I had been all hot to trot to get a Russian sidecar having a military history from WW2 and I laid a $1500 deposit down on a Ural with the FL sales rep in Miami (a friendly Cuban-American cop selling motos on the side), and the HQ in Redmond/Seattle headed by a couple of Russians.
Apparently the Russian mindset is just the same as during the cold war -- even those living in America seem to have the totalitarian mindlessness which will keep them from thriving in a free enterprise economy. They stopped importing & producing Urals as their solution to the world economic slowdown: keep their last-year-model motorcycles in their showrooms until sold without any current year's!
Good enough for Russian Ivans in Siberia maybe, but not for this half-Dutchman middle-named "Ivan" in sunny Florida! When they couldn't even guarantee a delivery date 6 weeks ahead, I got my deposit back. The Cuban-American in Miami kept his word and sent it ALL back -- but the Russians are screwing his business outlooks with their medieval understanding of American economics and consumers!
I had to resort to eBay Motor Sales! My eBay win is a USA product, a good ol' Harley-Davidson with Velorex sidecar kit added on! It cost me just 1/2 of what the Russian Ural would have! Granted, it's a reworked '86 Sportster, but it has an upgraded engine from 800 to 1200 cc as well as a bright but impossible color for the Russians to consider: GOLD! Go Figure! The Russians offer Americans each of their models in only 1 or 2 colors, mostly dark & unsafe. Not consumer-oriented enough for the American proletariat, I assure you, Ivan!Furthermore, Urals have piddlin' after-sales support and repair contractors -- one I called tried to talk me into buying an American bike instead of the Russian one, and the guy was a contracted repair service rep for the Ural company in Florida!! Harley-Davidson is probably TOO consumer-oriented with their trendy Harley franchise shops which are overly expensive except for parts and repairs. BUT they are smart about Americans cuz they ARE Americans.... since 1903!!! [I am obligated to start spouting a little of the Harley jingoism now, aren't I? Even tho I didn't buy my bike AT the Harley shop. ;-) ]
Above, I show you a mostly clothed, windswept ME by my Harley sidecar up near Savannah, GA where my younger son & I drove to pick up the bike & custom trailer that the owner also sold me. Too bad Daytona bike week had just ended before I had something to pull the bike there! But I need some time to learn how to master the sidecar driving which is very different from the regular lean-and-turn driving of a solo motorcycle! As soon as I replace the gear shift rubber cover by my left foot, I'm gonna start driving it around our MH Park to master the turning. Won't my neighbors LOVE me? I won't go nuts though -- besides, our speed limit is 15 mph in the park! You'd better believe there ARE also speed bumps everyfuckingwhere!
My latest tats, now, but see HNT below this one. Like my WingHouse #1-favorite said, "You're getting all tatted up!" (I think she likes them, too.) A week ago, I got the best tattoo artist I've ever seen to add my two combat flying medals below my AF Academy Falcon class-crest tat. In the middle, he wrote the names of the four countries in which I have had my ass shot at for the good old U.S.A.! (I only got to shoot back in 2 of those countries, BTW!)
Actually, they WERE LITERALLY shooting at my ass because we were overhead in the air and they were on the ground shooting UPwards. Well, shooting at my ass or my GONADS! Difficult to tell the diff from 3000-6000 feet below my sidefiring gunship! The medal with a propeller-cross is the Distinguished Flying Cross and the other with the diving, screaming eagle is the Air Medal. Repeat awards are signified by little bronze oak leaf clusters superimposed on the ribbons, but I left them off to avoid confusion and cluttering the tattoos. I have other medals including a Meritorious Service Medal but I wanted to show the specific combat-flying decorations and keep the larger tattoo aesthetically pleasing.Inking the little details that Mike Sizemore of "Wicked Ink" in Clearwater, FL did so well reflects his 15 years' tattoo artist experience. Even HE said these were "challenging," but I've received numerous compliments on them in only the one week I've had them! See what YOU think! Check the detail in such a small, compact tattoo-space.
I'll try to find the first ink outline that Mike laid out before he started the heavy work. Some of you have liked seeing intermediate steps visually sort of like I like seeing some of YOU visually (heheheh)!If I can find it, I'll add it as a PS below the finished pieces here. When you click-enlarge these you should be able to appreciate the superb detail & shading Mike gave them. He's well worth the $150/hour he charges! (There are good artists who charge less ($90-100/hr) if ya shop around--Just not THIS good!)
PS: I DID find the earlier tat pic where Mike had first inked in the outlines on the stencil of his drawing which was placed on the arm here. He is the first I've seen use this technique and I think it adds to his higher quality tats. It helps him get those straight lines perfectly straight using guidelines during the main tattooing. I didn't get a chance to look over the drawing for the stencil tho' before he applied it & you should always do that to see if the stencil looks exactly like what you want (things often get misdrawn from your expectations & it's a pain to correct things in an adjustment session 2 weeks later -- you HAVE to wait for it to heal before "touching up.")
Notice this pic shows a chart of Chinese characters on the wall with translations below--if you want one tattooed, they can do it from this or from online sources.
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