| Author | Message | ||
     Pkforbes87 |
Nothing special, but I took some pics and figured I'd share: I put some heat reflective material on the back of the shield. Don't know if it will make any difference, but it gave me something extra to work on.  I stopped at Pops on RT 66 for dinner. Lots of Harleys sitting outside but this caught my attention:  Pops has any soda you can imagine, and great whole fried okra!  photo op!   | ||
| Hooper |
Nice shots! Scramblers look like fun...but I wonder how you stay on a seat like that when you gun it. | ||
| Luftkoph |
.but I wonder how you stay on a seat like that when you gun it. Hang on like everyone did until bout the mid 70's | ||
| Ourdee |
Use the knee pads on the side of the tank, feet pointed down on pegs, and a good grip on the bars. | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
Nice pics,Thanks! | ||
| Tootal |
Same way I use to hang onto this:  | ||
| Etennuly |
Every good rider from the sixties and seventies had big forearms like Popeye. Most of the time you had to stand up and hang on. A lot of the forearm buildup was not only from hanging on, but from gripping and squeezing everything you could find out of the cable actuated drum brakes, especially if they got wet!  But then if the brakes did work well, the tires would have slid. Also, you had to know how to kick start them, each one was different, most could hurt you, or leave you pushing. You had to truly want to ride, on many bikes it was work. | ||
| Tootal |
Vern, you are so right. I left the key in the 441 because not very many people knew how to start it. I had drop kicked the Amal carb and put on a Mikuni so I didn't have to tickle it anymore. I had a friend who built a Harley for his wife with the understanding she would start it and maintain it. A large group of us were leaving and she couldn't get her bike started and he was not going to help her. After she was totally exhausted I turned my BMW off and walked over to help her. At this everybody shut their bikes off to watch this Beemer rider start a Harley. I shoved her down till I got past the compression and then did it again. I opened the throttle up all the way since it was flooded and I stopped her and she fired up in a cloud of black smoke. Her husband says, " Where in the hell did you learn to start a Harley?". I told him I use to own a BSA 441 Victor, these Harley's are for pussys!! | ||
| Etennuly |
I rode some early dirt bikes that you might spend twenty minutes getting it to start for a half hour of riding. Not because you only wanted to ride for a half hour, but you were beat in a half hour. Heavy, no suspension to speak of, very little brakes, hard seat, bad ergonomics, and either little power or brute uncontrollable power. I thought the motorcycle gods smiled upon us when the Yamaha TT500 came out in '78. It had a cam window with a manual compression release, seven(yes seven) inches of front suspension and about six in the rear. On a hot day it could do some of the things of old Harley lore. Two different times it threw me off on a back fire kick starting it while hot, packed with mud, and stuck in a deep rut. Both times I had stalled it when a slower rider held me up in the deep rough stuff. And when you weigh in a 200 lbs, kick it to the bottom of its stroke and it literally throws you off the other side almost over the bars, that is a kick back! That was an awesome bike. | ||
| Bikelit |
I was starting my brothers' 441 at 13. Cost me the heel off my boot learning. Those passenger pegs were too close when it kicked back! If I couldn't kick start it, I would bump it. I'd pull in the clutch and compression release (with my thumb), get it going, kick it into 2nd, release the clutch, then the release. Usually took a few tries. Funny, I don't remember getting tired back then......... | ||
| Towpro |
I saw a trailer for that Orange HD shop on TV the other day. They were trying to kick start a HD on a cold day. Kick starting it with his knee like is was a 2 stroke. I was hoping to see it kick back. My KTM 620 was known to kick back or backfire starting hot. Once time it blew the carb clean out of the rubber mount. | ||
| Buewulf |
Scramblers look like fun...but I wonder how you stay on a seat like that when you gun it. If it is anything like the one I test rode, staying on the seat won't be a problem. The motor is way down on power. Such an injustice to a bike like that. The trumpet deserves better. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Went back to Pops today, this time with Pete on his CR.    | ||
| 7873jake |
On the new Scrambler, you can always wait for your right thigh to heat fuse to the high pipe and then rely on that "flesh weld" to hold you in place. I don't actually think it gets that hot but the pipe does make you tend to ride with your right leg cocked a bit out. And like Buewulf said, you'd have to generate some level of torque in order to make the Scrambler seat scary. It ain't doin' that in stock form. I own a '76 Bonnie OIF (some say not a true Triumph but I digress) and wanted to put a new Bonnie or Scrambler in the stable next to the old one just as an interesting contrast. Rode a few at Rossmeyers here in Daytona and then found myself inexplicably drawn to the Buell half of the dealership after the nostalgia wore off and I found myself wanting more. I wanted a bike that a marketing group hadn't devised or engineered as a "lifestyle accessory". I've never looked back or had a moment of buyers remorse. Just wish I could finagle an 1125 somehow now... | ||
| Sweetfish89 |
Pkforbes87 Where did you get the stickers on your hand guards? (Message edited by sweetfish89 on March 27, 2010) | ||
| Whisperstealth |
PK, is that what our uly's look like clean? Damn good looking bike! Mine was clean once, the day I took it home. I do clean the windshield from time to time... | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Sweetfish - I had those made at work. As far as I know, EBR stickers aren't available for purchase anywhere yet. Whisper - I washed her off a little before that ride, and Oklahoma has a lot of red clay which is doesn't show too bad on dark colored vehicles. |
