Suicide clutch, Jockey shift

     I hear people say suicide shift all the time but it's the clutch pedal that deserves the moniker.  I was at work about a month ago and a fellow came into the store to get machine work done on a 4.6 V8 from a Lincoln.  He had this gnarly looking bent connecting rod he was looking to replace to fix the engine in the car.  The head gasket had leaked a bunch of coolant into the cylinder and when the car tried to start it hydra locked and bent the connecting rod.

     John was back in the store again on Friday and I asked him about the bent connecting rod. He said he was just going to hang it up in has garage on the wall.  I told him I thought it would make a great clutch pedal on my chopper.  I traded him a case of Bud Light for it.

     When I was at my folks house today I brought it with me and told Roger what my plan was and asked him to help me make it.  I already had a nice chrome bracket to use as the pivot point I just needed to re do the big end of the rod to size it correctly.

     Roger had a nice piece of 1 3/4" shaft in his stash and he used his portable band saw to cut a chuck of it off.

     He chucked it up in the lathe, trimmed it to length, and drilled a 1 inch hole through it to match the pivot shaft.  It fits perfectly on there.

He used the bandsaw to cut the big end of the connecting rod off and welded the two pieces together.  I now have a perfectly bent connecting rod suicide clutch pedal.  I would like to find some small I beam stock to make my fender support struts out of to keep a matching look.

And then there were 2...

     Last Sunday, the day after our long ride to Grand Rapids,  Troy texted us that he would not be riding today because he scorched his face with sunburn the previous day.  Tony and I were also pretty beat up but did not want to punk out and just stay home.  We decided to go to Jordie's Trail Side cafe in Bowlus http://www.jordiestrailside.com/ for lunch and decide where to go from there.  It was the perfect opportunity to take my old '74 out for an easy Sunday ride.

     So Tony and I were in my garage talking about where to go and I said "I should take my old Ironhead out today."  Then I realized I would have to move a lawn chair to gain access to the bike and said "fuck that  I'm riding my hot rod."  I decided right then and there that it was time to sell the bike.  I listed it on craigslist the next day.  The money from the sale is going to fund finishing my chopper.  Riding with Tony and Troy on their choppers has lit a fire under me to get mine completed.

     I got a couple calls even had a guy come check the bike out this morning but still no sale.  I was down to Mom n Rogers today for family photos and dinner.  I was talking about selling the bike.  My step dad said for $2200 he might as well park it in his barn and wrote me a check on the spot.  I'm going to deliver it to him tomorrow night after work.  It's nice to have it sold, but even nicer to sell it to him because I know he will take good care of it.

Pierz first Thursday car show

     The city of Pierz has a car show once a month.  The first one of the year was a couple days ago.  We rode over there and checked it out.  It was pretty cool.  I had My Ironhead for sale so I rode it over there in case anyone wanted to buy it.

Random Photos

     Last Saturday we left semi early, had a big breakfast and took all the curvy roads we could find between Little Falls and Grand Rapids.  It was a 340 mile day and the first time Troy had ridden his chopper more than 15 miles.  It was also his first ride this year since tearing a ligament in his shoulder a few months ago.