Just'a Few

From yesterday's Long Beach Swap Meet.

Billy Panhead. This bike gets around.


A Servi-Car would be nice to ride to the swap. Great for carrying parts, but I'd have to leave even earlier to get there a decent time.


15k with a $5 seat.


These same funky tanks have been showing up for a few month's now. Must be asking too much $.

In retrospect, I could'a should'a taken more photos. It was a nice day with temps around the mid to high 70's (sorry to our comrades in cold places). Saw a few friends and bought a few parts.

A One, and a Two, and a Three

I've been going to the Long Beach Swap Meet since it began (1989?), and would often see bikes that I really liked but, never took a camera. One rare occasion, in the summer of 1996, I did take a camera and shot the following photos as I was preparing to leave.

A One. I really dig this old road warrior. How about that passenger seat?


I call them Blend Bikes (made up from a unique blend of different year's parts), or Swap Meet Bikes, since their owners have built them up or keep them going by using whatever they find at the swap meet.


A Two. What's this... another cool flathead parked along side?


A bit more of an original survivor. There is nothing cooler than old bikes that are taken out and ridden.


And a Three. This one's blend of parts isn't really working for me but, you don't often see three UL's being ridden together. I assumed they were all buddies since they were just about the only bikes left in the lot. This one could very well be the same bike a friend of mine bought a few years later (at Long Beach), and restored to stock.

I never saw them again. I can't help wonder, where are they today?

Highlights From 2 Long Beaches

Shots from April and May's Swap Meets

1968 Aeromacchi/H-D Rapido 125


Big Scott ready to roll


Brown Sugar. Might taste a tad sweeter with a smaller tank.


This old UL has shown up many times. I liked it better when it was in brown primer. I never noticed that it has one aluminum and one iron head.


'69 XLCH in a XR frame for the street.


I've seen this Panhead somewhere before?


Sort of Harley's first Soft-Tail. The small 2-stroke H-D's got nick named Hummers. This one's a 175cc Pacer. I'm saying it's a '63-65 even though the owner said '62. That style of tank badge came out in '63 and the same goes for the Tele-Glide suspension.


They call it Patina. I remember when only those in the "arts" used that term. The '63 to 65's usually have a two-tone tank which helps identify the year.


It's Hummer Time!


This neat old (Tracy's), Fiberglass Works body will even make a Honda look good.


One of the larger sellers. This guy has been bring stuff out for quite some time now. I'm surprised those crates still have a lot left in them. His parts stretch all the way to the dark green truck. Lots of small NOS stuff at the other end.


This Mini Cooper Woody was in the lot. License plate frame reads, 6,000 rpm 105 mph on a 1o" rim.

L.B.S.M.

Highlights from last weekend's Swap Meet.

Highly accessorized "Barn Fresh" (you sick of that term yet?), 1950 WL with original paint. Very cool, but 20K for a 45 seems like a pretty steep hill to climb.


Everyone needed a photo or a better look. From what I overheard, several guys had no idea of what they were looking at.


Classic. You'll never go wrong if you keep them clean and simple.


This Mustang looks like it would be fun, but for 5.5k, I'd opt for a real motorcycle. I don't really care for the modern wheels. These gas tanks were a source for many early choppers.


Every now and then, the talented Jimmy C. hocks his wares. Artist, sculpture, painter, striper, the guy is proficient at so many things.


Except for the lame tacked on fat bars, this Servi-Car will take you back. Looks like a relic from the Big Bike era.


Funny how the sun was lined up just about perfect when I shot it. I didn't ask the price, later in the day heard it sold for only $2,500.


Potentially a nice pan. What kind of mushrooms was he on? That color job won't help sell it.


As always, Slim was there with his wild van. It's his daily driver and those pipes just blow out the sun roof. Go check out his blog (in my list), to see his skills. If he keeps practicing, one of these days, he'll get his lettering down.


Flathead Fern displayed another one of his rebuilds. Very cool cam cover, I must say.

Overall it was a great day. It was the busiest and biggest meet there has been for a while. I had a good time wheeling and dealing, and talking shop with several friends.

Speaking of swap meets, I'm thinking of starting a new (linked), blog dedicated to the task of selling parts. What do you think, anybody interested?

Long Beach Twofer

I haven't posted any in awhile, so here's a few pics from the last two swap meets. It was raining the days before each meet and both times cleared just in time with some perfect swap meet weather.

January 24th

I followed this chopped Sporty in and had to get a better look. You might say, today's take on a '70's bike.


A slight mix of parts from different years makes it a bit hard to tell it's a '68. It was pretty cold (by So Cal standards), before the the sun got high, hence the frosty windshield.


From Reseda to LB. Flathead Fern's son braved the early morning cold aboard his recently acquired Shovel.


No, the Knuckle wasn't for sale, but rather a rebuild for customer pick up.


There's always a interesting bike or trike or two for sale.


A rather strange mixture of parts and colors makes up one man's idea of the perfect bike.


'48 basket anyone? If only I had the bucks.


The box was from an old bakery.


Flathead Fern and son. One of the regulars that has pre-Evo stuff. You can pretty much see how nice the day turned out.


February 28th
The rain stopped again.

As soon as I walked in, I came face to face with this very original '78 75th Anniversary Sportster. 75 for H-D not XL's. It's a little hard to tell here, but the wheels are gold. It sort of set the theme (Sportsters), for the day.


Didn't know they made a Twin-Cam in '38.


Since my first bike was a '71, I have a soft spot for them. I like how simple, skinny, and small this one looks.


Spotted just seconds after Kirk of Sporty Specialties mentioned how often early Sportsters seem to turn up even though their numbers were very few.


A bona fide '57. Engine numbers don't lie.... well at least, most of the time.


I was caught off guard coming across The Baker Shaker from the Kemosabe blog. It's kind of weird seeing a bike in person after online. Sometimes it seems, if you wait long enough, everything eventually shows up at Long Beach.


Mike "Born Loser" D. holds court and promoting the Born-Free show at his usual spot. Hold the date, June 12th.

Long Beach Swap 7/26/09

Some shots from Sunday's swap meet.

Kaptain Knievel. It would be fun to have a Sportster street tracker.


Hot Chicks?... Sexy Pipes? Proof that at least one set of these were sold.


What do you call a bike like this? Sort of a Fat Bob Dressed Chopper. You tend to see these types of bikes at swap meets. Bikes that have all kinds of little custom features and touches of creativity.


Note the kicker cover type electric starter. While I appreciate the engineering, I don't totally see the benefit of this set up. This starter system was featured on Bikernet.com a bit ago.


Shoot'in the breeze while shopping for shovels.


That's one "S" load of shovels. And I thought they all left the country.


I overheard that this was a Von Dutch piece. Sure seems like I've seen it somewhere before. I believe it's steel. Possibly from a Beemer or Brit bike?


I'm sorry but, sometimes I get more of a kick from what's in the background of a photo. That defies gravity! No Photoshop folks. My apologies to the bike's owner, I was truly just shooting the bike.


Cool color. Hard tail stretch is a tad long for my taste.


In a sea of newness. Yet another example of an old swap meet blend bike. Bike served as an advertisement for the owners engraving skills.


Along with engraving, it makes use of bullets, horse shoes, chains, and barbed wire. It just doesn't make sense (to me), to put a great old mill in a after market frame.


I like it.


Noot will appreciate these. Trivia question: Can anybody tell me (besides Noot or Dr. Sprocket), what's special about the bags? Just some stuff I bought.