Motorcycles I Have Loved in My Life

Since I’ve  just attended the International Chopper Show in Holland, it got me thinking of some of the motorcycles I have known and loved, so I thought I would share some of them with you.

If you’ve read my books Hangmen and Against the Wind, you are already familiar with a couple of them, but I would like to give you a more complete list.

My first Harley, a 1951 Panhead. This is how it looked when I bought it for $700.

I had already been riding smaller bikes for two years when I got the Panhead. It was complete with a suicide clutch, and even though I was only seventeen years old, it made me feel like one of the big boys that rode with the motorcycle clubs.

Riding such a fine bike brought me acceptance by the Hangmen. Not to be a member yet, but enough to let me hang out and ride with them.

It went through numerous customizations as I changed its appearance through the years. I rode it tens of thousands of miles through many states, and she was always reliable and never broke down on me.

Alas I finally sold her so I could focus on a new love. I told her it was for the best; she didn’t believe me.

One of the many manifestations of the 1951 Panhead.

I took part of the money from the sale and marched off to the Fullerton Harley Davidson dealership and plunked down $736 for a brand new 1973 Shovelhead engine. It arrived two weeks later in a wooden crate.

We; meaning the guys I rode with, liked the newer Shovelheads because they were faster and with the thick aluminum valve covers, were quieter than the Panhead with its hollow ring from the top end.

I’d been collecting special parts for a while like a straight-leg frame, from the last year rigid frames were made, rakable sidecar triple trees and other goodies. It had special gearing, allowing us to easily fly down the freeways at eighty miles per hour with only a four-speed transmission. Of course, it had a suicide clutch, which was kind of a Hangmen trademark.

I handmade a set of leather saddle bags and a scabbard to carry my .22 take-down survival rifle. They made long-distance travel a little easier.

She also never let me down, riding through all of the western states every summer. It was a fine motorcycle, and I would give anything to still have her.

Sadly, I sold her when I moved to Alaska to start the next chapter in my life. What was I thinking?

The Red Bike. New 1973 Shovelhead motor in a rare 1957 “straight-leg” frame.

For many years I rode a 1999 Harley Soft Tail. Not quite a chopper, but similar in the sense that it resembled what you would end up with if you took a stock bagger and “chopped” off everything you didn’t need, like saddlebags, windshield and crash bars. Just like in the old days.

It vibrated so badly; she reminded me of the old Panheads in a rigid frame. I felt right at home and loved riding her.

The engine was an eighty-inch Evo, or Evolution. I replaced the five-speed transmission with a six-speed. In sixth gear you had to do at least eighty miles per hour before the engine sounded happy. I owned this bike longer than any other and once again, she never let me down.

1999 Harley Soft Tail

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you will recognize my Dyna from the solo ride to Sturgis in 2023. Like the Soft Tail, to me, it has that 50’s or 60’s chopper look that you got when you stripped down a bagger. I think Harley Davidson got it right when they designed this one. It is a sweet bike, light and maneuverable. I don’t know how so many bikers got into “the bigger the bagger the better” mentality. In my opinion motorcycles should be cool, not big.

Unlike the Soft Tail, the 96-inch motor is smooth as silk and the bike is perfectly happy cruising at eighty or more, although I am not. With no wind protection, the faster you go, the more you get beaten up, hour after hour on the interstate is very tiring. Another reason to take the back roads, relax, ride a little slower and enjoy some of the fantastic scenery this country has to offer.

This bike also reminds me of a beefier version of the Sportster used in Then Came Bronson. On my trip to Sturgis, it never even hiccupped, and I feel like I could take off for anywhere in the country on it.

2013 Harley Davidson Dyna Super Glide

Some of you may be surprised to see me on anything but a Harley or a chopper, but I am a motorcycle rider, I love a lot of different kinds of bikes. Especially fast ones, and the BMW K1600 GT is incredibly fast. It has six cylinders and one-hundred-sixty horsepower from the factory. There are so many electronic gadgets on it, I almost had to attend a ground school, like checking out in a new airplane. It is also extremely smooth, comparing bikes to airplanes, (Having flown both) it’s like a Learjet while a Harley is more like a DC-3. Both wonderful airplanes. If you check out my YouTube channel, you will see numerous videos filmed from the cockpit… I mean the seat of this speedster.

Owning this bike makes me feel successful even though I didn’t buy it new. I got a very good deal on it with only 625 miles on the odometer, then I rode it home from Augusta, Georgia. When it comes to long distance travel, this thing is an interstate cruise missile.

2015 BMW K1600 GT

For years I’ve been tempted to build another chopper but have not wanted to take the time because of other demands, like writing books and traveling.

Finally coming full circle, in 2020 I had the opportunity to buy this Ultima based bike, built by an old time Hangmen from the 60’s, Indian Dave. She’s the star of the book Against the Wind.

It is definitely a blast from the past and takes me back in time better than a DeLorean with a flux capacitor drive. Even though the Paughco frame has a Soft Tail like suspension, you wouldn’t know it. It is loud, steers hard, rides rough and vibrates like an old Panhead.

I don’t know how the engine is built but everyone that rides it says it is not stock. They are also surprised when I tell them it is a 96-inch motor, but I say, “If your bike doesn’t weigh nine-hundred pounds you don’t need that big a motor. With its six-speed transmission, it goes fast enough.

Some motorcycles have a way of making you feel young again, as if time is only our imagination…  As long as you don’t look in a mirror.

2007 Chopper with a 96-inch Ultima Motor and six speed transmission

These are not by any means the only motorcycles I have owned in my life. I might add that I still have the last three bikes on this list.

Someone recently asked me if regretted selling any motorcycles that I’d had?

My reply was, “Yes, all of them.”

But alas, I am not Jay Leno.