Bobber - OHV 45

[silentgreyfello]

A buddy of mine just rolled this old bobber out for the spring. Anybody have any ideas on who would have made the OHV conversion? The lower end is a WLDR.

[AdminGuy]

that is cool. I want one. Any chance of getting close up shots of the heads?

[Chopperdave]

wow, that is too neat!

is that a factory set of ohv 45 heads?

[HarleyCreation]

Originally posted by Chopperdave
wow, that is too neat!

is that a factory set of ohv 45 heads?

Offhand, they look more like Excelsior (Super-X) heads; the kind you see on old Super-X hillclimb engines.

Harley did make an experimental 45 OHV street bike in the late 1930s, but found the regular 45 transmission was too weak for the increased power. A couple of those engines managed to survive (wonder how that happened?), but this isn't one of them.

Nice unusual bike!

[rousseau]

The last time I visited Dale's Wheels Through Time,I remember seeing some of these engines. I sure he could shed some light on them.

[HarleyCreation]

Considering that the 45 bottom and gearbox were not that robust, I wonder if this cool bike was a guy's fun "homebrew" street project and not intended for a more serious application like hillclimbing or TT racing or whatever.....

Tank emblem is '47 or later, but what year was this engine originally put together?

Interesting bike!

Sorta reminds me of Randy Smith's "45 Magnum" of the late 1960s early 70s, but with earlier OHV heads.

[silentgreyfello]

The lower end is a 41WLDR. Found out that the heads are the same as the Excelsior hill climber. Tanks are WR. It would look better with the 41-46 style emblems in my opinion. They used whatever they could find, I guess. Runs great, idles nice, but is loud enough to scare folks walking down the sidewalk. He is planning on bringing it to Oley. I'll get a closer picture of the heads.

[silentgreyfello]

I don't think it was ever intended for racing or hillclimbing. It was someone's hotrod from way back.

[c.o.]

Very cool bike............ If it's loud enough to scare the pedestrians, I bet it's real hard on car alarms......

[silentgreyfello]

pic of panhead bobber

I never was a big fan of the chopper scene, but the bobbers are cool... Here is his panhead chopper. He has some knuckle bobbers as well.

[silentgreyfello]

39 knuck

Not a bobber, but a ratty old club bike that actually is very correct for 1939!

[HarleyCreation]

On that "Piston Splitters" club-bike Knucklehead, I guess I'd leave it that way (if I owned it) out of a perverse sense of twisted history. But it's a tough call because that bike would look so incredibly fine restored with a '39 paint job!

Isn't that "Piston Splitters" logo another take-off from the Johnny Strabler club logo in the 1953 movie "The Wild One."

Can't think of the club's name at the moment...

[AdminGuy]

ohhh..... I like the knuck! that really turns my crank.

[cheifrider]

NICE LOOKIN KNUCK ........WONDER WHAT THAT BUSINESS AT THE BACK OF THE FLOORBOARD IS.........

[Erdos]

are you talking about the footboard extentions.