Knuckleheads Forever

[jke]

Kudos to Herbert Wagner for the GREAT historical article detailing the development of the Knucklehead. Of special interest was the connection to hillclimbing. The Peashooter/Two Cam lineage and documentation solidifies a previously grey area. Can't wait for the continuation in the Winter issue. Thanks Herb! For more Knucklehead mania try : http://www.knucklenutz.com/ or
http://www.knucklenutz.com/tech
JKE

[HarleyCreation]

Re: Knuckleheads Forever

Originally posted by jke
Kudos to Herbert Wagner for the GREAT historical article detailing the development of the Knucklehead. Of special interest was the connection to hillclimbing. The Peashooter/Two Cam lineage and documentation solidifies a previously grey area. Can't wait for the continuation in the Winter issue. Thanks Herb! For more Knucklehead mania try : http://www.knucklenutz.com/ or
http://www.knucklenutz.com/tech
JKE

Thanks for the kind words. It's always a pleasure to hear when somebody enjoys a story. That makes it worth the effort.

I sort of forgot where Part 1 leaves off and I'm not at home to see the article or check, but it always was a mystery to me where the 61 OHV came from because it seemed to pop out of nowhere. Some guys speculated an airplane engine origin while others said an English motor. But we should have known that Harley did things their own way and developed something new out of their own past motor lines and didn't have to copy anybody much. That was another detective story that wasn't recorded in the (ahem) "history books" but was reconstructed later. But with high-performance hillclimb OHVs coming on strong it makes perfect sense to find a hillclimb engine connection with the little 21 OHV playing a key role.

I think maybe Part 1 ends with a flashback to Davenport a few years ago when Floyd Smith had Reiber's Two-Cam/OHV there and guys said it was a fake and Chuck Wesholski told them off and rightfully dubbed that motor the "missing link" to the Knucklehead.

Speaking of Davenport....