there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous...

at this stage no one can stop him...

putting a sidecar fender on the honda 50cc named "hoon" to satisfy himself... or is it an imagery rehearsal?

three years or three dog years?

this picture may surprise those people who have seen recent shinya's work shop...

ta-da!
there was literally nothing there in 2006.

and next picture may surprise those people who haven't seen shinya's workshop since 2006 or in a while...

ta-da!
it became like a bulging barn or a dungeon
just in last three and half years.

well, it seems like only yesterday. we can still tell where each of them came from and when, who brought us what, etc. old machines and old tools...shinya took time and found them himself. one by one, day by day. whatever he has in his workshop are all highly-selected indispensable things for him. include tools that he only uses onece every other year...

things from the sixties and seventies...

c's ranchero, n's '63 falcon,

my '79 pinto, shinya's '72 b110
and shinya, wearing bell-bottom pants.

very mellow line up...

いいね、いいね、いいねっ！
それにしても・・・ピント顔でかっ

bon voyage!

dirty d just stopped by.

gave us the finger.
(english way of waving?)
ok, we love you, too, d!!

and left...

he's on the way to sturgis!
stop by again on your way home, d!!

the great transfiguration or the way to the land speed record...

ok, now we got a pit bike. what else do we need for the speedweek? ah...the race bike!! shinya's been racing a '46 knuckle named "spike" with the owner @ both el mirage and bonneville.

it started as a street legal city ride bike.
very elegant.

and then, they went like...why not el mirage?
just because shinya put this tiny fairing in front,
the class became "partially streamliner" hehehe

shinya made bigger front fairing
but not so big to stay in the
"partially" streamliner class, though.
we somehow love that class, partially!

added the under fairing,
changed gear ratio, etc. changed a lot for more speed.
their goal was 125mph at this point.
reality, however, is not that simple, of course.
the best so far is 107mph...

why not bonneville? last year↓

now it's ready for 2009 speedweek.
yes, dual carb!!

try and figure it out along the way...that's the joy of racing. but the real thrill of racing is going fast!!!

you just wait, 200km/h club!!
oh, no, no, not 200mph club, 200km/h, ok?
200km/h is about 125mph...good enough and big challenge for a 60-year-old motor!

it's the inspiration over perspiration...

ok...what's going on? i see yamaha dt1 on the
so-called "operating table for mild case."

........................!!

voila!! forget about yz80,
we'll take dt1　to bonneville!!
by the way, he was trying to pose like
the sticker behind
the one n & t from seattle brought us.

clean up the mess, mister!!

pit bull or pit bike?

shinya usually do his creative work at night.
so what does he do during the day?

taking out the motor out from 1978 YZ80...

and then put it back on the 1975 yz80 frame...hummmm

is this his new project? nop. he's preparing for the bonneville speedweek. salt flats, baby! oh, i mean this little yz80 is going to be our pit bike. speed limit within the pit area is like 15mph so this will be a perfect one to ride around there.

yahoooooooooo!!!

get it running is so easy for shinya!
....wait a minute...doesn't look like a happy face...oh ah

this little motor is like sun-fisher, he said.
ok, not suitable for a pit bike...
to be continued...i guess...

is shinya a pianist?

shinya mumbled one day... "you know, there are many fabricators out there who are so skillful and do a great job. i mean those guys who do welding, cutting and everything so perfectly, smoothly, so bilaterally symmetrically. i respect them so much...geez what i do is so much contrastive from them. somehow i like asymmetrical shapes and leaving footmarks on the things i make. well, i'm not a machine i don't have to be so perfect. i'll keep making well-thumbed things, yap..." i was amazed to know that skillful guy like him still thinks that way...

and then last night, we went to fuzjko hemming piano recital in santa monica. she is a very funky pianist and has so much unique background. anyway, when i heard her saying "if everybody has to play in the same way, there's no reason for me to play because i'm not a machine." i went wow...

name is just a combination of some letters

at the queen mary calendar show last weekend.
see our booth?...no banner, no color whatsoever.
frumpy? noooo! i'll call it spartan-chic.
well, as long as shinya creates
things with his soul,we don't need anything...
met many good people there.

oh B110, gold is so much better than green?

the very beginning

before

after

dusty racing engine

his long term project. 1/3 done. the racing engine is sitting in the workshop for quite a long time now. it's ok. it's a long term project...

how do you like my new buckle?

ok, shinya. that's too big for you.