my born free 4 build and it's story.

it's been a long few months.... i give credit to anyone who attempted build a bike for the show, invited or not, anyone that spent countless nights getting their bike ready to travel there. i could have started earlier, managed my time better, been more efficient.... and i coulda/woulda myself to death right now. ... but instead i did it my way. pushed paint jobs and side work in front of the bf4 bike.i'm like a blind man building a bike... i have to do it by feel. I can't do the whole bike drawing and follow that.. maybe draw out a few pieces in sharpie on the table and follow that, but it's more of a one piece of a time until it clicks sort of a trip. nothing is really -bolt on- when it comes to this kind of bike so it has to be done in some sort of fucked order that only i can see. I did want the 3D style flame tank.. and i drew it for my friend Dylan(sharpie on a napkin) and set him loose on it.(inspired by harpoons 60's flame tank he found) but with more of a crab claw twist. Dylan is a master fabricator and a friend that has that gnarly drive that i needed to be around, no ego just get it done. he lives 800 miles away but still it was like he was here everyday pushing me. Thanks Dylan i couldn't have done it with out you and learned so much. So here is the emo part.... the fucked up thing that happened was i basically became a shut in... i became so wrapped up in finishing the bike the last 8 weeks i alienated myself from everyone. Maybe unless you've built your own bike... and i mean like made bars, pipes, controls, tank, fender... you get the point.... you'll have no idea what one goes through. i'm not complaining it's beautiful, it's just fucking draining and emotional. It's fun dressing up a tired old bike, or reconditioning your dyna but once you start tearing into every part of it... it gets overwhelming. For me i like a certain look too. As much as i like a neat cafe bike or a long bike it's not what i wanted to build or what was is inspiring me at this point. So in the end you're kinda like "is all this shit gonna jive?" in the last week it was just "am i gonna finish this thing?" That last week was so brutal...The week before the show i tried to paint the bike this dark purple that basically looked black but in the sun would look like a very dark purple... It killed me. I tried 3 days straight, each morning wet sanding and starting over... the purple was a bad idea. Originally i said black with gold lines...so i went back to that, of course that evening it started to rain lightly, so i dragged in the frame, tank and fender into the back shed and faded to black. I wore a mask but i had chemical-ed myself so bad for four days straight that, that night my body quit. I was puking all night long and rolling around moaning like a dying dog. In the morning i was over it and i swore to quit then and there. Being the builder and the painter had knocked me down... but of course by mid day i was wet sanding the black and ready to re clear. 12 hour sudafed every 4 hours and the show must go on. The sunday eve before the show and i was polishing as fast as i could and the pin striper (eric reyes) was striping as fast as i could hand him the tins. thanks Eric. I had 3 days to assemble the bike and haul it down south on thur. It happened and on wed night i took the son of a bitch around the neighborhood. At this point i was sick as a dog and had been for about a week or more with some terrible cold/flu... heat exhaustion achey pussy problem. but damn i was smiling because it was running and it was on..... and all the pieces fit and i was digging it's look. that was a good feeling. I was told the bike had to run to be in the show and that was important to me... the old cow palace shows you had to kick the bike alive before you entered the show. I think that is cool. I'm proud to say i rode my bike in and out of born free 4. But i totally understand why bikes didn't run, none of us have a crystal balls(except for my pegs) and could see the future and all the little hang ups you hit. So i"d like to thank Jay for letting me build this bike for him and being so involved with the tracking down of parts and letting me do my thing, couldn't ask for anything more. Dylan... i gained a brother from you in this bike... and you made the coolest tank that didn't leak a drop. Ryan thanks for all the polishing and sanding free work is unheard of... thanks man. Thanks to any friend that called to see how it was coming along...and to my lady for dealing with the mood swings and late nights. It was all worth it and maybe this is too much information but i needed to do this... fuck i got to let the thing go and it's a part of me. ======================================================================================================. . . . dylan!! at this point we were so worried the tank would be too bold and too robo-cop..... no bondo, just paint was all it needed.

the bars were one of the first things i made, tried to get em to flow with the tank.

notched the narrowed fender to give the bike a shorter look.

combining two of my favorite primarys was not as easy as i thought it would be but i was happy i tried it out.

result:

early mock up

later mock up right

left

European down draft.. primer hell

ass-embly

this was a good moment. i was getting close

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FINISHED BIKE: Jay's friend Neil Bridge shot some photos down south. thanks Neil!

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