La Cucaracha

I scored this off the hawkins clan in kentucky, a father/son team who usually specialize in custom autos but had tried their hand on a first cycle. while visually pleasing the bike had some handling & performance issues they had overlooked in their customizing, not being bikers themselves. The rigid struts the guy had put on were welded on measurements based on a bald back tire which immediately became apparent when i put new tires on her.

So i farmed her out to a friend, local backyard chop wizard j ryan (poster on here of his xs1 chop lightning) for these problems and other tweaks i wanted on the bike. he put the front brake back on, replaced the 14 inch ape hangers with some 10″ chimps, put some springs back on the back and raised the front some to lift the bike off the new tires. he also put on this really cool old school louvered tail light i found here on the internets as well as a tag holder. jetted the carbs and shes now ready to ride. was freaking stoked when he brought her back yesterday…

Unfortunately, being the impuslive idiot i am, i didnt realize what a pain in the ass it was going to be getting a lost title when i decided i had to have this bike, so am now in process of legalizing the thing and taking frustratingly short rides around the neighborhood.