Where do old choppers go ...?

SFMCjohn

SFMCjohn

13
69flyer.jpg


Apparently, old choppers are still around the Bay Area, being ridden ... :ride

69-1.jpg


... a pan-head with a wishbone frame ...

69-2.jpg


... a shovel-head with a magneto ignition ...

69-3.jpg


... purple pan with a springer front-end ... no front brake, no fender ... :laughing

69-4.jpg


... another pan ... H-D made the pan-head from 1948 to 1965 ...

69-5.jpg


... pan with a horse-shoe oil tank ...

69-6.jpg


... a knuckle-head ... guess that's an oil filter above the kicker ...
made from 1936 to 1948 it was H-D's first production HOV engine ...
looks like this bike has a front brake ...

69-7.jpg


... and a shovel-head ... think we call this a bike with a generator ...
made from 1966 to 1985 ...

69-8.jpg


... and another shovel-head ... :party

inttn.jpg


... and some SFMC members demonstrating why
we're known as "the best-dressed" AMA club in town ... :toothless

see you at the
next vintage ride, :cool
-- SFMCjohn
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Very cool. :thumbup

I always had a soft spot for choppers thanks to Easy Rider and my time on the freeway in the back of my parents car.
 
spdt509

spdt509

Well-known member
its odd that most of these I see in the city are sportster-based. mad props to these guys, my tail bone hurts just looking at them......:laughing:laughing
 
CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Back in that day, XLCH was kind of a "super bike". Drop the 4th "P" cam in, as stock in 1969 'CH, harder to start but way quicker than the "74's".
The term "lightweight" started that lean to a "girls" bike, but that kickstarter and high compression pistons, said "not so much"
 
SFMCjohn

SFMCjohn

13
Eric B said:
Way cool John. :thumbup
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hey Eric B! Kalle sent me the pics ... :)

Sharxfan said:
Love the old bike pics.

Got some very dapper gentlemen/mad scientist? at the end.
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we have a “Best Dressed Club” trophy from the
1948 AMA Hollister Gypsy Tour ... the mad scientist guys
are our newest members being initiated ... we usually do
some silly thing involving costumes ... had them doing
“valet parking” ... not many takers I hear ... :laughing

budman said:
Very cool. :thumbup

I always had a soft spot for choppers thanks to Easy Rider and my time on the freeway in the back of my parents car.
Click to expand...

... my family car was a Rambler Station wagon ...
my dad was an American Motors guy ... he still
has one of the hounds-tooth pillows that came
with his first “nice” car, an Ambassador ...
my childhood chopper memory is two guys
in white t-shirts on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia
with throttle-locks, their hands behind their bare heads
and feet up on the bars ... sure my eyes were big as saucers ... :laughing

1962siia said:
Very cool! Thanks for the pics!
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Aermacchi forever!

ThumperX said:
This is really cool! :thumbup
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:gsxrgrl

spdt509 said:
its odd that most of these I see in the city are sportster-based. mad props to these guys, my tail bone hurts just looking at them......:laughing:laughing
Click to expand...

... always liked that first gen four-speed,
chain drive Evo sportster engine ... those
are the Born Free hipster-looking guys I see in SF ...

CDONA said:
Back in that day, XLCH was kind of a "super bike". Drop the 4th "P" cam in, as stock in 1969 'CH, harder to start but way quicker than the "74's".
The term "lightweight" started that lean to a "girls" bike, but that kickstarter and high compression pistons, said "not so much"
Click to expand...

... have my eye out for a 1970 XLCH ... think that
one came with a starter ...?

interesting to look at
the old biker-lifestyle pics/movies from back in the
day and see how many guys rode Sportsters ...

was it Cycle magazine that used to print and list
1/4 mile times in a big spec sheet for all the different
models? Think the XL was one of the quickest production
bikes you could buy for many years ... :afm199

love a physically small chopper ... be fun to get
enough pics together for a Brit bike/Sportster chopper thread ... :ride

thanks to all for reading and posting! :party
 
Jalopyshoppe

Jalopyshoppe

idiot
I did my time owing a flathead and a shovelhead. There's no amount of nostalgia that can make that trip appealing. Give me a CB750 any day.
 
CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
... have my eye out for a 1970 XLCH ... think that
one came with a starter ...?

The XLH had a prestolite E starter, think Bronson, every time he went up on the kicker, you would hear the screech of the starter.
We had one of these in our midst with no kicker, half the time it was a run & bump instead.
AMF punched out the 55 inches to 61", more compression with the displacement, harder to kick. I can't remember riding with any one with an E start AMF
 
Jalopyshoppe

Jalopyshoppe

idiot
XLCH indicates "Competition Hot". Originally a bike with a magneto and kick only. They eventually came with an e-start, but also lost the magneto and high compression.
 
SFMCjohn

SFMCjohn

13
Jalopyshoppe said:
XLCH indicates "Competition Hot". Originally a bike with a magneto and kick only. They eventually came with an e-start, but also lost the magneto and high compression.
Click to expand...

... I'm a big fan of low compression street engines ... :laughing

my friend Shawn C rode a '70 Sportster with an e-start in the
Moto Melee a few years ago ... seem to recall it was an ex-AFM
racebike with the heads arranged on it so it could run two carbs ...
will have to ask him about it ...

here is the Sportster I'd like, but guess they're expensive these days:

bluekh.jpg


yellowkh.jpg


KH-Sportster-rough.jpg


KH-copper-lines-768x512.jpg


:party
 
CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Nothing like trying to light the fire on a drippy fog nite with my '69 CH.
I tried kicking for 1/2 hour then went to run & bump. The street I was on had a grade, so I pushed uphill far enough to turn around and get going fast enough for the bump. I was a bit wobbly in the legs from kicking, but it took the third time for the R & B to finally fire.
Those tillitson chain saw carbs weren't the best, replaced with a SU.
 
Jalopyshoppe

Jalopyshoppe

idiot
My flathead had a tillotson. I swapped it for a Kei-Hin CV and never looked back. I had to tip the bike off the stand to prime it, but it was such a better bike with that set up.
 
CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
I did read about, and use the primer hole, my then current eyeglasses earpiece would fit.
Want to mention the perpetual bruise on the inside right thigh?
Every CH owner I've ever talked to knows this too.
Nothing else sounded like an ironhead winding up to 7k, and the puff of smoke as the rings bit as the throttle was whacked open.

There was a bike show in Vacaville, that had a chopped CH for sale, that developed a line of players that thought they could start it. I noticed the fuel was on the whole time and gas dripping from the carb while leaned way over on the stand while they kicked it.
I gave them an hour or so before I tried it. I stood it up and turned off the gas, fairly easy to kick, not much compression, didn't have to leap up for every stroke. So I just pumped air thru it throttle open until she fired.
I've forgotten on how much a beast it was to live with as a daily rider.
 
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