Back story:
Or maybe "true confessions"... I've been a neglectful parent. I've allowed other, "sexier" (Ducatis...) or "more modern, reliable, comfortable" (Road King) bikes to steal my heart, squeezing out my first love in the process. Or, actually, my third love, I guess - this was my third Ironhead in as many years in the late '70's. I've owned it since I was 19 years old, in 1979. We've been cross country together, she's gotten me first to school and then to work when I had no car. She has been a faithful companion but, alas, I have not. The poor girl has sat disheveled and ignored, behind the other bikes in my garage, for the better part of the last decade.
I finally determined that I should do something about that. So, about a month ago, a pretty thorough "once over" began. She has now been treated to a new Corbin seat, a new GMA front brake caliper, a new disc, new shoes in the rear, new Metzler Laser Tecs, a generator rebuild, a starter solenoid rebuild, a rebuild of her S&S Super "E", a new battery, some rewiring, a new chain and sprockets (19 tooth countershaft, by the way), a new Dyna ignition unit and a fresh set of advance weights and springs, a new coil and spark plug wires and a generous helping of good old TLC.
Today was the big day. After a week of around town shakedown runs, fiddling with jetting and timing and re-torquing all the fasteners, we were ready for a blast up the valley. So, I bundled up, warmed her up, and off we went. Here we are, together again, enjoying the afternoon:
Back home, relaxing:
As is readily apparent in the video, this is no modern sportbike. It is, however, very satisfying in a far different way to ride, and "make time" on it. The thing shakes so bloody hard - you can see it quite clearly (or quite "fuzzy", I should say) as the revs climb in the video. It's definitely a lot of work to hustle this thing down the road, and it's certainly not the most comfortable thing out there, but there is just something about it that is its own kind of fun. It could never again be my only bike, and if I ever had to pare down it would be the first to go, but there is still room in the stable for this kind of machine. It's fun to be back on it again.