how many here have actually piloted

[bagga]

an HD? just wondering.

[terrilee]

u do mean Harley's, correct.?

i had a 72 Sporty, 'member them ? AMF with the gears and brakes reversed? This was a good ol' fashioned 'chopper' just like in easyrider film all chrome and shotgun handlebars, etc i always wondered why i got it so cheap.
after 4 tranny's i realized why. you'd be cruising and go to hit the back brake, and BAM downshift.

[jmkjr72]

Never owned one but I have borrowed a few in the past

[Rebel]

I've only sat on one, never rode one.

[flyangler]

My first ride on any bike was a Harley 110 about 1962 and then many years later borrowed a friends 04 883 Custom, I much preferred the custom and I found it similar to the Honda VLX I was riding at the time.

[oldchopperguy]

Piloted a Hog?

Oh yeah! How 'bout a '57 Pan-Head (LAST of the factory hard-tail kickers) sand-cast cases to hold a 2 3/4" stroker crank, forged-steel, chrome-lined 3/4" oversized jugs, splayed heads with twin Delorto side-drafts, Sifton full-cam with Wright Cyclone roller tappets, 14:1 compression on Chevy "409" pistons and handmade rods... Every other tooth ground off 2nd, 3rd & 4th to shift WOT without using the clutch.

Over 250 hp at the back wheel, with (be still my beating heart) 400+ lb/ft of torque... AT A "REDLINE" 0F A MERE 4,000 RPM.

Now, I do realize a Suzuki Hyabusa puts out something like 500 hp, and will top 220 mph. However, it's ALL rpm. No torque to speak of. INSANE, CRAZY-FAST but not NEAR as much fun as rolling on the throttle at 1,500 rpm and SMOKING the tire... LOL!

That old beast was stuffed into my first ride... Started building it at 16, in 1962. Kept modding it until '68 when I went into the Army.

Styling was pure '50's bobber... Great-Grand Daddy of the "Rat-Bike"... Back then, a Harley just wasn't considered potentially fast. COOL, but NOT fast... I set out to prove it could be done, IF you threw enough money at one... HeHeHe... I actually made enough Benjamins street racing to pay the obscene cost, which was WAY more than a nice house back then...

Oh, did I mention it was L-O-U-D??? The bark from those straight shotgun pipes would break windows at close range. And, STARTING it was NOT for the faint-hearted... ESPECIALLY on a 10-below-zero winter day. I sheared off two kick starters firing up that 200+ cid monster... "Ol' Blue" as she was affectionately named, responded best to "run 'n bump" in 3rd gear... And you'd better be FAST jumping on, or she'd leave you in a cloud of smoke and rolling flames... Oh yeah, she liked a LOT of choke, and winter-starting required a genorous squirt of gas down each carb... and those 14:1 Chevy pistons would blow about a teacup-full of raw-burning Sunoco Blue into a fireball all over the place! She WAS the kind of ride Conan the Barbarian would have approved of... LOL! Hmmm.... Wonder today, what the California air-quality Nazis would think of that?

THOSE were THE days! Nasty, NASTY chopper... And THAT'S where my handle "OldChopperGuy" comes from.

My heart breaks for you younger Rebs who missed those days! You can BUY one similar for $100K+ but NOTHING beats the pride of making it yourself with every part having to be handmade. No "factory choppers" back then.

Those are the kind of memories that keep an old geezer breathing while wrenching on a Chinese scoot...

Ride safe! And enjoy the ride!

Leo in Texas

PS: Hey Terrilee, Roger on the Sporty's "backwards" shifter and rear brake! EEEWWW! I can still hear my XL and Model-K flattie ridin' pals cussin' "them danged Brit-style" controls... LOL! You and I know the Brits, Germans, Italians and Japanese ALL got it backwards! Unless you're gonna race flat-track, Daddy wants his brake on da RIGHT and his shifter on da LEFT! Harley "Big-Twin" style! Hey, it's da American way!!!

[bagga]

i kind of figured the OCG would show up in a huge way.