Shop Rusty Knuckles Dot Com

It's been madness here in the Rusty Knuckles trenches, coding madness that is. Well, today is the day, the new site just launched and we are quite proud. For all the folks that helped out in a multitude of ways we say thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

The new site will be home base for all that we do and the folks that we work with. Take a few minutes and check out our merch line along with the bands we currently work with. See ya on the road.

Rusty Knuckles the official web portal

Wrench Works

After meeting at Cycle Source's Big Mountain Run earlier this year, my pal Josh and I became instant friends, amazing how some things work out in life. He pulls into the parking lot of the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC where we were camping, and idles up right beside my bike and we start chatting. Since that day we have never missed a beat and along the route we have hatched some plans about future bike builds along with a parts line. As Josh will quickly tell ya he is a wrench and loves nothing more than to make a perfectly functioning machine run even better. As things progress within Rusty Knuckles he will become the go to guy for tech tips on engine modifications and mechanical reliability. In this regard, we figured now would be a great time for a sneak peak into what we have been plotting on. The parts line is going to be called Wrench Works and our logo is being filed for trademark as we are that confident with the name. We have a littany of parts that should be ready for the Smokeout next summer. We aren't going to produce the simple things either, that's just too easy. Our parts are going to be focused on the human factor of comfort and tightening up the mechanical reliability, stay tuned.

Heavy Metal Gangs - Wadeye Australia

This is absolutely surreal to check out. A small Aboriginal community just south of Darwin, Australia that has gang problems amongst its twenty five hundred or so residents, which is fueled by their love of metal music. I knew of the Slaytanic army that we all become at Slayer shows but these folks have adopted the names into their own rite of passage. Whether it be the Judas Priests, The Slayer Mob or one of the many other band names written all over the local area. Truly makes you question what the early missionaries were trying to accomplish by bringing all the Aboriginals into one area.

Al Farrow - Sculptor Extraordinaire

A good friend of mine back in San Francisco was working on a huge endeavor for grad school and ended up getting in touch with the sculptor Al Farrow as they were both represented by the same gallery. My friend Mike was creating a martial arts film festival based around John Woo's work, aptly titled "Dao Of The Gun." In order to fulfill his vision for the film fest he needed a few interesting props to help flesh out his designs. After a brief chat he was off to the studio of Al Farrow to look over his sculptures and to borrow a few pieces to work with. Needless to say Mike was blown away by what he saw in the studio and was lucky enough to carry a few pieces back with him. We were laughing quite hard at the fact that he was taking city buses and was carrying a bag full of guns back to his apartment. Take a look at the work of Al Farrow, the reliquaries carry a visual weight that can bring much into question. Whether or not the reliquaries are meant to be political, is entirely up to the viewer.

Al Farrow - Sculptor Extraordinaire

The Horse Smokeout 11 - June 25-26 2010

For all the true die hard bikers out there, this event in my mind is the equivalent of Mecca. What culminates each year in our great state of North Carolina into a weekend of balls to the wall full throttle biker mayhem is the Horse Magazine's annual Smokeout. You could go as a spectator and be happy people watching or go as a bad ass drag racing mofo and put your money where your mouth is and be absolutely elated. It honestly doesn't matter. If your passion involves two wheels, a bitchin' engine and details for days, this is the event to which your year should be made around. We will have a full booth at the show along with our new parts line coming out and better yet, good chances are that our southern sleaze brothers in Crank County Daredevils will be playing the party. So there you have it, no excuse not to roll into the dirty south and get rowdy with the rest of us heathans. See you in Rockingham with the rest of the Rusty Knuckles posse.

The Horse Backstreet Choppers Magazine

Brown Dog Welding - Unique Tig Weldin' Craftsman

Got a holler from my pal Dawes raving about a site I had to check out. I start digging through the pages and honestly I just lost the next 15 minutes to checking out the cool items Josh of Brown Dog Welding was cookin' up. Not only are the items unique and use found objects that any of us wrenches can take a likening to, there is a level of craftsmanship that puts his work into another realm. I am a details kind of guy and I just had to email him and get the skinny on how he puts things together. Sure enough, he tig welds everything and those time consuming details shine. Whether it be the consistent flow of the welds or the cleanliness of the materials used, I am truly a fan. My plan now is to hopefully get a couple of unique items created for Rusty Knuckles down the road. Check out his site, but be forewarned, you are going to be there for a while.

Brown Dog Welding

Year Of The Chopper Blogspot

Brown Dog Welding on Flickr

New Sketches For Merch

Been deep in illustration mode for the last couple of weeks getting a lot of merch ready for a few bands we work with. Crank County Daredevils are heading to Europe for the Southern Sleaze Invasion Tour and Hellbound Glory are on the road consistently selling out of merch, so here is a sneak peak of a few sketches we have been cookin' on. Also, we will be launching a huge new site in the next few weeks. Along with the site being the portal for all that is Rusty Knuckles it will also serve as the new launching pad for all the bands we are working with. The new roster of folks joining the family is bitchin' and we will make a formal announcement soon.

Shop Rusty Knuckles

Oil Rigs - Los Angeles, Urban Drilling

Oil of L.A. from VBS.tv

El Mirage, CA - Land Speed Racing with the Bean Bandits

What a great weekend of land speed racing out in the dusty high desert of El Mirage, California. We rolled into the desert a bit after dark on Friday night and were able to setup camp really close to the starting line. This allowed us to be close to all the action in the pits and for hanging out. Was damn cold the first night and my feet went numb even though I was still sleeping inside the caravan. First day of racing on Saturday proved to be a great day and there was even a tail wind to make the day that much better. The team consisted of Jake & Nicki Doomey, Lance Dawes, The Eagle and myself. Lance was driving all weekend and was able to post a respectable top speed of 106mph in the 1953 mainline. Track record for the production class is 130 mph so hopefully they will be able to break that record with a lot more tweaks and refinements to the car. Sunday turned out to be mostly a wash due to a headwind and it was just so damn dusty out there making for a much slower day for all racers. Have a look at all the photos on the flickr page. Now that the racing and show season is officially over its time I get started on the new Buell custom and make it ready for the first race at the Maxton Mile in Maxton, NC.

Rusty Knuckles on Flickr

Classic Car Salvage Yard - Wallace, California

Hangin out with some friends back in California and we have been on a road trip as usual. A while back they had spotted quite an amazing classic car salvage yard way up in Wallace, California so we just had to go and check it out as some miscellaneous parts were needed. The whole back lot was filled with Desotos, Thunderbirds, Coronets, Mercurys and so many other cars and trucks that I cannot even name as my classic car knowledge is quite limited. Posted quite a few more photos over on the flickr page so check'em out:

Rusty Knuckles on Flickr

Bandolero's Car Racing - Charlotte, NC

Good friends of ours have a son that is just getting into racing. He is starting out in the Bandolero Cars which is run by a 30 horsepower overhead valve screamer. At first glance you might think, oh how cool are these little cars, then when you see the young kids tearing around the track in them at close to 50 mph, yeah, jealousy erupts instantly. Seeing the track buzzing and kids slamming into each other and driving with the finesse of their older stock car hero's makes you wish you were 12 and having this much fun. Gotta say, it was a lot of fun to hang out in the pits with all the folks gettin' the cars ready. Screw takin' yer kids to play football or soccer, get'em a Bandolero! Looks like Rusty Knuckles may also start sponsoring this particular race car as well. Once they secure two new bodies they are bringing them up to the Rusty Knuckles work shop for some clever new paint schemes for the 2010 race season. Will post the graphics once we get started and show the paint work process.

Bandolero Race Cars

Steam Punks - Muse For New Street Fighter Bike Build

Getting ready to start the new chopper build on the Buell Cyclone and really interested in the ideas of late by the Steam Punks. Their ideological foundation is based around speculative fiction with a mix of sci fi and the Victorian era with the name also alluding to a world in which steam power is still king. A lot of the artisans in this arena create objects that look stout in their demeanor due to the overtly mechanical visual assemblage and use various materials that have a distinct color tone. Whether it be iron, copper or another form of steel the coloring tends to be darker or golden brown metals.

With this overtone on the new Street Fighter build, I plan on keeping the original Buell frame but modifying significantly the swing arm, tail section and overall finish. The frame is already great and has a lot of flex with the tubular structure, so why fix what isn't broke? But what I am really pushing for in the styling is a streamlined mechanical finesse. I want the bike to look overly mechanical and interesting. For years builders have been trying to hide the lines to streamline every single angle. Screw that, I want folks to walk around the bike and be interested in seeing a braided steel oil line or riveted tank. Mucho thanks goes out to Jules Verne, the Nautilus has been stuck in my head for years thinking on this idea for a build. Have a look at some Steam Punk and overtly mechanical bike builds by Chicara and AMD Bike Building Champ Dave Cook. Cook Customs is hands down my absolute favorite bike builder, would dig picking his brain for hours.

Steampunks on Wikipedia

Chicara - Custom Builder

Dave Cook - Custom Builder

Silver Dragon Customs

During the show this past weekend I was able to connect with another great group of folks from North Myrtle Beach. They had a bitchin' early 90's Ducati, with a plethora of killer details, along with a few other ground up custom builds. One of their bikes in particular really caught my eye from the distinctive lines of the gas tank. I kept staring at it and couldn't quite get where I knew that shape from. Low and behold the top portion is from a rear fender which clearly makes it stand apart in gas tank styling. Its a really subtle design approach that just makes you want to walk around the bike and take in more details. Needless to say, Angelo and his wife are great people, so hit them up if you are down in Myrtle Beach for any rally of sorts. Or "hopefully" you can meet up with them, when they join us on our April 2010, Battle for Ocracoke run in the Outer Banks of NC. A weekend of gypsy camping and motorized mayhem where the infamous Blackbeard made his last stand. More details soon...

Silver Dragon Customs - myspace

Crank County Daredevils - New Album Artwork

Here is a sneak peak at the new album artwork for the Crank County Daredevils album, dropping in a few weeks. They are the bastard child of Motorhead and early Guns N' Roses. European tour in January and full US tour in March & April...

Crank County Daredevils - Myspace

VBS.TV - Skate Europe

Usually while eating lunch I watch a lot of webtv shows. Vice started off as a magazine a while back but I really got hooked on all of their shows online. Whether it be their travels to North Korea, Chernobyl or the Epicly Latered skate shows by old friend Pat O'dell, the site kicks ass like none other. Been hooked on the Skate Europe videos for the last couple of days, but also check out the Epicly Later'd sections for killer skate interviews and bios.

VBS.TV

Nightmare Custom Cycles

Was out at a motorcycle event this past weekend and was able to meet quite a few new and great folks. One of them happened to be a builder by the name of Nightmare. He and his wife run a shop down in Harleyville, South Carolina appropriately named Nightmare Custom Cycles. Needless to say, they were great folks and I sure as hell had a good time getting to know them. One of his latest builds is this amazing little Triumph. Details abound and that's what its all about, have a look...

Nightmare Custom Cycles