All Panhead enthusiest are welcome.
I'm 31 and have a wonderful wife and kids. We live in central Ohio (can you say cold winters).
� I've been riding motorcycles since I was 10 yrs old, dirts bikes and then street bikes when I was 23. For my first street bike I bought a beat up old 650 Yammer for 500.00 bucks - It was the same old story, wanted a Harley but couldn't afford one. I rode that� for a year and then moved from Oklahoma� to Ohio. I sold the bike to help pay for the Uhaul.
Not to be without a scooter I bought a cobbled together 650 Bonneville (67,68,69 models- you get the picture). It ran pretty good but it wasn't a Harley and at the time I didn't have anywhere to keep it. It was either out on my porch at the apartment complex or in mini-storage.
I was livin' as a singe guy at the time and was able to get into a rent house with a garage and a couple of other motorcycles guys. And then I had a stroke of luck & landed myself a 1956 FL. It was chopped (raked 40 degrees) and in rough shape cosmeticly. The frame and power train were in good shape. To see the full story on how I came to have my first Harley and Panhead click here.
I have had that bike now for 4 yrs and I love it more every day. It is a hard-tail complete with long forks, solo seat, drag bars and jockey shift with a suicide clutch. See pics below.
Then I met my wife. Well she likes to ride but the pan was solo only. So I came upon another stroke of luck and landed 10,000.00 to start� a softail project. (DId I mention that I'm mostly Irish). See a future link to this story.
� Lisa and I got married and she didn't like the softail much (no class and rough ridin'). Plus she was pregnant with my daughter at the time and we where buying a house so I traded the softail for my 60 FLH that needed restored. I got a little cash back to help on the down payment for the house and I had a new Panhead to covet.
The pan was pretty original & pretty neglected. The motor didn't use much oil but the compression could've been better. The frame and sheetmetal needed paint and the clutch basket was bad. Otherwise it ran and was loads of fun.. I rode it one summer and then pulled it down for a rebuild. Click here to go to the 60 FLH rebuild page.