Biker Stories

[exeric]

I was talking with a friend the other day about old motorcycles. He is somewhat new to our addiction and missed the old days when much of this stuff came from bikers, disreputable motorcycle shops, and old reprobates who were probably wanted for felonies in other states. My friend was saying that it must have been great in those days when bikes and parts were cheap and an enterprising guy could have cleaned up on knuckles and pans.

It's true that stuff was less expensive and seemingly more available in those days, but it was also just as desirable then as it is now. There were few custom frame builders and no clone engines so most parts were genuine H-D. I remember seeing huge piles of parts and it was as coveted as it would be today. The most impressive was owned by Puckett motors in Orlando. Puckett's had been a Harley dealer from 1936 to about 1967. Louis Puckett established a number of dealerships in Florida but was urged by H-D to close them because he was stepping on the toes of other dealers. Louis' son Buddy showed me one of the warehouses they owned and I can tell you it was packed with good stuff. You couldn't see the ceiling because every square inch was occupied by hanging fenders and gas tanks. I could go on and on but suffice it to say I was stupified by the shear quantity of motors, frames, and wheels. And this was one of three warehouses I was told. Now this all sounds great but I can assure you that buying something from Buddy was an ordeal that was seldom worth the effort.

On the other side of town there was a bike shop called Monroe's run by Gabby Monroe. Gabby was a nice guy but his shop was a toolbox for the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. What a dump that place was. I think it started from a small wood framed store front and just had little shacks added on over the years. Most of it was dirt floors with mouldy old carpet thrown down. It certainly didn't inspire confidence on your first visit. Again, this place was bursting at the seams with great stuff. Room after room was filled with motors, tranys, and frames and wheel parts. Now a lot of this stuff was for sale but where it came from could be very speculative. If you looked at something for too long you may notice you were getting the evil eye from an Outlaw. The best attitude to have when you were at Gabby's was that of a myopic happy moron. Tough guys got humbled pretty quick. It amuses me these days at how nerdy and detail consious this hobby has become and that the new bullies and tough guys are the plethora of experts that seem to find every flaw on our bikes.

I guess I'm turning into an old codger as I write with sentimental reflection on the good old days of motorcycling from my era. Again, I hope other members will write about their motorcycle experiences. I know there must be countless great stories from all over the country. Motorcycles are a glamorous object and even though there are a lot of little pieces that go into making the object, we can't get too distracted by the detail and lose site of that fantastic culture that attracted us to motorcycles in the first place.

[c.o.]

Good stuff eric!!! I have found that I like hearing the stories about as much as I like the bikes themselves.... I also find myself reflecting on the "good ol' days" as well. My good old days don't reach as far back as I sometimes wish they did, so I live vicariously through others and their stories. So I'm glad you started this thread and I hope it carries on for awhile.

A few years back I caught wind of a Hedstrom motor that was sitting in a shed on an old farm. At the time my cousin was looking for Hedstrom stuff for his '13. So I thought I'd do some searching and see if I could find it. Well I ended up talking to a couple different people that knew where the motor was but weren't fessing up to it's whereabouts. They seemed to have delusional dreams about acquiring it for "custom" (if you can believe it) projects. This bothered me deeply, but I couldn't manage to pick up the trail, so I decided it was just going to be one of those elusive bike/parts in a barn stories.

Fast forward about two years later....... I was on my way home from an annual summer vintage rally and my beezer "beast" decided once again to leave me stranded many miles from nowhere! I know, I know a brit beast what should I expect?
Well it is my "supposedly" cheaper daily ride as I wade through my Injun/H-D projects This wasn't a new thing as the bike had left me stranded many times before. But I have found in all the years I've had problems with it, it's resulted in meeting the most interesting and helpful people. Those are long stories in themselves and won't be drug out on this occasion. This particular time I was by myself and wasn't going to be fixing it on the side of the road. I probably sat by the roadside for about an hour when a van with a bike trailer pulls up to see if all was allright. After explaining my predicament the fella tells me that there was room on the trailer and I could load my bike and he could get me to within an hour of my home. That was great with me as I could figure things out from there easy enough. So we get the bike loaded and hit the road when the typical bike b.s.ing begins. He was into new Harleys and liked custom paint and all the frills, but apart from that he was a pretty allright dude Anyway it turned out we knew a few of the same people and the subject of old Indians comes up. I told him that I had heard about a '13 Hedstrom twin that was hiding out on the prairies. He looked over at me and said that he knew where the motor was and had at one time thought about trying to buy it, but just didn't know what he would do with it once he got it. So to make a long story short he gave my his phone number and told me to call him in a few days and he would give me the number of the farmer that had it. I phoned him up a few days later and he came through with the number and said he was glad it would be going toward a machine that would run again. I passed the number along to my cousin and within a week he had the motor tucked safe and sound in his shop.

I know this story has drug on long enough.......but as many times as my wife has told me to get rid of the damn BSA, I just couldn't ever bring myself to do it. It has provided too many stories and memories to ever let it go........

[exeric]

Thanks for the reply c.o. I love stories about how people found burried treasure. By the way, did that Hedstrom motor have the carb ?

One of my favorite stories involves a 1919 Henderson that was at the bottom of an obsolete railroad roundhouse. I wish I could remember where I saw this story but I think it was in one of our old club magazines. The author relayed how he had seen the Hen when he was in his early teens. He was taking a shortcut through the railyard and felt compelled to look down into the pit of the roundhouse and saw the derelict motorcycle. He came back later with a friend and hoped to liberate the two wheeled treasure from the dirty old dungeon but a railroad watchman chased them away. As I recall, a few more attempts were met with the same fate and the author gave up on the rescue. It's been quite awhile since I read this story so I may be projecting the ending I would wish for but I believe the author returned years later and the bike was still in the hole but a bit more decrepit. This time when the railroad watchman showed up to chase him off he offered him $5 to help him get it out. Like I said, I hope that's how the story ended.

[c.o.]

Hey eric,

No, the Hedstrom didn't have the carb.... I think he may have paid big bucks for one on e-bay, but I couldn't swear to it. He's nearly gathered all the pieces now and I hope to see it fire up soon.

Cool story about the Henderson......

Another cool one I read awhile back was in the club mag as well. It's the one about the Arrow in the tree........

Like you, I'd sure like to hear more stories on this thread. I know there's tons of them to be told.........

Come on guys fire them at us

[Rod K]

I love the "bile-in-a-barn" stories...

Back in the early 1970s, my brother was out of state visiting his in-laws. They told him about a neighbor who had a Model-A in his barn, it was for sale.
He called me and said ' ya want to restore a Model A ?" Hey, why not...
He bought the car, $1000.00 I think it was. The farmer says, "I'm
trying to clean this place out, if you want the car, ya got to buy that old motorcycle too. ( 1942 WLA ) And thats going to cost ya another $80.00

We restored the Model A and had a lot of fun driving it, sold it probably 15 years ago. The Harley I'm still riding..it's a KEEPER

..Rod..

Then theres my 48 pan head that spent 15 years sitting in a chicken coop.....but thats another story

[c.o.]

Cool Let's hear the pan story too.........

Your Model "A" / WLA story reminds me of one that hits close to home. Apparently about a year or so ago a fellow east of me responded to an ad for a MG sports car....... He went to view the car which was incidentally right near my neck of the woods. When he got there he noticed an old bike in the corner of the garage. He wasn't a bike guy, but saw the bike as a money makin' opportunity. So he told the guy that he didn't like the price for the car, but would pay the asking price if the guy threw the bike in with the deal. Well the guy went for it and this dude goes home with a MG and an '18 Excelsior as well......... That one nearly made me cry He just turned around and sold it on e-bay. I missed out but I guess someone out there got a cool machine......

[D.Mac]

Great stories,
Here's one thats not too windy. In my earlier riding days I lived in the San Jose area. Along about 1971 a couple of my buddies bought an old step van to head-out cross country looking for cheap bikes. I don't remember if they actually had a location in mind when they left or not. Anyway they lost control of the big ol' van in the ice and snow somewhere in Idaho and crashed it. They were Ok but the van wasn't so lucky. Sounds like a bad ending, but they met some locals that had a cycle club, and these guys put them onto a couple of barn fresh original early '50s panheads for $100.00 apiece. Not only that but these guys hauled my friends and their newly aquired panheads back to San Jo!
Doug.

[Panhead]

Back in the mid 80's, I was in a bar one hot summer night when a guy tells me about an Indian engine he had heard about. It seems that this engine was sitting in an old guy's garage and he might be interested in selling it. You know the routine...I was immediately out the door and in hot pursuit of this anticipated prize.

When I found the address, I was in luck because the lights were on and being a rather warm night, the front door was open. A knock on the door brought an old gentleman to the door dressed in long johns who acknowledged that he did indeed have an old Indian motorcycle engine out in the garage and he would be out to show it to me as soon as he "got his britches on".

The two of us entered the garage and he turns on his flashlight (no electricity in the building) and there sat an old V-twin engine but it sure wasn't an Indian. Closer examination revealed that it was a Pope twin that had been mounted to use for driving a pump, complete down to the throttle linkage. I told him that the engine wasn't an Indian, that it was a Pope and gave him a little history of the Pope motorcycle. The old guy says he'll fire it up for me if I want to hear it run and I said he didn't have to do that, but I'd be interested in buying if he would sell it. He asked what I'd give him for it and nearly fell over when he accepted the low dollar amout I offered. Once paid for, I picked that twin up in my arms and just about ran down the driveway to get it in the trunk of my car. That's probably why I have back trouble today.

I sold it a few years later at Wauseon and often wonder if someone ever mounted it in their restoration project.

[Skip]

in 1985 I was living in Cincinnati with a friend...in March of that year I totaled my sportster...hit a fire hydrant...with that Ins. money my dad and I took off looking for the ever elusive Panhead...after many a weeks search we ran into a "gentleman" named Sleeze...he was infact a pretty cool guy...heard he's dead now...well traveling all over Ohio/WV with my dad and Sleeze was another story in it's self...But, we finally found a 1948 Panhead in Portsmouth Ohio on a Friday late afternoon, 19 July 85...Another fine gentleman owned it, and he was getting ready to go on a vacation on the State of Ohio...5-10...on the following Monday and wanted one last weekend...got Grandpa for $2500.00 and rode him home...Still my everyday rider....Skip

[King T]

Back in 72 I was living in Wisconsin and sort of on the bum working as a surveyor’s rod man making $3.00 an hour. But life was good, it was summer, Linenkugels was $1.05 a six, and I had a great girl.

I had picked up a 69 Yamaha 350 to scoot around on and one day rode it out to my lady’s house. She lived out in the country in a duplex and as I approached I noticed the guy next door sitting on the stoop and giving me the once over. After I shut the bike down he said “You look stupid on that little bike”. Well, he had a point, at 6’4” and 230lbs I did look stupid on that bike, but I was just out of Australia where I had spent the last 6 years in a pretty rough “school” and was not about to let that one slide. As I sauntered over to cold-cock him, he added “What you need is a Harley”. “And I suppose you have one for me” I sneered. “As a matter of fact I do” was his response and his salvation.

It turned out that he has a 51 Pan that he kept on his dad’s farm and had just that weekend run it off the road into cornfield (alcohol was involved) and his wife, in a high snit, told him to get rid of it. So knowing he would have to ride 150 miles from his dad’s, I said if it will make it over here I’ll buy it. Next Monday there it was; a true rat, front fender gone, covered in caked on oily crud (a great preservative), with corn shocks stuck in the most interesting places. But it ran, and $300 later it was mine. And after a host of rebuilds, repaints, and who knows how many miles, it still is. So is the girl.

King

[Paps]

So that is how you got the tile KING ! Great story !! Paps

[HarleyCreation]

In 1970 I was a 17 year old Honda (CL160) rider in Racine, Wis. with a vague knowledge of Knucks & Pans from reading my pal's "Big Bike" and "Choppers" mags in high school shop class in 1968/69.

That fall three of us drove up into central Wisconsin (Ed Gein country) in my ($25) rusted-out '63 Buick on a hunting trip. We rolled thru this little town and there was an old motorcycle sitting in a yard in some tall weeds. Now I know it was a stock 45, but then it just seemed REAL old, exotic, and antique looking. Nobody was there so we snooped around. It was an old defunct Harley dealership with several old hulks lying in the weeds plus dozens of rigid frames, spring forks, and lots of other "junk" scattered about willy nilly: all pre-1950 stuff, 1940s to 1930s 45, EL, FL, & VL stuff and no Indians!

It was (as they said back then) a "righteous" Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Graveyard!

Yes, it was cool, but just old junk to me at the time. What I wanted most was a Honda CB450 and I had saved up enough money to buy one too. And after that hunting trip I planned to trot on down to the Honda dealer and seal the deal!

(to be continued....)

[c.o.]

I'm hooked now Herb......... Bring on part two.........

[petri]

Reminds me of the old saturday matinees. I hope we don't have to wait that long for part 2.

Howard

[jke]

Hey Herb,
I live just 19 miles East of Ed Gein 'ville. What was the old dealers name ?
John K. Endrizzi