Why do you love Knuckleheads?

[HarleyCreation]

This is mostly a tech-oriented forum, but I'm curious why you Knuck guys personally like this particular model so much?

What is it about the Harley-Davidson 61 & 74 OHV EL & FL models built between 1936 and 1947 that is such a turn on? And which of those model years do you like the best and why?

What is this Knucklehead mania and why the special allure and attraction?

And if you don't like Knuckleheads or some aspect of them, please tell us that too....

[INLINE4NUT]

HC,
To coin another phrase "its a knuck thing!" I have always liked the way the top end looked and everyone I ever owned was a complete joy! Dont forget they started the HD overhead revolution! Now dont get me wrong I still really like pans and even early shovels but knucks came 1st for me and will always be my favorite! I like the 39s and 47s the best,but wouldnt turn down any other year ! I had a barn fresh 39 that even had the alligator seat and bags ! cost a pretty penny for that! I guess the most favorite one Ive owned is the 47 with goulkding hack Ive had for32 years now,it even has the 1952 ohoi reg sticker on the rear fender!Also the warrenty card,saddlebags and other extras! I remember with I bought it all were laughing because for the time it was lots of $$$$, I wonder what its worth today????? well it doesnt matter...its not for sale

[HarleyCreation]

Very interesting stuff there Inline! From your name I never would have suspected a Knuck fan!

A barn-fresh '39? Nice! I found a mint '39 years ago, but did not score it. Great paint scheme that year. My brother has a '39 Knuck, but its a parts bobber and not original.

I think the 1947 showed more tasteful trim than on the 1941-46 models. It was a good farewell to the Knuck's all-too-short career.

Funny how such a small change can make so much difference.

[flthead]

pic of 39 barn fresh knuck

i vote big flatty's ... no knucks! but anyways nice barn fresh 39 knuck pic on here , flthead.tripod.com/ol_motorcycles_in_south_jersey/

[INLINE4NUT]

HC,
I live in a town that had a HD Dealership from 1927-05 with the same family at the helm! I was fortunate enough to be friends with him and he and his family always took the time to get ALL of their friends enersed in MCs,It was only around 20 years ago that I found my true love,Inline4s! had a full stable of nothing but HDs and they were bought when they were cheap and the only ones riding were loonies ! Im sure you remember sex was safe MCs werent!
I always knew my father courted my mother on a very early Indian with a sidecar but never gave it much thought,the best man at my wedding was also an HD nut,but when his family moved by an old gentleman that had in excess of 50 Indians his world changed quick ! One summerday he drove to my house from NewHampshire to have lobster on a 46 Chief and was all excited about the Chief,I wasnt well long story short he let me have the 46 for the summer,you guessed it I was hooked, at the time i had a 27 henderson deluxe bought a 41 four from that day on I havent been able to satisfy my addiction to fours or chiefs for that matter,BUT the KNUCK is soooooo special Id never part with it ! In fact my youngest has already told the others that one is hers!

FLTHEAD nice pics! Thanks for posting!!!!

[Paps]

I always wanted one just because of it's look. The top end reminds me of a pair of healthy fists pounding away at the bottom end. Paps

[HarleyCreation]

Inline: That is a really interesting story. It's always a pleasure to hear from guys with deep roots in the "older" American bikes like you say when sex was safe but motorcycles weren't and the crusty old time dealer was still around!

I can understand the "4" mystique, but what exactly about the Chief that gets to you?

The only Indians I owned were a 1919 twin motor (long gone) and a 1949 vertical twin (also long gone).

Paps: To this day there is something futuristic looking about that knucklehead motor. That 36EL was a total styling and engineering masterpiece and a real final feather in Bill Harley's cap!

[oddmystic]

I remember seeing a picture from the early 50s of a guy on a bobbed motorcycle and from then on I knew I had to have one of those.
Didnt know much about motorcycles then but I knew I wanted one of those bikes. A knucklehead.

dave.

[jke]

My attraction to Knuckleheads came in the Summer of Love (1967). Like many Baby Boomers, I started my two wheel trip on Japanese bikes..... a Super 90 and later a 305 Super Hawk Honda. I worked in a neighborhood gas station . One day a regular customer after becoming tired of hearing me brag about my import bike offered to let me ride his Panhead Bagger. Even though my Super Hawk could top end his Pan there was no match for the v-twin torque......... I was hooked. A couple days later another customer came into the station with a for sale add to post in the window. He was a guitarist in a local rock band. He and a band mate had picked up a Knuckle and a Pan from a farmer and Ņun-garbaged "them. They quickly tired of the bikes and offered them for sale. They had both bikes at the same place. There was no question in my mind which bike I wanted. The Knuckle ( a Ņ47 EL) was painted Chevrolet Hugger Orange. It had ape hangers, true duals and was missing the rear fender tip. The Pan was a baby blue color and even though it was an FL it didnÕt strike my fancy like the Knuckle. I had just seen Peter Fonda in the Wild Angels. Of course he rode a Pan in that movie. It was no where near as classy as a ŌFrisco style Knuckle that was part of the pack. I spent the rest of summer wrenching and riding. Later that year Uncle Sam called. While I was in Basic Training my Dad wrote to say that a fellow had offered $ 275 for the Knuckle. He wanted it out of his garage and being that I was making a wopping $ 93 a month the money was too good to pass up. It took eight years of riding another import bike before I found another Knuckle ( another Ō47EL ). The price was 10 times what I had sold my first EL for ! I bought it as a Bobber. Somewhat typical of the times, it recieved an over restoration with lots of chrome and some non stock parts. 27 years later the sight of Dago Red still makes my heart race. Speaking of Knuckleheads..... If any of you happen to be in Northern Wisconsin this weekend you might want to drop in at the Oxbo Resort on Highway 70 west of Fifield. Knucklehead M/C is sponsoring itÕs 4th annual Knucklehead Reunion there. Hopefully we will host a large number of ElÕs and FlÕs. Come on down Herb.
John K. Endrizzi

[HarleyCreation]

Originally posted by jke
My attraction to Knuckleheads came in the Summer of Love (1967). Like many Baby Boomers, I started my two wheel trip on Japanese bikes..... a Super 90 and later a 305 Super Hawk Honda. I worked in a neighborhood gas station . One day a regular customer after becoming tired of hearing me brag about my import bike offered to let me ride his Panhead Bagger. Even though my Super Hawk could top end his Pan there was no match for the v-twin torque......... I was hooked. A couple days later another customer came into the station with a for sale add to post in the window. He was a guitarist in a local rock band. He and a band mate had picked up a Knuckle and a Pan from a farmer and Ņun-garbaged "them. They quickly tired of the bikes and offered them for sale. They had both bikes at the same place. There was no question in my mind which bike I wanted. The Knuckle ( a Ņ47 EL) was painted Chevrolet Hugger Orange. It had ape hangers, true duals and was missing the rear fender tip. The Pan was a baby blue color and even though it was an FL it didnÕt strike my fancy like the Knuckle. I had just seen Peter Fonda in the Wild Angels. Of course he rode a Pan in that movie. It was no where near as classy as a ŌFrisco style Knuckle that was part of the pack. I spent the rest of summer wrenching and riding. Later that year Uncle Sam called. While I was in Basic Training my Dad wrote to say that a fellow had offered $ 275 for the Knuckle. He wanted it out of his garage and being that I was making a wopping $ 93 a month the money was too good to pass up. It took eight years of riding another import bike before I found another Knuckle ( another Ō47EL ). The price was 10 times what I had sold my first EL for ! I bought it as a Bobber. Somewhat typical of the times, it recieved an over restoration with lots of chrome and some non stock parts. 27 years later the sight of Dago Red still makes my heart race. Speaking of Knuckleheads..... If any of you happen to be in Northern Wisconsin this weekend you might want to drop in at the Oxbo Resort on Highway 70 west of Fifield. Knucklehead M/C is sponsoring itÕs 4th annual Knucklehead Reunion there. Hopefully we will host a large number of ElÕs and FlÕs. Come on down Herb.
John K. Endrizzi

Great story!

One of my stupidest mistakes was passing up a 46EL for $400 about 1973 near Mauston sitting at a used car lot. Mint stock original condition with papers showing the recent engine work done on it. But I was far from home and already had a couple early Pans and a Honda and altho I liked it what did I need another bike for? I remember it had wheel covers on it. Somebody got a nice bike, but seeing that was the early 70s it probably got chopped.

Oxbow on the Flambeau ain't far and a beautiful ride from here but I won't be able to make it this year.

Is that the Knucklehead club from the Rapids?

If they gather every year and I have more warning I might show up and get pictures and stories.

Do they go to Oxbow every year?

(Psst: Tell those Knuck guys to watch the club mag....)

[jke]

Herb,
Yes Knucklehead Company is headquartered in Wisconsin Rapids. At it's height the club had 27 members each holding title to at least one Knucklehead. The club campaigned a Knuckle powered hillclimber in AMA District 16 open class competition for several years.

The Knucklehead Reunion started out as a local get together. At last count there are, or have been over 40 Knuckleheads within a 25 mile radius. Central Wisconsin has been a hot bed for motorcycling since the early '20s. But I digress. As far as I know the Reunion will be held at the same location next year. The date will be the weekend closest to July 4th. ALL marques of antique motorcycles are welcome.

Thanks for the heads up on the club magazine.

As relates your question on Knucklehead popularity I would have to add that from a personal view point no other overhead valve big twin Harley makes as beautiful music as the Knucklehead. Witness that by having heard Pete Hill's top fuel Knucklehead run back in the 80's and early 90's.
JKE

[exeric]

I got my first knucklehead in about 1974. I had a '56 pan at the time and wasn't having a lot of fun with it. I saw an ad in the local paper for a '41 Harley and made arrangements to look at it. It was in a nice neighborhood in Orlando so I wasn't that worried about getting rolled for the money in my pocket. The guy selling it seemed clean cut and responsible so I was feeling good about the deal. The bike was in his garage along with 3 or 4 other Harleys. It looked perfect to me as it was seemingly stock and no chopper stuff done to it. It was black and now that I think back on it, it had a lot of real desirable stuff on it that I later got rid of. It had the big Buco bags, a perfect '49-'50 rear fender, sight glass oil tank, and lots of genuine period accessories that I thought were tacky and irrelevent. I bought the bike and enjoyed it for about 6 years. The guy I got it from turned out to be a big time cocaine dealer who eventually went to prison. He was also the half brother of a notorious Outlaw biker and motorcycle thief. I guess I seemed pretty harmless and nerdy to them because they always helped me out when I needed mechanical help or advice and I learned a lot about Harleys and the attitude you you needed to cultivate if you wanted to associate with the kind of people that rode older Harleys in the 1970's.

Knuckleheads have always been desirable bikes and they always got you respect from your fellow riders becuase they were more of a challenge to keep running than a pan or shovel. It doesn't surprise me that it has become the holy grail possession for the rich new collectors we have in our club. I sure wish I had kept that '41 and the '37 I got later on.

[KNUCK]

It started for me about 1964 when a guy down the street from my parents home where I lived ,was building a knuckle chopper in his garage. As I would deliver the local paper every day I would often see him working on it. One day it was done and he rode it down past my house. I could not believe the look and sound. It seems like yesterday, what a beautiful motorcycle. I thought this is how all Harleys looked, at this time they were not building 300,00 a year and all over town every day. Soon he moved and that was it. I said some day I will get one. I bought a little Honda and learned to ride, and after a few years a Triumph, and then a Sporty, and big twin.
Then in the late 80's I bought a 1946 EL, fairly stock. Rode it a few years and then restored it. Showed it and did real good. It always started up good and had that great sound. Not just the exhaust, but the mechanical engine sound. Well I put a stiff price on it one day at a swap meet and did not think it would sell but thought I would just see. It sold. That was a couple years ago.

I just started looking for it and think I know where it is.........

[Chopperdave]

ive always been a panhead guy

with a thing for flatheads and knucks...

but knucks always attracted me becasue of the archaicness of the design, (when compared to newer HD's) and the mechanical noise and the exhaust note that is unlike any other.

and i have this feeling that now i that i finally built myself one
my panhead will never measure up again...

and thats ok.

and they are from my favorite period of motorcycling, the late 30's...
so that helps too...

it was also the weekend i rode a stock 38 around, that did it for me, easy starting, good running solid bike, it was so much fun...

[Buzz Kanter]

The knucklehead was a simpler bike from a simpler time - which has growing appeal these days.

And they are also light, agile and timelessly handsome. It took me a few years to buy mine (a modified '47) from a friend, but when I finally got it I brought it back to closer to stock. And I rode the wheels off it.

Has to be one of the best looking stock Harleys ever produced, which, when combined with their rarity and cult like status makes those lucky enough to own them prize them even more.

Once you ride a knuck you understand. Great machine.