There are times during the summer months when it seems to be fashionable to lie around under a shade tree after a pleasant Sunday ride to reminisce about years past. Well, I wasn't so lucky; the only time to lie around was when I was under the truck changing the oil when the temperature in the driveway was 106 degrees. It was probably cooler under the truck than out in direct sunlight, but I wasn't up to moving the thermometer to verify the exact temp. Inside the shop there was shade (warm shade) and plenty to do. One thing that needed doing was to sort out a couple of boxes full of files from years past. In one of these boxes an envelope caught my attention... well actually, the writing on the outside of the envelope caught my attention - it read "office wall photos." There wasn't any date or location giving a clue as to what office they were posted in. I dumped the contents of the envelope out on the table. There were probably somewhere between 30 and 40 photos, business cards, media passes on lanyards, decals, and other assorted junk. The strange part was that everything in the envelope came out upside-down, face down, or whatever you want to call it, except for this photograph. This photo was face up, so I thought it was trying to tell me something; it sounded like it was telling me to use it for this column. OK, here it is.
The motorcycle in the photo is mine, circa 1973. The photograph was taken by my brother, Patrick Kaisler. This was a pivotal year for me as well as the bike. I went down later that year on some sand getting off the freeway. I got right back up and rode to Tom Downey's Paint Shop to straighten the bars and check for damage. Just some scratches and asphalt rubbing - me worse than the bike. When something like that happens, it's time for a change, and I changed everything. The bike went from a modified Harley-Davidson rigid frame to a custom rigid frame from Arlen Ness. The H-D frame in the photo was stretched 4 inches in the front downtubes, and the neck was stretched 4 inches out. I have no idea what the rake was but I do remember the front end was 22 inches over. The trees were custom, narrowed 3 inches. The sliders were from Barney's Speed Equipment in Paramount, California, and all there was room for was a spool hub laced to a 21-inch hoop. The handlebars were buckhorns, and the only brake was the rear mechanical drum that was hit or miss working when hot. The gas tank was what we called at the time an "axed Harley tank." I think the seat was a king and queen from AEE. I do remember that it was one of the most comfortable seats that I ever had a grip on. Let's see... oh, the rear fender was a 5-inch ribbed unit and the sissy bar was built by a local guy, Wes Brown, who did all of our welding. The engine was a painhead with a Sportster magneto fitted using a Barney's adapter because I could never get the wiring right and I hated pushing the damn thing home with a dead battery. The transmission is or was a four-speed foot shift that I had converted from a jockey shift setup two years earlier. The pipes were drag style from AEE which was at the time only one of two or three shops that had catalogs of custom parts; I seem to remember buying them in '71.
The bike is still hanging around but in a much different configuration. It's now part of the HRB test fleet and sports an 80-inch S&S shovelhead motor. Check next issue for a updated look at the shovel and a couple of our other test bikes. This fleet is for testing new products like mufflers and exhaust pipes as well as combination packages of cams, carbs, and pipes. More on the fleet next issue.
Well that's all the space I have for reminiscing. I'll look for another photo from the past for next time...
- Frank Kaisler