OT -- 1913 Harley Davidson

[Bullethead 12]

Stumbled across this the other day. This guy claims the bike is 100% original (except for a few aftermarket accesories added within the 1st couple years). I imagine WW1 pilots tooled around on similar things when going to visit the local houses of ill repute.

 

http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=5734912

 

After watching the procedure for starting the motor, I figure that 1913 Hell's Angels had to be pretty tough. I mean, if they got into a fight they couldn't handle, a hasty retreat wasn't an option, unless they were just going to pedal away

[Slartibartfast 153]

I have worked on some old bikes before and have come to the conclusion after lots of skinned shins and bruised knees that an Electric start helps everytime...

[Olham 164]

It's nice to see, when a rare oldtimer is in the hands of such a caring mechanic with such a nice workshop.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Must admit the old bikes I worked on where more 1950's onward and fortunately I haven't had to deal with a Harley Tractor... nowadays I sit back and admire a good looking bike be it an MV Agusta MV4 or a Vincent Black Shadow... just keep me away from Harleys as I like to reduce them for parts...

 

 

 

One from the past and one from the present god knows where it will be in the future...

[Olham 164]

Is dreaming allowed? Can I have this one??

 

 

[carrick58 23]

During my youth, my buddy and I built up a 2 wheel Harley bike from parts with the help of his dad. Most parts were from pan heads and whatever we could find, but the only power plant we could access was from a Harley 45 3 wheeler ( ex L.A. P.D. Parking Meter Maid Reader) bought at Auction. We ran it a few times during the summer of 1968. I must say that only the young and dumb would ride that under powered beast in traffic with a suicide clutch. However, we Looked great when it occasionally ran. It was a Kick in the pants that I will always remember then I was drafted and never saw either one of them again. The pic is of the type we got the motor out of albeit, not in that good of a condition.

Edited January 20, 2011 by carrick58

[Slartibartfast 153]

My last bike I rebuilt out of a set of Boxes was a 1991 Kawasaki ZZR600 minus bellypan... took me 6 months and was ready for a trip back in 2009 to Italy unfortunately on the way home a French Camp Site gate did in for her... My plan was for the winter to complete her with a full respray etc add hard luggage racks and do a complete Engine rebuild but it never came to pass...

 

So here she is at the Top of the Großglockner in Austria... It was September and there was snow everywhere.

 

 

Possibly the best 3 week holiday I have ever had...

 

Not worried about the number plate showing as she has been crushed and destroyed by the French Types...

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Very neat! I love old bikes, but unfortunately they don't feel the same way about me. We've come to an understanding over the years: I don't try to ride them and they in turn don't try to kill me. That old HD reminds me of one a friend of mine bought in the mid-1960's at an auction. They were selling off a lot of a dozen or so WD's from the Korean War, still crated up for overseas shipping. He got one cheap and we dragged it home and literally spent the summer cleaning all the cosmoline off of and out of the damned beast. If you are not familiar with what cosmoline is, imagine your motorcycle being sealed in a block of putrid brown wax for 15 years. I will say though that the bike was perfect and ran like new once we finally got it cleaned and tuned up.

 

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[carrick58 23]

Cosmoline Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr