Greetings once again, how's things out there. Well summer has arrived and the bikes are now getting new tyres and services in preparation for a nice ride south in a week or two. I think we are riding out to a pub in the middle of the country tonight as well, gotta scrub those tyres in. temperatures are forecast to hit the highs 20's today, so that nice for a change. Just spent an interesting weekend at a show called The Big Boys Toys, it was a grind that's for sure, long days, but I did get to meet some interesting people, and talked to quite a few who follow the blog and who really enjoy it, so that's all good. I've commenced building a 1000cc monster, but just a light make over to improve the bikes aesthetics. I'm planning an S4R monster project in the new year and another sports classic as well. I've got a whole lot of new bikes arriving in early December, so looking forward to getting underway again with the sales and the builds, so keep your eyes out for those.

The web site www.carbonartcustoms.com seems to be pretty busy. Funny I've sold a number of T shirts which really was a surprise to me, people seem to like them, so go check out the site, there will be more bikes there in a few weeks and of course the blog. Well enough shameless selling pitches get on with it, grab a bourbon, get some quiet time and enjoy. Oh for those of you from overseas, I've included a number of images from out recent earthquake. These are all of the roads that we would have been riding later this month, it's amazing the power of the earth and what it can do. It's destroyed one of the best coastal rides on this planet that's for sure. Quite sobering really.

The power must have been immense

This is the bridge where my mate Gordon was knocked off of his bike.



1/2 this hill has slide away and formed a nice paddock to the right, notice the full size trees still standing upright



This land is usually underwater but is now over a meter higher

How does he do this?

BMW's new frame is pretty sexy that's for sure.

That's how they get 1000hp out of an engine, this is Bugatti's Veyron engine, pretty sweet

Turbo it, shit why the hell not

Still the sexiest motorcycle to come out of Italy, or anywhere for that matter, there is no denying that no matter what bike you put 916 fairings on, it will still look bloody lovely

These mid 80's motorcycles are making a real stand in the custom world at the moment, that old 'superbike' look is gaining popularity

Nice mix of photoshop old and new, it would make an interesting looking bike

As would the super mono look too.

This is allowable food for riders

Wouldn't it be nice to have some of these in your garage.

I just love looking at these older racing Ducati's, as some of you know I have quite a soft spot for these bikes, and this one is particularly nice, there's something about the old Pantah engine in a trellis frame.

At last a nice Guzzi to look at as well. They have been pretty sparse on the ground of late, so it's always good to see a good un.

How cool is this BMW?

Yooiiikkkssss!!!!!!!

This little Kawasaki popped up on my screen, and I just couldn't help but think "shit that is a nice looking bike, it has the right shape, the right angles and it has stance.

Yes well, it takes all sorts really, but this guy can hardly hand onto the bars ( if you can call them that).

Lovely paint, it's always about the paint

The precuser to the Britten

Two world champions, two different styles, funny the bikes are at the same lean angles, but the body position is entirely different, do high sides have something to do with this?

You always win because your on the better bike, ok then I'll swap onto yours and win the world championship then, and he did.

testing times for Pratt and Whitney

Now that's a truck

And this is a digger

The valve room in a German U-Boat

It's called blue printing

Now that's a VALVE

A time lapse taken at an airport, clever don't you think

This Bentley is a honey, check out the tool kit and the spare plugs, how well did these guys build cars ( and still do).

Clever bastards

Another nice Guzzi.

This years KTM 1290 SMR, lovely.

Health and Safety had not been invented, when we making great shit.

I was fortunate to visit NCR when I was in Italy many years ago, it was an amazing place.

This is one stunning restoration, I just love this bike and the work that is going into it, well done.

We would all stop and take a quiet peek at lovely ladies walking down the street.

Well boys and girls that's about that for the week. I was watching a video that other day that laid out 5 principals of building your own bike, and thought that is was very interesting, so in finishing for the week I will re-iterate them here for you

1) Don't do your own paint, paint all the little bits and pieces, but the major parts let a professional do it

2) Plan your bike before you start, you don't want to be going back and changing something because something else has happened that has made changes to what you have done.

3) make sure you have the right budget set in place, nothing worse than have a direction and not being able to finish it because you've spent too much and then have to compromise your build to get it finished.

4) make sure your proportions of the bike all match ( there are videos of this on You tube), this is where you get what I call stance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ_rnmB2RBI, its worth it.

5) Chose your paint colors wisely, a bad color scheme can destroy your bike, it can highlight things that don't need to be shown and it can also hide things that you want seen.

Well that's all for this week, have a great weekend, the weather is looking tops, I'm off to the Okoroire Hot Springs Hotel this evening for a ride and a quiet beer with my mates, we may see you on the road, cheers and ciao for now.. 

OK, OK lets zip it up for now, see you next week.