Couple Cool Bikes

[jtemple]

I'm not into cruisers or choppers at all, but these two bikes are kind of cool. We picked this father-son pair up on our way to the bike rally in Sioux City, IA. My stepdad knows the father, I believe. I'm not sure from where.

The first one is a 100% home-made hardtail, by a 23 year old kid. He hammered out his own fuel tank and even assembled his own springer front end. Even the frame is handmade:





There are no controls on the left grip. The foot boards are on pivots. The left one is hooked to the clutch cable. The right one is hooked to the rear brake. That clear shiny thing in the second pic is the shifter knob. It is a doorknob. The headlight came off of an old tractor. This kid built 100% of the bike himself. He did all his own paint work, pinstriping and air brushing.

I don't know much about his dad's bike. It's (I think) a 1977 Harley. I'm not sure of the model. I was told it's all original and was Harley's attempt at making a cafe racer. From what I understand, it didn't sell very well:



He and his dad own a shop. By the looks of what's inside, they sell new and used tractors, and also restore old automobiles. Here's a cool old international fire truck that they rebuilt:





The engine is 100% original:



They also have this old Ford that's just unbelievably well done. I hear there's over $100,000 into it.





They started it up and you could barely hear the thing run. It was the smoothest running old engine that I've ever heard. I suppose for $100,000, it should be.

[Mr Lefty]

Damn that's pretty bad ass he made his own bike... much respect!

[Dave]

harley xlcr i believe, shits are pretty rare

[Gas Man]

Awesome.. but at least you could have done is wipe off your mushrooms prints on the paint. DAMN!

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Dave

harley xlcr i believe, shits are pretty rare

And they sucked ass!!! It should have come with a full time mechanic. I owned one in the early 80s that Barnett HD practically GAVE me! They couldn't get rid of the damn things. They had to promise full trade in value, which they gave me on a Sportster within 3 or 4 months! Of course looking back... God that is by far the worse bike I have ever owned bar none!!! I would almost literally have to work on every time I wanted to ride it. I wasn't aware of Lock-Tite at the time (neither was HD) and I would either have to tighten things before every ride or risk losing them! The stupid tail had micro cracks (hence why almost every one bought an aftermarket seat) and the head light bulb would blow at least once a week it seemed. I owned two HDs after this bike but once I got my '88 V-Max... I never looked back. I honestly thought that it was just part of riding a motorcycle to have to drag out a tool box before every ride until I went Japanese...

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Amber Lamps

And they sucked ass!!! It should have come with a full time mechanic. I owned one in the early 80s that Barnett HD practically GAVE me! They couldn't get rid of the damn things. They had to promise full trade in value, which they gave me on a Sportster within 3 or 4 months! Of course looking back... God that is by far the worse bike I have ever owned bar none!!! I would almost literally have to work on every time I wanted to ride it. I wasn't aware of Lock-Tite at the time (neither was HD) and I would either have to tighten things before every ride or risk losing them! The stupid tail had micro cracks (hence why almost every one bought an aftermarket seat) and the head light bulb would blow at least once a week it seemed. I owned two HDs after this bike but once I got my '88 V-Max... I never looked back. I honestly thought that it was just part of riding a motorcycle to have to drag out a tool box before every ride until I went Japanese...

jesus

[derf]

Originally Posted by Amber Lamps

And they sucked ass!!! It should have come with a full time mechanic. I owned one in the early 80s that Barnett HD practically GAVE me! They couldn't get rid of the damn things. They had to promise full trade in value, which they gave me on a Sportster within 3 or 4 months! Of course looking back... God that is by far the worse bike I have ever owned bar none!!! I would almost literally have to work on every time I wanted to ride it. I wasn't aware of Lock-Tite at the time (neither was HD) and I would either have to tighten things before every ride or risk losing them! The stupid tail had micro cracks (hence why almost every one bought an aftermarket seat) and the head light bulb would blow at least once a week it seemed. I owned two HDs after this bike but once I got my '88 V-Max... I never looked back. I honestly thought that it was just part of riding a motorcycle to have to drag out a tool box before every ride until I went Japanese...

So it sounds to me like you had a less than positive experience with that bike?

[Homeslice]

While the kid making his own bike is impressive.........hardtails suck. At least put some kind of shock absorber on the seat, otherwise it's going to bounce constantly.

And why do so many customs have smooth polished grips? Is that supposed to be a macho thing, to not have any grip surfaces on them?

[Particle Man]

I thought it looked pretty badass

[jtemple]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

While the kid making his own bike is impressive.........hardtails suck. At least put some kind of shock absorber on the seat, otherwise it's going to bounce constantly.

We went over some railroad tracks going about 45 mph. I barely felt them on the Husky. His bike almost bucked him off

The HILARIOUS part, he picked up fiancée to go with us (bike rally in Sioux City, IA) and she rode on the back, sitting on the fender. ON A HARDTAIL. That's love.

Oh, and she was pretty hot.