As noted in a previous post, I was disabled in a work accident in 2004. After numerous attempts to stay on two wheels or somehow trike my faithful old shovelhead, I finally broke down and bought a 2016 FLRT Freewheeler, which I’ve named The Box Turtle.
If you’ve never ridden a trike, let me warn you up front that they are very different from a two-wheeled (solo) ride. For starters, Harley trikes have no lean, which means you’re fighting centrifugal force in turns. It’s disconcerting, at best, to feel that the machine you’re on is about to tip over on you…. and, for the record and contrary to popular belief, trikes can tip over if not handled correctly! I use my upper body as a counterweight in hard turns, and closely monitor my throttle input, and (knock wood) seem to get along.
Then there’s the steering, the exact opposite of a solo ride. We’re taught to countersteer on a two-wheeler, e.g.: to push out on the right handgrip in order to lean into a righthand curve. Do that on a trike and you will find yourself going left, and fast! It’s the same with sidecar rigs, too. That trick can be pretty distracting (and/or terrifying) until you get used to it! 😱
My prior experience with three-wheeled machines was limited to test-riding the shovel-powered trike we built for a wheelchair rider in the early ’80s…. ….and the sidecar rig I assembled in the mid-’80s.
Knowing this, I approached my trike as if I’d never ridden before, taking slow putts around the neighborhood, and going to the church parking lot at the top of the hill to get more familiar with turning and response. I took my time, and gradually built up to where I could take short errands. Then I graduated to rides on the rural roads around Central Texas, building speed and confidence in my machine and my abilities.
My first ‘big’ ride on The Box Turtle was a run to the Post Office.
Now? Now I take it out in the Hill Country, on routes like the Twisted Sisters, and ride it like a damn canyon carver. 😎
Utopia, Texas!
Once I was familiar with the machine, I began adapting it to my disabilities.
I started with the FXRP cop saddle I’d souvenired off my late great FXRS. I had a welder fashion a mount for the nose, and used the OEM springs and brackets for the rear. Then I had Bob Lee Peña over at Texas Steelhorse Saddles build me a pillion pad. I highly recommend Bob and Steelhorse, BTW. That pad fits and looks like a factory item!
I also played with the controls, including removing the heel shifter and adjusting the handlebars. The trike came with a windshield (essential so I’m not fighting the wind with my messed-up back muscles) so I was spared any expense there. I still need taller bars, to compensate for the raised saddle height, but otherwise the trike was set up just the way I needed it, except that….
….the rear suspension liked to beat me half to death on anything other than the smoothest pavement. I rode rigid for decades, so it’s not as if I’m unaccustomed to ‘road sense’ but this was worse than any rigid I ever rode, and there didn’t seem to be any way to adjust for it. The stock shock absorbers allegedly had some adjustment in them, but you couldn’t prove it by me!
I found a trike forum and searched a bit, and finally asked for recommendations for replacement shocks. A bunch of folks chimed in, and DK Custom Products seemed to be the favorite. I went to their website and followed the prompts – model, ride preference, rider weight, luggage weight, two-up or solo – and, just to be sure, called customer service.
Then I ordered accordingly: 13″ shocks and a lift kit. It wasn’t cheap, but much less than kits from other outfits like Progressive and Legends.
Installation:
Two days door-to-door!
For starters, DL’s shipping was fast; the kit was on my doorstep within two days. And the stuff looked well made, too. The instructions seemed clear, and I had all the tools and experience, so I dug in.
The lift kit brackets.Bushings and Allen wrench.Pretty! Shiny! Space Age looking!
DK would have me believe I can R&R the shocks without removing the taco box from the trike. Maybe so, but I didn’t see it, so I removed the taco box first. No big thing: a handful of bolts and an electrical connector, and someone to help me wrestle the weighty, awkward sumbitch off the frame. Done and dusted!
The FLRT sans bodywork, with useless OEM air shocks still in place.
Had to jack the rear wheels off the ground and stabilize the rig, because the rear wheels are coming off.
You have to be careful where you place the jack and bracing. Consult your owner’s manual. I did!
Once the rear wheels are removed, the job is almost straight-up R&R, except that I’m adding the lift kit.
You can see the lift kit plate attached to the bottom shock mount. Note that the taco box comes off as a unit.New shock and lift kit, left side.New shock and lift kit, right side.
I got everything bolted up and jerry-rigged a taillight and took the trike for a ride, and…. no improvement whatsoever. 😳
Kit installed. Taco box to follow.
I contacted DK and followed their instructions to try and troubleshoot and resolve the issue, but wasn’t getting results. Then I got kicked up the chain of command to Devin, who designed the shocks. Between us, we sorted it out, and in the end I got the ride I’d been looking for. 👍🏽
The Box Turtle on Mount Bonnell Road, overlooking scenic Lake Austin.
Note that it’s still a straight axle, and will never be a cushy ride, but it is a completely different beast from the OEM setup. Well worth the bucks, IMO, and I’d go back to DK Custom Products in a heartbeat. As stated above, they made a mistake, yes, but they also took full responsibility, which goes a long way in my book. They also gave me a little boot to make up for the added labor. I appreciate the hell out of that kind of customer service.
I was over fifty when I went back to complete the bachelor’s degree I’d started in January of 1979, at the age of twenty-two. It ultimately took me thirty-five years, gate-to-gate, to limp across the stage at the University of Texas and collect my degree in December of 2013, at the ripe old age of fifty-seven.
With honors, if you please! 😏
Every one of my siblings, some of their kids and a good number of in-laws were in attendance that day, raising the roof as I gimped across the stage. Mine was the last name called.
Anyhoo, as an English major, one of my classes was on poetry, and one day we were presented with a sonnet by William Shakespeare:
We followed that up with a modern-day retelling of the sonneteer’s great love by poet Harryette Mullen, from her book Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002, University of California Press, Oakland).
Then we were pressed to create our own. Me being the biker what I are, I decided to have some fun with it. As you will see (at least, I hope you see), I relied heavily on stereotype for broad comic effect. 😏
I’m pretty sure I also got an A on the assignment. 🤣
* Obligatory (but still true) Disclaimers:
First; I really have never met any of the models from Easyriders, and have no idea what kind of women they are. The characterization is used here only for effect, in keeping with the narrator’s ‘voice’, and does not reflect my own or The Shovel Shop‘s opinion of said models.
Second; and I cannot stress this enough: this is not a description of my wife, or any woman I have ever been involved with! I swear! 😆
Anyhoo, I hope y’all enjoyed this brief meander down the garden path. I’ve been busy getting Jackie and I, The Shovel Shop and MMMoMMA settled in our new quarters at San Antonio, Texas. We will resume our regularly-scheduled chaos ASAP.
‘Til then, ride free, ride safe, but most of all, ride! 😎
As noted in my previous post, the very talented artist Lyndell Dean Wolff painted a portrait of your humble narrator, based on a photograph of me taken at Mount Rushmore back in the early ’80s. I’d ridden up from Texas with my partner — the late T.R. Evans (R.I.P.) — and just had to do all the famous stuff like Mount Rushmore, Spearfish Canyon, et cetera.
Well, Lyndell completed the painting just in time to unveil it at the 20th Annual David Mann Memorial Chopperfest at Ventura, California. Again, per my previous post, my wife and I are in the middle of packing up MMMoMMA’s exhibits (and all our shyte) for a move to San Antonio. After twenty-four and a half years in this house, and me a confirmed packrat/hoarder, there is a lot of shyte to pack!
However, how many times am I going to witness the first public display of a portrait of myself? 🤷🏻♀️
Hence, about halfway through the week of the Chopperfest, I got the wild idea of actually attending Chopperfest for the first time! 😮
We discussed it — I mean, the timing could scarcely have been worse — but my wife, bless her heart, agreed that if I rendered one room paintable I could light out for the shaky coast, and she’d still have something to do to move us along. I busted a hump and got ‘er done that Friday evening. Insert big sigh of relief here.
Still, I dithered about going — ‘It’s a lot of miles, we’re jammed up with moving….,‘ and so on — but sometime around nine o’clock that evening I threw a few things in a baby duffel, loaded a cooler full of snacks and drinks, filled my venerable ’70s-era stainless steel Thermos™ with coffee and set out on the road.
Late night balling through West Texas.In a lot of stretches, I had the road to myself. That never happens on IH35 anymore!I do love The Land of Enchantment!I took some time — here on a small stretch of old Route 66 — to indulge my passion for architecture.That gorgeous brickwork just amazes me. I hope someone will come along and restore that building, rather than just tearing it down and erecting some soulless pre-fab thing in its place!This view of snow-covered mountains just presaged what was to come.Between the bitter cold, fog and snow and that ice-slicked roadway, this was a bit of a hairy ride!But we survived, and lived to drive another day!Sunset over I-10 on the Saturday night….….and the colors just get prettier and prettier! Looks like colors from a Maxfield Parrish painting!At this point I was running on ‘blues power’ (as I used to call it back in my drinking and drugging days) and was virtually braindead. I could not even tell you what city this was, but this was my last photo of the night.
Jackie and I have a lovely system in place when I’m on the road: we will talk on the telephone at intervals (which helps me stay awake) and when it’s time for me to crash, she’ll go online and book me a room. This particular night, I called it quits somewhere around Palm Springs. After roughly twenty-six hours with nothing but catnaps, Audible books and coffee, I was ready to sleep…. and I did! 😴😴😴
I woke up to this on the Sunday morning. Hell of a day for a motorcycle show, yes?I managed to blast through the Los Angeles area at 80 and 90 MPH without getting clipped. Saw a couple of CHP cruisers and one motorcycle working, but the Sunday morning traffic was sparse, and aside from some left-lane loogies it was a relatively stress-free drive.
It wasn’t hard to find the Ventura County Fairgrounds, where the Chopperfest was being held; just follow the stream of motorcycles. I inched my black road warrior van to the front gate surrounded by the sights and sounds of a vast motorcycling community, found a parking spot and limped my way into the event.
This was a proper chopper show, with plenty of handbuilt scooters of all sorts and sizes, from this well-worn 1946 knuckle bobber….….and gorgeous, race-ready ’47 Indian Chief….….to this Bizarro World 1975 Honda 550, with all sorts of whimsical details….….like the shot-through petrol tank and Brothel badge…….the ‘Fuck Ya‘ hand shifter and copper tank covers…….and expressive rear fender! 🙄There was a replica of the ‘Billy Bike’ from the 1969 cult classic Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. I’ve seen a lot of star-spangled ‘Captain America’ replicas — at least three so far that their owners swore were the sole surviving movie panhead!!! 🙄 — but never seen a Billy Bike outside of Franklin Mint’s 1:10 scale models. For the record, Franklin Mint’s Easy Rider 1:10 scale replica motorcycles are part of MMMoMMA’s original exhibit. Note that the chopped and flame-painted Billy Bike is parked right beside what appears to be a beautifully restored 1957 Sportster (below). I just love that there was a wide variety of machines here!This was an interesting item: a one-of-a-kind 1942 Crosley, designed and built by Russell Martin.Check out all the beautiful details, and see if you can guess just what it is you’re seeing ….before perusing the menu of ingredients (below) that went into this incredible build.Isn’t that amazing? 😮A brace of gorgeous Indians.Near as I can tell, that’s a 2024 WTF, but the builder insists it is a 1974 Maico. 🤷🏻♀️ Me, I have to take his word for it!A sleek shovelhead….….a more extravagant panhead….….and an even wilder creation known only as ‘bagger’!
I wanted to enjoy some of the bikes on display before making my appearance at Lyndell’s stand, so I wandered about for a while, snapping photos of interesting details like these:
I believe that speaks for itself, don’t you?In its way, so does this one! 😁This carburetor cover went with the Native American-themed paint on this rider’s panhead.Instructions or warning? 🤷🏻♀️Beautifully designed and crafted midships footrest and brake pedal. I would need to have far shorter legs and smaller feet than I do to even use these, and that slick chrome doesn’t offer much purchase if trying desperately to avoid ramming the cager who just pulled out in front of you. On a wet day? No way! Pretty, though! 😁Apparently saddlebags and a sky-high sissy bar weren’t enough for this rider….….but then again, he does put on some miles!However, long bikes like these — the laid-back California-born chopper of the sort immortalized in David Mann’s brilliant artwork — remain the raison d’être for Chopperfest, and this slabside shovel is a prime example of the style.Some fools say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but a tasty shovel hooks me every time. This heavily chromed and polished 1978 is fun to look at, but for my own bikes I avoid parts that are too shiny. It’s a whole thing with me…. 😏I may be a shovel man, but this panhead sure caught my eye: simple, understated, with those stepped-up shotguns and a relatively unmolested wishbone frame. Be still, my heart! 🥰And speaking of unmolested, here we are right where we started, looking at a well-loved knucklehead with an OEM frame in what appears to be OEM condition!Days like these are why Southern California is considered a bikers’ paradise!
But what of the artist I drove all this way to see? There was a crowded food court serviced by an array of food trailers, and a long outdoor market of sorts that stretched from end to end of the fairgrounds, with all manner of goods on offer. I saw leathers, patches, jewelry, custom and vintage motorcycle parts, even rain gutters for your house!
There were also two huge exhibition halls. The first was filled with booths offering much of the same as those in the bazaar outside: parts, t-shirts, accessories, Jesus…. 😮 oh, yeah, the Lord was there and eager to make your acquaintance, if the motorcycle ministry boys surrounding the booth were to be believed.
Finally, in the last exhibition hall, I found the artists. I began with a quick walkabout, to see who-all was there. I spotted some future MMMoMMA acquisitions, and some real dreck.
First were the helmets. As noted in my previous post, Biltwell invites artists to paint and display painted helmets, which are then offered for sale.
I failed to make note of artists’ names. My apologies to them.This being the David Mann Memorial Chopperfest, it just makes sense to honor the man.Imma take a wild-assed guess that these were by Wayne Wreck! 😏Some gorgeous work!But then….….what to my wondering eyes should appear….….but Lyndell Dean Wolff’s contribution to the helmet show! I knew it was his even at a glance because I’d seen the prelim work on his Facebook page.
There were a great many artists’ work on display, and some great pieces.
David ‘Huggy Beahr’ Hanson, who passed away last year, was being honored at the 2024 Chopperfest. This is oil pastel on walnut by artist Cynthia Polk. Cynthia Polk’s tribute to David Mann.Anthony Hicks, who is also mentioned in a recent MMMoMMA Facebook post. I want to pay more attention to what this fellow’s doing!I failed to get this artist’s name, as well. The print is signed Bloody.TPN….? 🤷🏻♀️Finally, it was time to introduce myself to Lyndell Dean Wolff.
When I approached Lyndell Dean Wolff’s booth in the exhibition hall, I saw that my portrait was hanging on the portable chain link fence that backstopped the artists’ displays. We’d never met IRL, so with Lyndell looking on, I gestured at the portrait with my cane and said ‘That’s an ugly sumbitch right there.’
‘Sturgis Run, ’87’ by Lyndell Dean Wolff (2024) acrylic on foamboard
Lyndell said ‘That’s Bill James from Austin’ as he was getting to his feet. It seemed like he was prepared to defend his subject’s honor or his art, or both, and it took him a moment to comprehend that I was saying ‘I’m Bill James from Austin,’ but then all joy broke loose.
He and his sweetie, Sharon, were just amazed that I would travel that far just to meet him, but I told them, as I told you at the top of the post, ‘How many portraits of me are artists gonna paint in my lifetime? I couldn’t miss this!’
From left to right: artist Lyndell Dean Wolff, Early Rider Bruce Shroeder and your humble narrator, leaning on a cane his nephew Devon custom-crafted for him and looking utterly exhausted. You’d think I’d been bustin’ my ass all week, and then taken a hell-for-leather drive across half the continent! 😏 BTW, check out Lyndell’s artwork hanging behind us, and then check out his websites. Damn, he’s good, and I’d like to see him get the recognition he deserves!
This is Lyndell’s own page, with galleries, biography, et cetera.
We sat there and visited for a couple of hours — the great open-ended visiting I love best — talking about our lives, our motorcycle exploits, our work…. After a while we were joined by a fellow named Bruce, who rode with the Early Riders. Bruce could talk for England, as they say. He kept up a running monolog about people I’ve never met in places I’ve never been, and rarely paused for breath. I like a good yarn, but Bruce beat all I ever heard!
As we sat and visited, this fellow motored by. He claimed he was test-riding the prototype 2035 Harley-Davidson bagger, for when all us Boomers are too pooped to crawl up on our motorcycles anymore!
As the afternoon waned so did the crowds, and Lyndell and Sharon started to pack up. I gave them some Shovel Shop ‘Watch for Biker’ t-shirts I’d carried out there for them, we said our goodbyes, and I hit the highway east, retracing my steps back to Texas. It was a real pleasure to get to meet them both, and share that wonderful afternoon with them.
From left to right: your humble narrator with a portrait of a much younger him, artist Lyndell Dean Wolff and Sharon. Do I look sleepy? I think I look sleepy. 😵💫
Took it a little easier going home — a night in the same hotel in Palm Springs, and another in El Paso — but I did my best to make up that time on the road.
Leaving LA.It’s not just me, is it? Actually, just last week I saw a post about this ‘mountain’ on a Facebook page, so I know it’s not just me! 😎Gotta make up time somehow, right? I’d actually hit 110, but by the time I raised my camera I was already losing speed. However, in West Texas most of the traffic was running 95, so I wasn’t that far outta line!Welcome back to Austin. Just part of the reason we’re leaving after all these years, but this shyte definitely plays a part! 🤬
The Shovel Shop 