To continue the saga of my first Harley experience. I received my Ebay won, 1961 Panhead FLH last Thursday. The bike was pretty much what I expected. It’s pretty stock, with new paint on the tank and fenders. It has decent compression, but needs some TLC. It came with a buddy pogo seat, and hard saddle bags.

After a 1 hour leg workout, and some starter fluid, I was able to get it running and ride it. This is my first time on a tank shift bike, so riding it was interesting. It was kinda like learning to ride a motorcycle all over again, which made it really fun. I stalled it about 20 times, but after about half an hour of riding I was getting the hang of it. The on the fly timing adjustment, is going to take some work.

This weekend was a bit frustrating. The plan was to install the pogo seat. However, once I got the tanks off I found that the carb bowl was leaking, so I took out the carb (original Linkert). Also found a bunch of little issues I didn't like. So a two hour effort, turned into a two day exploratory surgery. After getting it back together, I couldn't start it. It would fire for 20 sec and die. Seams like it's starving for gas, the spark is pretty bright. Possibly I messed something up. So now I have to figure that one out. I'm sure given enough time I'll fix it, but I want this bike to be fun as opposed to a right leg workout. So, how the hell do I get it to start and run more reliably? Is the starting thing just a rookie problem? Do I need to get a new carb, up the ignition to 12 volts, take the thing to a pro................?

Here are some pics of the bike
http://www.aptekarev.com/Harley/index.html

And for a little sacrilege, here is my other bike ;-)
http://www.aptekarev.com/2000_R1/index.html

 

You don't need a new carb. Keep it stock. You can rebuild those old Linkerts can be rebuilt for next to nothing. Welcome to the world of kick start only. Get use to it until you get all the bugs worked out. You're starting out on an Antique that no Harley dealer is going to be able to help you with. Your best bet is to try to find somebody in your area with a similar bike.

Good Luck!

 

Kenny, thanks for showing us the bike. Very nice! A couple of quick thoughts on the motor stalling out on you. Clogged fuel strainer, clogged jet in carb, fuel restricted by debris in shut off rod seat, loose wire connection at battery, coil, or timer. I am with Terry on the carb. Both my pans are running Linkerts. They are reliable and extremely easy to rebuild. Oh yeah, welcome to the world of kickstarts.

 

There are lots of things that probably should be addressed. Without seeing your bike and looking it over it is hard to say what the specific problems are. But here are a few things.

Check the fuel lines and replace if they are old. You may have a problem with the rubber swelling and choking off the fuel. Since you said you had the carb off and apart, I would check the float adjustment. An incorrect float adjustment can starve the engine of fuel also. The timing could also be a problem. Does it have the original distributor and can you turn it by hand for starting. You may have to manually retard the ignition for starting.

The old pans are usually very easy to start once you have the sequence figured out. My shovel has to be kicked over twice with the ignition off and the choke on and then turn the ignition on and the choke off and it starts first kick.

Looks like a nice bike and when you get it dialed in I think it will be a great ride.

 

Been reading your on going saga.............

Only thing I could/can add, is that is a sweet looking ride you have and once you get the bugs worked out, you'll be on that bike everyday

Congrats and Good Luck