Life and times of Houston

Long Time

2011-09-17T01:51:00.002-04:00

Man I got this itch, and its killing me right now.
This past July I parted ways with the DOHC and pulled the plug on the motorcycle thing for a while. Why you say? Well to make a long story short I want a kid. I want a kid that has a father around to do things with, and well I cant guarantee I will be around, but I elevated my chances by removing one dangerous aspect of my life.
I thought it would be an easy thing to do, but it hasn't been. Every day I still long for the feeling of the wind in my face, the grease under my nails, and the satisfaction in my mind knowing that I truly can make a machine capable of propelling me. .......I often sit and wonder how a conglomeration of iron, aluminum, and various other elements found on the periodic table can evoke such strong emotion. Am i just crazy or do other people have urges like this?
MY conclusion to my question for myself is no I am not the only one who has these urges. I think many people do, but the more intelligent ones let their urges lead them to something other than the passion they have exiled from the brain. So now I think I am just in search mode. I am constantly looking for something to take the mental void of the craft and the passion of building and riding a motorcycle. I will not let this thing beat me.

Listen to s.j.houston80s Playlist

2011-02-19T21:36:00.001-05:00

Todays work.

2011-02-10T19:58:00.004-05:00

Ok so I did some work on the DOHC today and made a video of how I'm making the rear axle plates. To say the least its a lot of file work, but it will be worth it in the end.

video

2011-01-15T22:38:00.002-05:00

More Pictures

2011-01-15T22:14:00.003-05:00

The last version and the one with me on it when I was delivering it to its new owner.

More Pictures

2011-01-15T22:07:00.002-05:00

pictures

2011-01-15T21:53:00.001-05:00

Just some of the various different ways I rode the bike.

Homemade sin 4 and the new one

2011-01-13T22:01:00.002-05:00

Well to make a long story short I love this bike. It took me places I had never been. I met some good friends on this bike. It really took on its own identity and shaped mine. Some people would argue that the bike did not make me (at least part) who I am today, but I think it did. It taught me that with hard work and determination you can reach personal goals. It taught me about a sub-culture that I now enjoy and am accepted into by many in it. It taught me how to clear my head with a long ride on the back roads of N.C. It taught me how to take pride in something you have made. It taught me no matter how big and complex a puzzle is when all the pieces are in the right spot...it just works.
Now that you know the story of this bike it would be easy to assume that I still ride it with pride. I still take pride in it but I no longer own it. I sold it to a friend to start his journey into motorcycles. Its been gone since July 2009 and I have yet to see him ride it. He says he has put around a 100 miles on it since then, just around his neighborhood though. If I would have known the bike I built to be RIDDEN was gonna sit in someones garage and collect dust, I would never have sold it to him. I wish he would take it out and ride it. 2011 brings a new year and a new riding season hopefully I can see it on the streets this year, in all its glory. Hear it singing through the straight pipes at 8000rpm's, see its front end dance when he lays it into a curve just a little to hot. I would love to see it smoke another Harley that thinks its hot shit, But more than anything I want to see it with a rider that enjoys riding it as much as I did.
Now that I am married an settling into life in general after the year of planning and partys and the awesome honeymoon. I start back on the project that I started when I sold the 71. The new bike is a 80 cb750 DOHC it has a few more ponys than the Sohc. I have hand built the frame and mounted the engine for mock up. Now I just need to get out there in the cold building and finish it. I hope to have it goin in time for warm weather but I still have alot to do. With that being said, I cant get anything done sitting here on the computer so.........talk to ya later I'm goin to get dirty.

Good Video

2011-01-13T21:57:00.000-05:00

homade sin 3

2011-01-07T22:34:00.004-05:00

Dang its been a while since I posted anything. Oh well back to the bike.

As the cursing stopped, the smoke cleared, and I sobered up from the alcohol and the mental beating the lockup brought on me. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, not a bright one, more like a small pin hole, but it was light none the less. I saw a chance to expand my knowledge a little with a complete rebuild of the engine. I started as quickly as I could and it became clear this thing was unlike any other engine I had ever graced with the turn of a wrench. The tear down went great, I had diagnosed the problem (oil pump was stuck due to sitting for an unknown amount of years), had every thing labeled and cleaned and waiting for assembly. I go down to the local Honda shop to order the new rod bearings, crank bearings, rings, and a gasket set. The only problem is Honda bearings are color coded, who knew. What color do you have?...Uhhhh I dont know what color are they supposed to be?...Well you have black, brown, green, yellow, and blue for your choices.....ok what does that mean?.....They are all the different sizes to chose from....ok...how do I find out what size I need?.....I dont know let me ask one of our mechanics.....he said he dont know other than measuring them......ok well let me do some research and I will be back. Ok now I need to measure the crank journals. So off to get the measurement no problem. I was back the next day ordered the parts and was feeling pretty good about the whole rebuild and reassuring myself it was worth it. Looking back on it now I would not have the knowledge I now have about a SOHC Honda engine if it wasnt for the misfortune of the lockup, so in actuality it was a good thing. If you would have told me that then....I dont know what I would have said, but you probably wouldnt want your mom to hear it. So I waited for about two weeks to come in, and when they finally arrived I was just as happy as I could be. I think I may have actually sang a song and skipped on my way to the truck with my box of goodies on my hands. When I got home the door had not even even closed behind me before I began to tear into the plastic wrapping the parts were so carefully enclosed in. Blah Blah Blah. So after a few days of careful assembly I had it back together with no major problems. Within a few days I had it back in the frame and life was lookin good. So the day had finally come for me to test my competence in engine building. I turned the gas on, pulled the choke lever , crossed my fingers, and reached down and pushed the start button and it happened................................it had hardly turned over 3 or 4 times, then it roared to life just as before. But now it was running on my new found skills, on what I had done with my two hands. It was in that moment I fell in love with that bike. Now I was about to do what I had worked in the basement so long for.All the hours of day dreaming of blasting down the road on a rigid chopper I had built with my own damn hands was about to become a reality. I pulled the clutch in and clicked it into gear and slowly let the clutch out. At that very second I was lost in a pinhole in time, I could feel the clutch disks beginning to take hold and the chain slowly gain tension and forcing the rear wheel to rotate upon the axle and propel my body forward in to the warm summer air. It was in that moment all was right in the world, my feet were off the ground and the motorcycle I hand built carried me away. It was also in that moment I knew what it was like to be beaming with pride. It was like no other feeling I had felt. I HAD done it all by myself.

homemade Sin 2

2010-03-02T20:56:00.006-05:00

So after floundering around with the parts on hand that I got with the bike I started buying the parts that I really wanted on it. First I bougth the 2" over Forks by Frank, the the 10" mini apes by Flanders, to the Maxxis Wide White Wall tires, the paint, and some really goofy bull shit that I didnt use. After painting the engine, Tank and frame, wheels and anything else paint would stick to I put it all together. I must admit it looked good for the first try (to me anyway). So in all its flat black glory I rolled it out of the basement and proceeded to fire it up. I always thought the idea of kicking it to life for the first time was the way I was gonna do it. WRONG I must have kicked for 5 minutes straight trying to get it to fire with no luck, it didnt even hit a lick or two. Ok somethings going on I check everything over and find I didnt connect the hot wire for the coils all the way when I wired it. So now I'm tired of kicking with a good throbbing bruise on my shin from my foot slipping of the kicker numerous times, I say screw it and hit the push button. WAHWOOOOOOOOOOOP what the hell was that!? Seems my five minutes of kicking has filled my straight pipes with raw gas that ignites when you ACTUALLY get fire to the thing.WHO KNEW. Well I regain my composure after urinating on myself from the noise compared to to a sonic boom. Now for the true firing I reach down hit the button and to my amazement it comes to life under me. All four cylinders singing in perfect harmony through the straight pipes.I am as happy as a pig eatin slop you couldnt knock the grin off my face. There is nothing like firing up a machine that you have put so much effort into for the first time, and hearing the exhaust, feeling the vibrations, smelling the fresh paint being baked into the pipes that are wrapped so carefully. Then it happens bah bah bah blump and its over. HUM ok reach down hit the button click,.....click,......click what the hell. Oh no it didnt! Stand up to kick it over and I give it my best but there is no way its gonna budge. Yep thats right its locked up only after a minute of pure ecstacy. So now I just sit down on the ground slump against the wall and take a long drag off of the Marlboro Light hanging from my lips. DAMN IT and a few other words mumbled together to form a sentence resembling a kid with turrets is all I could get out. By now the reality had set in my bikes locked up nothing I can do tonight so I kick it over off the kick stand in a final rage before I go inside and drink, smoke and cuss myself to sleep.

Homemade Sin

2010-02-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

This bike is what got me hooked on the custom bike world. It was a 1971 cb750 Honda, when I brought it home it was a rolling chassis at best. I bought it from a co-worker/friend. I had heard about this bike for 3 or 4 years then one day joking around told him what I would give him for it. His first response was "Fuck You" and at the time it was a deserved fuck you, he had spent alot of time collecting parts and dreaming of his perfect bike, then I come along and put a price tag on his vision of a bike for himself. But two days later he come back with a price and said I could have it for that price and not a penny less. Needless to say I took it. While we were loading the boxes of parts, the engine, the frame and what not all the while he was telling me what he had in the parts and where he got them and the genaral story behind the bike itself. It turns out it was a bike that a friend of his bought new in 1971, now I know why he had such a connection to the bike, he had seen it in action (stock form) and had spent countless hours riding beside it sharing the road and good times with it and its owner. Anyway back to the bike the last thing he said when everything was loaded up was "I hope you know what your getting into, and I doubt you will EVER ride this thing". I blew it off because I knew one thing for sure I WAS gonna ride this thing.

Stay tuned for more of its story.........

Houston

2010-02-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

Houston that's me . First off this is my first time so I hope this works. This blog is gonna be about my life in general, the things I do, the people I meet along the way, the people who inspire me, my rants on life in general. Don't expect this to be censored in any way this is my place to express myself and my thoughts.