As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated with
motorcycles, especially Harley-Davidsons (I guess it’s a testosterone-based
“guy thing”). In my “kid days,” probably 99.281% of bikes on the road were
Harleys, since this was before the days of the “Japanese Motorcycle Invasion.”
I’d see all the cool “Full-dressed” Harleys parked in front of the numerous
bars that densely populated the immediate area in the 50’s and early 60’s. I
would stand around the bikes and just stare and dream of the day I would finally
have one! This, of course, horrified our mother, who like most mothers detested
any kind of motorcycles. She
always said, “You’re NOT going to get a motorcycle, they’re dangerous and
you’ll get killed”! I’ll NEVER sign for one! When you’re 21, then you can get one”! (As will be
seen later in this account, shortly after I turned 21, I DID get one!)
As a kid, practically all the “fun” stuff we wanted to do such as smoking,
drinking beer, buying firecrackers, gambling, swearing, using “4 letter words”
( at least in front of grown ups for ALL the latter), and especially getting a
MOTORCYCLE! was always prohibited “Till we were 21”. I find it very ironic that
at this point in my life, I yearn for the days when I was UNDER 21! I was even prohibited from having the black
motorcycle jackets, which were popular back in the late 50’s. Our grandmother
“Ollie” even joined in the “fear mongering” by saying”, You don’t want a
motorcycle, it will ruin your kidneys”! I’m sure now that she was thinking all cycles were like the
Harleys in “her days” which were “hard tails” (i.e. no rear suspension) and if
the rider didn’t wear a “kidney belt”, he would supposedly have “ruined
kidneys” the rest of his life after he finally “wised up” and got rid of the
cycle. Just like the “Tin Man” in the Wizard of Oz when warned about the
pitfalls of getting a heart, I always replied, “But I still want one”! After riding cycles on and off for the last
30 plus years, my kidneys are indeed “ruined”, NOT from motorcycles, but rather
from “mid life maladies! A little later
when I was “older,” in addition to staring at Harleys parked outside of “Beer
Joints,” I would hitch hike to Norwalk and look at all the Harleys sitting
outside in back of the local Harley dealer. It really irks me that I can’t
think of the name of the place! It was on the corner of Benedict and Norwood. (Hey, Kit, help me out here!) I remember all of them were
dark colored and all had black leather saddlebags. One set of bags had “JOE” in
silver studs, COOOOL! I would sit on each one and never remember having anyone
“shoo me away.” This was probably due to my going there on a Saturday afternoon
when they were probably closed and/or I probably did this during the colder
weather in non-motorcycle season. The next “stage” of motorcycle mania was
seeing, what I STILL think was the coolest Harley ever! It belonged to Larry
“Woody” W. and was a “Full Dress” Harley and was painted turquoise with
white-fringed leather saddlebags and seat. It had dual chrome straight pipes
with big megaphone ends. I used to hang around when I saw it parked in town
just to hear it start up and run! MAN, that sounded sweet! Whenever he’d pass
our place late at night, he’d rev the engine and let those pipes “sound off”!
I’m sure he did it just for me! I could hear the pipes from then until he got
home (he lived on the next road about a mile around the corner! From that time
on, I have always determined that “Someday I’m going to have a Harley just
like that!” That always has been
the “benchmark”! The next “Harley encounter” was when I was in High school when
Eugene K. got a Harley. As in the past, I used to wait outside “Bar 61” and
check it out, then wait till he finally came out to start it and speed away.
When I was a freshman in High School, I finally got my first “motorcycle.” This
consisted of mounting a Briggs & Stratton engine on the back of my bike
with a fan belt drive “Whizzer” pulley mounted in the back wheel. This was a”
trend” with some of the guys, so Gary H., and Mike B. also had “motorcycles”
too. We were always a little leery of riding our “motorcycles” on the road. We
heard “from some kid” that the police “couldn’t do anything to you if you had
the drive belt unhooked.” Therefore, every time we were riding down the road
and saw a police, sheriff, or State Patrol car, we would quickly put on the
coaster brakes, stall the engine, and in a blur pull the drive belt off the top
engine pulley! We then would “innocently” pedal past the police car with a sigh
of relief convinced “they couldn’t do anything to us”! It must have been true,
because “they” never did “anything to us”!
Shortly after I “turned 21”, that “Mecca” for any kid, I purchased my
first real motorcycle! Unfortunately, it wasn’t my elusive Harley, but a used
Suzuki 500, since that’s all I could afford at the time. I rode that for about
3 years and even through 2 Michigan winters! That’s the only transportation I
had at the time and up there, no one gave a 2nd glance to anyone
riding in the snow. I eventually sold that one and got another Suzuki (not the
“holy grail Harley yet). It was the first year (1973) that they had a
water-cooled 750 engine! After I graduated from Graduate School and before
moving back home, I took a 2-week trip across Canada and New England on it. I
got the neatest looks in Canada, with one guy asking me, “Is that a radiator on
that motorcycle, Bloke”? After a few years, I sold that and got an 1100 Honda Gold
Wing, planning on taking a cross-country trip to California! After a few more
years, I went full circle and got a Honda 400, which was a lot easier on my
back. I have yet to get the “Holy Grail Harley” yet, BUT I’m planning on
it after I retire! I have a good amount in my “Harley Fund” so far, and have
been “checking the paper”! There’s no doubt that “sometime next year” I will
FINALLY own that elusive Harley! I don’t plan on going the
“Harley-lifestyle-look” route since I was “Born to be “Mild ”. However,
my Harley won’t SOUND mild since
it will have straight pipes with BIG megaphone ends! If any of you “locals”
should hear a LOUD Harley come past your place some night next summer and hear
the engine rev and the pipes “sound off”, it will be ME! Since I’ll be RETIRED,
I’ll be headed to no particular place with no particular time to return (unless
it’s to an AARP meeting or something)!!!! “LIVE TO RIDE, RIDE TO LIVE”
