Great story Twiggy thanks for sharing!

 

Grew up around bikers back then....my Dad rode....my Uncle was a patch holder (R.I.P. Unc).
Them old choppers and scoots were the coolest things you'd ever see! I wish I could go back, being around it so much back then I just didn't seem to appreciate it like I should have. You know what I mean?

Now it seems everybody and their brother has a Harley.

 

Been riding since 1973 and Twiggy is pretty much on target.

Less bikes on the road, Harley very popular anlonmg with Brit bikes like BSA, Norton and Triumph (which is what I rode). Not many posers - people who had bikes rode them.

Brit bike owners had fingers that smelled of gas because we had to prime the carbsbefore start-up.

Honda became popluar when they introduced the 750cc 4-cylinder model with electric start and virtually maintenance free riding. Honda grabbed a large part of the Brit sales and even hurt Harley for a while.

Gas was a lot cheaper, although the average income was a lot less too.

The peace sign or clentched fist was the wave of the times.

650cc to 1000cc bikes were the Cruisers of the day.

Seems like ages ago!!!

Sammi

 

Been at it since the seventys,like others you made your own parts and sprayed them black,no money for chrome.All different bikes were chopped,mostly Harleys and Hondas,some Triumphs.Never any mention of what you wore or rode.That's why I get a kick out of some of these topics,even started some myself,just for fun,I can't believe anyone cares ifthey look like a mushroom head or if someone wears chaps or not,I found if you have a real problem you don't get much help might as well have some fun.

 

There were a lot more local motorcycle clubs in existance. It was they that put on poker and benefit runs. The dealers might do one a year. This was pre HOG. Now, the HD clubs are mostly local chapters.

Accessories were still scarce, although my 1977 came with a tour trunk and batwing fairing. It was still a 74 c.i. , four speed bike. I fashioned a back rest out of a secretary chair back, and mounted a CB in the trunk with speaker and mike on the cover over the handlebar attachment point. I put a Pep Boys air horn in the right saddlebag with the trumpets underneath. Rear shock adjustment was with a hinged spanner, that pinched your fingers. We still were running 530 chain drive with oilers that messed up the back fender and the rear wheel. Stock tires came from Goodyear and lasted about as well as now, except that the front and rear wheels were interchangible so you would put the new tire on front, move the front to rear, so you got about 20,000 out of each tire.

You either rode Electra Glide or a chopper if you were a Harley rider. Honda was just coming out with the CB 750 which cleaned HD's plow for smooth performance. My 77 didn't handle near as good as my 07 does, and we were still using drum brakes.

We did have oil coolers that mounted on the right rear crash bar, but no thermostat at first so we had covers for winter use. We still ran 50 wt oil in the winter, and 60 wt in the summer.

 

Receding hair line, sagging, wrinkling face, back surgery,....I just wish I had my 20-something body back!

 

Bought my first Harley in 78, a new sportster. I had just moved to west Texas (Odessa).

In the spring of 79 I strapped my old seabag to the sissybar and dressed in a leather jacket, levi's, boots and helmet with shield,rode that bike to St. Petersburg Fl. in 3 days. If I remember right, that's about 1800 miles.
Somewhere in Mississippi, off I-10, I pulled into a truck stop, parked the bike between a bunch of rig's, handcuffed myself to the frame andgot my first4 1/2 hours of sleepbefore heading down the road again.
Between Pensacola and Tallahassee it rained so hard that cars were pulling off the interstate to wait it out. I didn't have rain gear and was soaked and freezing, so I pushed on to Talahassee where I stopped and got a room, took a hot shower, slept about 6 hours, then finished the trip.
I was in pretty good shape back then, but it still took me 3 days to recover, so I shipped the bike back to Texas via freight and returned on a Delta Airlines flight.

I still have that leather jacket and wear it frequently when riding.

In 1980 I traded the sportster in on a new FXB Sturgis---Harley's first belt drive.

 

30 years ago when you met (or saw) someone else on a Harley it was a relatively rare encounter compared to today (and they usually werent accountants and IT professionals)

sadly my brief HD experience from 1974 involved more wrenching and pushing than actual riding, and a lot more swearing and throwing of stuff...

 

Up here in western Canada, there weren't many HD's; clubbers on real old stuff and cops...my first "big" bike was a BSA 650 Spitfire MKIII; fast in it's day. Remember taking a Super Glide for a spin; it was heavy and sure didn't handle like my BSA but it had awsome torque...but it was real expensive and had a gross back fender. I seem to remember the Harley was near 2 grand while I paid about 1300 for my new 71 BSA. Was earning 300 a month in the Navy then. Gave it a rattle can/masking tape/lace paint job and fabbed up some muffler shop pipes.Lots of Brit bikes, more different clubs up here then;club scene has kinda been "consolidated" these days. Everyone I encountered bought bikes to ride, not for garage trophies. Still have my first leather jacket; wish it fit like it used to. Sure enjoy my 103" Dyna; reliable, fast and smooth. Gonna get one hell of ticket one of these days, though.

 

I got out of the Marines Jun77 in CA, went straight to Westminster Harley and bought a new XLCH.

900 Kaw's were all the rage back then and it seemed like every single one of them HAD to prove that they had the badass bike. Most of the Harley riders that I came across were patched greybeards, so I was most definitely the odd man out.
Riding was harder back then, because the public mentality was, EVERYONE on a Harley was HA.

Don't recall there being a 'wave' back then, but, there was 'the nod', and ONLY Harley riders got it!

I saw more chopped 350's - 750's with sissy bars as tall as stop signs, and Harley's with huge thrones that looked like LaZ Boy's!

The BEST THING.......................gas was like 60 cents a gallon!
But gas rationing was a bitch!
You could only buy 10 gallons every other day, depending on the last number of your license plate.
It was during the rationing period that gas finally went over a dollar a gallon, and cars were running out of gas all over the place. People pushing cars to the station, only to have lines 4 blocks long.
I recall siphoning being a major problem also.

Ah....................memories!
xmarine