Koshka's Customs

Side Project:  Harley Davidson 883 Bobber

This Sportster rat bobber sat on the sidewalk (locked and covered!) for too long.  Freshening her up for a summer of clockwork reliability!

Side Project: Fine and Raw Chocolate’s “Cushie” The Truckster

So far I’ve dropped a new Master Cylinder in Cushie, but I’m seeing future mechanical battles coming my way.  Chocolate Delivery is a serious business in NYC, and Cushie’s up for the fight.

Clean CB360: Carbs

She might look good, but the 360 has tweaking needed everywhere.  First onto the carbs.  Cleaned, inspected, parts ordered… then put back together to ride.  I’d rather have a bike and have to pull it back apart, then not do the work twice.

A tiny 4 stroke invasion hanging and hunting for parts.  Thanks for the help 2nd Stroke Cycles!

Had to price out the Baby Dream on Rainy Monday.  Nice work if you can get it.

The CL350 Scrambler:  It Begins

Out of nowhere we get a lead on a great 1971 Honda CL350.  The Scrambler pipes have made this an old dream bike, and now its here.  Thanks to Tom for having it around!

The Flamed CB360:  It Begins

The Compact is still waiting on final parts, but since its final home was across the street, we moved her out, cleaned up and made space for the Flamed CB360.

We were told that a full engine rebuild had been done, but an undiagnosed compression leak sunk the project.  Time to bring her back to life!

The Allstate Compact Leaves Home.

The Compact is all finished but for a few parts still coming in the mail.  Fine and Raw Chocolate is across the street and they’re keeping it inside instead of me storing it in my van.

I love seeing it out.

In addition to our cats, there is now a small one-footed parakeet named John-Doe hopping around the place.

The Sears/Allstate Compact: Engine Assembly and Install

The parts are all together, the engine turns over, the cables pull, the brakes stop… and the coil is dead.  Final pieces to a finished puzzle!

Side Project:  Weed Wacker on Wheels!

Local Coffee shop sent this Evo Powerboard my way to get running again.  Too much fun!

Carb rebuild, “custom” Throttle cable adjuster, New throttle lever, grips and cleaned up.

The Sears/Allstate Compact:  Rear Wheel

Everything that spins is getting rebuilt and the rear wheel was first on the list.  Bearings were good, but 40 year old bearing grease wasn’t going to cut it. 

Spring!

Pulled the CB360 out and it fired up instantly on half choke.  Cleaned The Big Gato out for the first time since it got too cold to clean! 

This is the third set of cables for the Compact.  The first set was all wrong, the second matched the shop manual which is serial-number-matched to the bike… and none of those cables fit either.

Here we have the custom cables that match the original cables perfect… except the cables with tapered ends.  Those were off by an important 1/16”.  I’ll make it work, and I’m doing the custom work from here out if I can.

My Favorite Things.

I wore the frets down on the last of my guitars, and Koshka’s had down time while custom cables were being made for the Compact.

The American Deluxe Strat I attempted to sell last year never left, and I wore the frets sharp enough to draw blood.  Fret Leveling, filing, sanding and polishing were only the beginning of the build.  The 5-Spring hard-tail, and fresh set up with .12 gauge strings were perfection for this huge ash-bodied monster.  Strap Locks and the first strap I ever bought myself (in 17 years of playing?) top off the build.

Plays great.  Sounds great.  Neighbor has a 5150 half stack and the place is concrete.  Got to start sweet talking….