it! Besides, there's going to be a million coats of clear on it."





I told Fritz I wanted to keep the look of the bike somewhat traditional to how Champion framers looked back in the 70's.







I knew Fritz would add his own style to the paint job but I was amazed when I saw the following photos. A heavily flaked crimson paint that fades from dark on the bottom to brighter red on top. If that wasn't enough it's covered in tons of variegated gold leaf!





He still needs to do the pinstriping and even more clear, but I'm already blown away.

You can check out some of Fritz's work here but stay tuned...I'm building him a new website. (I figure if he can make my work look incredible, I can do the same for him)

The man in black in his acting debut, the 1961 film noir Five Minutes To Live.

In the film, Johnny plays a cold hearted, guitar playing killer tasked with holding a bank manager's wife hostage while his partner holds up the bank. The plan, of course, runs into a few hiccups. One of which being the bank manager's affair with another woman. This makes it pretty hard to get the manager to comply as allowing his wife's death gives him an obvious out in his marriage so he can be with his mistress.

Johnny Cash is surprisingly good in the role. However, it should be noted that the role he is playing is pretty much Johnny Cash with a mean streak and a gun. His character is sadistic and disgusted with suburbia and his sole redeeming quality is his care for children. But this is more so brought on buy guilt for causing the death of another child than actual love.

Look for a very young Ron Howard as Robbie, the bank manager's son.

The stock clutch pushrod found in most 650/750 Triumphs is made out of 1010 case hardened mild steel. Case hardening is only a few thousandths thick and can easily wear away. The result is a pushrod with a mushroomed out end which throws alignment off as well as deflecting and causing drag in the main shaft.

Nick over at Trumpnut Cycle Parts solved this by manufacturing a clutch pushrod out of much harder tool steel which he then ground and polished. He added a ball bearing which runs inline to prevent mushrooming of the rod against the adjuster which he also improved by replacing the slotted adjuster with an allen.



A comparison of the two clutch pushrods. The top is stock while the bottom is Nick's new and improved setup.




The business end of Nick's Pushrod. Shown here are the ball bearing as well as the new adjuster. The ball bearing is inline rather than at the end to prevent it from falling out when the clutch is disengaged.

I felt my pre-spring tune up would be the perfect opportunity to try out Nick's clutch pushrod. The conversion is extremely simple and took only a few minutes followed by a clutch adjustment.

First I disconnected the clutch cable from the clutch lever on the handlebar. You can just slacken the cable up rather than disconnect it but I like to run some 3-in-ONE oil down the cable to lubricate it. I then loosened up the cable at the gearbox by loosening the 9/16" Nut and 3/8" adjuster. After removing the inspection plug on the primary cover, I backed off the lock nut with a 9/16" socket and then removed the stock adjuster. You might need to use a magnet to pull out the stock clutch pushrod.

The pushrod was then replaced with the new one included in the kit followed by the ball bearing and adjuster. I should note that on early pressure plates you will have to tap the adjuster hole to 3/8"-24 from the 3/8"-26 that they used from the factor in the early years. Use a liberal amount of grease on the parts before putting them into the bike. This will not only keep things well lubricated in the gearbox, but also help keep the ball bearing on the adjuster during assembly. Using an allen wrench, the adjuster is tightened up until tension is felt, then backed off half a turn. The lock nut is then shocked back on (exactly as you would adjust using the stock parts). With the inspection plugs replaced, the clutch cable is then hooked up to the clutch lever and adjusted.

The end result was immediately noticeable. The clutch felt much smoother and easier to pull. I've put over a hundred miles on the bike since installation and so far I couldn't be happier.

The kit is produced by Nick over at Trumpnut Cycle Parts and also available at Lowbrow Customs.