Someone went to a lot of work to make this Chief look like a Harley. Check out the wings on the helmet on the guy to the left
'Portrait of men standing beside motorcycles, outside Hartley Brothers in Bendigo'; photo by Vincent W. Kelly; State Library of Victoria
Trust me, I am not trying to cause a shitstorm, but I thought post '65 shovelheads were not allowed. This is a cone motor engine which is from the 80's that is made to look old. There have been EVO engines posted that were in a bike made to look old. The last big twin engine HAMB approved was the Panhead which was mad from 1948 thru and including 1965. Can we just have clarification that is set in stone? No Shovelheads top ends are not allowed, regardless of configuration...regardless of lower end or any other reason. Its early, I'm old, and I am rambling, but you get my drift.
Damn it’s only an image . It’s cool as hell . I have noticed a lot of early car images with late engines dressed up as early stuff . List could open a real can of worms . The last nose cone shovel left factory in early 84 . That’s still pretty old . It is what it is , carry on . It was still a cool bike , FUN to look at
I was just trying to see if we could get some sort of continuity. It's frustrating to post some nice bikes only to find them disappear for some strange reason. You make a good point.
Sky six have people post OT motorcycles on the off topic threads . Kool motorcycles that don’t meet the cutoff year rule will still be seen
I have thought of that but truthfully, I prefer the older stuff. If someone wants to start the modern thread, I have a boatload of Shovelhead pictures that I could post. Just speaking for myself, I have zero interest in new stuff. This is as modern as I get.
250 cc blooey pipe Greeves Scrambler… the starting point in 1963-65 Hello, I have to thank my brother for getting us into our next adventure of our teenage years. The recovery for his drag racing accident was taking over a year and he was getting antsy. Some surfing days, some bicycle touring the coastal hot spots, etc. But, there was still a gleam in his eyes... Something mechanical, something with a feel when a throttle was twisted or the feel of full power ahead. Yes, there were some full power acceleration runs on the Terminal Island Freeway late at night and that got the blood pumping. (since the start of the freeway near our house was on the same street as the end of the Lion's Dragstrip location, it was sort of an extension...) So, over the next several months more visits to local showrooms and parts dealers were interesting. The next step was not street motorcycles, but full on wide open desert exploring with overnight camping thrown in due to the distance to the desert open areas. Several friends had purchased a Honda Scrambler and a Triumph Motorcycle, so the impetus was there. The early days were wide open spaces, all out acceleration with the desert backgrounds to lead us the way, etc. Then we saw a large gathering on the wide open desert environment. As we were finishing our college years, the summer was a different story. We had three months to enter and race as many desert motorcycle races as we could get in, so it seemed like every weekend, we were somewhere in the vast Mojave desert area. Most of the wide open randomly selected and outlined courses were far away from civilization, due to noise and dust in the air with sometimes several hundred loud dirt bikes taking off and running for hours to the end. The Novice classes were always packed full of future stars if one had the skills and mastered desert riding with their reliable motorcycles. Like drag racing, every legal modification was used to make riding more comfortable, efficient and faster. but, getting to the Expert classes was a very long road ahead. I had an extended rear swing arm to allow me to get farther back when more traction was necessary in the deep riverbed sand wash locations. It also gave me more stability when in shallow, but still rim covered sandy wash at higher speeds. Compared to some deep sand washes that your whole quarter of a tire/rim disappears as one uses all areas of the dry to trickle water location for more speed. From our first 250 cc “blooey pipe” Greeves Scrambler novice bike episodes to learning to ride the much faster 250 cc Challenger springer fork versions in the races was exciting. The two spark plug head, tuned expansion pipe exhaust, the feeling was much faster and more reliable for those long distance 40-50 mile leg one and same distance on another route for leg two. Those high speed flat out runs on the dry desert lake beds was really fun. Now, only the large 500cc + 650cc Triumphs were the ones flying by me, as I was passing the slower bikes. 250cc Greeves Motocross Challenger Motorcycle +++ purchased in 1965 Jnaki I did well as could be in the 250 Novice classes with two starts in the European Scrambles races leading the large group for two laps of a 5 mile course. But, as much fun as we had, life was moving on just as fast as it had during our hot rod/drag race days leading up to longer vacations with surf trips involved. So, a new direction for us as we were getting to the end of our short college summer days. YRMV Note: Talk about a short summer vacation time period. Fall 2024 the local schools started on August 20 for most So Cal school districts. (some colleges started Aug 19 ) Our teenage school years did not start until after September Labor Day weekend. Yikes… where did those hot summer days with blue ocean waves go to this year? At least there is less traffic on the coastal roads and elsewhere we have traveled since the start of school A ton of student drivers off the road and also the tons of teachers/staff now parked all day, while we get to cruise on fairly empty streets… yes! Note 2: Back then, the transition from teenager to college age kid was short. The desert racing motorcycle days continued as the need for high action activity just increased as the long courses got more fun with a faster, more stable race bike. For some different action, several closer drive courses not officially titled desert races were entered. Now, hundreds at the starting line were all headed for a driveway sized starting lane for the extended race course. Not officially called a European Scrambles, but similar as it was a closed course with family members scattered all over the race course on hillsides looking at the racers. The latest: The AMA District 37 has several desert races scheduled for 2024, including: The 33rd Annual Meltdown Dual European Scrambles: Rounds 9 and 10 of the Desert Scrambles Series will take place on June 1–2, 2024. Viewfinders MC Desert Classic Grand Prix: The 50th Annual Grand Prix will take place at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds in Ridgecrest, California from September 27–29, 2024. Grand Prix Series: This series will take place from October 25–27, 2024. The AMA District 37 also has a Hare and Hound Series, which consists of five races in the first half of the year. The races feature two loops, one for all skill levels and one that is more difficult. The AMA District 37 has an app that provides access to the race schedule and more.
The Jalopy Journal
