Harley Model J in Papua New Guinea

 

Bit beaten around this photo but it's a cracker. The bike is a Harley Model J which looks to have had every bit as hard a life as the photo itself. I genuinely would be at a total loss as for the location but for the fact that someone has written Kokopo, New Guinea April 1919 on the reverse.

Kokopo was part of 'German New Guinea' until the start of the First World War when in 1914 it quickly fell to Australian forces. Presumably these chaps in the photo are Aussie military.

Tokyo street spot shovelhead chop

Variety is the spice of life as they say so here's something a bit different from the norm on this blog.

Recently the vessel I've been working on has been based out of Japan: I don't get much time on shore but usually on arrival I get an overnight stay before being bussed off to my boat early morning the next day. It gives a few hours to have a wander around. This Harley Shovelhead chop seems to be in regular use and was spotted outside a noodle shop in Ota City, Tokyo. Tokyo driving is fairly relaxed and civilised by the standards of other capital cities across the world but never-the-less hats off for piloting this beast through the traffic.

In the UK the whole chopper scene is very separate from the vintage / classic bike movement, something I've always found strage given how cafe racers are welcomed and what are they really but custom bikes? In the end we're all just folks enjoying vintage machinery.

Tattoo shop shovel

Spotted outside the Hard Luck Tattoo parlour in Kingston upon Thames this shovelhead Harley chop. I guess the condition is what some might describe as 'rat'. It looks like it is in regular use though, despite the rust it's all in very functional condition and I'm not seeing how it could easily be wheeled in to shop at the end of the day. If it is a daily, then due credit to the pilot, a beast of a bike to be using in London traffic.

Fifities bike parking in the West End

I wonder why this picture was taken? It's just a street scene of several bikes parked up.  The Vespa in the foreground that the chap is starting has 'Berlin, Turkey, Istanbul' written on to the front mudguard so perhaps he is the intended subject. There's surely an interesting story behind this much travelled scooter.

Also slightly anomolous in the line up is the Harley that's peeking out from under a cover. It has springer forks so would be slightly out of date by the time the photo was taken. Perhaps it is an ex-WD model that has been civilianised and lightly customised?

The street sign in the background is quite blurry but by zooming in one can read Hallam Street W1. Hallam Street is close by to Harley Street and in the West End of London. The second picture is of the building in the photo as it is now from Google Maps. It took a while but was identifiable by the dsitinctive railings which happily still remain in place.

Harumph!

I spotted this sweet looking hybrid on a recent trip down to West Bay in West Dorset. West Bay is a local riding destination being a cute fishing village with a couple of good cafes at the end of several fun roads. Bike or no bike it's just a good place to visit.

The petrol tank logo states 'Harumph' which is as good a homebrew bike name as you will ever find and reason enough in itself to pop a Harley engine into a Triumph frame. Let's forget that neither were Triumph's fifties frames noted for their fine handling, nor Harley WL flatheads for their great performance. This machine is the anti-Triton! These things matter not these days for what is created is a great looking bike that would undoubtedly be a lot of fun to ride.

Harley Triumph special. Harumph!

Japanese Sportster

That Japan has a vibrant custom scene is old news. What is less reported is how dedicated the guys involved are and how much they actually live the life and ride their bikes. My job has taken me to Japan quite a lot recently and I snapped pics of this Sportster-based chop at a service station on the road from Yokohama to Shimizu.

It was the middle of winter, quite cold, and the bike looks like a daily rider. Maybe it had a starting issue but impressively the owner left it running while going to in to have a pee or get a coffee, perhaps both. How many countries can you just leave a running bike like this unattended and not worry about it? 

Elefant Rally / Elefantentreffen 1966

In memoriam of rallies we have missed out on this winter here are some of the nicest events photos of yore that I have come across for a good while. They're amongst the favourites in my collection. Pictures from someone's album of days gone by of a trip to the Elefant Rally in 1966.

(tip - as with all photos on this blog click to enlarge. If you then want to see them in even better resolution right click and open in a new tab or view image. All pictures on the blog are scanned in high res.)

Top right a winterised BMW combo - check the
homemade muffs around the heads and barrels to
stop it getting too cold! As a testament to their
quality you still even now see BMWs like this doing
the rounds of the winter rallies.
Bottom left the Nurburgring pits and grandstand area.
Bottom right. Well done sir! A venerable plunger framed
Golden Flash BSA has made it along from the UK.

Top. Tents under the trees with a
Jawa combination.
Bottom a very smart Vincent Black
Prince combination. Note the Harro
Elefantenboy tank bag and five inch
Black Shadow rev counter. The Black
Knight was already out of production for
more than ten years by the time this picture
was taken but it would have still been the
most potent bike at the event.

Top left a pair of Harleys.
Top right, those Harleys again. The license plates
are US forces in Germany type.
Bottom left. A glamorous visitor from Britain -
Vincent Black Shadow with Watsonian chair.
Bottom right. A NSU 501T from the late twenties.

Top left a sweet cafe racer based on a DKW RT350
twin.
Bottom left a Beemer combo alongside another
DKW - an RT200(?) this time.
Bottom right. US visitors. A Harley Duo-Glide
to the fore.

Top right a Triumph hitched to a child-adult
chair leads a Royal Enfield with Wessex sidecar.
Bottom left, the pit area at the Nurburgring.
Bottom right another Brit bike, an Ariel Square
Four MkII.

Harley Davidson Model J

 A wonderful picture this one. The bike is unmistakably a Harley, a Model J and there is some local interest for me as the picture is captioned 'Taken Sept 1919. Outside Sam's Office in Yeovil'. Anyone out there from Yeovil and recognise the building? Obviously a well to do family this one, looks like grandad is a bit behind the times with his top hat though.

Magnificent c1919 Harley Davidson Model J.

Harley FX 1200

A rare and exotic bike in the UK at the time, a Harley FX 1200 from, I believe, 1976. This was deep in the period when AMF owned Harley Davidson and, as is generally acknowledged, produced some motorcycles of legendarily awful build quality.

That Harley survived this period whilst Triumph and Norton failed in Britain whilst producing similarly outdated but slightly better made machines is probably thanks to American protectionist economic policies more than anything else...

My interest in Harleys tends to wane somewhere soon after the early sixties. Milwaukee produce thereafter for me is generally a nice engine that could do with some better cycle parts. But that's all a matter of taste and of course millions of folk the world over love em. However, crappily built or not, the FX is really not a bad looking bike and still a rare beast these days on this side of the Atlantic.

1976 Harley FX1200 in the UK (that's an old Transit van
in the background!)

Pure Americana

A bit quiet on new posts the last week or so, that's because we're in New England on a family road trip. Absolutely loving Maine, it's pretty much all I picture America to be, or rather all I want America to be. Away from the coast it offers a pure and rugged slice of Americana that matches my Hollywood and literary imprints. Dirt roads through the vast forests, general stores, logging trucks, huge wide rivers, Dutch barns, clapboard houses, trailer homes with old pick-ups parked in front and inhabited by folks of all persuasions with a common need for freedom and escape.

This view could only get more American if Uncle Sam himself
were to stride by.... Solon Hotel, Solon, Maine. Fabulous!

The American Dream with a Servi-Car

Here's a slice of absolute pure americana. It's all so instantly recognisable it could not have been taken in any other country. To top it all the photo has the note 'Hollywood Boulevard' on the reverse. 

Harley Servi-Car on Hollywood Boulevard.

VMCC Shepton Mallet Autojumble March 2016

The VMCC Shepton Mallet Autojumble is one of the best parts fairs going at the moment and has been for some time. Stalls are fairly priced so plenty of enthusiasts come along to have a clearout, that means interesting parts for sale and that brings the punters in. Combine that with the fact that you always know you are going to see plenty of folks you know to have a natter with it's a good day out, so good that you can forgive the drafty agricultural showground that it is held in. At least the halls don't stink any more of sheep turd like they used to. Here's a small mish-mash of gems that caught the eye from a few hours of wandering...

Late thirties Sunbeam Lion side valve would make a nice easy
and sophisticated pre-war runabout.

This was my star of show. Extremely original unrestored early
thirties BSA. Sadly I'm not sure of the model. It would be
criminal to restore it. Not cheap at £6500 but really not too
bad either condition considered. Personally I'd far rather
have this one than something shiny.

Early twenties New Hudson two stroke
represented an ambitious project.

JAP in a box.

Have always had a soft spot for Excelsior Talisman Twins,
maybe that's because I have never owned one or perhaps
they are indeed wonderous machines.

Take your pick of pre-war Villiers motors.

For a while you couldn't more for pre-war French bikes recently
imported to the UK. The tide seems to be slowing.

Lovely unrestored Cotton Telstar racer sold quickly.

This pair of recently imported ironhead Sportsters caught
the eye. One from '76 and the other a '69.

Those Sportsters again. The '76 to the fore. The '69 one
really appealed, maybe it's just as well that I had no spare
cash...

The '69 Sportster motor in all its glory.

Movie star on a Harley combo

Lovely celebrity publicity shot featuring a late thirties / early forties Harley. Must have seemed like a breath of fresh air sent from sunny California to 1944 Nottingham in the aftermath of the blitz and middle of rationing.

The message on the card is frankly a bit cheeky. The long and short of it is that he has posted a reply saying, 'Thank you for the autograph request, I'm not going to send you an autograph now as the postage costs me a lot so send me some money and then I will send you an autograph'! This was probably common practice back in the heyday of autograph hunting.

I've tried to identify the actor but drawn a blank, if anyone knows please get in touch or make a comment, thanks.

Unknown Hollywood actor posing with family and Harley
combination.

postscript:
Thanks to Casper for getting in touch to point out that the actors appear to match the franking mark on the postcard and are probably Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone and possibly Blayney Lewis as the kid in His Butler’s Sister.

The Harley Davidson Rickshaws of New Delhi

Just as in the UK, India was flooded with ex-wd machinery in the immediate post-war period. Many of these were British made staples such as the Ariel W/NG, Triumph 3HW, Norton 16H, Royal Enfield WD CO, Matchless G3L and BSA M20. There were also a goodly number of American v-twins, a few of the UL model 1200cc Harleys and numerous Indian 741 and Harley 45s.

Hard to believe now but the Harleys and Indians were held in low esteem in the UK and perhaps with good reason, what makes a charming classic nowadays isn't necessarily what qualified a machine as a decent bike when it was new. The Harleys had foot clutches, poor ground clearance, three speed gearboxes, poor fuel consumption and couldn't really out perform a British 350 ohv single on any criteria. I know of someone in the UK who owned one of the civilianised Indian 741B models immediately after the war and he always claims that it was the worst motorcycle he ever had!

In Delhi an enterprising businessman realised that the plentiful supply and tractor like qualities of the Harley WL models could be well applied to turning him a profit. Accordingly bikes were bought up cheap at surplus auctions and converted into tricycles. As I understand the majority were pressed in to service in 1949.

Harley WL in mid conversion to a rickshaw. I believe that the
older gentleman standing behind is one of the Sharma brothers
of 'Sharma Motorcycle House' vintage and classic motorcycle
dealers fame. 

The rickshaws were designed to carry six to eight passengers though inevitably they were often jammed with more. They became known as 'phat-phatis' on account of the engine note of the WL. Despite the Harley rickshaws now being long gone they are fondly remembered and the phat-phati nickname lives on as a catch-all phrase for motorised rickshaws.

This, as I understand, is a picture of the last Harley rickshaw
in service that retained its original Harley motor.

As time went on inevitably the rickshaws became somewhat battered. The motors wore out and parts became harder and harder to find. Sometime in the eighties the original Harley motors were phased out to be replaced by single cylinder diesel industrial engines made by the Indian firm Greaves-Lombardini. Incidentally these are the same motors as were used in diesel powered Royal Enfield Bullets.

A Harley rickshaw mid-way through conversion to
diesel power.

My first visit to Delhi was in 1997. I was lucky to just catch the phat-phatis before they were phased out a couple of years later in 1998. On October 1 1998 Delhi city enforced a ruling barring any commercial vehicles more than twenty years old from the cities streets in order to tackle a quite terrible pollution problem. My memory of the Harley rickshaws is as being obnoxiously loud and belching out black smoke. They really were terrible polluters and this is what did for them in the end. Of course though being a bike nut I was thrilled to see them and manged to charter one for a quick tour around the city. By the nineties the rickshaws were terribly battered but they were full of character and still used a surprising number of the original Harley parts, including the gearbox. Quite a testament to the strength of the Harley 'box to give nearly fifty years of service and most of those years hauling the back half of a truck full of passengers.

The story I heard is that the whole fleet was owned by one gentleman who chartered them out and made his fortune through them. He bought them at rock bottom price when they were largely unloved, got many years of service from them and then made money selling them on at a point at which they were collectors items. When the original motors were replaced by the diesel engines the Harley units were sold on to a vintage dealer in the States and then in 1998 when they were finally taken out of service they were parted out with the remaining Harley parts going once more to collectors.

The phat-phatis were even a tourist attraction. This is a
postcard I bought back in 1996.

Sources:
The Indian site team-bhp.com. Thanks to the individuals who posted memories of the phat-phatis on the site which was also the source of several of the images.
Times of India

Poole Quay April 2015

Nothing more than a few pics from a sunny Poole Quay Bike Night a couple of weeks back.

Someone spent a huge amount of time, effort and, presumably,
money in making this Shovelhead look like a WWII WL.
Why? Well why not.

Not totally my bag but you've got to admire the handiwork.

Not often you see a chop this extreme out on the road.

Woah! Customised Honda Silver Wing super scoot. I really
wanted the owner of this creation to be a Pearly King or Queen
but when they turned up they actually looked pretty normal.

Say what you want but you are guaranteed to never see another
one like this. 

Cammy Norton. Pure class.

Love it! Green metal flake Lambretta cut down
with crazy green high back banana seat.

The two oldest machines there that night.

Honda Spacey. Don't know why but somehow I like it.

Twin cylinder Harley Hummer

From the same source as the Plymouth Monster article, 'Motorcycles in Competition' by Hank Wieand Bowman (1952), this magnificently eccentric home-brewed Harley Hummer tandem twin.

Through the magic of the web I found the history of the bike here:
http://www.motohistory.net/news2005/news-sept05.html (scroll down to see the article on the Hummer).

Wonderfully the Hummer still exists, still works and is in the Wheels Through Time museum in the States.

Harley Davidson Hummer home brewed tandem twin.

Ian's Harley MT350

Thanks to Ian for sending pictures of his very tidy ex-forces Rotax-engined Harley Davidson MT350. Now doing active service on the green lanes of Dorset and Wiltshire.

Harley MT350.

No respect for authority!

Scorched earth policy.

MT350 goes skating.