Why do you love Knuckleheads?

Tell him Captain America says "Hey".

CHARLIE, I KNOW PAT VERY WELL , HES ONE OF THE NICEST GUYS IVE EVER MET IN THIS ANTIQUE BIKE WORLD. JUST SAW HIM A MONTH AGO AT OUR LOCAL WATERING HOLE .......ILL BET HES IN DAVENPORT RITE NOW

Originally posted by cheifrider
HEY CHARLIE, FINALLY A NAME IN HERE I RECOGNIZE, IM THE GUY JUST GOT THAT 48 DASH FROM YOU, THANKS. WAS JUST IN HERE CRUISIN AROUND 5 MIN AFTER OPENING THE BOX SAW YOUR NAME .............AND FOUND OUT I CAN STILL PUT 2 AND 2 TOGETHER. TIME FOR A BEER

Did you come across Patty Cramer up there, yet?
I think he goes under Fort HD Obsolete in Ticonderoga.

HEY CHARLIE, FINALLY A NAME IN HERE I RECOGNIZE, IM THE GUY JUST GOT THAT 48 DASH FROM YOU, THANKS. WAS JUST IN HERE CRUISIN AROUND 5 MIN AFTER OPENING THE BOX SAW YOUR NAME .............AND FOUND OUT I CAN STILL PUT 2 AND 2 TOGETHER. TIME FOR A BEER

Contact me off the bulletin board

cffrey@mindspring.com

I have a friend who lives on 345 si I know right where you are. I am going to take you up on the help if you don;t mind. I still need a speedo(good luck right) and handlebars as they are my main needs but I know I will need some little stuff too. Thanks in advance. Jack

I'm right up the road where 23 crosses 100.
Let me know if you need a hand.
Unfortunately, unemployment has caused me to dump 99% of my parts, but I've been riding a knuckle for years and know my way around them.

Yes, Charlie it is Downingtown,Pa. I have lived here just about all my life. I am in the process of restoring a '47 61 cubic as my Dad would have called it. It is going to be a real project but I think worth it in the end....if there is an end!!

The conventional wisdom is that the real knuck riders like the 61.
Mine's a 61 lower with 74 upper.
Very sweet runner.
Is that Downingtown, PA WackyJack??

I am into Knuck's because my Dad was into them. He claimed that a 61 would run cool and smooth all day and outlast any 74 or 80. He rode it many times out west and had 80 some thousand miles on it before getting rid of it.....which he regretted many times over. I believe he had 30 or 40 thousand on it before changing plugs. The motor was never touched either which when people told him they were rebuilding there's after 5 or 10 thousand he could not understand that.I'll tell ya more later.

And Big Pete will keep it running for you!

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.

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...

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.........

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.