picturesque riding pictures

My dad and I took the 47 and 42 into the Palm Garden for lunch. The bikes ran great.

My dad took Andy's 47. This bike is stellar. I love black 47 knuckleheads.

I had to adjust the clutch push rod and I chose to just leave the derby cover off until later.

I am pretty happy with this bike. There are still some growing pains to sort out. I should have it ready to roll in the next week or so.

Maiden Voyage

My dad took Andy's 47 for its first spin today. This bike runs and works so nicely. I love black knuckleheads!!!!

more 36 frame pics and good news.

Here is a neat detail on the 36 frame that I noticed. It is a DIF marking. I have seen these on some loops, but not all of them. The right/upside loop does not have this marking on this frame.


Here is a good shot that shows lots of damage that is expensive and difficult to repair. You can see where the tubes snapped off and were re welded. Also check out the neat fix for the seat post, they welded a gusset tube around the cracked and disfigured original post. You can also see where someone torch welded so many joints on this frame. The motor/trans mount and the foot board tabs are pretty obvious as is all of the extra welding on the tubes.




We fired up Andy's 47 today. I side kicked it for a bit and did not have much luck. SO we rolled it off of the lift, and it fired right up once it was straddle kicked.






This bike is Choice. I can't wait to ride it when the weather gets better.

knucklehead pics

I put the vent and return lines on Andy's 47 last night. They look great.


I spent two hours last night trying to get some original horns to work. No matter what I did, I couldn't make them work. My dad came out this morning and spent a half hour on it and it was fixed. He is so damn sharp. I am very lucky to have him for helping me out on projects.



Here is a repro 41 and 42 front brake lever perch. I looked for an original one for the last two years and could not find one, so I pulled the original one off my dad's 41 and made some copies. This is a terrible business decision, because at the most I will probably sell two of them, but I have them for the bikes that need them. I have to look at the big picture in cases like this.



here is the side profile. I still have to sand down the parting line and polish it, but this piece is almost done.

neat bike photos

Here is a neat pic of my dads original paint 37 knucklehead after we first put 18 inch wheels on it. I love this bike it is probably the nicest one that we have. the crown jewel so to speak. It is super fast. We bought it from the original owner's son.


This is my dad's 53 panhead before we put the orange sheet metal on it. I never rode it in this configuration. we were asked by mike lichter to make a replica of the chino bike from the wild one movie, so we did, then we put it back to stock and then my dad and Mike rode it across the country for the cannonball.



Here is a great pic of Bob's 47 I love this motorcycle it turned out so great and he actually rides it, which is a huge bonus for my dad and i. Anyways, I did not work in the shop today as i have been with our website designer working on updating our products section on www.carlscyclesupply.com Go check it out and let me know what you think. I would like any and all input. thanks and have a nice day

some more 47 wiring shots

Here is the pic that tim requested a couple days ago.


I installed the rebuilt 32e generator from Dale Cashman this morning. Here is a neat pic of it all wired up. 47 was the first year for a green gen to relay wire.



and a shot from the other side. this all looks nice. I will be setting up handlebar controls shortly.

47 wiring details.

1947 was the first year for a green wire to the oil pressure switch. It is also the last year of this fancy nickle plated push on terminal. I made these up a few years ago and Love them. Here it is crimped and soldered into place. I have a bunch of nos panhead ones, but eventually they will run out and I will have to make those ones too.


I buttoned up a bunch of the wiring on Andy's 47. Here is a good front business shot of the horn



OOOO AAAAAHHHH sterile.




That red wire is the positive wire. It loops around from the right side frame terminal, goes through a little clip, then back to the battery.

Man o man I love having the right stuff on our bikes. This is a great pic. I hope these pics help some of you guys out that are putting your bikes together.

trim, lights and busted up parts

It is Ray's birthday today, so we got him a cake.


I mounted up the tail light on andy's 47. I love these blacked out bikes.



The inside is painted white to help reflect light better.




Check out the trim on the front fender ooooohhhhh aahhhhh. This makes such a difference.





I got this neat wr case in to weld up for my friend in North Carolina. This bike raced daytona in 50 and 51. I am not sure when the motor mount got busted off, but it did. I have a 42 wr bike to restore for a friend of mine. I am so excited about it.

more nerdy details

Here are the two wires for the headlight on the 42


Here they are made into little nooses. Early pre war nooses look like this. sometime during the war, hd cut back on the generous amount of wire used and had a different looking set up. page down to see what a post war one looks like. This is what the terminals on our original paint 37 and 41 knuckleheads look like.



Here is a pic of the noose being soldered. this works really well and allows you to put the bare minimum of solder onto the terminal. Once you have the terminal soldered up, you can flick it to flin the excess solder out.




HEre are the terminals for the 47 that I am working on. They are a bit different than the pre war ones. I am not sure when they switched. Our untouched 46 and 47 knuckleheads are like this.

YFITTINGS!!!!!

Here is the overhead oil line on Andy's 47


The y fitting on the left is the reproduction one that I just took out. The one on the right is a casting that I had made up a lonng time ago. There is quite a difference between the two.
I made up a hundred of these little guys a long time ago and am about half way through them.


Here is a pic of the assembly installed. Now I just have to get it re cad plated. These y castings were one of the first parts that I had made up. It is a pretty minor detail, but all of those minor details add up into a big difference.

neck cups and pressure testing

Here is a neat pic of my dad pressure testing a vl cylinder.


This is a super rare early vl cylinder that had had the intake insert brazed into previousely. There must have been a huge chunk missing out of it and they used the brass as filler. there really is no way to fix this. we pressure tested it, found the leaks and silver soldered them up. there is still a little bubbly spot in this picture. We got it alll sealed up, now we just have to drill it and put the rivets in. I guess these things are impossible to find. I know that this set was a huge undertaking and I am glad they are almost done.



Well I spent the day switching out the neck cups on Andy's 47. It had repro ones in it when we first got the bike, and I didn't have any originals when I was putting it together. well as you can see the repro ones are sooooo ugly. These were the first thing that I looked at whenever I saw the bike. I got some originals back from the cad plater and decided to switch them out. We are in the process of having our own made up, and I cant wait to be free from having to use the best quality reproduction.




HEre is a neat pic of the steering dampener all ligned up.





Check out the nice original cups. Now I won't have a painful eyesore pulling my attention towards it when I look at this primo 47.

alignment info

Here is how you set up the belt and check for alignment. The straight edge is held tight against the clutch drum and intersects the center of the motor pulley. My dad measured the distance from the back edge of the motor pulley and zeroed out the caliper.


Here he is measuring the distance in the same spot on the front of the pulley. They have to be within .020 thousandths of an inch. It is also worth while to pull the spark plugs and kick the system through a dozen times and double check that everything is tracking straight and the belt isn't rubbing anywhere. Once this is set up, you never have to mess with you motor and transmission settings again!



47 primary cover installed




42 primary cover installed!

repitition is the best way to remember things lol

These are the evil covers that I mentioned earlier. A few of you commented and sent emails asking what I was talking about. Anyways you should throw these away. If you don't hate them now, you will surely hate them if you ever have to change a belt on the side of the road.


Primary set on the 42



Primary set on the 47




Primary set on the 52. Now I get to go out and install covers, well after I proofread and edit my amca column!!!!!!

Primaries and peak seals

My dad spent the day machining intake manifolds and making peak seals for them. THis is a good deal and definitely worth the effort. I love this set up. We used to cut the surfaces on the lathe, but this is a more rigid set up and quicker. The biggest advantage is not having to press inserts into the manifold over and over again. Any steps that you can take to eliminate putting stress on 70 year old metal is always a good thing.


I spent the day sorting out primaries on three bikes. I love doing things in batches and it cuts the time down on setting things up. It is a bit of a test in organizational skills, but worth the extra effort. I took this picture to show that we DO NOT USE THE TOP HAT TIN COVER. This is a pointless piece. IT is very important to have your pulleys lined up. The tin cover is pointless if your pulleys are where they are supposed to be, plus if you have to change a broken belt on the side of the road, you can not slip the belt onto the pulley. so all of you guys throw those things away!



I still have to adjust the spring pressure, but it is almost done! The pully combination that we use is a special set up that we have with BDL, The set up is geared up, but the speedometer reads correctly. BELT Drives are the best, you only have to adjust them once, they are smoother than chains, quiter, plust they add at least five years to your life. BELTS>chains