Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126426
i Street is'Neat ~ E By all that's Harley I never wanted a Harley early in life. Harleys were farm implements and old men's motorcycles. Cops rode Harleys, as did the 0) I.D.B.A. SUMMER NATIONALS WASHINGTON, DC AUGUST 17·19 dropouts at the Hula-Hut drive·in, who bought them cheap after the cops l' 0) .-I l!') ~ ~themup. What I wished and struggled for was a 650cc Triumph. Somebody gave me an old SO" flathead Harley about that time. There was no documentation, of course, but the thing was reputed to be a 1958 and have Packard pistons and Hudson valves, installed in some remote rebuild job..NQWadays we'd caD it a Ratbike, but at the price (free), I could just barely afford it, then. Today, of course, such a specimen would· fetch over $2,000 in the Cycle. News want ads. The thing could run, though" for about two miles, then it automatically shut off for an hour or so, while it cooled down or settled or whatever it did. Then, roused by a few lusty kicb and the magical incantation %$1& + ", it suddenly woke up and ran like a Harley for two more miles and promptly signed off again. But it did knock four miles off my daily commute. I just left it standing wherever it quit and came back to it on the way home, hoping some great~r fool would steal it. Finally I gave it to a guy who had a sidecar and needed something to pull it with. It became a rat-hack combination and was passed around from kid to fool·kid. Nobody wanted to be accused of owning anything like that, but it got you around while you were saving up the downstroke for a Triumph. And it taught you all you ever wanted to learn about Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Everything was wrong. The hand shift, foot clutch, slow throttle (slower than daddy's '56 Dodge), hundreds of pounds overweight, ugly with coils and boxes hung all over the engine like a Christmas tree, thick, bulky handles and f-at doughy tires off an American car. Noisy, smelly, backfiring, hard starting, rough running, indestructible (worse luck) and behind the times. That was then. I still wouldn't have an old Hawg as a gift unless I had somebody standing by with a truck to • take it off my hands. But I treasure my new Hawg, here in the garage, more than any machine I've ever owned except the 1939 Brough·Superior Matchless 1000 that perches alongside. What has changed? Not Harleys. T"rue, the clutch and shift are where God intended now, and the bicycle (yukI) staner pedal is consigned to the 'Pans bins of history, and it weighs a lot more (don't we all?) and makes less racket. But basically the 1978 Eighty is the 1938 in wide lapels and designer signature jewelry. What happened was, I cau~ht up to where Harley-Davidson was m 1938, and where they remained for the last 40 years, just waiting for me. It took a ~uaner million miles or more on all kmds of scooters before I was finally ready to afford a Harley. f.verytime 1 thought I had it made, I'd check the latest dealer prices, shake my head, and know I had to work harder. The dealers wouldn't touch my trade· in, a "foreign" make. "We only accept motOTCYCleS, " they said. That's what I always hated about these guys, their harlier than thou attitude. '" * ~·....t."4· ".. Q) ..c e .... Q) ~ I I I • • •• .. - Q) tI) •• • • .. - S~d MTC Componenu: Record setting PtWtormersl MTC Performance SID· POGUE Seta World Record! Sid Rocketed his MTC K-...ki Pro Stocker to the World's first Pro Stock 8 Second R~n - A Blistering 8.98 Secondsl Equipped wn overwhelming et Weshington: • The" qualifiers in esch of the four Pro c1esses were MTC equipped. . • New records were set in each of four Pro classes including Sid Pogue's incredible eight second Pro Stock record. on MTC eqUIpped machines. • As of this event 92% oUOSA's records have been set by machines using MTC pistons andlor Power Train components. • This ~_ MTC has paid more in contingency money than all the other IDBA High Performance contingency sponsors put together. THE RECORDS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES - MTC SETS THE WINNING PACEI For the utmost in race proven durability ~nd consistent performance contact: MTC ENGINEERING 428 She.rer Blvd. Coco•. Fl 32922 (305) 636-9480 FOR ftIE PRlYAlEER. . . .,. OF ..... WOP . . USE WORKS SHOCKS. SOOCc Support ClaSSlUnadllla 11th-Phil Oveland/Can Am 2SOCCUSCP14th-Terry MartzlMaleo 16th-Keith Mann/Maleo 3rd-Fred vertueeVSuzuki 4th-Ken Adams/Maleo Works. We are a major 5th-cary PustelaklMaleo contingency sponsor of AMA 8th-Clenn Craeey/Maieo profeSsional motocross. 9th-cary Dunkelberger/Maleo Co fOr the Works. I WORKSPERFORIlANCEPRODUCTS-20970KnaPPSt-Chatswortl\CA91311-213-998-1977 . - p - - . - _. • - - - - _. - - 5