My Harley Davidson motorcycles
What are
my Harley Davidson doing here? Yes, it is standing a cold winter night
in 1952 on a road in Stockholm. Here I was up to participate on a course
in repair of compressed air tools. I drove up on the Swedish gravel roads,
because there was virtually no asphalt roads throughout the trip to
Stockholm.
This was not my first Harley Davidson. That one I bought just before the war ended in 1945. It had stood in a garden throughout the war, and the wheels were missing, because they had been sold for use on a loadcycle, also called a tricycle. It matched the children in the district fine, for now was the height adequate to enable them to climb up on the motorcycle when they went over the plantation to enter the next garden.
My "new" motorcycle was from 1926, and therefore as old as myself. It was quite soon running, but it took some time before it could licence plates because gas delivered to the country was limited, and it remained to give free for private driving. When it finally came, gas was heavily rationed, but then I was anyway running.
After a short time I found my old Harley needed a modern look, and I built new fenders and mounted a streamline gas tank, etc. It was a really nice result, but it was not enough, for now I found an engine for an 42-model, and this came in to the frame, which was the only remains of the old Harley. The old engine was on 1000 cc. while the new was only 750, but the new engine was still more effective if it were speed, but had not the same brute acceleration as the old one.
Now, I could not get much further along this road, so the next step was to sell the old motorcycle and buy a new and bigger. This time, a 1200 cc from 1930. It was only a transitory, for I had also bought frame, tank and a lot of other parts to a 42-model, where the parts came from the military surplus. Now was the engine of the purchased 1200 cc mounted into the frame from 1942, and the motorcycle equipped with all kinds of outfit. The wheels were again a problem, for it would be with 16 inch rims, and those I had not been able to obtain. It appeared that there was a workshop down in Southsealand which produced the hub, and the rims was made at a company that used old car wheel by drilling new holes and make depressions to the spoke, and then I had the wheels tense up on a third place.
It was certainly extremely costly, but the result was fine. When I was in the cinema, there was a greater crowd when I should start my Harley, which was parked outside the door, and I drove many and long trips on it, both above mentioned trip to Stockholm, to England and Switzerland, where I attended a ralley with lots of beautiful Harley Davidson'er. To get there I had together with some members from the Harleyclub a transit visa to Germany, and it was only valid for three days.
One day, the road traffic police would look at my Harley. They did not seem it was like what the paper said, and I could not deny. When it appeared that my Harley was modernized a bit too vigorously, permission was required to by a new vehicle, and I could not get that. The result was, that I had to return the licenseplates to better times, and they came some years later, when permission was not required any longer, and I got my Harley registered again. At that time, I was, however started to drive car, and I thought it was too cold on motorcycle, so it was used very little and at last sold. The story of our cars is not entirely boring. Try to follow this link to learn about it.
But when I hear the sound of a Harley Davidson I am looking up, because the sound is still the same. Would you like to hear how it sounds, follow this link.
Edited november 23. 2009