bikerMetric custom metric bobbers, choppers, and cafe racers by honda, yamaha, kawaski, and suzuki
got a supportive comment today to a post from a dude named swagger. i needed it.
welcome to my diary.
after a little research i easily discovered his blog, big pointy teeth! yes, it has an exclamation point and i dig it. it was so cool, i snagged some pix of this honda cb360 bobber from it.
it was good timing, as i am not finding many cool bikes lately while coming to a crossroads in my life which makes me feel that bikerMetric isn’t going to be a big part of my 2012.
simply put, blogger is a giant piece of f***ing sh*t and i’ve had it. i have better things to do than fight a division of a huge corporate conglomerate and their “new and improved” user interface which does NOT allow me to get into the html of my site to customize it. yes. the new blogger interface is a step backward, with less functionality and more senseless bulls**t in the way of what i want to do; namely POST KILLER METRIC BOBBERS, CHOPPERS, AND CAFES, and sometimes rant about how f***ed up amerika’s political system is while espousing the merits of hurting billionaires and bankers.
is that too much to ask?
it seems so.
their new user interface isn’t the only time i’ve had “blogger issues.” in the past seven months alone they have censored and blocked my site. they have deleted a thousand images which magically appeared months later. they have erased whole posts, never to be seen again. i have encountered problem after problem that keeps me from doing my work here on what has become a monthly basis. there is a revolving door of elements of this site that for no apparent reason, stop working, such as the current lack of “previous posts” and “newer posts” links in the bikerMetric archive.
i’ve been d*cking around with this half-assed bulls**t software for two years now, and i regret not starting off on wordpress to begin with.
“blogger is a google product? oh, that will be great!”
it is about to drive me away forever. i’d rather fight more important things.
over the course of the past year, i’ve had people promise to assist me in moving bM to a wordpress format in trade for a logo and/or a complete identity package. they get their stuff, i get promises that never happen. i am about to stop right here, store the laptop in the closet, and go back to writing stories, novels, and poetry on my typewriters.
the more i trust the words of others, the more i wonder if most of the garage-built metric biker world is as filled with f***ing clueless drones out for themselves, clothed in a facade of “community,” as i discovered the harley crowd to be.
then, when i am about to give up, ask my girl for a BJ, and do nothing but watch tv for a week while eating only nachos, i find swagger. or he finds me. either way he seems to “get it” and i realize that yes, most people are dips**ts but the few who are not are worth fighting at least one more day for.
then i began this post. we’ll see what i do tomorrow…
there is a great story behind this bike built by a man named troy helmick, with many more pix of the evolution of it on this page of swagger’s blog. i suggest you check it out, if not for the story, then to b*tch that this lame post is his fault.
i’ve tilted enough windmills, fought the good fight, gave my all, and every bad *** biker cliché you can imagine. i know there are thousands of you who count on me to do what i do here, and some of you write to say so, but my crossroads is leading me away from the devil of alcohol, where my sober mind has clearly spoken that i must accept the things i cannot change.
the first thing i can’t change is blogger. what i can change is what i do with my time and my life. i am a better writer than what i leave here. i am a better writer when i am seeking *** and truth. i am a better writer than to be pegged into a motorcycle editor pigeonhole. my books have brought me love. this? this has brought only heartache.
regardless of what i decide to do with bikerMetric, i am done with bars and the clowns that fill them.
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yo Trent dont quit… one of my top three bike blogs online. for reals. turned me onto some wicked builders, parts, learnt some shvt and found another person who feels like fire burning it all. ill be all lonely like without you..
Hey man,
I feel your pain, but please don’t give up! You’re an inspiration for thousands and thousands of people. There are enough blogs using standard templates that just repost photo’s. A blog like Bm, with words and opinions is a rare thing in the bike blog ‘scene’, please don’t let it die out.
Greetings from Europe.
I commend you for that march away from the devil alcohol. Perhaps less “material” for your writing, but you’ll be a better writing in the end. You have my supportr
Ditto!!!!
TOOLS
Keep fighting, Trent. bikerMetric kicks ***.
All our support in BM or out of BM! but if you leave we will truly miss it…
Bestest T!!!
Wow! thanks for the mention Trent, I appreciate it a lot. I feel for you too amigo, change is rough to deal with and it can be scary as ****. Hang in , light something on fire (not yourself) and roast a marshmallow or two.
Do what you gotta do though.
ps: ****…that’s a helluva scar on your arm, Jebus! That had to suck.
Yo man you should migrate to wordpress, it’s 50 times better than blogger and super easy to import all your old stuff. You’ll have access to any files you want right in the control panel.
Just so you know this isn’t spam, I designed and built a chopper site that you have mentioned on here before.
hey goat, i hear you, man. it seems every time i am about to get onto wordpress it never transpires. time is an issue, as is money and most importantly, my patience. i am an “old man” and i don’t want to learn new stuff, and stay off my lawn!
if this was 1999 and i was still working as a web designer, i’d be all over it, but since i told the corporate man to stick it, i don’t care to learn and labor over something that i’ll struggle with for a month on my own and never use for a client. if this place was making money, that would be one thing, but it’s a labor of love for the readers.
if a wordpress guru were to appear and offer their services, i’d be happy to give them a banner and their own page so others who will eventually be phased out of blogger by google can use his/her services to get onto wordpress with ease. otherwise, i can’t afford a pro.
regardless, i soldier on.
best to you and http://chopperswapmeet.com, man.
T