Born-Free 3-3

Okay, are you tired of seeing Born-Free yet? If not, check it out. I know I missed a lot of them and you might have seen these same bikes on other blogs, but what the hell.

If I make any mistakes on the credits/owners, let me know.

Jeremiah of Love Cycles entry in the Builders Invite. I probably don't have to say it's his. Jeri's bikes have a style of their own, you just know. His spartan style is quickly developing a following.

Jeff Leighton's Knice Knuckle. Not the sharpest picture but I had to include it. Great stance, paint and combination of parts. So how does one safely extend a VL fork?

Lord knows I'm not a Honda guy, but this 750 from Sunrise Cycles is pretty damn slick. My two cents.... I would have left the engine cases natural or polished.

His....

...and Hers. I've seen both of these bikes in my neighborhood. The handlebars, sporty tanks with flames makes me think they are of Fats influence more than that of Dick Allen. Also, because of the headlights, seats, tires, fork width, and billet controls, I'd call them modern takes on the South Bay style.

The vintage look of this clean Panhead (black skinny wheels and springer), almost tricks you into thinking it's a Knuckle at first glance.

One for Noot. Does a Sportster qualify as a Bob Job? It's very close to some ideas I've had, but I'd like it a wee more with polished alloy rims, brakes, and with chrome shock dust covers and fender struts.

The Sunsetter from 1965. The original owner/builder (lost his name), was in attendance and very proud. The current owner told me the frame and chrome is all original and that he only had the tank and fender re-painted. That leads me to believe that it probably only had minor flaws and he should have left it alone!!!! The current buckhorns kill the look, put the drag bars back on it!

A really nice shovel ala Shawn Donahue. I heard more than one guy say it's his pick. It's similar style and mostly black paint made for good juxtaposition to John Edward's scooter. The bright afternoon sun made it hard to shoot these clean machines.

Ironhead Ron took advantage of some shade and a chair in my booth. I'm not quite as grumpy as I look, just don't like my picture taken much.

Maybe one or two more Born-Free post to come.

Born-Free-3-2

More from the show. As said before, I didn't have enough time to see all the bikes, take photos, or inspect their details , as I'd liked to.

1947 Knucklehead with lots of nickel plating built by Dave Polgreen was another Builders Invite award winner. Love those wheels. Paint by Harpoon.

Robert Hernandez's long bike. I think it won best in that class. Class was judged by long time long bike expert Sugar Bear.

Levi Louie's Loose Goose. Built it in 69. He's now offering Dick Allen styled forks. This is the bike that was in my first "Ladies Like'm Long" post. Unlike most, he made the back bone one piece from the seat post to the neck.

Mike Davis brought out his own Knuckle Project. Mike has a nack for putting just the right parts together.

A very clean and nicely done Panhead out amongst the sea of bikes. Bobber?... I still say it's an early style chop.

I remember seeing this 70's style Sporty in flat black at the Jan. 2010 Long Beach Swap Meet. Click HERE to see it then. At that time, I had no idea it was a work in progress.

I judged the Bobber class and chose Hogan's '47 Knucklehead as it was obvious that he took great effort to make it authentic. The white and blue pan behind it also belongs to him. His buddy, the notorious Doc. Sprocket rode his Sportster down from Sacramento to Hogan's place in Socal and then accompanied him on the Bob Job to Born-Free. I later found out it won the same class at the David Mann Chopper Fest.

The proud owner, stopped by my booth to say thanks and farewell.

More to come.

Born-Free 3 #1

Well it's come and gone, but it definitely did not disappoint.

It might have been too much show for one day... at least for me. I had a booth and also judged the Bobber Class, so it limited my time for photography and viewing . Anyway, here's Round 1 of what I did shoot.

I don't know who thought them up, but the Cali info signs for the invited builders were a nice touch.

There were quite a few high quality Triumphs on hand. This one is by Todd Asin.

This excellent recreation of an early David Mann centerfold on the Love Cycles entry was the coolest tank art I saw. I'm sure it was a real challenge to make that image wrap around the tank.

We are talking Vintage Chopper. John Edwards' jewel of a Panhead won best original. You might make a chopper more wild, exotic, extreme etc., but it's hard to beat the purity of this tried and trued classic... with all original period correct parts to boot. I'd seriously consider it for "best of show."

Max's Pan in a VL won an award and was surely one of the crowd's favorite's.

The Mooneyes crew brought out this old company relic. I admit it, I'm an H-D guy, so I think the rickshaw section would look really cool on a custom Servi-Car.

Part Timer Steve listens as the two Riches discuss being banned from some blogs. It was really good to finally meet Dr. Sprocket!

I believe this skinny Knuck by Jason Weber placed 2nd or 3rd in builder's choice..

A very nice knuckle by Scott Craig. Why does he always paint the front fork legs?

There's likely never been a better state side representation of the vintage style and the words "best show ever" were heard more than once. It seems many of us are tired of the typical Harley show of today.

I think we may be witnessing the beginning of new golden age of vintage style show bikes.

Thanks Mike and Grant.

This Month's Header

June means it's time to get ready for Born-Free 3. Seems like it's been along time coming, but not for long.

I Photoshoped the girls onto the Born-Free knuckle after the first Garage Co. party, so I couldn't resist going all the way. I'm hoping this is how the day will end.

Born-Free 3 #4 The last post

This will likely be the last full post I do on the show. Not to mention, by now, you've probably seen most of the same bikes over and over again.

I like old Triumphs the best when they tight and simple. That is not to say that it's simple to build a bike like this.


It's not hard to make a rigid look good, so I'm always interested to see how different guys handle a swing arm bike.


Hogan, who won the best bobber also owns this Panhead. I sort of have a problem with white frames... not the most practical color for and old Harley.


VL frames have made a comeback. Some make room for an overhead mill better than others. This is one of the better ones. Also, It appears the hard tail was replaced with a EL/FL rear section.


Josh resets the knuckle just before the winner is announced. I think he's doing a double take to make sure it ain't gonna fall off it's side stand. The guy with all the camera gear is the famous biker photog Michael Lichter.


One different way to set up a shovel. The rear seat doubles as an auxiliary fuel tank.


Shameless Self Promotion. A few goodies in my booth. I hand color (paint), black and white line art prints. The goal is to make and sell affordable one off original art.


This very cool 1938 knucklehead was runner up for the Best Bobber Award. It was a very tough decision between it and the Panhead I ultimately picked.


It wasn't just choppers. Todd had his own display full of antique bikes. This all original cop bike ran like a sewing machine.

I may post a individual shot of a particular bike here and there, other than that... That's all folks!

This Saturday....

I plan on going to the Garage Co. for Born-Free Bike Night....


....and I'll stop here on the way

I missed it last year. The art, cars, and bikes at Gasoline Gallery's annual show are always fun to see.

It's really cool that they are the same day and the times are staggered enough to work out just fine. I love small informal free shows!

Knice Knuckle Kiyo!

I was really late getting to the Garage Co. unveiling of the Born-Free Knucklehead last Saturday. I hate going to bike events in a car, so earlier in the day I paid a visit to my friend Larry Settle's shop to drop off some parts and hopefully get a new battery for my bike. He had one. It had been a really long time since I'd been there, so I ended up hanging out until about 5 p.m. I then rushed home, dropped the battery in and took off.

When I finally got to the Garage Co., guys were still hanging around mesmerized by the Knuck.


The bike has good balance of chrome and black.


A Knucklehead on a Knucklehead? I certainly hope not. Grant prodded me to try it on for size. It fits me well, and I even like the color.


I've said it once and I'll say it again... you really can't improve upon the classic chop. While at first glance it might seem simple, there's a ton of hand made goodies on this bike.


Kiyo making some post party adjustments.


Some lucky soul is gonna win this bike. This could be you!

BF2 Part 1.3 Born-O-Rama

I don't know if your tired of seeing stuff from Born-Free 2, but here's the staff's point of view.

Born-Free 2 Part 1

For anyone (in So Cal), who's truly interested in vintage choppers, the show last, Saturday was a must attend event. For that matter, it drew people from all over the country and even Japan. Also, no one could make the excuse, they couldn't afford it, as everything including food and beer was FREE... unheard of in today's world!

Here's some random shots from the show.

The focal point in the closed off street was at Pacific Coast Cycle in Signal Hill Ca.


Quite a few Triumphs came out and many were amongst the cleanest of the bikes in the show.


I got so caught up in taking photos I missed the chance to really take in this sleek knuckle.


This cool '35 VL took home best Bobber. You can blame me for that, I judged the category.


Another really nice bike that I didn't eyeball enough. Anybody know if it won best Shovel? It must have been a contender.


A Lovely line up from Jeremiah.


I spotted this nice Panhead early in the day. It didn't stick around long enough to contend the Bobber class.


Future Chopper Jockey. Lucky little fella, I wish I could have attended a show like this when I was his age.


Best Panhead went to Mark Drew's period piece.


Max's Knuckle. Is it just me or does the peeling chrome on the Roth air scoop look like a hand flipping the bird?

Update: Dave Smits sent a photo. It is indeed the '"birdie" , it jogged my memory, I do now remember seeing it on Max's or some else's blog.


This is one of the nicest unit Triumphs I've seen in awhile. Not too much stretch or gap in the hard tail section like many. Gives it a real vintage look. I believe it took a trophy home.


I got to admit, I had some reservations about the show this year. With all the early promotion I was concerned that it would get too big, out of hand and would be shut down like some other events in the past. With many hundreds or thousands more in attendance than last year, all went very well and I didn't see or hear about any problems.

It was truly an unusually cool event. They basically just threw a bike party and everyone was welcome. Again, a BIG THANKS! for having us all goes out to Mike, Grant, Harpoon, and their whole support team.

More pics to come....