So now that I’m at Cerberus, a real shop with real tools, I’m learning the in’s and out’s of each machine’s purpose, building techniques etc. the best way I know how… by making stuff! When I was a kid, I did crafts constantly. Between my early affinity for MacGyver and my family all being proponents of art projects and encouraging general creativity, I’d always be making something out of something. Whether is be mud pies, drawing horses underneath my mom’s kitchen table (it took her years to notice), or building paper mâché penguins… I really liked creating stuff.

Coincidentally, I still do.
What am I making? Follow along and you’ll see. First I measured and cut the metal.

Then I sanded down the edges to make them perfectly square and straight.

After making the edges straight, I rounded them out (and the corners) to take away the pokey/cut you effect.

Then gave ‘em a lil buff to make it silky smooooth.

Smoothed the surfaces out real quickly.

Polished the middle area for applying my sticker.

Stuck!

Peel off the transfer… check out that mirror finish!

Went at the surface in the bead blast cabinet…

BA-BAM! Etching effect.

Other side racing stripe mirror effect commencing.

Check that out, I can check my makeup in the finish.

And there’s the front of the finished sketchbook cover… SCHWING. Nothing better than a practically indestructible sketchbook for keeping at the shop. It’s my parts/bike design/idea book so it’s nice that it’s reinforced.

Well, that was fun! And now I know some new tips and tricks.

Mary McGee is a pioneer in American motorcycle racing, thanks to her untamable determination and a spirit as warm as her smile. Her excitement for motorcycling, especially racing, is contagious even in her eighties. She was the first woman to receive an FIM racing license in the United States, first woman to complete the Baja 1000, and the first woman to race the Baja 500 solo. These aren’t her only firsts, either. She was also the first woman in motocross and road racing in the States. McGee was rightly inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2018.
Tags: blog, cerberus motorcycles, gpoy, making stuff, motolady, the moto lady, the motolady
Posted on November 15, 2013 in Motorcycles by Alicia Mariah Elfving