In the Beginning . . .

In 1971 I bought a 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA in a basket for $200. It was a WWII Army bike that had been "civilianized" after the war. It had a 45 cubic inch flathead motor, a tank shift, foot (suicide) clutch, and springer forks. This is what it would have looked like if I had restored it.

Unfortunately, those were the hey-day years of choppers, so instead of putting a modest amount of money into rebuilding it to stock, I commenced to putting a lot of money (which I didn'y really have at the time) into chopping and customizing it. Three years later I sold it for considerably more than $200 to pay for my second son's birth. Never did get it finished.

Fast forward about thirty-three years. I'm now living in Colorado with some of the most beautiful cruising country anywhere. My son and my brother-in-law both have bikes and although it's wintertime, they're talking about the upcoming riding season. So I start thinking "I could dig riding again!" Now motorcycle technology has advanced quite a bit since 1974 (or 1942 for that matter), but there's something classic and timeless about a Harley V-Twin. So I start looking at Harley-Davidson webpages and settle on the Sportster. 2007 is the 50th Anniversary of the Sportster and it is the inheritor of the 45 inch Harleys of yore. I ordered a 2007 XL883 Custom in mid-March from Outpost Harley-Davidson in Pueblo, Colorado (they were the only dealer that didn't try to blow marketing smoke up my leg), and took delivery on March 31st. Dodged tumbleweed all the way home in gusty 50 degree winds. But here's my new toy.