...you'd better go in disguise.

Roger's one of my oldest and best Aussie friends. We met in Australia, and have since met up in the UK and Italy. We try to out-disguise each other for every meeting.

Remember this dreamy vision of chopping nirvana from issue 10?

Well, owner BJ is selling this '69 CB750E and a shorter '70 CB750 chopper together right now on Ebay, so if you want something untouched since the late '60s, choppers don't come more period perfect than these. The bikes were discovered by Freddy Hernandez, and have been given the nod of approval for authenticity by Sugar Bear, so what more do you need to know?

Place your bids here.

When choosing bikes to go into the magazine, I go almost entirely by gut reaction. If my first instinct is 'yeah, I'd love that parked in my garage', then the bike's in.

But I'm human, and sometimes I'm swayed by who the builder is, or someone I respect urging me that the bike is cool... and occasionally I look back at old issues and the odd bike sticks out as being not quite 'GKM material'.

This Sportster, built by Jake in Seattle, isn't one of those 'maybe' bikes; I downright love it. And I hope you do too, because we'll be featuring it soon.

A few months ago I had a sweet running, stock '52 Panhead. And today I wish I'd kept it that way.

Now that there is a little sunshine warming our backs, and the snowstorms seem less frequent, I want to ride, not sit staring at wiring diagrams, service manuals, or parts that won't fit.

I have some undercover workspace, but no workbench, not even a vice. I'm getting sick of making do and getting by, trying to get a bike back on the road with no spare time, few tools and dwindling enthusiasm.

With little experience or mechanical aptitude, I've realised the cutdown bars I thought were ready for the internal throttle actually need reaming out for the control coil plug to fit, and I need to drill and re-tap the hole in the bars where the grub screw sits to hold the control coil plug steady. Fiddly fucking nonsense, and all my fault for being impetuous and not looking ahead.

Then I need to clean and powdercoat the old star hub I have, and fit new bearings. Then I'm going to try to lace the hub to my 18" repro 45 rim.

Oh... then I need to rewire the bike, paint and fit Irish Rich's tanks (if they ever arrive; I think customs are totting up what I owe them and are luxuriating in the task), decide what to run as a rear fender and light, and all while spending 12 hours a day trying to publish the magazine and look after two kids under two.

Ever feel you've bitten off more than you can chew?

When I first saw The Loveless (25 years ago?) I was blown away by the production design, but also by Kathryn Bigelow's still and intense direction. I knew she'd go on to bigger and even better things, and Point Break also became a favourite movie of mine.

Very cool she got Best Director and Movie at the Oscars yesterday... looking forward to seeing The Hurt Locker.

The new issue (#14) will be going to print in a few days. It includes some great coverage of the amazing Yokohama show from Freaky Rico. Thanks mate!

I will try to get there this year (I say that every year)... and you should too! I'll post a few more shots from the show this week.

In the heyday of Iron Horse magazine in the early to mid 90s, some of the most interesting features comprised bikes built by two of New York's best known choppin' characters, Indian Larry and English Don. They went on to form a glorious partnership, the Bayonet Brothers, who also featured heavily in IH.

Don, by nature of his birthplace and the crunchy style of his choppers, was a hero of mine. And as Larry went on to bask in the limelight after 'Biker Buildoff', I often used to wonder what had happened to English Don. I even asked on many of the chopper forums, and no one seemed to know what had become of him. I last talked to him briefly in about 2000, then the trail went cold.

In fact, he's now back in the UK, and his life story would make a cracking book (and unsurprsingly there is one in the pipeline). From professional musician to jailbird, bike builder extraordinaire to friend of the stars, his tale is amazing... and we'll be bringing it to you in issue 15.

They rode in on the coattails of punk, but this was a great song. A song to live by!