Most attention, these days, is given to the Evolution Harleys. But one of the older vees, when well sorted, has a lot going for it. Their prices are a lot more palatable. I like the chop look, so sort of fell in love with a custom 1200 vee. It started life in 1971 as a Duo Glide, had long since dumped most of its cycle parts. Forks were lengthened, raked. The bike had a feel of being both well loved and used. Being the depths of winter it was reasonably priced - £1500.
The engine was noisy, but I'd heard worse Harleys. The bellow out of the slash pipes was music to my ears. There's nothing quite like the throbbing of a nicely tuned Harley vee twin. I was told that the motor was basically stock but with a belt primary drive conversion. God knows how many miles it had done and how many times it had been rebuilt.
It started second kick, vibes running through the machine as it warmed up. 45 degree vee twins don't have perfect primary balance but it never reaches the destructive heights of a British twin. The old Duo-Glide engine puts out about 50 horses. Not much for 1200cc, but peak power is made at 4500rpm! I've known some Japanese bikes that have all but refused to run at those kinds of revs.
Huge gobs of torque hit the back wheel the moment the clutch is dropped. With the long front forks it's quite difficult to control, just a little bit of input has the bike veering off. The four speed gearbox clunks and seems reluctant to engage gear. All it needs is a forceful thump from my foot. The best thing to do is to get it into top gear as soon as possible. The slight amount of flexibility in the belt primary drive allows top gear to growl down to as little as 25mph.
Massive engine braking means the marginal brakes were not too much of a problem. Some joker had fitted a tiny SLS drum out front which would have looked questionable on a Puke Maxi. It worked okay in town and was just adequate for obtaining an MOT certificate from a sympathetic tester. With a rolling mass of around 550lbs, double discs off some Japanese bolide would've been just about adequate.
A curious throwback to vintage days was the retard ignition lever on the bars. I don't know if it was standard or some owner's reversion to flat-cap mentality. It was quite a lot of fun to pull it all the way back in top gear, the engine banging away every other lamp-post. The silencers had a deep, mellow note that made the hair crawl up my back.
It was quite useful when motoring up really steep hills with a passenger and camping gear. It was easier to retard the ignition than change down a gear. The stock Duo-Glides would grumble up to 90mph, maybe 100mph if you wanted to get down to it - a pretty strange thing to do. With the chop chassis I didn't feel safe doing more than 70mph. The whole feel of the bike is so laid back that I don't really mind.
An experienced Harley riding friend has developed a muscular attitude to chopper riding. When he flings a leg over my bike, he doesn't hang about and reckons he's put the ton on the clock! A lot of Harley riders take great pride in overcoming their physical inhibitions, especially when there are some Jap poseurs trying to get past. I have yet to convince myself that the bike is not going to fall apart under me if I push it so hard. Yes, I'm a coward but I'm still here.
It was perhaps my friend's riding that quickly turned up some engine problems. After only 2200 miles the main bearings started rumbling. By the time I decided to take the engine apart there was a fierce grinding feel running through the chassis. I was more than a bit pissed as the sun had just started to shine again.
They were, I found out, a hefty set of taper and roller bearings. Quite impressive after the Triumph engines I'd experienced. My mate did the rebuild for me, he had done it so many times that he knew all the tricks. I've never found anyone willing to admit how long these old engines last between crank rebuilds. I've done 9000 miles since with no problems. The forked con-rods were a neat touch, removing the usual torque reaction found in vee-twins and boxers from having the cylinders slightly out of line.
I also had the cylinders rebored and new pistons fitted as there was a lot of clearance at the bottom of the bores. Pistons are carefully machined to give low running clearances (and hence engine noise) on these models. The valves, even then, were hydraulically adjusted and were still in good condition, but I threw in a new set of pushrods as they occasionally break up with terrible consequences.
I also took the opportunity to do something about the pathetic 6V dynamo. The lights were useless and the twin horns completely drowned out by the engine and exhaust racket. There was nothing I could do about the heavy clutch; my mate reckoned it was bullet-proof and I'd just have to adapt to the pressure.
Back on the road, the vibes and engine noise were significantly lessened and that great swathe of torque even more intense. Fuel improved from 55 to 65mpg, which was useful with not much more than a gallon in the peanut style petrol tank. I still carried a gallon of oil in a can on the back of the bike.
It's a fantastic feeling to be in a pack of ten or twenty Harleys, thundering across the countryside. Just the noise they make brings a huge smile to our faces. It's a pity so many civilians go ape with worry and paranoia when they see us coming. All we are doing is enjoying ourselves. Not really harming anyone else.
Hassle from the police is another problem. This kind of bike forces everyone to make sure they have an MOT, tax and insurance (the latter sometimes another big nuisance, what with 1200cc bikes rated like GSXR1100s and some companies not even wanting to insure modified machines). The plod aren't too bad locally, they have got used to me now but going on a run I'm usually stopped at least once.
The bike isn't much of a pull with the birds......they usually laugh and ask why they should be interested in an ugly little runt. But at least it gets me in with the Harley crowd, its relative antique status has lots of street cred. I've not been asked to join any gangs. After hearing one story about the initiation rites I'm not sure I'd want to join up. Some poor fool ended up a nervous wreck after a tryst with a sheep and a subsequent gang banging affair of which he was the central attraction. Stuff that!
Straying, if not strange, thoughts are par for the course for Harley owners. They are such relaxed bikes to ride out of town that my mind has plenty of time to mull over life's little quirks. To spin a web of myths and dreams as the road unfolds out in front of me, to the pulse of those glorious slash pipes. I could go on, but the race replica crowd are already pissing themselves with laughter and consigning myself to old codger status. Anyone who's already into the Harley scene seriously, compulsively, already knows exactly what I'm getting at. So why bother?
I defy anyone not to be impressed by the sheer grunt of this ancient 1200cc vee twin engine. The rest is just a question of taste, you can either take the custom style or it makes you run a mile......the thing to remember is that it's an idiom that perfectly matches the beat of the vee twin motor.
Stodger