Been a little slow here around the Flatheads forum as of late so I thought I'd start a little something. I'll try to keep it short but that not easy for me. As most of you already know. As you also know I got my first 45" this past winter. Thanks to everyone that has helped me bring this thing back to life.
Anyway I've put 500 miles on it so far this year and here are my thoughts about 45" flatheads. The first couple times I rode this bike I was tempted to start a thread here and ask everyone why in the world would anyone in their right mind think about racing one of these things. I did quite a bit of motorcycle racing in my younger years, but this machine gave me none of the excitment I remember from my youth. The first few times I rode it I kept asking myself, where's the fun in this..? In fact after riding it twice I set it aside in the garage and just started riding the panhead. Well, Brenda started asking me why I spent all that money and spent the entire winter getting it road worthy to just let it set in the corner? I told her I didn't enjoy it. She said: then sell it and finish the deck off the back of the house. No way that was going to happen. Once I own something, it never leaves. Period.
So I got to thinking. This bike is nice and light and easy to handle so there has got to be a way to have some fun with it. The neighbor owns a stable and dirt track for excercising his horses so I ask him if I could run my 45" around his track if I did the grading of the track to keep it nice. He said sure, no problem.
Wow....... Now I get it. These 45" are a ball to ride. The trick to having fun with them is to get them going real fast. I've spilled it a few times already back there on that dirt track. No damage. Just pick it up and crank it up. I haven't ridden my panhead in 2 weeks, except for going to work.
Like I said these are only my opinions. But I'm loving my 45" now. To put it in a nut shell. These machines are not for putting around, there for cranking it up and running. I've been riding around the back roads now looking for a race. Haven't found one yet but I'll keep you all posted if I do. -Steve
Anyway I've put 500 miles on it so far this year and here are my thoughts about 45" flatheads. The first couple times I rode this bike I was tempted to start a thread here and ask everyone why in the world would anyone in their right mind think about racing one of these things. I did quite a bit of motorcycle racing in my younger years, but this machine gave me none of the excitment I remember from my youth. The first few times I rode it I kept asking myself, where's the fun in this..? In fact after riding it twice I set it aside in the garage and just started riding the panhead. Well, Brenda started asking me why I spent all that money and spent the entire winter getting it road worthy to just let it set in the corner? I told her I didn't enjoy it. She said: then sell it and finish the deck off the back of the house. No way that was going to happen. Once I own something, it never leaves. Period.
So I got to thinking. This bike is nice and light and easy to handle so there has got to be a way to have some fun with it. The neighbor owns a stable and dirt track for excercising his horses so I ask him if I could run my 45" around his track if I did the grading of the track to keep it nice. He said sure, no problem.
Wow....... Now I get it. These 45" are a ball to ride. The trick to having fun with them is to get them going real fast. I've spilled it a few times already back there on that dirt track. No damage. Just pick it up and crank it up. I haven't ridden my panhead in 2 weeks, except for going to work.
Like I said these are only my opinions. But I'm loving my 45" now. To put it in a nut shell. These machines are not for putting around, there for cranking it up and running. I've been riding around the back roads now looking for a race. Haven't found one yet but I'll keep you all posted if I do. -Steve
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