Friday, April 17, 2015

Shift Knobs for motorcycle Jockey shift + cars and trucks


US Machine and Cycle



Yep, that's us. Pretty soon we will be full time making parts and accessories for motorcycles, cars and trucks. A new site will be made soon.
Since my fathers passing, and most recently one of my uncles, I have done a lot of thinking. A lot of thinking. I remember my father telling the story of how his retiring boss had him come over to his home in 1961 and explained to my father how and why he should go into business for himself. He was doing all the work and long hours to only bring home a small fraction of what he was earning for the company. His old boss even acted as a mentor in the early years of my fathers business and soon it flourished and he became the go to guy by even his previous employer.
I am encouraged by Hugh's Handbuilt after watching him go from nothing to hiring employees and becoming well known in the motorcycle world. Splawn belting in Burlington North Carolina began much as my father did. NYC CNC is another of whom I've been keeping an eye on, this guy literally began in his apartment learning himself how to make things on a lathe and mill only a few years ago. Now NYC CNC has backing by Tormach and others.
I'm inspired by my own wife who, with my encouragement when the going was rough in the beginning, has successfully been running her own business for nineteen years of our twenty three year marriage. With her, part of my venture is already easier because of her business knowledge of the boring yet tough part of record keeping, licensing and operations. I have her backing, encouragement and blessing to do this.

Then there too is the knowledge that already during just a two week period I, as my father did, have made the company I currently work for in excess of $61874.87 which is two years worth of my salary including over time. I make a lot of high end parts for the company so you do the math as I alone with the machines I run bring them in over a million a year.
I have a small engine degree, have rebuilt/restored engines and motorcycles, have a working knowledge of parts plus many years of other business related experiences in both trucking and warehousing, sales and scheduling plus operations etc. Crazy at my age to begin anew but being a company man several times over and never getting where I should be by now, watching others move up because they needed me more where I was. I've had privy to read documents and letters my father had in files, information that says as his old boss Mr. Wrenn told him, "You work long hard hours and they make plenty off of you. Why not work hard and put that money in your pocket ?" It won't all be easy but it won't be all hard either so I got me a plan and it's moving along rather quickly. I can hear my father now "You can do it boy, all you ever needed to do was get on with it. As long as your breathing it's never to late. Keep your nose to the grind stone, stay on track, know where your headed  be good to others on the way up and never ever lose sight of who you are."     

Below are just a nutshell of items being produced while many others are on paper just waiting.

Need to dress up that column shifter on your Nova, Ventura, Omega, Impala, Camaro? We have it right here.
Made from 6061T-6 aluminum. If it's good enough for aircraft, it should good enough for your car, truck or motorcycle.

This one is installed on a 1974 Nova.

A compression tube is used to insure a good snug fit.

Both of these styles (above and below) are available for Jockey Shift Motorcycles as well.
 Here is the Coghill line of knobs model for Ford trucks.
Shifter knobs for Ford Ranger, F100 and F150. This design has an index finger groove in the center and three stepped finger tapers below that. Allows for faster more positive controlled shifts. You also get a better feeling of transmission instead of the deadened feel of a plastic knob. Get your fingers around one and hold on.
Coghill model installed in a 1999 Ford F150

We produce frame bungs of various sizes and thread counts from 17-4 stainless steel, 4130 or 4140 steels. The ones pictured are arte 3/4 D" X 1 L" 5/16-18 threads. We also make spacers from steel or aluminum. 


3 comments:

Trobairitz said...

Congrats on venturing out on your own.

If you are making money off your skill, you might as well be lining your own pockets.

Unknown said...

Yes dear good information, these are the most important things for driving a motor cycle. Motor cycle helmet is very necessary to protect us. Another one of those must have accessories is a daily tour bag for riders planning extended trip. This bag is large enough to accommodate items and has additional pockets to store small stuff. Harley Davidson parts should incorporate the quality and the customer reviews of the particular bike that you want to own.

WooleyBugger said...

Trobairitz,
Thanks for the congratis. Programming for CNC from shop drawings and Cad almost done. Hopefully, if all goes well, a couple of parts are going into production next week. I just keep moving forward even if all I get done in one day is a baby step it's progress.