The day I got my Super Hawk was in mid- February. I never suffered from the cold. It was above freezing, so the roads were not too slippery. I had over a year of riding on my smaller bike.
I made a pass to the Loop Route, it was a Saturday morning. I did not even have gloves on. Having a bike of my own that I could top out about 90 MPH on the straight and not too hilly roads was great.
After Bob & I worked the drive train it was a lot faster. The tires back then were not very wide, and not really soft road grabbers like we have now. The Dunlap tires were good all around rubber. Not much good with corning, but wore great. The Pirelli tires were great in the corners. Pirelli tires were better in corners, but when they gave out, no sense of slipping, you just went down. The Dunlap back tires lasted about two thousand miles. Then I got the better grippers.
I love to take corners fast, leaning way over. The softer rubber, wider tire suited me. Because of drag racing we had to glue the tires to the chrome wheel, as leaving out the clutch at 11,000 RPMs and the softer tire grabbing the roadway if not glued would spin the tire and rip out the valve stem and go flat.
Bob would soon start as the second mechanic at Garber Honda. The manager Lyle would be a great friend. The head mechanic Ken was a race bike builder. Bob would pick his brain and put the improvements on my bike.
August that same year, 1966, I lost my license for 15 days for speeding. I tore my new bike completely down, painted everything that was black to corvette blue, including the gray fenders. When I tore my bike down in August, it had 10,000 miles on the bike, yes I loved to ride. It took 14 days to strip all the metal parts, clean, rough up the old paint and have it painted.
My dad's body shop guy, Mr. Smith was a master at metallic paint. The silver mixed with the blue was terrific. And it was beside Motorcycle Dave's house. We graduated in June, so we all had jobs and money. I put my bike together in 2 days after work.
The day I got my license back I was working on putting the brakes back together. I got 10 inch ape hanger bars. I could not get a clutch cable long enough. I put it lower on the bar. Worked hard, but did work easy. I had no front brakes. I hooked up rear brake, but it was worn, not much shoe left. Drum brakes front & back were bad then.
The next weekend I got new cables made at the Columbia Triumph shop. Bob had worked the engine, carbs, valves and clutch over. I got megaphone mufflers, no baffles and were suppose to suck the spent fumes out faster than with straight pipes. The faster out, gas oxygen and spark faster in. Bob put racing points in for a hotter spark. Washers in the screws of the Barnett clutch to make it grab, but the clutch did not slip, but my left hand was about 1/3 bigger than my right hand. Like the squeezer to build your hands, but only one. With the carbs sat up very rich, and the valves staying open longer I had more HP.
The first time I ran the Loop Route with my new blue bike I had no brakes. I just wanted to have it seen. I had not been to the Loop for the 15 days I did not have my license. Bob & I worked so hard on my bike we just did not get there. Jake painted Quarter Hawg on my gas tank when it was black. The Harley guys called their bikes hawgs. And I ran the quarter mile drag races. My bike, The Quarter Hawg.
I made a pass to the Loop Route, it was a Saturday morning. I did not even have gloves on. Having a bike of my own that I could top out about 90 MPH on the straight and not too hilly roads was great.
After Bob & I worked the drive train it was a lot faster. The tires back then were not very wide, and not really soft road grabbers like we have now. The Dunlap tires were good all around rubber. Not much good with corning, but wore great. The Pirelli tires were great in the corners. Pirelli tires were better in corners, but when they gave out, no sense of slipping, you just went down. The Dunlap back tires lasted about two thousand miles. Then I got the better grippers.
I love to take corners fast, leaning way over. The softer rubber, wider tire suited me. Because of drag racing we had to glue the tires to the chrome wheel, as leaving out the clutch at 11,000 RPMs and the softer tire grabbing the roadway if not glued would spin the tire and rip out the valve stem and go flat.
Bob would soon start as the second mechanic at Garber Honda. The manager Lyle would be a great friend. The head mechanic Ken was a race bike builder. Bob would pick his brain and put the improvements on my bike.
August that same year, 1966, I lost my license for 15 days for speeding. I tore my new bike completely down, painted everything that was black to corvette blue, including the gray fenders. When I tore my bike down in August, it had 10,000 miles on the bike, yes I loved to ride. It took 14 days to strip all the metal parts, clean, rough up the old paint and have it painted.
My dad's body shop guy, Mr. Smith was a master at metallic paint. The silver mixed with the blue was terrific. And it was beside Motorcycle Dave's house. We graduated in June, so we all had jobs and money. I put my bike together in 2 days after work.
The day I got my license back I was working on putting the brakes back together. I got 10 inch ape hanger bars. I could not get a clutch cable long enough. I put it lower on the bar. Worked hard, but did work easy. I had no front brakes. I hooked up rear brake, but it was worn, not much shoe left. Drum brakes front & back were bad then.
The next weekend I got new cables made at the Columbia Triumph shop. Bob had worked the engine, carbs, valves and clutch over. I got megaphone mufflers, no baffles and were suppose to suck the spent fumes out faster than with straight pipes. The faster out, gas oxygen and spark faster in. Bob put racing points in for a hotter spark. Washers in the screws of the Barnett clutch to make it grab, but the clutch did not slip, but my left hand was about 1/3 bigger than my right hand. Like the squeezer to build your hands, but only one. With the carbs sat up very rich, and the valves staying open longer I had more HP.
The first time I ran the Loop Route with my new blue bike I had no brakes. I just wanted to have it seen. I had not been to the Loop for the 15 days I did not have my license. Bob & I worked so hard on my bike we just did not get there. Jake painted Quarter Hawg on my gas tank when it was black. The Harley guys called their bikes hawgs. And I ran the quarter mile drag races. My bike, The Quarter Hawg.
After I got everything hooked up on The Quarter Hawg, I took wilder chances. The worst one was about 2:00AM one Saturday morning I was doing about 60 MPH coming out Queen Street headed for the train station. There was a cross street I had to make a left turn. Queen Street. was asphalt. The cross street was concrete. It had rained, and the streets were a little wet yet. I did not slow down, I knew I would slide, if I did it right my tires would slide right into the cement curb, and hold me up. It worked!
I hit the road, curb line and did not fall. About 400 feet more was a right turn to go up the railroad bridge to Fruitville Pike, and the town limits the city police could not follow me there. I started the turn, I was doing about 40 MPH. This time it was concrete, changing to asphalt. Concrete was more slippery than asphalt when wet. I did not slide on the asphalt like I did on the concrete. The Quarter Hawg threw a violent shake, but I held on tight, my life depended on staying upright. A friend slid into a curb and was messed up for many months.
Part Two coming soon!
I hit the road, curb line and did not fall. About 400 feet more was a right turn to go up the railroad bridge to Fruitville Pike, and the town limits the city police could not follow me there. I started the turn, I was doing about 40 MPH. This time it was concrete, changing to asphalt. Concrete was more slippery than asphalt when wet. I did not slide on the asphalt like I did on the concrete. The Quarter Hawg threw a violent shake, but I held on tight, my life depended on staying upright. A friend slid into a curb and was messed up for many months.
Part Two coming soon!
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