Monday, July 13, 2009
Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally
So Sunday I drove down to Venice to check out the Vintage Motorcycle Rally with my daughter again. When we pulled up there was bikes lined up down Venice Blvd. The weather was comfortable and not as hot as Saturday down at the Mooneyes show. Lots of cool bikes on display.
The view down Venice Blvd
I ran into Scott Parker. Haven't seen him in awhile so it was good to chat with him. He was enjoying the show and doing the same thing I was. Getting photos for the blog! Check out his shots at Church of Choppers.
Jason from By Hand and By Brain was down there checking out the show and drinking a cold one. We are going to do a photoshoot of his bike sometime this week.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sinners Liberty Party 09
So last Saturday Liz and I got out of the house for a little bit to go to the Sinners Liberty Shindig to mingle with some friends.
Goose of Baltazar Belts, Denver Dan and myself. If you read the story I did on Cole, Goose is the one that showed Cole how to make the center piece on his tank. Check out Goose's stuff here. http://www.baltazar.la/
Steve rode down with Irish Rich from Denver for the show. Always great to see those two guys. Thanks Steve for representing.
Scott, me and Pac Man.
Denver Dan and James Intveld. If you haven't heard of James Intveld he is an amazing singer. We've seen him perform a couple times now. We are in the process of possibly doing something together in the near future too. Should be really interesting. Movies, guitars and motorcycles. Stay tuned.
My buddy Kyle from Hawaii. Kyle is also the man behind Death Machine. It was great to see him and Rhiannon. Kyle was leaving for the east coast for some skateboarding tour after the party.
Last but not least the lovable, Chopper Dave and Dre.
Mooneyes BBQ Show
Went down to the Mooneyes BBQ show this past Saturday. Not a big turn out compared to last year. Maybe because it was hotter than hell out there. My poor daughter was melting so we took photos and left.
I just went over to Blue Collar Moto blog and saw more pics from the Mooneyes show. Looks like he went at a better time with a lot more people there. Check out more photos from the show there.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Brittown The Movie
I had lunch with Scott Di Lalla yesterday and he gave me a copy of their second movie they put together called Brittown. If you haven't seen it yet check it out. You can buy it at www.choppertown.com. They are working on a third movie due out soon.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Dago's Speed Shop-Part 3
A little bit about Rene Astengo
Rene grew up around motorcycles and hot rods. His Dad and Uncles were into motorcycles and Rene was 19 years old when he got his first 59' Panhead. He bought it off an old biker in Torrance. He started out tickering around with VW’s doing mostly all the mechanical stuff on them. From the VW’s he then evolved into working on motorcycles. Several years later he started Dago’s Speed Shop out of his garage in Whittier. This was about the time his son Diego was born and Rene named the shop after him. “Growing up around bikers they would never say “San Diego.” So the shop name evolved from my son’s nickname Dago.” Even before he started Dago’s Speed Shop Rene had some sort of project going on. “I’ve always had the side gig thing going with the cars and motorcycles. My friends and I always kind of blur the line between lowrider and custom. I do most of the suspension stuff. That’s my thing, fabricating. It is just my hobby and I love it.”
Rene grew up around motorcycles and hot rods. His Dad and Uncles were into motorcycles and Rene was 19 years old when he got his first 59' Panhead. He bought it off an old biker in Torrance. He started out tickering around with VW’s doing mostly all the mechanical stuff on them. From the VW’s he then evolved into working on motorcycles. Several years later he started Dago’s Speed Shop out of his garage in Whittier. This was about the time his son Diego was born and Rene named the shop after him. “Growing up around bikers they would never say “San Diego.” So the shop name evolved from my son’s nickname Dago.” Even before he started Dago’s Speed Shop Rene had some sort of project going on. “I’ve always had the side gig thing going with the cars and motorcycles. My friends and I always kind of blur the line between lowrider and custom. I do most of the suspension stuff. That’s my thing, fabricating. It is just my hobby and I love it.”
Rene and his 59 Panhead when he was 19. Photo Courtesy: Rene Astengo
Thank you for tuning in. I am working on another story to post soon. Scott Di Lalla and his Triumph.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Dago's Speed Shop-Part 2
The second bike I shot was his 68' Sportster XLCH he had built along with his nephew. This was a build that allowed Rene to work along side his nephew and paved the way for his nephew to a new career. “I ended up with the motor from another deal that I had. The motor, the frame and the chrome swing arm were also other parts I had. I bought a bolt on hardtail and when I bolted it on it just looked terrible, it just didn’t flow at all. So I said “fuck it” and stuck it in the corner and worked on other projects. Then one day I was looking on eBay and came across this Sportster frame. It’s actually a 70’s Corbin frame and it’s kind of rare. I was like “Dude! Look at that frame.” Rene had just found his frame for the bike and he had to have it. “Once I got the frame I just had to build it up. It all came from the frame. That whole thing happened because of that frame and everything just evolved from there.”
Some of the parts Rene fabricated were the sissy bar, handle bars and the oil tank. “The story behind the oil tank is I made a round oil tank out of some mini scuba tanks. I just cut the ends off them and I spent so much time in getting them together. After I got it all together and put it up there on the bike it just didn’t flow with that tank and the angles of the bike.” So Rene put that oil tank aside and worked on another one that fit the look of the bike. “I had already built the pipes so I had to modify that oil tank to fit and I liked the way it looked.” The cap on the oil tank was also modified to match the cap on the gas tank.” The front rim is a Hap Jones WM1, side mount Bates headlight, Morris Fairbanks magneto, the rear fender is a stock narrow glide where Rene cut the center out. The seat is hand made out of leather. “Scott Craig did the paint and Danny D did the hand lettering on the tank.” Rene had originally had the tank painted and put the factory stickers on it. “It didn’t look right so I had it redone. We stripped it down and Danny hand painted the lettering on it. He staggered it to match both sides.”
The bike took about 6 months to build and is currently featured in DICE magazine. It also took first place at the Grand National Roadster Show. “I was just happy it was there and was surprised it won.”
Rene wanted the Sportster to get recognition not only for himself but for his nephew. Building the bike together was a great bonding experience between the two. Rene wanted his nephew to know that good things can come out of a bad situation. After the bike was done Rene had talked to his friend Eric over at Advanced Design Fabrication about his nephew. He told Eric that his nephew did good work and he has now worked with Eric for about a year. “Everything works out for a reason.”
Final part tomorrow.
Some of the parts Rene fabricated were the sissy bar, handle bars and the oil tank. “The story behind the oil tank is I made a round oil tank out of some mini scuba tanks. I just cut the ends off them and I spent so much time in getting them together. After I got it all together and put it up there on the bike it just didn’t flow with that tank and the angles of the bike.” So Rene put that oil tank aside and worked on another one that fit the look of the bike. “I had already built the pipes so I had to modify that oil tank to fit and I liked the way it looked.” The cap on the oil tank was also modified to match the cap on the gas tank.” The front rim is a Hap Jones WM1, side mount Bates headlight, Morris Fairbanks magneto, the rear fender is a stock narrow glide where Rene cut the center out. The seat is hand made out of leather. “Scott Craig did the paint and Danny D did the hand lettering on the tank.” Rene had originally had the tank painted and put the factory stickers on it. “It didn’t look right so I had it redone. We stripped it down and Danny hand painted the lettering on it. He staggered it to match both sides.”
The bike took about 6 months to build and is currently featured in DICE magazine. It also took first place at the Grand National Roadster Show. “I was just happy it was there and was surprised it won.”
Rene wanted the Sportster to get recognition not only for himself but for his nephew. Building the bike together was a great bonding experience between the two. Rene wanted his nephew to know that good things can come out of a bad situation. After the bike was done Rene had talked to his friend Eric over at Advanced Design Fabrication about his nephew. He told Eric that his nephew did good work and he has now worked with Eric for about a year. “Everything works out for a reason.”
Final part tomorrow.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Dago's Speed Shop-Part 1
A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to drive to Whittier and meet up with Rene Astengo of Dago’s Speed Shop. I wanted to shoot his 78' Shovelhead that he had built and the 68' Sportster XLCH that was a project that he and his nephew built together. I arrived late in the day and Rene was getting cleaned up from a hard days work of laying a brick foundation for his new addition he is doing to his home. He showed me the progress he has made to the addition and said a lot of it is help of friends and trading hours of work with each other. He builds them bitchin bikes and they help him get his dream house together. Not bad because he is saving a boat load of money doing the add on himself.
The Shovelhead is a 78' FXE. “I bought it only because it had a good motor in it, everything else was so funky on it. It had a King Sporty tank in bare metal, the forks were about 12” over, the rear wheel on it now was the actually the front wheel and it had a 16” in the back. So you can just imagine how funky of a look it had with a wide front wheel with a 12 over glide.” So Rene went to work and put his own touches into the bike. The bike had a full fender which Rene has since removed and modified to fit another bike he has got going in his shop. “The front wheel I ended up putting in the rear.
That’s the only reason it’s on there, because I would never have gone with a 18” aluminum wide wheel like that. That’s just not my style. But it kind of just worked out that way and it works. Everything on that bike is just stuff I have laying around the garage and swap meet finds.” Other modifications include the rear fender which is actually a Vulcan front fender. The stock strut is cut and reformed. “A lot of people are tripping out on that.
This is something I’ve always done. This is kind of the formula that I always go by.” There is full travel in the shocks as Rene has used a 12” shock. “They look so much lower because the way the fender sits on the tire. You create that illusion, that’s what it’s all about. Normally everything I build is super low. My thing is to get them as low as you can possibly get them.” The Bates front light is also another swap meet find. “ My thing is to try not to buy stuff out of the big catalogs for parts. I rather get a Harley part and modify it.”
The Shovelhead is a 78' FXE. “I bought it only because it had a good motor in it, everything else was so funky on it. It had a King Sporty tank in bare metal, the forks were about 12” over, the rear wheel on it now was the actually the front wheel and it had a 16” in the back. So you can just imagine how funky of a look it had with a wide front wheel with a 12 over glide.” So Rene went to work and put his own touches into the bike. The bike had a full fender which Rene has since removed and modified to fit another bike he has got going in his shop. “The front wheel I ended up putting in the rear.
That’s the only reason it’s on there, because I would never have gone with a 18” aluminum wide wheel like that. That’s just not my style. But it kind of just worked out that way and it works. Everything on that bike is just stuff I have laying around the garage and swap meet finds.” Other modifications include the rear fender which is actually a Vulcan front fender. The stock strut is cut and reformed. “A lot of people are tripping out on that.
This is something I’ve always done. This is kind of the formula that I always go by.” There is full travel in the shocks as Rene has used a 12” shock. “They look so much lower because the way the fender sits on the tire. You create that illusion, that’s what it’s all about. Normally everything I build is super low. My thing is to get them as low as you can possibly get them.” The Bates front light is also another swap meet find. “ My thing is to try not to buy stuff out of the big catalogs for parts. I rather get a Harley part and modify it.”
The second part of the story will continue with the 68 Sportster.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Scott Di Lalla's Triumph
Drove down to Venice today after work to meet with Scott Di Lalla. I had been wanting to shoot his Triumph for awhile now so we finally had a chance to hook up. Scott and his partner are the guys behind the Choppertown series of DVD's. Check out their online store at: www.choppertown.com. Scott and I plan to meet for lunch next week and I will get the specs and story behind this bike. I plan to work on the Rene from Dago's Speed Shop stuff this weekend so I should have new pics and story to post up on Monday.
Thanks again Scott for today.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
VBS.TV
Got a email from Rory at Vice Magazine about a video they did with pro surfer Brad Gerlach and surfboard shaper Chris Christensen. They did a little motorcycle/surf road trip up and down the craggy Northeast Coast.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Dago's Speed Shop
Had the pleasure to meet Rene Astengo of Dago's Speed Shop in Whittier today. He was kind enough to let me shoot his 78' Shovelhead and the Badass Sporty that he and his nephew had built together. I will be posting pics of both bikes and a little interview I did with Rene. Stay tuned.
Flyin' Dutchman Blog
In case you didn't get the memo, Flyin Dutchman's new blog address is: http://www.dutchmanphotos.blogspot.com/
Friday, June 19, 2009
Going to shoot some stuff this weekend. So I should have some new stuff to post soon. In the meantime go check out so cool shit over at the "Low and Slow" blog of the Los Boulevardos guys.
Picture taken from their blog.
Picture taken from their blog.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Andrew Quinones
On our trip up to Salinas to shoot with Cole I had the pleasure to meet Andrew Quinones. He has been working with Cole for a little while now. During the shoots Andrew helped out quite a bit so I was able to keep shooting with Cole. Andrew is working on a pretty cool Shovelhead and I look forward to being able to get shots of it to present to you the viewers. Thanks Andrew for all your help. For more on Andrew check him out on the Salinas Boys website. www.salinasboys.com
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