Well, huh... I just might be a dumb-ass.

Killman77 said:
Actually, one of the ferries, (the blackball) will carry freight. It's probably cheaper than paying for your vehicle, and I could pick it up at the ferry office downtown. I think.
Mind looking it up? If its reasonable I'd be willing to take it up and send it over. I don't think I'd get in any trouble at the border?
Update: It would be $140 for a passenger and car/truck under 20ft to go round trip Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay.
 
Mark it a gift and value under 50 bucks and the border won't or at least shouldn't bother you about it. I am on the wrong coast, if not I would get you to ship it to Maine and then I could bring it across and re-post but Canada post would charge way too much to send it from here. Way more than the 100 to WA from MA.
 
This is all pretty amazing guys. Just so you know, his mother is pretty much convinced that we're all angels, thought you might enjoy a snippet of one of her emails to me:

"OMG...... I am so excited, my heart is pounding out of my chest and I may or may not cry. Yes, yes, yes! Let me know what I can do that is so amazing you and all your "guys" are just amazing. We are getting an ATV for the girls for christmas, this would be so amazing.

Thank you and thank everybody else as well,
"

I've told her that this is a maybe, depending on what we can scrape together, but you guys are getting me pretty excited, too. I've gotta warn you all though, after paying for Christmas, and the $500 in prize money, I'm going to be tapped for a while. So I'm happy to wrench and paint, but money-wise I haven't got much to kick into the pot. Unless business picks up a bit ;D

By the bye, am I the only one that can totally see that mini-bike totally looking like the kid's design with a little work? And before I forget to say it, you guys are awesome, what you're trying to do is awesome, and Merry Christmas to every damned one of you!
 
I also see the resemblance .....going to do whatever I can to get this in the mail asap....im also strapped but i can see this needs to happen ....the bike shop in town had no spare boxes so i will try another one tomorrow...
 
Desmo, I don't wanna see anyone putting themselves in an awkward position, especially with Xmas right here. Nothing says we can't wait a little while, maybe round up some of the missing pieces like an engine, battery and such. Then when we've got what we need, we can get it over here, and I can polish, paint and assemble everything.

I actually got pretty excited when I saw the picture of the mini, and then compared it to Isaac's design. I've got some spare grips and bar end mirrors I can put on there. I want to throw on an LED head and tail light for him, too, not sure if a 50-100cc mini will charge enough, but LED's don't draw much. I know all of it'll just get busted, but it's not like I'll be using top of the line NOS parts, and I want to try and get it to look like his drawing as much as we can.

Anyhoo, before I get all OCD on this for the rest of the day. I think we should take some time, make sure we've got what we need, and then get it all together when we've all got some more breathing room. His mom knows it's a project, and it's gonna take a little while. His dad does his own wrenching, too, and I did some sourcing for them a little ways back. So they both know it can take some time for things to come together.

Okay, so now that my reasonable self has had it's say, here's 5 year old me again. So how do you think I can upholster that seat so it looks like the drawing? I haven't gotten into upholstery yet, but this is the perfect time to start!
 
I was thinking I'd try to pleat some vinyl with the sewing machine, and then staple it down under the pan using some foam over the springs. You don't think a metal pan would be uncomfortable for the little guy? Maybe I'm just having fond memories of the old Raleigh cruiser I had as a kid. ::)
 
You could be right. I'll reserve judgement until we get a tank for it, and see how the lines are. Speaking of which, I don't know if you guys noticed, but he drew a "K" on the side of the tank, for Killman Customs, which just means that he gonna have to get an "I" for Isaac!
 
I'm all for trying to get this to work, but as a heads up my window is pretty small with me only coming up here every few months and all. If it doesn't happen before January I'll be back down in California for school. Maybe someone else in WA could make it work?? Wish I could be around longer to help :-\
 
CALfeRacer, that's awesome of you to offer, and I appreciate it. I just don't want to see anyone get jacked up over this. Projects like this oughtta be fun for everyone involved. If we can get this together I want everyone to have good feelings about it.

And I promise to get video of the unveiling for all you guys. Can you imagine the look on that 9 yr old's face? It would be epic. Anyone that wants to get involved is more than welcome. Parts, ideas, pics, time, or sweat, will all be gratefully accepted.

If you want to get a look at his folks, they're at the very top of the Show & Shine page on my website: http://www.killmancustoms.com/show--shine.html

They're super-nice folks. I did a blog post about meeting them a while back as well. His dad's a trooper, (hit a deer on his Vulcan this year, pretty scary, still rides) and his mom really goes the extra mile for her family.

At the very least, I can't wait to give this kid a Tshirt.
 
I'm fine doing it! Just wish I could be around longer for it to be a bit easier. I wish I would've gotten involved in this kind of stuff earlier, so I'm more than happy to help someone else get started early!
 
Cool Calferacer. I've been a little busy trying to get all the computer/finance/admin-type stuff nailed down before things pick up again. So I've been feeling a bit dog-piled by suck recently. Sorry if I came across like a wet blanket. I totally appreciate your guys' offers of help, and I know the kid's parents think you all are the coolest thing since Slurpees.

I've been giving the mini-bike idea a lot of thought, among other things. I want to give the artists some rock-star time, and get some folks together and throw a bit of a shindig. Introduce myself to the community a bit. I'm pretty strapped right now, but I'm thinking that by the end of March, I should be able to put together some eats and beer for some folks. Ordinarily I'd be doing taxes, but this year I'm gonna give the bikes a solid go. Gotta keep being careful about what services I offer, as I'm not a ticketed anything, and I'm working out of the tiny shop I built in the garage. But we all gotta start somewhere, and so far so good.
I figure it'd be a nice way to kick off the season. Invite my clients, the artists, everyone's friends and family, any of you guys that can make it... ;D Just have a bit of a shaker, give everyone some face time, and have a blast.

Anyways, I figure that I/We can totally get a mini-bike together by then, and how freakin' cool would it be to introduce that kid with his winning T Shirt and give him the bike in front of a "crowd"? Hell, I'da felt like a golden rock God if that happened to me at 9 yrs. old. It'd be cool if we could get some of his little school friends there, too. Give him some street-cred! I figure it'd be pretty awesome for his folks, too. So anyways, that's what I'm thinking.

I've got a question, though. I'm going over to the parents' place for a Boxing Day party. So I'll probably meet the little booger, and I'd like to not be another one of the assholes that all adults seemed like to me when I was nine. Not looking to adopt the kid, it'd just be nice to not feel like I'm speaking Chinese at him. Anyone with kid-type experience got any pointers for telling him good job, without coming across like Tom Hanks in A league of Their Own, (there's no crying in baseball cracks me up, lol)?
 
No worries man! I get that you got a lot going on, we all do just with the holidays alone!
That party sounds like it would be really cool! As far as kids, my experience is just with my younger siblings (2-11) so it's not quite the same I guess. But I feel like as long as you're sincere and nice it'll be fine and he will get what you're trying to say. Don't stress about it!
 
How far away are you from something like this??

http://bellingham.craigslist.org/for/4808750332.html

Instead of spending probably close to $300 for a project to get underway i could just send over what i would have spent on shipping and it would be half the cost to just buy a local mini bike
 
Hi Desmo, I'm not that far away from it, but I'm on a giant island. Costs me about $500 every time I leave and come back with a cage.
 
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