MY Bike, 1936 VLH

MY bike is a Harley Davidson 1936 VLH. HD made the VL series from 1930-1936. They are a flathead 74 cu in. In late 1935 they came out with an 80 cu in. The bike is a 3 speed foot clutch, hand shift. My bike was found by Brian Keating. It was an old privateer race from the Conn area. He offered the bike to Mike and Rat from Harbor Vintage with a load of parts. Mike looked the bike over and it was a mess but was very complete and many hard to find parts on it. Mike had Tony rebuild the motor and trans and replaced the fenders. The 1st day out he was stopped for going to fast on it. At the same time I had a 1936 VL but it was not correct. When Mike retired and agreed to sell me the bike so mine went to Ebay and I bought Mike’s bike. I bought the bike in the fall of 2003. Sad to say but Mike passed away last summer. Brian and I rode to the memorial service in Jericho .

I have ridden the bike around town and on only a few longer rides in the area. It has been dependable and fun. It fits me well. I have never spent the time to go thru the bike and have repaired it as needed. This is certainly not a formula for Cannonball success.

My water bottle. Molly got this for me and I mounted on the handlebars but it would not stay tight. I attached it to my saddle bag. It is very easy to grab and has been great.

Here is the “dash” . The original speedo sits on top of the tanks . There are two tanks. The one on the right is fuel. The one on the left has two compartments, the oil is up front and fuel behind it. The oil gravity feeds to the oil pump and is then pushed into the motor and it drops into the crankcase. It does not recirculate. At the end of the day I open a valve and let the oil out. There is a hand oil pump on the left side. It is the round knob behind the filler caps. After I release the oil at night I pump 3-4 pumps of oil. Normally that is all I do. On the race I am pumping all day to get a bit more oil to the pistons and cylinders. Oil is cheap insurance

Right side w kick started. I converted the bike in 2005 to an electronic ignition. It starts easy.

Good shot of the carb

SPringer front fork with ride control and stearing damper. I made a bracket to attache the route sheet holder to the ride control. It works fine. Many people take the roll off at night and load it with the new route sheets. Because of how mine fits I can not get it of so load it on the bike in the morning

Here is my “computer” This tells me my speed in the upper left. The upper right is my total mileage for the day. Above that is the time. On the bottom is ambient temp. I have a probe that I attached to the rear cyl head bolt and I can monitor my engine temp. Terry, another rider, told me to be aware of my right leg position. I have found by moving it I can change the cyl temp quickly. I have been running at 180-220 degr.

This is the daily route sheet with our instructions on it. We are riding all secondary roads and they have been great. The instructions are clear and I have only missed one turn so far. The box is waterproof and is a roller . When we check in at the end of each day we get the next day. AT night the pages get taped together.

Instructions

A good shot at the dash. The keys are below the dice. The one on the left is ignition and on the right is lights. The dice are period correct . The battery is 6 volt

Here is my seat with sheepskin cover. My room mate is Frank Westfall and he is a leather worker. He makes these seats. I had mine tied on but when it poured rain I took it off. I have been laying it on my seat and that seams to work well .

My seat is a Harley Solo seat . It is one with thicker cushion, probably from the 40s or 50s. The seat and sheepskin are a good combo

My leather bags were made by Wayne Hagler, Heathers Leathers. I have had them since I bought the bike and have held up well.

My rear box. This has worked out well. I made the rear cusion and it is attached with Velcro so I can move it as needed. We fit the whole thing while in Daytona and it came out well. I was told by many CB riders that a back rest is important. The bag hanging out of the saddlebag are my rain booties

My bike and new helmet