Speak of the devil...

Stopped by for a visit with Bill on the '47 

Bill's '79 Shovel that he's selling...

Oh Snap!

Bill's recovery rig went into action! 

1971 Dirt Bike Trailer and his 1987 Ford Wagon

Loaded up and ready to roll...

Made it home in one piece...

OK, now to deal with this...

...snapped clean off!

Tool Time...

Popped off the whole unit

Removed the offending Rear Brake Operating Shaft

Death..

So I was out for a ride on the white '47 Knuckle on Sunday...the weather was right and the bike was running like a dream! I had taken the big "Buffalo" Buddy seat off it and was running the solo seat...I find that much more desirable when solo on the bike...anyway... I decided to stop in to see my friend Bill Locket. At 86 years old Bill is still an avid Indian and Harley rider/mechanic. 

We were BSing and I reminded him of the time I was out riding and happened upon him on the side of the road on his 50 Chief with sidecar. He had lost his rear brake clevis (that was in June of 2012). I then imparted a story of how I lost my brake clevis last year on this 47...I hung out for a while longer and talked bikes and stuff.

Well it was time to take off and I headed down the road. I got about two miles and was coming to a traffic light at the major intersection. I hit the brakes, heard a "snap" and a "tink, tink, tink" and there were no rear brakes whatsoever. I grabbed a handful of front brake, down shifted and nosed it ever so gently into the hillside. I just barely avoided blowing the light and entering a busy 55 MPH roadway! I turned around and limped it on back to Bill's house. I told him what happened and he laughed and said "We were just talking about that!"

He fired up his old Ford Station Wagon and we hooked up his old dirt bike trailer...it looked a little shaky but it was alright. We loaded the Knuckle and Bill gave me a ride home.

I got right to work on the brakes and had it fixed up in about 30 minutes. I  headed back out to enjoy the rest of a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Just another "near death experience" to add to the list...

Bill and I will laugh about it the next time!

Hey...It coulda been worse...a lot worse...