Monday 1 October 2012

"MORE TALES FROM THE PURPLE PENIS" . . . . 'THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE FINGS' . . . . MY SPEED MERCHANT, RAW CAST DERBY COVER . . . . AND THE ONE OFF, EL CHEAPO, ZENITH, MODIFIED AIR FILTER COVER . . . . NUDE ALLOY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CONSTANT METALLURGICAL MARVEL TO ME . . . . RAW FINISH, TUMBLED OR POLISHED . . . . IF IT'S ALLOY, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU CHROME IT ????

As you know by now, naked, exposed alloy is a real passion for me, in all its myriad forms and uses, the nude alloy aesthetic in bike and car application is the very definition of performance part history, lightweight, strong and sexy as some really sexy bird . . . . it never ceases to freak me out why so many choose to have pieces made from this versatile and compositionally variable metal covered in hard, shiny chrome, only to have it begin flaking and fucking up within weeks of putting it on . . . . just have it hard polished, job done !!!
I've been running the raw finished, finned Speed Merchant derby cover for nearly two years now and I tend to forget that it's on there sometimes, it's only a visual thing after all . . . . bullshit !!! Those dirty great fins suck heat from the clutch basket and primary cover like Tracey Lords gobbled cock, increase the surface area and up the heat disipation factor . . . . I spent nearly eleven hours on the skirty the other day in city traffic doing my calls, there wasn't a time when I couldn't leave the palm of my hand on it while sitting at the lights . . . . try doing that with a flat surface cover and you'll be running for the paw-paw ointment mighty quick. If you're riding a Sporty, I couldn't recommend the addition of one of the Speed Merchant's finned covers more highly, [http://thespeedmerchant.net] the reduction in built up heat is performance as much as monster cams and big carbies.
"OF FINS AND FILTERS - FINGS ON MY FINGY"
The bargain basement Zenith air cleaner cover is a bit that I dig pretty much as well, especially as how much I've always kinda hated the standard Harley letterbox sized version, I mean, what the fuck, I just don't get it, uglier than a hat full of arseholes . . . . this started life as a stock Zenith RSD ripoff, all black and equally as revolting as the Mo-Co's offering, I had the idea of what I wanted in my head and Kiwi Steve got the job done in the space of a day . . . . the skirt covering the element from the top round to the 4 and 8 o'clock position was to minimise rain from trying to get friendly with the fuel supply while still allowing good clearance from the element itself . . . . Steve came up with the radius idea on the return, I located some stainless, holed plate to lose the shitty mesh, then I decided on the spur of the moment not to have it polished and the rest is now history . . . . I like the way my inner knee is slowly adding a slight lustre to the trailing edge on the weld. It ain't the prettiest girl in the room but it does the job for which it was designed . . . . and it's one of one.
Funny thing, I have never been totally in love with it simply because the face is still clearly a RSD copy and it's never really been quite right for the overall visual theme of the bike, sadly, it's gonna get the flick in favour of another one of Kim Boyle's awesome creations, the bigger diameter, traditional pancake type . . . . soon as he gets the bloody things up on his site . . . . te he he !!!

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