WOW!!!! You can eat off those heads! Beautiful bike man!

 

Thanks for the compliment. It looks a little better in the pics than in person, though...

 

Ilove them and wish I still had one, might even get one to restore.

 

LOL i'll sell ya mine for what i have into it

 

The Ironhead sportster set the bar for harley for performance and most of all...the look. Inspiring the super glide and all the other customs afterwards, that lean performance look set the ironhead apart from the crowd. They were the racer,the hot rod of harley davidson and if you knew how to work on ione you could beat most of the street machines of the day. The 750 was based on the ironhead and the race bike helped improve the oiling systems and engine longevity, plus it won races,Flat track championships were everpresent in the 70's and eighties with a fifties design engine,quite a feat and if you throw cams and a big SS on the iron motor ,90 horsepower is still easily possible.pistons and headwork makes over 100. Good street power with plenty of torque. Its a classic and the motors need a modern sealant to keep them dry after they've been gone through but most of all the bikes need a knowledgable mechanic doing the repair.It ain't a jap parts replacement type rebuild, you need an engine fitter to get things right and working smoothly together. Its the difference between an L-88 67 corvette and a C-6 Z06 ,Ones a performance classic and the other is a sophisticated modern technical wonder. I'm for originality,which is the basis of character.

 

there are some beautiful bikes in this thread. thank you for sharing the photos.

i'm looking at a 74- first link, and also a second 74- second link. don't want to spend more than 2500 - 3000 $. posted an intro earlier, and i do some wrenching, but will need to take someone with me to go over any bike i'm thinking about to check it more thoroughly than i would be able to do as a fairly new wrench, and would-be first time harley rider.


here is the 1974 photo-

http://orlando.craigslist.org/mcd/3750980865.html

second bike-

http://daytona.craigslist.org/mcy/3687917372.html

 

If I can beat the crazed mob, I'm gonna pick this baby up today..............I can't help myself, she has 8k miles and the dude is only asking $2500.

 

They can be a lot of work, but for me that's part of the fun. Here's my "72" XLCH.

 

I still have an 81 ironhead,I put 30,000 miles on it, no problems at all, just oil changes, tires and chains. still have it. hasnt ran for 20 some years maybe someday I'll fire it up again

 

Almost 5 years since I posted my Ironhead on this thread, but I'm still riding it and having a blast! Returned it a little closer to stock...