I remember my first time.

 

I find it amusing and some make me laugh but it seems most things surrounding these bikes required a nickname, even the people riding them. Most of the people I know of in clubs up here don't use their real names (and I get it) but stink finger as your official name? I was called feathers because of wiping out a bike not too long ago and it shook me up for a couple of days lol. The engines were named that way too (knuckle, pan, gen shovel, cone shovel, Twinkie.....Not harley's name for them), a transmission called a cowpie for good reason, tins instead of tanks and fenders, jockey shift, was springer an official name or did harley have a different name for it? Hamburger brake drum, king and queen seat, shotgun exhaust, juice brake, crotch cooler, bobber, chopper the list goes on. Probably a generational thing because I dont hear as many nicknames for the the newer bikes other than crap, garbage, sucks, I hate it etc

 

"Tins" predates all of us reading in here by a LONG shot; jump on the wayback machine for the use of "tins". The use of the term had a derogatory undertone.

HD used stamped sheet more than Indian. The old guys said the Indian folk would taunt the HD folk with the poem:

"Harley Davidson, made of tin,
Ride 'em out and push 'em in."

 

Yep, that's a century-old term, too. Oil bag. LOL. No telling where it came from, but still widely used when I got started riding in the early '70's.

Oil bag, triple tree, sissy bar, pogo, binders, crash box.... Don't you wish you could go back and meet some of the old guys, ride around with them, buy 'em a beer, listen to the vernacular?

 

Tins as long as I've been dealing with them, but that's only 50 years. On the other hand I have a wife not an O'l Lady and I have cars and trucks not cages, so I guess whatever works for you.

 

nope, nothing to do with that cesspool known as reality tv. that **** has ruined many a good thing.

i learned them as tins when i was a kid back in the 70s and my brother was into riding.

 

The H-D clutch cover got the nickname "Derby Cover" because they were made from pressed steel being made into a dome shape with a flat rim around there edge and painted black, they resembled a derby hat (bowler hat if you are from the UK).

Today's clutch covers are aluminium instead of pressed steel, they don't have a large flat rim and they look nothing like a derby hat, but they are still known as a "Derby Cover".

British motorcycle parts had nicknames too, Triumph tank badges were known as, "Mouth Organ", "Gate" and "Eyebrow", The Triumph rear enclosure on 1950's models was known as the "Bath Tub" as it resembled an upturned tin bath. The original Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket III silencers were known as "Ray Guns" because they looked like a ray gun from a 1950's science fiction 'B' movie. AJS and Matchless rear shock absorbers were known as "Jam Pots". BSA A50 and A65 unit construction engines were known as the "Egg Engine" due to the oval shape of the primary and timing covers.

 

I only have read the term, never heard it spoken, but I don’t chill with intense type riders/owners/mechanics. Even some 50 years or so ago when being a pesky punk kid around old school bikers as they’re called today I never recall the term. What I remember the most was the nicest dudes that people feared yet they just wrenched and rode their bikes. Like today, the nicest people but the fear factor is gone. And not many wrenchers.

 

I flash my tin, does that count?

 

East coast, tins were a set, unless you were looking for a tank or fender. New plastic bike usually looking for Tupperware, unless its a specific bit.