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June Newsletter 2019

Greetings!

The largest vintage motorcycle event in the World is no doubt the Barber Vintage Festival in Birmingham, Alabama each Fall. The three day event boast 65,000+ fans, vintage racing, swap meet, expo area, World's largest motorcycle museum, bike shows, auction, camping, entertainment and more. AMCA and its participating chapters from the South are fortunate enough to play an important part of BVF.

For 2019 AMCA will once again hold a Vintage Bike Show and this year we are shooting for 120 entries. For each AMCA member who will commit to having their antique motorcycle on the show field Friday and Saturday will receive a Free Weekend Pass to the event. To reserve your spot on the AMCA Bike Show field, please email Keith Kizer at [email protected]. We just need to know the Year, Make and Model of your bike or bikes are. One pass per member limit.

You will not want to miss the annual AMCA Century Lap on Saturday. This is for bikes built prior to 1916. To register for the Century Lap, please email Keith Kizer at [email protected].

For security reasons, Barbers has turned the back half of Lot A into paid camping, ensuring that 24/7 uniform security will be in place to guard the bikes on the show field. To guarantee who is in those camping spaces, AMCA has purchased all 18 camping spots and will resale them to its members. If you are interested in purchasing a camping spot from AMCA, email Keith Kizer for details at [email protected].

The AMCA Vintage Roar is when all 100+ bikes on the show field crank up all at once. This will take place on Friday and is far more entertaining that you might imagine. And it that is not enough, stick around on Sunday to participate on a lap of the track on your vintage motorcycle.

Join the Deep South, LowCountry, Legends, Music City and Smoky Mountian Chapters for the greatest weekend in Vintage motorcycling. For more information click on the Barber link above. Check out the photos below from last years event.

This newsletter is by and about our members. There are sections for Chapters, Members, Racers, Technical Articles, and Sponsors. We need more stories from you, the members. Show the world your bike(s) and tell us a little about yourself. Tell us about the time you took a trip on your motorcycle and everything went wrong. Or everything went right!

Email your stories and photos to AMCA Newsletter .

Support the companies that support you and our industry. Click on SPONSORS LINK for details listed on AMCA Website.

2019 AMCA Schedule

February 22-23

Fremont, Nebraska

Omaha Chapter National Meet       

March 8-9 


New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Sunshine Chapter National Meet   

April 8-10

Kerrville, Texas

Cherokee Chapter National Road Run

April 26-27                                    

Oley, Pennsylvania

Perkiomen Chapter National Meet   

                              

May 17-19 


Denton, North Carolina

Southern National Meet                  

May 24-25

Raalte, Netherlands

European Chapter National Meet 

June 9-12

Ligonier, Pennsylvania

Allegheny Chapter National Road Run

June 14-15

St. Paul, Minnesota

Viking Chapter National Meet                   

               

June 14-15

Dixon, California

Fort Sutter Chapter National Meet 

        

July 5-7

Trumansburg, New York

Empire Chapter National Meet

July 19-21                    

Wauseon, Ohio

Wauseon National Meet    

August 2-3                           

Terryville, Connecticut

Yankee Chapter National Meet

August 24-25                       

Bulli, AUSTRALIA

Australia Chapter National Meet              

BULLI Show Grounds

September 4-6

Nashville, Tennessee

Music City Chapter National Road Run

September 23-25       

Monterey, California

Yerba Buena Chapter National Road Run

September 27-28                

Jefferson, Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Chapter National Meet  

NOTICE:  If you need a hotel room for the Yerba Buena Road Run, contact:

Curt Hansen

Yerba Buena AMCA

[email protected]

or call (408) 591-7607

Young Guns

by Grant Peterson, Long Beach, California

I was flattered a couple years ago when asked if I’d be interested in possibly writing a piece or a column for the AMCA from the view point of the “youth” or something to that effect. I was mostly flattered because while I feel like I should still be part of the younger generation I am almost 40 now…but I guess that is all relative and maybe I have a foot in both sides of the current age gap?

( My Grandpa Peterson in 1949 after the Salt Lake City, Utah police force got a new fleet of ‘49 Panheads. )

I think it actually may have had more to do with the fact that I have been in the fortunate place in the past decade to be unexpectedly to help put a lot younger people on old bikes along with my business partner, Mike Davis.

What role do we play you may ask? Roughly twelve to thirteen years ago we were somewhat fed up with the lack of things happening for us “kids” in Southern California that were heavily into a lot of the bikes you older guys built—‘60s and ‘70s style choppers! We planned a few rides in Orange County and started getting a good number of likeminded people on similar bikes. We were/are purists with how our bikes were at the time and poured over more old magazines than new ones to get our inspiration and trying to figure out what all those old parts were so we could spot ‘em at the swapmeet. Fast forward about a year and we came up with the idea for a small gathering for “our kind” of bikes and friends and decided to call it Born-Free. The name was a combination of two small endeavors, my friend Mike’s was called Born Loser and mine and my friend Harpoon had a similar outfit making T-shirts and a few parts called Freedom Machinery and Accessories, hence Born-Free.

Over a decade later the show went from a BBQ with some bikes to a two-day event with over 3500 bikes inside the grounds and probably equal that or more parked out with the cars and 25,000 people from all over the world. While we have always had a very broad range of ages at the show, Born-Free has always held the attention of the young folks (even though we really wanted them to bring their dads or grandpas that were the guys that created all this before we were born). There’s actually a great amount of crossover from today’s action sports industry filled with skate and snow boarders, BMX, etc, and they have transitioned into the period style choppers, barn find stockers, as well as flat track racing and Born-Free has been an outlet for them since the beginning.

Anyway, I tried to be brief about the history of the show (this isn’t intended to be an infomercial) and why I’m sitting here writing to you, but it’s all part of it. I come from a family that has motorcycle roots going back a few generations which I actually wasn’t totally aware of until I was an adult. We grew up riding dirt bikes in the deserts and mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. I was about six years old when my dad put me on a steel tank YZ80 and with him on the back I popped the clutch sending us both off the bike, I still remember it clearly. Luckily, I got past that and really enjoyed riding with my brother, sisters, cousins, uncles, and whatever friends we could fit on an extra yard sale bike.

My dad grew up doing the same with my uncles, but never rode on the street much and I can recollect all of them saying how expensive Harleys were and I recall talk about how the Japanese were trying to copy the H-D sound, “but it was patented”…who knows.

I also remember hearing about my great grandpa Harold Peterson being killed in the line of duty on his motorcycle

........................................................... (World War 1 Navy veteran Great Grandpa Peterson in the 1930s ...................................................................... astride a VL in Salt Lake City. He was hit and killed in the line of ...................................................................... duty on his Servicar in 1954.)

in the mid 1950s and there was plaque with his face on it at the SLC PD headquarters. Turns out Great Grandpa started as a motor cop a bit after WWI (he was in the Navy) and the oldest photo we could find of him on a bike looks to be a VL, but apparently Grandpa was also serving on a Harley after he got done flying B-24s in WW2! I’ve since found photos of him in training on (guessing) a ’46 knuckle while his peers were on UL’s and there’s a great shot of him and the rest of the force out front of HQ on all new 1951 Panheads! Well, that didn’t last long after Great Grandpa was rear-ended and killed on his servicar in ’54 That incident caused Grandpa to got off the bike and into a police car. The one good thing about all this is that my dad still put us all on motorcycles despite what would have been a swan song for most families.

Short story long…I’m getting somewhere…maybe…I started riding motocross tracks when I moved to southern California 20 years ago, when with some money I borrowed from my then girlfriend, now wife, I bought a running ’78 Shovelhead off craigslist and rode it home. I did it! I owned a Harley! Now I just had to figure out how to work on it…I had spent my life working on old cars and trucks to that point, but the H-D thought process seemed so foreign to me, even the way they used hardware. Thanks to some very understanding lifelong Harley enthusiasts and every manual I could get my hands on I navigated my way through it, well I guess I’m still doing that as there’s always gonna be more to learn, which may be the point to all this!

About eight years ago I was on Craigslist in LA and there was a blown up 1937 Harley chopper for sale, fairly cheap even though I barley had the few grand for it. It was a UL that a guy my age or so had built and blew up shortly after breaking it in on the freeway (yes, I know…) and stuck the

(My 1937 EL how it sits today. This bike started out as a blown up UL engine in the trunk of my wife's car in 2011. There are very few non-original parts on the bike today and is now fully rebuilt. I did all the work except the engine rebuild and paint.)

rear piston so bad it broke the 11-fin cylinder (bored to 0.070-over 80”!) clean off its base and he never recovered and sold the basket off to me. I didn’t care about the bulk of his parts he used as it wasn’t my taste but I used what was left of the motor and the knuckle frame with a panhead neck to start building my first real antique Harley! I couldn’t have been more excited and somewhat intimidated, I didn’t want to mess this up like he had. So now what?

I had to keep making friends, old friends, or friends with older guys rather. Despite all my efforts my circle of knowledgeable folks of this nature was still pretty small when it came to prewar big twin flatheads, so I turned to the internet to help fill gaps. It was here that I guess I found out about the AMCA, but it actually had the opposite effect I was hoping for. On several different forums where I might find what I need, there were always

(A 1929 JDH i was very happy to own and build. I got this bike from a well known SoCal two cam family with history going back to it’s original Sale in San Pedro at Eddie Ryan’s. I only used the 88” engine and transmission from the bike i purchased to build what you see here. I had never had my hands on a total loss, pre-‘36 machine prior to this and learned so much trying to sort out and run this bike which i raced as well. It was particularly hard to figure out do to the lack of printed materials to reference. It took a lot of phone calls and texts to much smarter friends across the country.)

prominent know-it-alls that rained on everyone’s parade! The criticism was brutal to the point that I never even joined any of these message boards and would just try to sort through old posts to hopefully find answers. It was apparent that there were many new members that were basically ridiculed about their bikes (often passed down from family) to the point that they even posted very disheartening farewells and getting soured on antique motorcycles. This has always stayed with me.

I may be more stubborn than some when it comes to enduring things in the pursuit of learning about my obsessions, but I wasn’t going to voluntarily step in front of that firing squad of people that I felt should be welcoming and educating—in an appropriate way.

When I 16 I was obsessed with old Ford hot rods and went to the very few shops in town and offered to volunteer my time to literally sweep the floor and clean up if I could watch and learn some stuff…they all said no! I was mad as a wet hornet and it pushed me to learn on my own and boy was I gonna show them! I got the last laugh after moving to California and got jobs at some well-known shops and also

(My fresh 1939 EL. This was a stalled restoration project when I purchased it. Joe Busby did the majority of the work on this which was a weird scenario for me to not do it myself, but i also know i still have a lot to learn which I’ve found that having a well sorted restored machine is in fact a running learning experience/benchmark. It’s now a very correct bike aside from high quality repro exhaust and some hardware. I found an original toolbox since this photo was taken.)

worked for Hot Rod, Car Craft, and a few other legacy magazines, but this was done out of pure perseverance! I felt like I was going to have to take the same route when it came to these AMCA folks.

Yes, I am a member now. Yes, I’ve made friends through the club that I hope last all my life. Yes, there are tons of great helpful members, but I feel strongly that we have a lot of work to do or many things to be aware of when dealing with young people and strangers that show interest. It doesn’t take much to sour someone away from such an amazing lifelong hobby!

I’ve since built that ’37 into a bike I loved and enjoyed, rode close to 10,000 of miles, raced TT, flatrack, and hill climbed it, and built a correct all ’37 machine. It’s now an EL with almost three thousand miles on the rebuilt 61 and is made with most all original parts I fixed and restored with lots of advice along the way. I am finishing a nice and shiny correct ’39 EL resto (with tons of help on this one), working a deal on a ’38 EL project, owned more ‘36s than any other year knuckle, several exceptional original paint prewar bikes, an ultra-rare Super X

(One of the first TT races I participated in on a rigid, handshift Harley. This was my ‘37 when it was a mish mash of parts, but was so much fun to ride on or off road! I hillclimbed and flattracked this bike and have caught several feet of air many times during our favorite TT races. I also rode this bike from LA to the Fort Sutter Lake Tahoe road run a couple years ago. It was a 1500 mile round trip with only a flat tire to slow me down.)

factory hillclimber, built and raced a JDH, owned loads of rare parts, am now building and racing pretty hot 45’s that are putting out over 40 rear wheel horsepower, and I rode my Topper to lunch today! I am happy to say I didn’t let the grumpy party poopers win.

So, what’s the answer to all this? In the few years since I joined, I’ve read a handful of articles on this exact subject and ultimately it’s up to you! I’ll do my best to shed some light on the subject, my story isn’t the first and it won’t be the last…I have a few ideas…next issue.

(Post muddy, rainy, TT race in the handshift class a couple years ago. Myself in the middle with my purpose-built 80” ‘42 Knucklehead race bike to replace my JDH, flanked by my friends Jeff Leighton, and Flathead Jedd. Some well known people in antique motorcycles would argue with me all the time that these things aren’t to be used like this which is preposterous! )

1920 Harley-Davidson F Rescue

Story by Mike Love

Photos by John Brookes, Tadcaster England

The following story follows the progress of a members bike build pulled from the AMCA Forums. AMCA Forum Moderator Mike Love puts this build into a story form for us to follow.

Like so many AMCA members John Brookes from England would be more thrilled by the challenge of building a basket

........................................... ( Figure 1 1988 photo by previous owner - 1920 F H-D as purchased. )

case, antique motorcycle than to do anything else. But if you read John’s Member Build Thread (in the AMCA on-line Forum) – 1920 Harley Model F he seems pretty casual toward this project. John has considerable experience with antique bikes including the restoration of a 1939 Triumph and had another project ready to go when the 1920 F fell into place. The 1920 H-D was a pretty complete project but had received no attention since some early organizing work by the previous owner in 1988. The previous owner took many photographs, made extensive notes and disassembled the bike only to leave it untouched for decades in a shed where a leaking roof introduced rain and significant rusting. The bike had also been parked from 1936 until the previous owner to John bought it in 1988. John commented, “The only bits missing were some spokes, the rear cylinder top mounting bracket, the bracket for the ignition advance on the rear cylinder and the carburetor control sleeve.” 

John saw something in the rusty 1920 F Harley-Davidson and committed to 100% restoration of the bike commenting in a recent email that due to its appearance “it wasn’t worthy of preservation. However due to

( Figure 2 1920 F Harley Davidson basket case after initial disassembly by previous owner. )

lessons learnt on my Triumph I decided to get it 100% complete before I did anything cosmetic.” As work progressed, he began to change his thinking, “Over time the bike, as it is (which is mainly rust) has really grown on me and I am leaving it the way it is. After I am gone, if someone wants to paint it then that would be up to them.”  This vision led from a bunch of non-functioning parts to a complete running antique motorcycle.

Early on he was able to assemble the bike and he said, “I had it all together and it ran but the engine clearly was unhealthy.” 

John indicated that the engine work that had been completed on it did not prevent a robust smoke screen from what John called “knackered bores.” As with so many of our projects life can intervene and delay progress but it appears John is near completion. John says “In theory it just needs the carb and tanks re-installing and then a few adjustments and I am hoping it will then be rideable.” 

For AMCA Forum members that follow the Member Bike Builds the 1920 F has provided a couple of years’ worth reading of the ups and downs, active and inactive time related to project work typical of antique motorcycles. John gives us the opportunity to follow his journey with excellent comments and photos that continue even now with on-going tweaks and more detailed repairs noted by John throughout

(Figure 3 Early on John assembled the 1920 and got it started but found it needed engine work.)

the project. You can benefit from the details and visual evidence of John’s 1920 F project by following this link to the AMCA Forum  1920 F Model Harley-Davidson Project. 

The AMCA Forum provides members an opportunity to not only share their antique motorcycling experiences but to gain the support and counsel from hundreds of other members when we need it the most. The Forum also stands as a searchable archive with thousands of on-line conversations over its years of operation. I find the Member Bike Builds as the most

(Figure 4 photo of post assembly results with a few details left to complete. Engine work has been completed.)

interesting on-line commentary. John’s build thread was the first antique motorcycling build thread I followed. John’s commentary and the discussion from members as they asked follow up questions and often provided insight they had was pretty interesting and teaching. The first thing I saw on John’s thread was a photo not unlike an exploded parts view in a factory service manual (see Figure 2 above), parts laid out neatly in the sun. It was clear from this one photo the exact state of the machine and how far the project would need to go to get to John’s end state a safe and dependable antique bike. I find reading these member build threads motivate me to get back on track with my projects. I’m not sure of the psychology there but it works and I’m not questioning it. 

I encourage members of AMCA – join us on the forum and share your build with others. Your experiences will help and inspire others as they work on their projects. It may even get someone interested in purchasing a “project” just to share their experience. I thank John Brookes for his comments in several emails and taking the time to send me many photo images by uploading them to an on-line DropBox account. 

Global Protection for the use and enjoyment of our vehicles, and culture.

SAVE THE WORLD! Maybe NOT

Last issue, we brought you a good question about issues that could some day affect our hobby. The question was simply, "Do you want us to inform you of what comes to our attention."

Sadly, only one person responded with the answer, "NO"

The scary thing is, it only takes the actions of one President in the future to outlaw all vehicles over the age of 5 or 10 or whatever pacifies the lobbyist. With one stoke of a pen, all our motorcycles could become museum pieces in our own garages. You laugh, but one day this will become a reality. Maybe not in our lifetime but most likely in our kids lifetime unless we, the enduser, works out a compromise.

We would sure like to hear from more than one person. Your opinion matters so please send an email to our ED and say, "Sure, Let us know what's going on" or "Really, I don't give a flip. Please, use your own words. Email: [email protected]