BadVibes Merch 12/5/18

We got new hoodies, tees and decals on sale next week, December 5th. But until then there's still a bunch of in-stock items online to clear out! So this week only, we'll throw in a mini 2" bottle opener keychain FREE with any purchase 🍻

Free keychain offer expires December 4th.

Far From Flawless: Rugged Soul

This blog entry is just a visually detailed photo-set along with some commentary on the chopper you probably have seen a few photos of on Instagram. (These are recent photos).

We picked up the frame, engine, forks etc. deep in Bakersfield, CA which is quite a drive from Orange County. This was the notebook that had most if not all of the specifications hastily written down from the day of purchase down to the night we first fired the bike up.

Plenty of trips to the late & great Orchard Supply Hardware Store were made in order to piece together various nuts, bolts, spacers etc. to get the bike put together.

Enough of the boring stuff, let's get down to the details.

Vans x Cult Waffle Grips, just a little homage to our humble beginnings of riding BMX.

Professional wiring. Like, super professional.

Grabbed this tire off a rolling shell 1976 Sportster chassis.

We had to have our boy Ossie over at Ossie's Customs in Santa Fe Springs, CA machine out some extended rocker arms since the original ones were too small and didn't clear the flange on the wheel hub. Why didn't it fit you ask? Because we used a back wheel of an older bike for a front wheel. Must have been a Triumph wheel or something, not sure.

Re-purposed one of the original rocker arms used to mount foot pegs. 

Yes, that's a crescent wrench used to extend the shifter peg.

Another part of the original rocker arms off the forks.

Fancy wiring.

Exhaust mount. Well, that's what we used it for.

Funny story with this $20 bill from Cook's Corner. Pretty sure we explained it on a podcast before. But if not, we'll bring it up on the next one.

Shoelace? No. Spacer.

The breakdown kit. After many sketchy attempts to ride this further than 2 cities, we quickly learned that it's best to bring tools with you when riding a sketchy garage built chopper.

Is that chrome warped? Yes. It's not chrome finish vinyl wrapped around rust.. who would do something so ghetto...

We chopped a stock Harley mirror off from the stem and welded on a spiffy little finned mirror that we found at a swap meet.

Shitty weld? Yes. 1/1 mirror? Big yes. 

Seat mount. Some people call it a belt.

Rebuilding and cleaning these old Keihin carburetors for the first time was definitely a trip, but it becomes second nature after awhile. Kind of like riding a bike.

Arlen Ness Century Springer. This was the selling point when we saw the basket case had these forks along with it.

The frame is drilled and there was a screw there, but the world is an imperfect place; screws fall out all the time.

It's all in the details.

Rays Tribute 2018 Car Meet (Light Coverage)

It has been literally years since we last attended a show/meet hosted by anyone and what better way to hop back into it than to attend the Rays Tribute Meet? 

Disclaimer: Don't expect a full blown photo set with intricate critique and high valued opinions, we're just some dudes from So Cal.

We know our whole "fuck the scene" motto might seem a bit contradicting considering we attended a show/meet hosted by industry titans, but we came out to see what builds were going to consist of with the one common ground; every vehicle entered/accepted was on Rays/Mackin wheels.

After a long and late Saturday night, we somehow mustered up the will to wake up in time for the initial roll-in for registered vehicles. We left at 7am to a Starbucks down the street from the meet for a little kick-start we all needed before the 8am roll-ins.

Gangster Civic.

This supercharged Prelude was a definite show-stopper. Attention to detail was immaculate.

Boozey lookin' a little black & blue.

Not a fan of bolt-on widebody kits but this thing was sweet.

There were so many dogs & puppies at the event. This little foo had to be our favorite. 

The whips were baller but our lunch was the opposite. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Favorite car at the event. We heard that this Lexus was barely put together and finished about a week before the show which explained how pristine it appeared despite the ride-height (yes, it's bagged but the kit still sits low). With that being said, we hope to see a few chips and scratches on that kit in the near future; that is assuming this is a street car. But nowadays you can never tell.