Back in August we teamed up with BD’s Cycles to have a benefit for Sgt. John Colter in an effort to help him and his family after a horrible motorcycle accident. If you missed that, you can read those details below. Today, November 1st, was the deadline for entries and we picked our winner. I’m glad to say that the winner of a $2,000 custom paint job was none other than Nicholas Owen of Pearl River, LA! Nicholas is the proud owner of a new 2014 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe and I’m sure his new paint job will be stunning!

For anyone who wonders how this played out, I took the spreadsheet with all entrant names and used a random number generator to shuffle the names. This ensured that anyone with multiple entries had their name spread randomly throughout the list of 290 total entries. I then used the random number generator from www.random.org to generate a number between 2 and 291 (#1 was the header line on the spreadsheet). The number generated was 81, cross-reference this against the spreadsheet and we see Nicholas Owen as the winner!

I even did a little video capture to show the entire process on my desktop:

I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who took the time to enter and help out a brother in need. I only wish we could have raised more! After Paypal fees we raised right at $2,750 to help John and his family.

An unfortunate side-effect of working in this industry is that we’re always going to know people that have been in accidents. In the worst cases, when that happens, we do everything we can to step up and help out those in need. Now is one of those times.

On Monday July 8, Sgt. John Colter was seriously injured in an off-duty motorcycle accident. John is a United States Marine Corps veteran currently serving 25+ years in the Baton Rouge Police Department. He is the Louisiana State Captain of the Patriot Guard Riders and a member of the board of directors for Blue Knights Chapter VII in Baton Rouge. His accident resulted in a serious brain injury, several broken bones, and severe abrasions (road rash). Thankfully, John is alive, but he remains in the care of Touro Hospital in New Orleans where he faces a long, uphill struggle to regain both his physical and mental capacity.

John has been married to his wife Anita for 23 yrs and they have two sons, Travis and Nathan. As is the case with most police officers, John worked off-duty details to supplement his salary. Any sick leave or disability payments will not compensate for this extra income which was necessary to support his family. His doctors currently have no estimate for when he will be able to return to work, so whatever assistance we can provide will help his family with medical bills, school tuition, and other necessities during his rehabilitation.

Here’s how you can help!

BD’s Cycles custom motorcycle painters is teaming up with us at Bareass Choppers to hold a benefit with the proceeds going to assist John and his family. One lucky winner will receive a CUSTOM PAINT JOB (up to a $2,000 value)! Entries are $10 each, and you can buy as many as you want. The drawing will be held on November 1, 2013.

Please don’t forget to “like” this post and link to this benefit on your Facebook page, local club website, or favorite motorcycle forum to spread the word!

To purchase entries:
PayPal users can send funds directly to “sales@bareasschoppers.com” or click the “Donate” link here:

Please remember to include your contact information in the notes when sending funds, and do not use the word “raffle” as it creates problems with PayPal.

Checks can be made out directly to “John Colter” and mailed to:
John Colter Fund
447 Evergreen Ct
Slidell, LA 70458

Every $10 received will count as 1 entry, so (for example) if you send $30 you will get 3 entries. Any anonymous donations will be accepted for Anita & John Colter and not entered in the drawing.

The drawing:
In an effort to keep costs and complications to a minimum, we will not be mailing paper tickets. Instead, we will keep track of entries using an electronic database. Entry numbers will be assigned in the order in which donations are received, and on the day of the drawing a random number generator will be used to determine the winner.

Contact Information:
You can direct any questions to Mike Buras at mike.buras@bareasschoppers.com or you can get involved in the discussion on our forums. If you want a flyer for handing out or posting in your local shop you can download a .pdf version of this information here. If you want these details self-contained for posting on a website, forum, facebook page, etc you can link directly to this image which has all the information needed ready to go.

Thanks for stepping up to help out a brother in need!

Broch (big bad), Travis, John (coltergeist), me, Sean (Tassy5), and Kurt (Sumo-X)

Finally finished this project a couple of weeks ago. I just finished going through the images and getting them up on the site here for everyone to check out.

This was a great project to do. It’s nice when you find a client who really wants to go the extra mile and not skimp on any details. From paint to chrome to accent lighting everything on this bike is top notch and it really shows.

I’m actually in discussions with a few different magazines right now who might be interested in doing a spread on the bike, so that might be fun. 🙂

The build pictures and parts list are located in the “Projects” section of the website here and if anyone has questions or is interested in chiming in, you can get involved in the discussion on the forums here.

Thanks for checking it out!

The title says it all, I hated to do it… BUT, I finally broke down and added advertising to the site. I’ve really enjoyed providing the site ad-free for years while everything else on the web continued to get more and more commercial, but site-hosting expenses add up and the $20 or so that gets donated every year (yes, I said YEAR) just don’t cover costs. I’m still ignoring the urge from more “business-minded” friends to make the site completely pay-for-access. Charging people for information was never my intent when I started the site and I don’t plan on going down that road now.

So my apologies for the distraction of the ads, I think I kept them fairly small and relatively inconspicuous – unlike some sites I visit where it’s hard to separate ads from content. But hey, if you feel like helping out – when you visit the site click on a link, any link, it’ll help pay site costs. 😉

Well after a busy couple of years without a vacation I was offered an opportunity to take a great trip with great friends. I reluctantly agreed (it’s always so hard to get away from work!) but as expected I was glad that I did. A week spent riding and hanging out with friends in the Smoky Mountains sure helps clear your head.

Broch (big bad), Travis, John (coltergeist), me, Sean (Tassy5), and Kurt (Sumo-X)

You can see the rest of the pics here.

Fun was had by all despite exploding batteries, broken radios, road construction delays, separated tires, worn out shoes, full moons, pesky mailboxes, sharts (yes, sharts), and more finger pointing than should be allowed by law…

Unfortunately Killboy was too busy shooting great pictures of everyone else to get one of me, lol…

A HUGE thanks to Larry who let us use his cabin in Highlands, North Carolina free of charge. The accommodations were first rate (a giant 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom cabin on a river) and the roads were incredible. The road down the mountain from the cabin was every bit as curvy as the Tail of the Dragon and went down past 3 waterfalls – a great way to start and end each day.

Pics of the new project bike (Candy) are coming soon! Some of you may have already seen the bike in last months Tucker Rocky newsletter!

Welcome to the new and improved Bareass Choppers Tech Pages!

The old www.bareasschoppers.com is now tech.bareasschoppers.com, so if you haven’t already, please update your bookmarks to point to the new tech site. Also, don’t forget to join the forums (forums.bareasschoppers.com), where you can find a wealth of additional information and ask questions for those times when you just can’t seem to find the answers you need.

This new site design is the culmination of over 2 years of work in my spare time. The content is a compilation of technical articles I’ve composed over the years, and while I’d love to take all the credit I’d be remiss if I didn’t specify that many of these articles were inspired, in part, by the efforts of others. I try my best to specifically cite others for their contributions, but with so much information compiled over the years I’m sure I’ve missed a few. As you read through the information that is collected here please keep in mind – this site is a testament to the willingness of others to share their time, efforts, and knowledge with the general public free of charge (while paying web hosting costs out of pocket). All I’ve ever asked in return for my efforts is that the next time you find someone in need of a few minutes of your time or knowledge PAY IT FORWARD! It doesn’t even have to be motorcycle related – just taking a few minutes of your time to help a person can make a big difference.

What it’s all about – good riding and good friends…

While I’ve worked very hard to ensure there are no bugs, broken links, spelling and grammar errors, or other problems with the site, this is a lot of information to oversee. So if you’re browsing and notice any problems please email me so I can fix the problems and get the site “tuned up”.