Hawg Man
Lakeland, FL
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Joined: 10/26/2006
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howsit2003 wrote:...saw the strangest looking H-D bike outside my gym over the weekend.
it had the H-D emblem on the tank with the number 100 written in it...not sure if that meant 100cc or 100 yr aniversary.....
it is a smallish twin cylinder...in a side by side arrangement....it's a 4 -stroke...it has cooling fins but also a radiator in front of the downtubes....it appears to be around 175 cc...and reminds me of an older style Honda 175cc.....
it does not look like any Jap bike I have ever seen, the cylinders are polished aluminum....not chromed....the front fender kinda looks like it came of a dyna......some other odds and ends look like it's a H-D, but other things look completely weird...
I can take a pic of it next time I'm there....
I'm completely stumped....never seen anything like it before.
Help...what is it ???
OK, just got off the phone with my local H-D dealer.
He's been a dealer since 1954 and he collects and restores all types of vintage and antique Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
From the description you provided, he says it does NOT sound like ANYTHING Harley ever made.
Like he says, tank decals are cheap and can be put on anything.
I was mistaken about some of the small Harley's being built by Puch - Puch and Harley never collaborated.
HOWEVER, Don did tell me that the Harley-Davidson Sprint and all the smaller bikes throughout the 1960s and beyond were built by an Italian company - Aromacci - which Harley owned.
OK - I've shot my wad - that's all I got.
"$15,000, a new leather jacket, and 15 miles under your butt does NOT make you a biker."
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THEBurninator
Washburn, MO
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Joined: 08/11/2003
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A friend of mine used to have a bike that had a Shadow engine and gastank with Moto Guzzi fenders and a Harley tail light.
My point is you never know what people might slap on a bike.
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geoforce6
Seattle, Wa
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Joined: 09/09/2004
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Hawg Man wrote:geoforce6 wrote:Hawg Man wrote:geoforce6 wrote:An AMF.
Cheesy dual-purpose bike. VERY cheesy. You should see an "AMF" logo on the tank as well (like in AMF bowling lanes). Italian as I recall. Last time I saw one was around 1976. Google "AMF mtorcycles" and you'll get the the info. Having this bike badged with the HD emblem is like stamping a Yugo with GMC logo.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't they made by Puch?
This was from my fleeting memory from years past, a "shoot from the hip response". So I won't make any corrections until I get my ducks in a row. I'll owe you a brew if it was Puch though. 
Careful - I have a well earned reputation for collecting where brew is concerned.
I'd like an IPA, Hawg Man.  And thanks for your efforts.
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Hawg Man
Lakeland, FL
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THEBurninator wrote:A friend of mine used to have a bike that had a Shadow engine and gastank with Moto Guzzi fenders and a Harley tail light.
My point is you never know what people might slap on a bike.
That was a ShadowGuzziSon - very rare bike.
Pretty valuable today.
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geoforce6
Seattle, Wa
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howsit2003
J'ville,Florida
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that's funny.....my very first bike was a bike I concocted from a variety of pieces...I had sourced a 50cc two-stroke engine from somewhere...a scooter if I remember correctly....it had a 3 speed gearbox that was controlled by a twist grip on the handlebars....which I thought looked to " poofy" so I contrived this linkage system to make them foot controlled....the frame, tires, tanks, mudguards came from a variety of bikes...Honda..Suzuki....and several other's whose names I have long since forgotten....
we lived on top of a hill back then, and I could get this buzz saw up to 40-50 mph going downhill.....
dem wuz wild times.......I was probably in my early teens......
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geoforce6
Seattle, Wa
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...... and the thrill of going fast outweighed all caution.
Me too. Baling wire holding some stupid Briggs & Stratton to junked out Cushman scooter frame with wheel barrow tires.
With the biggest smiles I've ever had in my life!
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howsit2003
J'ville,Florida
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...no kidding...iffen I look back over mah life....my guardian angel musta been working over time....we used to take that concoction of mine and ride it 2-up with my buddy all over the place....
...it just went downhill from there....
...I progressed to a 50cc Honda...( the law said,we were'nt allowed to ride bikes bigger than 49cc in yer teens ).....but I took the engine apart and contrived to put a 80cc piston in there, but still make it look like a 50cc engine )....it was my first bike to hit 60 mph....I was a speed demon....he he he....
my friend's dad had a 175cc Vespa Scooter....man....we thought 175cc was a " big" engine back then....
kept getting bigger and bigger bikes as I got older....175cc....250cc....500cc...650cc....750cc....and then I took a test ride on a Yamaha 900cc.....fuggit...I was hittin' 80 mph and still in 2nd gear...and I thought...this is a good time to quit ridin'.....so I did.
I did'nt climb back on a bike again for 20 years....which is when I got mah first Harley....a 1200 H-D sportster....
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kpapa
Johnsburg N.Y.
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Joined: 04/21/2008
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Is there anybody that remembers the old 305 Yamaha Big Bear? A buddy of mine had one when we were in high school (mid 60,s). We were cool with our 125's,175's,250's and the 305 Big Bear. Wonder why we are still here after some of the crazy things we did with those machines. Have Fun and RIDE SAFE.
kpapa
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howsit2003
J'ville,Florida
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yep...back in dem " good 'ole days"....THE bike to have was the Triumph Bonneville 650......lordy...lordy...lordy...how I lusted after that bike....I finally got my hands on a used Bonneville around 1968 or thereabouts....the next year (1969) Honda came out with the Honda CB 750cc...4 cylinder....and that was all she wrote.
The diehards all complained about the " Jap Crap"...but that Honda was clearly a much superior bike.....and it spelled the end of the Bonneville Era....
Triumph and BSA came out briefly with a 3-cylinder version of a 750cc engine, but it was no match for the Jap bikes.....and they too went into oblivion....same for the Norton 750cc......the BMW 600....etc....
from then on...it was JAP bikes as far as the eye could see....H-D was'nt even a factor in my life back then....I had " heard" about them....and some of the local angels had some.....but I was a " crotch rocket" man for several years....although back then, dem Jap bikes were a lot more subdued then the screamers they make today....I think my first 750cc Honda made around 60hp....today they have 2-3 times that......waaaayyyy too much power on 2 wheels......
now in my old age...I'm content to dodder around on mah Heritage......it's comfortable, got bags of power...I got a place to put mah junk.....and a big 'ole windshield to slap some sense in all dem bugs dat used to hit me in mah face....
with age comes wisdom......but as a youngster I had mah fair share of go fast scoots.....
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