 Great Day For Classic Harley Motorcycles - Panhead & Shovelhead
Today was a great day for me. I hit the road this morning on my 1948 Harley Panhead "Crustoration" for the Cystic Fybrosis charity fund raiser at NewRoc Harley-Davidson in New Rochelle, NY. My pal Dean rolled with me on his 1965 Harley Panhead - so I guess we represented the beginning and end of the Panhead era.
We got on the highway and my bike felt odd. I wasn't sure, but the throttle seemed to respond in an unusual way. After a few miles I realized the throttle was sticking open even when I shut it down or off. Not good, especially when riding an old Harley with marginal brakes. I found if I opened the throttle wide open and then shut it off the engine speed would drop - sort of a temporary solution.
When we pulled into the service station on I-95 for gas I knew it was a real problem. When I kick started the bike it revved way too high and I quickly shut it off before it did any damage. Turns out the clamp on top of the throttle shaft with the butterfly flap (what ever it is called) came lose and rotated so the throttle was never closed.
Dean and I pulled out some screwdrivers. I set the throttle grip at full open and adjusted the butterfly to full open. Then, holding it in place, I tightened the front screw as Dean tightened the rear one (which was VERY loose). Problem solved. The rusty old Harley Panhead fired right up and ran great to NewRoc Harley.
The turn out was good and lots of great people, bikes and free food. I like that shop.
The ride home was fun and both Panheads ran strong on the highway and the back roads. At home I fired up my old 1979 BMW motorcycle that had to go to the shop for some work, and rode it down to the magazine office. I put away the BMW and pulled out my 1947 Harley Knucklehead that has been sitting neglected for way too long (about 4 years). I'd started this bike the week before for the first time in years (and was surprised the battery still worked) and rode it around the block.
Now I fired it up again (3rd hot kick), let it warm up and rode it back to my house. On the way I drained out the old gas in the carb filter area to make sure there was no junk in it. I had fille dup with fresh gas last week and the bike ran surprisingly well considering how long it had been sitting. The only mechanical issue was the clutch that did not want to cooperate coming off a dead stop. It made grinding noises then shot me forward faster than I wanted to. After about 20 miles of this I got the hang of the foot clutch, which is not acting right and will probably need me to take it apart and clean it one of these day.
I rode it home, checked the oil level (it was fine) lubed the chain while it was still warm, and washed the bike off of all the dust, spider webs and grunge. I cleaned the old leather saddlebags and solo sprung seat, greased the grease nipples, and added some carb cleaner to the gas tanks and went out for a 50 mile ride. The more I rode it the better this old Harley Knucklehead ran.
What a great day! I felt so lucky to be riding such incredible classic Harleys on such a perfect last summer day. And, for a change, I was able to identify and fix all the mechanical challanges. Don't you wish every day was like this? | 
Re: Great Day For Classic Harley Motorcycles - Panhead & Shovelhead 
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