Nancy & Pancho

I spotted this over at GeordieBiker:

Nancy Debenham, with pet hound Poncho sitting on the tank, wheels along happily in this late twenties photograph. Along with her sister Betty she paved the way for young ladies newly empowered with the equal voting age act with their 1928 book ‘Motorcycling for Women.’

Flyin '51

First Generation Dukes of Hazzard

I hate it when I'm riding in Flathead Rob's 1933 Plymouth and he jumps it. I guess we now know why the Duke boys opted for a Mopar.

Bryan Thompson - BF6

I was excited to hear that Bryan Thompson was an invited builder at Born Free this year. I don't know much about the guy but the bikes of his that I am aware of are really really nice. Based on the updates he submitted his BF bike won't disappoint. He seems like a guy that is quite deserving of a little more notoriety.

Duke II Revisited

I think it's safe to say this bike will not be sitting static in the corner of some shop.

Inspiration

This bike makes wish I could get back to making progress on '61 T110 so much it's almost painful to look at.

Flathead Chief Update

I managed to sneak a camera into Flathead Rob's top secret Indian Skunkworks today. I can't wait to hear that damn this run again. Too cool to see it almost resembling motorcycle again as well.

Return of the ST-165

Flathead Rob and I decided to see if we could get the engine running before breaking everything back down again for powdercoating. Word has it the engine was rebuilt just before the bike was disassembled several years ago. I've got to admit, I'm getting pretty attached to this little bike. It sure was cool to hear it running again



I had to ask a friend who really knows Harley Lightweights a couple of questions since we don't have a shop manual on hand yet.  While I was talking to him I asked him what the difference was between the ST and STU 165's offered in 1958. Turns out the answer was pretty intriguing.

In the 50's and 60's, many states had a "junior driver's license" which allowed 14-year-olds to drive motorcycles under 5 Horsepower. These laws were prevalent in the mid-western states. In those days, Go-Karts and MiniBikes were quite popular, and Harley-Davidson tapped the junior market with special versions of the Model 165, Super-10 and Pacer. These had a U in the Model Designator, e.g. STU and BTU.

The U models had a restricted intake system to drop the horsepower to just below 5, making them eligible for junior licensing restrictions. The 125cc Hummer was already eligible, since it only produced 3.5 hp, but apparently many people wanted the increased power and style of the Model 165. 

My friend told me that in the day a lot of the dealers would suggest new buyers remove the restrictor plate if they didn't want it to run like crap. 

Nor-Ton

My friend Brian is the coolest variation "Mad Scientist" motorcycle tinkerer. While so many bike builders are pouring energy into making non-functional, over-the-top, "look-at-me" crap for their bikes in the interest of getting attention Brian does brilliant stuff that may well never get noticed. Need an example? Brian got to wondering what a 360° parallel twin Commando would perform like from a vibration perspective if it instead had a Ducati style 90° crank... so he built one. Screw that it sounds impossible to most people. There are countless similar examples around his shop where he has used some skill with a lathe and mill to answer the question "How can I make this work better?" Sometimes it's exotic but usually it's so simple & elegant you can't imagine why it never occurred to anyone else.

He sent me an update recently and mentioned his latest experiment, a Commando powered Featherbed. The original concept of a Triton was to combine the best plentiful engine of it's day with the best plentiful chassis to build a better bike. You don't have to see too many Indian Chief, Knucklehead or flathead Ford V8 powered Featherbed bikes to realize somewhere along the way it morphed into a meaningless freakshow.

Nor-Ton?

Some would argue Brian's 5 speed 850 Commando powered Featherbed is the bike Norton should have built in 1968. Something is wrong with the world when a Norton powered Norton seems like such a novel idea. Keep it up Brian.

Search for Ginny

I know it's already everywhere but this story is too cool not to post. After a visit to the Barber Museum Bill Burton felt compelled to seek out the Harley Davidson WLA he was issued in WWII.

Cpl. William Virgil Burton - Sicily 1943

Standing next to the military Harley — the same vintage as his “Ginny” — Burton looked on with a mix of nostalgia and pride. “I feel like I could get up on it, crank it up and take off,” he said. Burton rode three motorcycles during his service, but “Ginny” was his favorite. When he was issued the bike, it already wore the name, which happened to be his mother’s name. 

Bill Burton, 89 stands next to a similar WLA at Barber

 Burton said that after the war he had an opportunity to buy another Harley, but his wife gave him an ultimatum:

“I carried it down to the house, and she looked at that thing, she said, ‘It’s either me or the motorcycle — which one do you want?’ And I got to thinking about that, I hadn’t been married for long, and I said, ‘heck, I better take this thing back to that man."

I've been around vintage motorcycles/cars that draw significant attention from strangers most of my life. That said you can't even imagine the attention and stories Flathead Rob's 1942 Ford military Jeep draws during something like a simple run to the hardware store unless you've seen them firsthand. The reactions from guys like Bill are nothing short of incredible.

I can't thank you enough for your service Mr Burton. 

Duke II

I've been following this build on the lift at Big D off and on for a while. Cool project. The guys at Big D mention they are hustling to get it ready for the Texas Thaw Vintage Drags. Gotta say it would be pretty fun to see this bike run (or better yet be on it)!

Putt Mossman

Here's new (or old depending on your perspective) one for Nate and Flathead Rob to work up. Rider Putt Mossman. The Vintagent did a nice feature on Mossman a few years ago.