Just some Mountain Road trip Pictures

Mountain Riding Fun. If anyone wants to ride with us, come along this year. Not many take us up on it, guess they're skeered to ride the Python in Virginia. I have to tell you that when on the Python you must keep your wits about you, many turns are hairpin and I mean hairpin. Floorboard dragging turns if your bike has them so when a curve sign says fifteen mph your best is to do fifteen mph. We also take scenic leisurely routes through gorgeous country that anyone who rides can enjoy.




Just a few fall pictures from a fun ride with a brother.

What Happened to the Blogger friends?

Seems like a lot of the old blogger friends have dropped off the face of the earth. It sucks when they don't at least tell us all they're stopping.
I know I have not been on as much myself but I haven't quit cold turkey. Perhaps so many got busy with other things, same as me I recon. I had to work on Rat Bastard and get my tank welded at the rear mount; it cracked and let gas flow out like a curtain of rain while out riding a year ago. The Peanut tank - put on while getting other tank repaired - never gave me much comfort range wise, especially when in the mountains. The picture taken from inside my tent shows old RB on it's maiden voyage with fixed tank. Longer range means sore butt bone, peanut I could count on stopping more often to rest the arse.






Another project, below, that we did, a complete tear down rebuild of this 1990YZ. The kid that bought it was so excited and exclaimed that it looked brand new. Heck, after everything done to it I'd say it was. I don't know how much experience he had riding and hope it goes well. This bike was super fast and plenty of power that it even surprised me. Just a twist of the wrist would pull the front wheel in the air without trying.  

Almost New Years

Almost New Years. Did some traveling this year, not near enough. Happy New Year to all.

Woke up early before anyone else was stirring.

One of my brothers.

We had this nice spot right beside the river.

Imagine coming down this road around midnight after riding all day. It was slick as chocolate pudding in spots, I came close to sliding off down into the woods a couple of times. Not cool to ride with feet dragging the ground. My headlight is more like ten candle power when we came in night before.

Ground was more solid when we got to the meadow.

Drew had put out some Orange cones so you wouldn't go in the river, never saw them that night. Slept like a baby all night after the camp fire and a couple beers and the river flowing me off to never never land. 

2015 Club meet and swap

2015 AMCA Pictures part 1



First series of bikes at the meet.

 Flat Head 45 Servi no box.

 Servi's have left hand throttle so parking enforcement could hold chalk stick in right hand.

One of my brothers soaking in the fumes and nice weather we had.

Knuckle carbs right side

 Police bike. Carb on left side.

Wishbone frames always my favorite.   

More pictures coming....

Club Meet Field of Bikes.

Teaser Picture from Club Meet

Stay tuned to this bike channel for more to come after this break.

Antique Motorcycle Swap Meet and Show

http://www.amcasouthernnationalmeet.com/http://www.amcasouthernnationalmeet.com/


Everyone is invited to the Antique motorcycle club of America's annual show and swap meet in Denton North Carolina 05/15/15. Vintage motorcycles of all makes welcome, vendors may have that vintage part you've been searching for. Bring the wife, bring the kids, it's all good.

Jockey Shift Knob

Jockey Shift Knob
Working for Ten years in the aircraft parts manufacturing business and day dreaming of making our own parts we just couldn't wait any longer. I've done many things over the years but getting out in my own shop, designing, taking our vision and ideas, making the models and prototypes has to be the most enjoyable thing of this nature I've done. Nothing like taking an idea, putting it on paper then to machine to produce something solid from nothing is so satisfying. Weird as it may sound but sometimes I have an idea but not solid in my mind. I can chuck in a piece of metal and like wood to a wood carver, the metal speaks to me and shows me where to go with it. Times I have been toying with a new concept part and I see something in the way the cutter or form tool is working, the way the chips are coming off and as the piece turns something magical begins to appear and I go with it. Not everything goes as penciled out on the drafting sketch, and that my friends is when the magic appears.  

These are threaded for 3/8" - 24 shafts, although we can thread them for any jockey shift custom shaft thread size you need in standard or metric.

A cool art deco look to complement any build new or old. Rounded corners for a smooth comfortable feel and a protective polished finish.
  

Approximately 1 3/4" long by 1 1/2" Diameter. Made from 6061 T6 extruded and turned aluminum and near 5 oz of weight. Coghill Model : JSK0502151034   Get your hand around one and hold on.

Stay tuned for more from out little humble shop. We make parts for motorcycle and automotive from one off designs, ideas and sketches and sometimes just pure durned luck. It all depends sometimes on where Pop and Fred lead us to go.

IronHead Exhaust Baffle

Ironhead Exhaust Baffle



I have had drag pipes on my bikes for years, and this was cool then but not as much to me now. You realize at four thirty A.M just how loud they are. If you get along with most your neighbors this is a problem, if you don't like your neighbors it's not a problem at all. The other problem has always been a tuning problem. After getting carb set, things get out of whack and you have to retune the carburetor again and again. The idle gets sporadic and needs constant adjusting depending on the temperature outside. Adjust carburetor for low end around town it's fine, hit the highway and it wants to spit, sputter and hesitate when you need to throttle up the most. Simple cruising interstate is okay until you stab the gas to pass, then it stubbles, you let off it clears, you ease back into it as the engine winds up to that sweet spot RPM range and then hold on, the power curve/power band kicks in and your off like a shot. Then when slowing or going down hills you get the pop, pop, blue flames, pop, popping. Stop and readjust; It's all good for awhile but then it just gets plain old ...well old. You just want to ride without annoying anyone and enjoy the ride. I still want to be seen and heard but not at the extreme level of the Drag Pipes, because yes, even the Police hear you coming and see you and even if your not speeding it can sure sound like it and get you pulled. In the 70's and 80's they'd stop you and put a night stick in the pipe, no baffle and you got an illegal exhaust ticket.
Who needs the hassle anymore? Not me, I'm getting to be an old fart. My bike, with the open Drag Pipes, has this really mean aggressive growl sound when getting into it, even moderately hard, that's hard to explain and I love it. It seems only old Ironheads have this sound and it's like no other Harley or brand on the road. Even had other riders remark about the meanness of the sound it makes.
But, I also don't want a super quiet bike either like some out there. The ones that almost have no sound at all with huge mufflers that look like they weigh in at two hundred pounds of extra mileage robbing weight. They hold a lot of heat too, which ironically is good for fuel consumption range. But Drag pipes are only good for high RPM ranges in reality and hurt mileage in the long run. Plus, as stated, are a real sore spot for engine tuning and you have to run a bit rich to get a sort of compromise around town and highway. Drag pipes are really for racing and not the street. At the Drags you get the revs up at the line then nail the crap out of it in the upper RPM range because that is where your engine runs best with these. Get the gas in, get the exhaust out faster for a new charge and then off. But again, on the street, it ain't so sweet.

So I went and obtained me a set of baffles from Three Stooges Cycle out in the county. He had a dust covered brand new set he produced from somewhere in the back of the store room and gave me a deal on them.

Last year I spent days cleaning up this old Ironhead to make it all Purdy, after a few caught in the rain rides I remembered I like riding more than cleaning. That's not dirt and road grime on there though, that's patina and you only get that with riding not showing. But notice the no baffled pipes.  

here is how the baffle looks at the exit side of things. Luck would have it that the pipes were already drilled from manufacturer for installing these. One less step I had to do. 

Here is the entry end with those little tangs in there to aid in quieting noise levels and give a bit of back pressure and street bike needs. Helps with engine pulses also which give better all around engine throttle response.

Here is the pipe with baffles installed.  During my ride I noticed the extreme noise level was lessor by far although the aggressive growl was not there as it was before. The throttle response was much smoother and through a larger range with lower revs. Bottom end take off power is better and the engine pulls easier along a much broader length. Small twists of the throttle produces far more pulling power than it did before and is almost spot on when I need it. I have not noticed any loud snap popping when slowing down or going down hills and oddly to me it feels like the buzzing in the foot pegs is much lessor than before. She feels more like a wolf in sheeps clothing now although still moderately loud but nothing compared to the before extreme loud. Cruising the national parks and parkway is going to be way nicer for me, the animals and others who want to enjoy the serene areas without my monster Ironhead shaking the ground and airwaves.
 

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.