Replica Early Harleys

[c.o.]

Well said fellas. A roster would be a great idea. They aren't building strap-tanks or eight valves in Milwaukee anymore. So putting the few survivors from 100 years and better on a list with the particulars should take the worry away from judges and future judges in the club. The original or restored originals could be recorded possibly during the judging process? After that it can go back to having fun and spending some time in yesteryear! I mean really the guy putting parts in the ground to pull a fast one......who's he really fooling? He's the guy twitching when he tells you it's all original at the antique meet. Jurassic, I appreciate your machines because I have a nostalgic day dreamer mentality. What's the difference in the end from the freshly painted "fake" and the "fake" with the aged look? If I were to choose a machine from those two I'd take the aged one. Just because I like time trippin'.... really how realistic are any of us who love the pioneer machines? The more pieces that can be put together and machines made out of them for people to enjoy the better. The people passing off fake as real are just lookin' at the investment aspect. Others willing to admit repro parts (no matter how original they look) are in it for the fun. Maybe they should put a "replica" class into the judging field. That way people could be proud of the accurate reprodution parts on their pioneer machines. Just another opinion...... I'll run into the bomb shelter now......

[flat-happy]

hello jurassic---if i may i'd like to add my 2 cents worth. i've been doing this a while collecting restoring buying and selling and this is a little of what i've learned over the last 40 years or so. a lot of people own a few of the parts that still exist, a handlebar here a gas tank there a frame somewhere else. they would all like to own the whole motorcycle but won't give up the piece they own to have someone else end up with the rare bike. they would rather buy reproduced parts or try to reproduce a few of their own and call it original. i even knew a guy who buried parts in the ground for a few months to make the repop parts look original. those people won't tell what they know because the information would tell the truth and then the truth becomes a problem for their bike. they would rather read what someone else is willing to print then try to avoid the truth to legitimize their own few parts better. i hope this is making sense. if everyone brought their parts that they know to be original to one location and assembled what they had a couple more originals might surface from the effort. for that to happened everyone would have to take greed out of the equation and realize that we are all just stewards of these things for a very short time but the bikes live on in whatever condition we leave them in. i just hope that everyone who is connected with producing a fraudulent motorcycle is exposed and remembered as such when the bike is left behind. you cannot change the truth in the slightest way. as far as i know you have never tried to pass anything reproduction off as original and you are doing a great service as a historian and a steward of these old bikes and parts. thank you for that---stillman small AMCA 12332

[exeric]

I think you have pretty well nailed it Jurassic. If the legitimacy of pioneer motorcycle is a concern of the AMCA then the AMCA should keep a registry. Otherwise, if an AMCA member wants a bike judged, they have every right (as a member) to have it judged. I have always contended that the AMCA is not a police organization and has no business setting foot in that arena. However, a registry would ease those problems.

[jurassic]

being a faker ,i guess i should weigh in on this subject,and i think this will be the last time i do so. this subject comes up alot and i always feel compelled to defend,deny,explain,expose,refute,police,and generally accept responsibility for this clubs laziness. sorry but it just had to be said. if you go back thru the archives of this very forum you will see that every real strap tank in the world has been picked ,prodded, and documented for decades ,there are only about a dozen of them,we all know which ones they are. we know the VIN numbers,we know who owned it when,and where it came from,we know which parts were changed and what years they changed em .research my friends! research! i myself tried to start a similar thread documenting the real harley 8 valves,there are less than 10 of them.no one was interested. believe it or not i dont think even 7 real indian 8 valves are still in existence.shouldn't be hard to document 7 bikes. is that not what this club is dedicated to "history" , "motorcycles". is there not a little of that 120 grand a year we pay for floorspace in someone elses museum available to archive what we here on this forum are freely giving you.if we let this inaction continue,then all the guys who can set the historical record straight will be dead. people rely on the club to tell them the truth,should you not know the truth.personally i am done trying to make this horse drink,i guess he aint thirsty.

[rwm]

when ever there is a high profit you will have great fakes

[Steve Slocombe]

I looked up the results of the MidAmerica Pebble Beach auction and see that only 35% were sold, with the American bikes less than that. The Harley 1907 strap tank recreation went up to $110k without meeting reserve, and one of those 1913 eight valve Indian racers was unsold at $35k. Looks like buyers are getting wise to early bikes, racers, 8-valves, Peashooters etc. arriving on the auction block with no provenance.

I heard at Davenport that there were probably more than seven of those strap tank recreations built, and an unknown number of other early Harleys which could be passed off on unsuspecting customers and then put in for judging. My understanding is that judged bikes need original engines but can have repro cycle parts. Original engines might just mean original cases, and the fakers are getting pretty good at producing flawless castings and matching the old number stamps. My concern is that the good name of our Club could be compromised by unwittingly authenticating replica bikes through the judging system.

[bmh]

There's more than one AMCA Senior bike out there that is 100% repop except the motor. I thought you needed an original frame and forks?

The handbook only states that reproduction motors are not allowed. Everything else would be covered under the terms accurate reproductions are permissible, for a restored motorcycle anyway. An original bike I think would be expected to be original. Some very rare and early machines would never be seen as whole and functional machines ever again if not for people reproducing frames and forks etc.

[LouieMCman]

There's more than one AMCA Senior bike out there that is 100% repop except the motor. I thought you needed an original frame and forks?

[Rubone]

Probably where Noone hangs out!
Robbie

[Underdoggie]

I know I would not want to go to a bar on Uranis

[William McClean]

There is a Bar in Space ?

Martian Mai Tai, Cosmopolitan of Venus , RocketMan Boilermakers ?

[INLINE4NUT]

Chris some times I forget the SPACE BAR

[Chris Haynes]

Chris NOone = NO body

I guess you mean no one. Two seperate words.

[INLINE4NUT]

Chris NOone = NO body

[c.o.]

Anybody remember this fugly, cobbled piece of junk on ebay a few years back? I laugh everytime I look at the picture. They claimed "barn find, mostly 1907 harley, blah, blah, blah". It was a chain drive 1914 motor, restamped, bicycle frame, and a very poor bunch of sheetmetal work. I think the new harley museum bought it and put it as a centerpiece LOL. Actually, it shill bid to 20k, then relisted, shill bid to 9k, then who knows what happened to it. Hopefully they still own it.

I remember that blasphemy well........ fugly is a very good term for it. I guess they lived by "ya can fool some of the people some of the time". I just can't believe they figured it was done well enough to pass it off....