When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
This is my Panhead I built in 1972. It started life as a 1952 rigid wishbone frame. Like most of us in the 60's and 70's we couldn't leave well enough alone. I bought the front end from and upstart named Arlen Ness (I met him at a bike show in New York) for about $250 - handlebars included. The Weber carb I got off an Alpha Romeo in a junk yard and can't remember where I got the manifold from. I painted it with rattle cans with the help of a buddy who worked in a body shop. I remember my brother, who worked in a machine shop after school, milled off the ridges on the cam cover and tossed a bunch of parts in a company bin for chrome plating! Score! No front break and mechanical in the rear. It was a great bar-hopper but that's about it. Pogo'ed like crazy, but wh
en you're 18...............
'55 FL. My first bike, bought in '76. It didn't look like this when I bought it, but got bit by the restoration bug in '84, and it's been like this ever since. I put the oil tank sticker on when I polished the heads and put an "H" cam and upgraded the valve springs.
Last edited by omar1951; Aug 11, 2021 at 12:59 PM.
Reason: more text
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.
My 52 Panhead
