Site: Knucklebuster

Knucklebuster comes to me via my teenage son, and it’s all about “the guy in his garage / shed / driveway wrenching away on his bike trying to fulfill his vision of what his ride should be. It’s about the guy fabricating his own parts because he can’t get what he wants from a dealer or motorcycle shop. It’s all about the D.I.Y ethic. It’s about doing it yourself, even when it’s easier to buy something off the shelf. It’s about learning as you go and then sharing what you’ve learned with others. It’s about the pride in attaining your vision with your two hands and creativity. I dare say it’s infused with old school attitude – when motorcycles and bikers were a sign of rebellion and not on every TV station in the nation. When custom bikes didn’t cost 100K and didn’t have $20,000 paint jobs. When custom bikes and choppers were actually ridden – not built to be put on a trailer and taken to the next expo or promotional event. When bikes weren’t a status symbol for rich doctors, lawyers and the corporate elite. “

Righteous. Not hard to see why the boy likes it…

I haven’t been over there for a while, and was graced with a three-part video series on TIG welding… sweeter than sweet.

The guy who keeps the site, one Grail Mortillaro, says this about himself: “I’m just one guy who loves bikes, loves riding them, working on them, making parts for them, looking at them and learning about them. I work on my bikes in my driveway, shed, basement or where ever else I can find some free space – I don’t have a shop or even a proper garage. I built this site because I love bikes, because I think it would be useful to other guys, because I like sharing information. I built this site because I love the do-it-yourself work ethic and because I enjoy working on it.”

It’s a great resource, and as entertaining as a couple of PBRs and a quart of chocolate chip ice-cream sitting on a milk crate in the Perica brothers’ garage… the best stuff are these pages he pulls from vintage how-to books and pamphlets- this one from Popular Science: