My new old motorcycle

I finally finished off my 1978 XT500 project.  For now anyway.  It's a super fun bike, especially with all the dirt roads around here.  I stripped it down to the frame, removed the stuff I didn't need, and changed a few things.  I also reworked a smaller tank to fit the frame, made a seat pan and had it upholstered, and modified the stock exhaust.  There are a few other custom parts here and there, and pretty much everything that doesn't make it go or stop is gone other than the head and tail lights.

Eric's Shop

Here are some pictures of my friend Eric Velleca's blacksmith shop. We met when I moved down to Florida and called him with some questions about the area. Eric is thinking of moving out of state, so I wanted to post some pics of his cool shop in case he moves. There aren't that many parts of the country where you can have an open air, tropical blacksmith shop like this. Eric is a really talented blacksmith who does a lot of large architectural work. You can check out his website here: http://www.vellecametaldesign.com/


Power hammers for forging steel:


Forges, quenching bucket, and anvil:



Another shot of the anvil with an industrial press and tong rack in the background:



Gas forge:



Drill press:



Seems like no metal shop is complete without at least one motorcycle project. Here are a Harley and Honda CB 750 Eric is building:



CB750:


Large gate:



Samples:


Here's a picture of Eric's sweet custom Toyota Landcruiser which he built. There are a lot of cool custom parts, but unfortunately the interior pics didn't come out very well: