Trophy?

Not too sure what this is. I've had it for many years.

Twins...

Twins...suitable for mounting.

36 / 37 Wheels...I Wheelie Need A Break...sorry

Beautiful 37 wheel with Cad plated (once) Rim

Broke it down and cleaned it up... it is sweet!

Old Cad


Original tube...dare I reuse? Yup




Nice 1936 EL Yellow Wheel with 35-36 Cad Star

36 yellow Wheel

I've been looking for the right wheel for the back of the 39 EL I'm building (no luck finding another red step hub). So far they have all been 35-37 hubs with the crappy internals (per Matt Olsen). I was hoping to find at least one with the 38 and up guts. Nope. I pulled the filthy front wheel off my "Dirty Nine" EL and after cleaning it up I realized it is a 1936 yellow wheel. I couldn't even tell what color it was before. I'm doing all kinds of swapping of wheels and brakes right now trying to make things right. For example my WWII UL had step hubs on it so I'm swapping them with the proper wheels. I'm hoping they are 38/39 hubs, but haven't popped 'em opened yet.

The 1936 wheel has the star with the two notches that go all the way through. This was designed to drive the speedo cable on the 1935 RL (first use of the star hub). The way I can tell if the wheel was used on a 36 Knuckle is that the notches aren't beat to shit and worn from the speedo drive.
The 1937 wheel I found was Cad plated (optional in '37). It is real nice. It had a well worn Firestone S-3 tire and an original Firestone tube... But check out the top picture and look close at the tire...you can see GOODYEAR molded in as well, behind the Firestone lettering...Weird, but I have seen this before.

I love pulling apart virgin shit like this. Check out the Cad on the inside of the rim. I think I'll upgrade the sleeve on this one and use it for the rear of my '39.

Well...back to the grease pit...

'46 Knuckle - Back Up and Screamin'

Great to have the 46 FL back on the road!!!

Stole the 39 front brake for my 39 EL and replaced with the 46 style

Bologna Skin

A while ago I realized I had a '39 only front brake on my '46. I pulled it off and installed it on the '39 EL I'm building. The '46 sat in the shop on a block of wood with the front wheel off for waaay too long. I was jonesing to ride it, so Tuesday night I pieced together the proper backing plate and parts and installed it on the '46.

I finished it up on Wednesday and blasted out for a ride. It was 80 degrees!

I ran into a guy I've seen around on a '67 Shovel custom. He decided to take a ride with me up to another local Tavern for "wing night". I dumped the clutch and spun what's left of my rear tire out of the parking lot. The ride up is all twisty turny country roads with a few 55 MPH straight aways. When we reached our destination and pulled up in front of the bar the guy says "Fuck that things fast!" I can't fuckin' believe I couldn't keep up with you!"

He almost shit when he looked at my back tire.... square and slick...(he had a pair of brand new Dunlops on his).

I love freakin' people out with how well this thing runs, the usual comments like, "does that thing run?" and "that thing actually made it here?" or "how did you get that here?" are all answered when I slam down the kicker and "that thing" roars to life.
Believe me, I do have to hang on for dear life on occasion... but it's worth it!

More Midget...

Midget Racer Block Off Motor

Groovy Flywheels... WTF?

I'm not sure what to make of these...why would yuh do that?

Flying Merkel Parts Book - Engine Parts

More from the Flying Merkel Parts Book 1909-1910-1911. Here are a few pages from the engine section.

Indian? Made in England

Need some help identifying this little machine. I've had Enfield Indians before but they were all OHVs. I am not familiar with this side valve model. I have the fenders and the rear rack has Indian script on it. Otherwise I wouldn't have a clue. All I see is the big Made in England on the side cover and it says A45 on the motor case just under where the cylinder bolts on. I'm not sure if it is a British Indian or what model it is.

Any help would be appreciated.

Knuckle S&S Stroker "Kit" For Sale

I decided to build my 47 FL without the S&S Stroker stuff.

I have 4 3/4 stroke flywheels, Pan Cylinders with 60 over S&S pistons, stroker plates, Knuckle 450 lift Cam and cut timing gear. This was all in a 47 FL motor but will fit Pan up to 54 (except the cam). I bought the motor in 1991 so the S&S stuff is a least that old but seems like it was not run.

This "Kit" gives you a 92 inch Stroker Knuckle. See a more detailed description in a post I did on 2/5/11 when I thought I was going to use the stuff.

If you're interested shoot me an email.

Wedding Bike Scene '87

Prior to the round of Hole Shots on the Flathead.

Hey things didn't work out with the bride but I still have the '47 Flathead... (not to mention the four kids).

M-35

Found this nice complete M-35 and was gonna use it on my 41 FLTT but I almost hate to restore it. Maybe I'll do an internal rebuild and leave the rest alone. It would be nice for an unrestored Knuckle.

WEASELS RIP MY FLESH!!!

Sums up my week...Glad it's over...

41 FLTT Kickin' Over / 39 EL

Milestone - Kickin' over. Cltuch and primary installed and adjusted

39 EL moving along

Knuck Baby

San Fran

A buddy of mine recently moved to San Francisco and sent me this picture...not sure what the place is or what's in it.

Panhead Rick's Panhead

Freshened up with new tank paint and bump up on the risers.

Les Clemens Summer 1987

My mother recently handed me a bag full of pictures from the 80's and 90's (Thanks Mom!). I found this one of me and one of my all time hero's and great friend Les Clemens. This is the aftermath of my wedding in the summer of 1987. 40 years earlier (summer of 1947) Les was attending the Hollister Bash in California on his Indian! This is the only picture I have of the two of us together and I never knew it existed until now... I had just completed a round of "Hole Shots " on my 47 UL Bob Job prior to this picture being snapped...Tux and all... Check out pictures and story I did on Les back on 12/4/2009 in my older posts.

Wheel Love

Got the red step hub together and put a new tube in the old Allstate tire. I love the wheel and the matching red paint...The jury's still out on the tire...may be a little too low profile.

Beautiful Night

So its the nicest day and night of the year...80 plus degrees.

My buddy Mike and I decide to take a ride and hit a Bike Night up at a somewhat local Tavern. We haven't been out ridin' together since probably September. He meets me at a place near my house an we set out ... well almost...after way too many kicks his Pan fires up. I pull out of the lot on my 47 FL and blast down the road. A quick turn of the head and nope...he ain't there. I ride a little further thinkin' he got caught behind a car and will catch up...nope. I turn around and find him fuckin' with the bike at an intersection. we diddle around with it a bit and it fires up...he's thinkin' electrical...of course he made the mistake of asking my advice as to whether to turn back or keep going...I aways keep going...well another 1/8 of a mile and I look back and he's pulling off the road. I turn around again and find him with the seat off fucking with the wiring.

After a 2 minute consultation I decide to perform a Bypass...I run a wire from the Hot side of the battery directly to the hot side of the coil... I won't get into the twisted wire/rigging techniques used to perform this operation in the field but needless to say it was messy, yet effective. The bike fired up but this time the question wasn't asked. Mike decided to ride it back to my place and call his wife for a ride home...Ouch... (she didn't answer anyway) I offered my 57 Pan but he was too disgusted at that point and started to walk the mile up to the closest Tavern to wait on his ride. I said adios and enjoyed the warm ride out, and although 10,000 bugs decided to commit suicide in my face, it was a great ride. I returned home to find his Pan still in the yard and no sign of him...I guess I'll tuck it away for the night...

Pittsburg 1956

A new Servi-Car and a 6 year old Hydra-Glide.

41 FLTT - Pedal to the Metal

Parkerized, assembled and installed.

Checkered Past

Cool threads!

Panhead Rick From Jersey

If you ever wondered where I get a ton of the great old photos that I post...they come from Panhead Rick from Jersey.

Not only is he relentless in his search for the coolest fuckin' old bike pictures I've ever seen but apparently he is a great painter as well.

Rick has a little time on his hands right now and decided to paint Panheads and the like. He sent me these shots of his latest work. Check these out...Fuckin' cool!

We have hung out together at Oley PA, Panstock and the Brooklyn Invitational this past year and along with Richie Pan (Bikers, Hippies and Tattooed Freaks) are some hard riding great people to hang out with.