Hideho you lot! It's been a wee bit lonesome here, not a lot going on unfortunately. My internet time is quite limited these days as my only regular access is on my miserable phone so updating the blog and searching the toobz is pretty tough. Also important; for some reason my phone doesn't like to play nice with several forums I normally peruse, as such PMs maybe unanswered for a while longer.
There's hopeful news though...

Barring any silliness (or perhaps the fickleness of Providence) I should be in an actual house again with a comparatively voluminous work space, hopefully by the end of June. Timing, Providence, The Grand Plan....who knows, who cares....but things look like they could fall into place. Miss Kitty's folks have a lovely lake house at Fishhawk lake that they are moving into full time...well mostly. A few nights a week Dad B will stay with us as he still goes into the office. I imagine that won't last long but we'll rock it while it does, he's rad! Dad B is an recovering hippy, now mechanical/manufacturing engineer so he's really REALLY smart and is also loads of fun. So that'll be a good thing methinks.....
Ma B will be up at the lake full time being crafty, social and painting up a storm, she's a very talented painter of watercolors and I anticipate no end of things for her to capture.

The house we'll be moving into is pretty sweet; 4bd/2bth, pretty good size...I'm gonna estimate at something like 2200sq. with that good garage, a couple sheds out back and room to spare. The front yard is pretty small, especially since the county widened to the road out front so not much to take care of but the backyard is effing huge. I anticipate a lot of BBQs and shindigs out back. more on this to come......

The most important to me though is the ability to work again. These last few weeks have been for shit, very tough to get stuff done, logistics are what's playing hell on things right now. My small machines are 40 minutes away in my cousin's garage. Mostly set up but a pain to get to and as much as I built out her garage and organized to the best I could there's still stuff all over it. My big mill is 30 minutes the other direction.
You can maybe see where this has lead......though my hands have definitely been full, not in the way I need.
I haven't made anything but a mess in two weeks. Weird how addictive it is to make stuff...to be ABLE to do so.

Let's see....bike stuff..

Done loads on the backside of the business that needed to be done....I just had to be forced into it haha.
Some projects are hanging, most have been ok but I've refunded a few...that's ok though there's little money left over right now.

Got my tank back from Andrew, he did nice work so that's been taunting me for a week. I can't wait to get back to working on Sakura, I've had time to really work out some details that should push the bike over the top. Coming up are a few frame mods I hadn't figured to do this time around but will because she'll be even better after. I came up with a pretty nifty setup for the brakes that will clean things up visually and I've settled on a front end mod I've been mulling over for a while that'll also serve to really set the bike off.

Haven't done anything to the XV this month, was my intention to continue rewiring it but I simply have no space left in which to do the work....yay.

Anyway, I had a chance to pop in so I thought I'd do so and say hiya.
So.......hi!
Tell anyone who cares to know...I'm not dead, nor am I living in the tropics writing crap novels....someday though!

Invictus Maneo: Life Lessons part two

First, while I won't delete it I'd like to apologize to those of you who were moved to send me angry mail. I know this is a motorcycle blog of sorts. I know you want to come here and see some bike stuff, some pretty girls and laugh at my buffoonery.

I'll be back on track sooner than I'd have imagined so keep your pants on, M'kay?

The dust hasn't settled, but it's thinned enough to see that I'm not sunk. I've kinda felt like I was going it alone these years, a filthy product of someone's personal brand of horseshit. Thing is...when you're treading water in a lake of shit...there's no way to not get some on ya. I drank the koolaid, ate the cookie and bought the souvenir teeshirt too.

Needless to say, I was totally caught unawares by the people coming out of the woodwork to come to my aid. I'm humbled and more than a little shocked. I had my big milling machine all but sold and was close to despondent over it, it's my "One Good Thing". Within moments of almost letting it go, I got an offer of space to store it where it could be used too.

For free.

...blink. blink-blink.......for real? Andrew from Little Horse Cycles who's done the work on the tank for Sakura has room, and is down to help. W_T_F!!??? So, shazam...crisis one averted. One ginormous machine will have a safe home until I get something permanent. On top of everything else, he's coming out in the morning with his giant truck and I'll have a forklift here to load it so it really couldn't have gone much smoother.
Andrew, thank you my friend.

Now....what to do with the rest of this shit?
Enter cousin Jenny; stage left
She bought a house just recently and has a more or less empty two car garage with nothing to hold. Well now, I think I can help fill'er up! I made a decent living out of a 1 car garage for a period of time. I can do it again. I will do it again. Plus she's the coolest person I know and always has a smile for me.

I've officially got nothing but what I have my hands on. I have no money to speak of, been a slave for too long to have anything like free spendable cash but.....I'm able, I'm pissed and very motivated.

Invictus Maneo!

I REMAIN UNVANQUISHED!

My buddy Andrew who's the brain and the hands behind Little Horse Cycles has worked some majik on one cheapo 60's Wards minibike tank for the Sakura build. I can't say thank you enough my friend! Just a handful of pics I ganked for a sneak-peek.....

Gone is the horrible pinchweld along the bottom and a threaded ring in place of the OE fill neck for......something nifty!

I needed something upbeat this week.....