Birth of a notion.

Inspiration, I guess, comes from many things. Sometimes it's not even another bike; could be a time period or a cool looking restaurant or a movie or a great woman's dress. Ya never know. Still, some ideas for this build and honestly, some examples of proof that a non-mechanic type dude like me can maybe pull this off and create something fun that still will run on the weekend when there's time to ride- those can be found. Here's a few I've found...

Doubtful I can incorporate everything I've found in these, nor would I want to, actually, since it's my bike and mine should be different from theirs. Still, I like to give credit where credit is due, and some of these were definitely inspirational in getting me this far. I don't know who owns this one or that one, but if it's you, know your creation was inspiration for my creation. 

And that is probably a cool feeling in and of itself. I know it would be, for me.

She'll make point five past light speed.

Well, it was really the line BEFORE that line I was thinking of first...

What a piece of junk.

I wasn't able to really dig into this project with the verve and gusto I had originally intended this past weekend, but I did get started just the same. Evidenced by the small pile of discarded and soon to be either dumpster thrown or eBay sold bits, it was still a great to begin, get to know her bits and pieces more and figure out a plan of attack. Or three plans. Or thirty, probably.

Next stop is getting the title, since I figured get it while the getting is good, or everything is still working as it should. Soon as that piece of paper is properly paid for (one way or another) the carnage and the transforming may begin.

Speaking of beginning, my son and I had a great time working Saturday night together. Super cool for me, and super cool Mitchell Moto has officially begun. As much as a fictional garage company can officially begin anything, of course.

A place to keep the screws.

So, the bike and I moved into the garage this weekend. (Well, she did- I kept the house). But as strange as it may sound (or pitiful perhaps), getting divorced a couple years ago and apartment living since has made me miss having my own garage, man-space place to sit and stare at a motorcycle and not be judged for, well, sitting and staring at a motorcycle while drinking a beer. Which some may think isn't the most productive way to spend an hour or two. But I beg to differ.

Especially with this project, which is a lot of juggling what I'd like to do (time constraints), what I can afford to do (money restraints), what I am able to do (not a mechanic), and what looks cool (chicks dig it. Though actually there aren't any chicks, so if I dig it. There. I said it.)

But for me that's all part of the fun. Figuring out all those things, drinking a beer, sitting and staring, getting lost in the song playing in the corner (or the Mexican family nearby cranking the tunes, too). All makes for a memorable evening chilling in my very own garage again.

The only rule? Always remember what it was I figured out. Sometimes, it's not the machine, either.

Looks matter. To me, anyway.

So here's the thing. I'm a designer by trade, so it's what I do to make enough pennies and nickels to live life and support my family and buy cool things I don't need. And I often times get a little occupied with having that look a little bit more official or interesting or whatever, while I'm actually doing the thing I'm interested in doing.

Following OK?  [Yes- I write for a living too. You can probably guess how that's going.]

Anyway, so I'm gonna build this custom one-off machine that hopefully will be kinda cool and unique and 'me'. But I think it would be fun, while I'm enjoying the build and getting my son to join in on the getting greasy parts and the heavy lifting parts, to commemorate the efforts with a logo. Our logo. And maybe make a banner for the wall of the garage, to proudly proclaim "yes we may look a little bit more official but we still do not know what we're doing here."

And so now that is done, the real business at hand can get underway.

Priorities are so important, don't cha know.

The first obstacle won

Well that was fun.

Now in the grand scheme of things along this build journey, this will not be the last thing and this is certainly not the biggest deal either.  Still, it's an obstacle. Went to get the bike titled in my name and registered and pay my taxes to the good universe of governing bodies...

Fail.

Well, actually not failed. But since it's apparently a salvage title (didn't realize this at first) I had to have the bike inspected to be considered road-worthy and all that (I wonder if they have a 'chicks-dig-it' test in that process...), and I didn't have the bike with me at that time so wasn't successful. Which is probably a better way to look at it; not fail, just have to go back. And again, not a big deal.

I think mostly I'm just a little bit bummed I won't be tearing into it as much this weekend as I had planned earlier. Since it's seems more prudent to get the bike titled while it's still (?) functioning and all the signals and beeps work. And of course they're not open on the weekend. 'Cause that would just be too easy.

Still, I now can chill a bit, go a little slower this weekend (like that's ever worked for anyone to think through things before tearing them apart!), get the garage space setup and the mini-fridge full of Guinness and the pin-up calendar on the wall and the tool box rolled into position for battle.

And I am quite excited to fire the first shot soon.

Honorable mention

This deserves it's own post. It's own moment to shine:

Yes. It's shag carpeting on the backrest. Carpet.

I have no idea if this was a stock thing back in 1983. I remember a lot about 1983 and I do remember carpet being a little bit crazy back then, but on the back of a backrest on a motorcycle? I have no idea what possible purpose this could serve. A place to tack notes to drivers behind to mind their distance? A place to put your A-B-C AlreadyBeenChewed gum? Maybe a nice, soft, comforting place to grab ahold of for those passengers less-inclined to being there in the first place.

I know one thing. I am going to enjoy exploring this machine. And equally enjoy removing such silliness.

Though I do plan on mounting the Guinness bottle opener I purchased in Ireland last year somewhere useful. After all, she will be a cafe racer soon enough. And that's my kind of silliness.

So that was fun.

Rushed home from work last night to see her. (and yes, I probably could do a mile long story on my theories of cars and boats and bikes all being 'women'. But I digress... for now.) Really was just another getting to know her phase; personality and looks and sense of humor. That sort of thing. Though right now it's a whole lot of looking at her and finding all the things I want to change about her looks, and thats never a good approach to women, so maybe I should just stop with all the dating correlations right now, to be safe.

But geesh, I've not had time to get to know her personality yet. And her personality will certainly be changing in the coming weeks and months, since she's a little of an old lady right now.

Anyway, I promised I would digress a while ago, so....

Managed to get the seat off finally. I wonder how people figured out such mechanical gremlins and solved such dastardly vile problems before YouTube and forums were invented. Anyway, I ended up doing exactly what I thought I would do when I got home; brought out a Guinness and sat on the ground next to her and stared. Thought. Processed. You know, about her great personality...

It was this event though, which prompted me to consider another venue where, when the parts start dropping off her (don't start with that) and the grease is flying, it would be more suited to that sort of pillaging and mess. So after a call to the management company, I've found a solution:

Yep. 7A is our new home starting tomorrow. And craziness shall ensue...

And so it begins.

Well, here we go again.

It's been a couple years since I owned a motorcycle. I'm not sure I would call the last one I owned a total and unequivocal success, but like most things in life (hopefully) you can learn a little along the way. And so I have determined that a long and slow moving motorcycle is not my kind of fun. Sure there were days and occasions opposite to this statement, but in general terms it really wasn't. I tried. And now, I'm trying something else. And now, for something completely different.

I've gone and done. And during a time in which financially speaking I shouldn't have done it. By 'it' I certainly mean getting back into motorcycle ownership. Time's they have been easier financially speaking in some previous years, but that's not what this blog will be about. However, that being said I have found a new direction (in motorcycling terms) that will (hopefully) fit within such parameters of frugality and reason (but probably won't).

Anyway, enough about that and on with the show. And this next show is going to start with a 1983 Yamaha XV750 Virago. Yep, the bike that didn't know disco was out and rock n roll was in. However, we are about to change that part. For good.

Day one. February 2016. After first 30 mile ride from purchase location to work. Lots to do. Ugh... lots to do.

My hope is to chronicle my Yamaha's trek from disco to rock. Hopefully, we'll mostly stay in tune along the way.

A one, a two, a three...