Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

CD '"> g It Was N9mtng It Is Today Q. M .... Cl , .... N .ci " L1. ~ W Z W ..J U > U A new motorcycle around 1915 co st between $175 and $285. Top speed was about 70 mp h unless yo u did some work on them. As far as per forma nce goodies went, everyt hing new always came fro m t he West Coast. T he d ealer I wo rked fo r becam e a Reading Standard dea ler wh en t hey stoppe d making Th ors, I wound up at t he Read ing St andard fact ory in Readi ng Pen nsy lvania . St artin g in 19 22 I ro de a Read ing Standard hill d imb er. My first hilldim b was in A kron , O hio. Th ey had never see n a gen uine hilld imb machin e until I sho we d up with t hat th ing. We took off t he handleba rs an d put t he mac h ine o n t he runn ing board of a Mercer car for t he tri p. t he n asse mb led it down t here. I went o ver that hil l lik e not hing flat ! Won my self a pair o f Fire stone tires tha t dav . At that h illd im b. so me how, I wasn 't ge t ting any lubrication. I pulled it d own wh en we got ba ck to th e fac tory and t he rings wer e broken . That didn't see m to ha ve made an y differe nce. The y didn't have an ything th at co uld to uch t hat ma chi ne. I'll never forget it. • Th ey sto pped making Read ing St andards so I got a job at th e Clevela nd motorcyde factor)" in 1923. I ro de a six da ys trial in 19 24 on a Cleveland two -st roke. We started o ut fro m Clevela nd o n a Monday mo rni ng. Our first night sto p was in Detroit . Th e seco nd day we went 'fro m Det ro it to So ut h Bend, Ind ia na. O n th e Seco nd day o ut, right outside o f Battl e Cree k, Michigan , my engine qu it . It wasn 't gett ing an y spar k. .I fo u nd th at th e' brush had worn d own to the po int wh ere it wa sn't ma king co ntact . I had a n auto matic pen cil with lead in it , so I broke off t hree pieces of lead an d pu t them in t he bru sh holder. It got me into So ut h Ben d . From Sout h Bend we rod e in to Louisville. Kentuck y. From Louisville , we pa ssed chain gangs wo rk ing o n th e r oad to Wheelin g, West Virginia . We e nd ed up in Pittsburgh. I didn't do so well , getting a fift h place in the tra de divisio n. It wa s j u st a lou sy silver me dal , bu t it was fun. T hat 's " it was noth ing lik e it is t oday:" a look at th e old da ys b y ji m und erwood, as told to J ohn D. Ulric h first b eca me invo lved with mo torcycles wh en I wa s a kid abo ut t hirteen years old living in Ohio . I ha d a newspaper re porter neighbor wh o owned o ne. I used to dea n his b ike and he use d to take me for rides o n Sundays. T he b ug b it me . He let me ride his machine. an old 19 13 Th or . When I • was old en ough and had a job I bought my ow n ma chine. a 19 15 T ho r single speed . I had a j ob as a mu sician working in a theater. On e day so met h ing happened to t he mag neto o n my bike. A de aler saw me pus hi ng th e b ike to t he theater and to ld me to co me do w n at my first oppo rt u nity and he would se e what was w ro ng wit h t he machin e, I did , we b ecam e friends, a nd I ende d up wit h a job scra ping carb on and various othe r little t hings like t hat . •Th e shop was a nice la yout . bet ter t ha n t he usu al ru n of sho ps. The average shop at the time was mor e o r less a hol e in th e wall. Th ere were shops I had bee n in that had d irt floors. Of cou rse t hey didn't have too much b usiness. It was nothing like it is toda y. what c o u nts. Lat er t he Clevela nd factory built a 4 5-cubic inc h fou r cy linder . It was designed b y Everett DeL on g, forme rly of t he Ace Com pa ny. When Indian bo ugh t Ace in 1928 he becam e chief engineer for the Cleveland fac to ry . Th e trou ble was, he had to use up a lot of Read ing St andard , parts that Clev eland go t , wh en t hey -bo ugh t o ut Reading Sta nda rd. It was still a d arn nice running lit tle machin e. Pri or to this time they had t roub le car bure t ing the ea rly fo urs. Then De Long design ed a t rick manifold whil e he still worked for Ac e. It ch an ged th e mac hine co mpletely. In fac t " Re d" Wol vert on rode an Ace to a world rec ord at the time. Clevela nd dosed do w n to o a nd I went to work for a Harle y-David son dealer in Cleveland. I purchased a 2 I -inc h racing j ob fro m Harley -Davidson w hile I wa s working for him and converted it into a hilldimber . That's t he mac hine I rode at the Am herst H illd imb in 1927 (see phot o ). I pa id fo r th at machine numer ous times b y virtue of the prize m oney I w on o n it. The Harl ey dealer sent me to th e Harl ey-Davidson fac to ry for mec ha nic 's sch oo l. Tw o or t hree years la ter I got a job with t he Harl e y-David son Mo to r Co m pa ny in th e service d epartm en t . A t t hat time I so ld m y hill d imber to o ne of t he lo cal fello ws. Th e factory service man ager , Jim O'Rya n, did n't want me to d o any mo re hillcl imbing. So th at Was t he end o f my hilldimbing career , aro und 1930. Th or 's chief e ngineer, Bill Otaw a y, had became an engi nee r for Har ley-David son, He kn ew his o nio ns, believe m e. An ytime yo u gave him a suggest io n, he would say , " I tried t hat bac k in suc h a nd suc h a year... it wo n' t work!" He had Hank S yvertso n wo rking for him a s head of the Har ley-Davidso n raci ng d epartment at the time. I was with Harley-David so n wh e n the old heads were t here...th e o riginals: Art hu r David son, Bill Davidson , Walt er , David son, and Bill , Harl ey. When I wo r ked for them I had a di fferent 1925 Reading Standard sidecar was the me thod employed Hartev-Davldson hillcl imb rig. Trick vans had n't been inve nted yet. T his engine in m y fra me abo ut every two weeks. I had a 68.i nc h, a 6 1, 74 , ,80. Yo u nam e it, I had it in th at fram e. Harl ey used to test th eir ma ch in es for hill climb ing in Pittsburgh . J ohn Gra ves was a top fa cto ry ride r. Th ere wer e ot he r fellows, too . I don 't rem ember t he ir name s with th e exce ptio n o f two o t her fellow s, o ne b y th e nam e of Rem ington , o ne b y the nam e of Smith , 'and m yself, Und erw ood . Th ey call ed us t he T ypew rit er Tr ipl et s. Th en t he Califo rnia bu g b it me and ', o ut I ca me . A t t his time, if you ro de a . motorcycle you were co nsidered lo w cla;s. Of course, th ere were was a e xceptions . .. L i n d b e rgh " motorcycli st, and Eddie Rickenbacker wa s an ol d sickle hound, too . I go t a j ob wo rk ing for Rich Bud elier , a Harley-Davidso n dealer in Los A ngeles. I worke d for hi m for te n years. for transpor ting a Then duri ng Wo rld War II th ey could n' t get machin es or part s or a nyth ing else with t he res u lt t ha t I go t a job with Northrop Aircr a ft in final - asse mb ly . ' Aft er the war I go t toge t her with Aub Leb ard . I used to corres po nd with him wh en he wa s in th e Air For ce du ri ng th e War. I told him we ought to go int o bu sin e ss when it was over with . He was d isch arged in 1 945 , a nd we started in business in 1946 . We did painting an d rep airs for o t her sho ps. He wo uld do metal work a nd I would do the painting, all in a single garage. It was rea lly someth ing: . Of all my bikes. a 1925 Harley-David so n was my favori te . It was ; t ro ng an d st urd y. It needed darn little ca re. Of COurse it had a dea d loss o il syste m .a nd ate oil . But it had a st ro ng feel to it . Th a t 's what co unted :

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