Story

[crasha51pan]

In 69, I got out of the service.
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Had a hard time fitin in, needed something for an adrenaline rush. Got myself a motorcycle, a 1968 Triumph TR-6. Nice bike but needed something more. I did know one thing, bikes were the answer !

[crasha51pan]

Got a job and put up with the BS 5 days a week, on the weekend I had to ride. That seemed to make it all OK. I needed an adrenaline rush (people never seemed to understand that) and I also needed space and that was hard to find in LA. Seemed to always end up in the hills, I liked it up there ! Sold my Triumph and bought my first Harley. 1948 Panhead, she was my first serious relationship. Had the frame stretched, neck raked. Put a 8" overstock AEE Ultra Narrow Springer up front. No front brake, wishbone ridged frame, she was a beauty !!! Like ridin a rockinchair. Life was good !!!
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[crasha51pan]

I would hook up with this little gal who fit real rice on the back of the old pan. She had never seen anything like this before and wanted to go on a trip. I agreed and put the sleeping bag on the bike and we headed for the mountains. She never complained (anyone who has ever rode on the back of a ridged knows, she had a right too) and we rode all day. We drank from streams and cooked by campfire. We slept under the stars and brushed our teeth with beer in the morning. That morning I asked her if she wanted to head back home, to my surprise she said No ! We decided we would head up thru Three Rivers and into Sequoia National Park. Barely had enough money for gas so we bought some bread, bologna and cheese and made sandwiches in the olive fields of Lindsey, Calif. Spent the night under a tree on a hillside in Sequoia. That next day we headed for home and all she could say was "when can we go again....*We stayed together and eventually got married, we started a family soon afterwards. Once she was pregnant, she never rode with me again. She said that one of us needed to be alive for the kid. She never questioned or pressured me about riding, Ever ! Years down the road, she might have cause to, but even then she didn't.......She understood how important that bike was to me. I was lucky !http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7535/motorcycle015dz9.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motorcycle015dz9.jpg)

[crasha51pan]

Once riding, it seemed that over time more joined in. It was good but I did notice that one or two bikes never caused much concern. You get 3, 8, 10 bikes and people became nervious. I was young and it was kind of a rush so the drama didn't bother me.
There were 3 towns that I was literally "ran" out of. The first was Torrance, bad place for bikers. They came at us from every direction. Took us one by one, patted us down and went over every inch of each bike. They "carded" each of us and ran us for warrents. Then we were politely told to get out of their city. Crestline, in the mountains, much the same thing only they basically shut the town off on us and waited for us in turn to leave the bar (they had stopped serving us)and get on the bikes and leave. They were hiding around the corners and nailed us as we were leaving. One arrested, had to go to San Bernadino jail the next morning and get him out. The last, decided to take a trip by myself to Oceanside and visit Camp Pendleton (where I was stationed years back). Once off the freeway, I was stopped by the local cop and asked what I was doing there, I explained that I was just visiting and was told I wasn't welcome there and I should leave. He followed me to the onramp, he didn't care if I went north or south, as long as it was away from his town.
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[crasha51pan]

Sometimes we would ride so far so fast, that we just couldn't ride any further !
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[CB750F]

Pretty cool. Looks like bikes have been a part of your life a long time.

[crasha51pan]

32 years, it's what kept me goin.......

[crasha51pan]

One of those trips ya remember. Rained on us for two days, we spent the night before in a "outhouse" at the base of the eastern sierra mountains. This was a old stage stop headed into Weldon from the Mojave Desert. Used a 50 gal. drum as a camp fire. Compared to the night before, this was a 4 star hotel !!!
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[crasha51pan]

Liked to ride through the Redwoods, something everyone should see at least once.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2371/motorcycle013op2.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motorcycle013op2.jpg)

[volleykinginnc]

that was beautiful!

[crasha51pan]

Drop into Bakersfield valley, HOT. Lookin for some shade, a place to rest and get yourself right !
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[crasha51pan]

Still more arrive, lookin for some cold beer and shade. We had both !!
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[crasha51pan]

Open road
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Ya party hard
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Ya sleep in the dirt
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Life couldn't be better !!!!!!

[crasha51pan]

This would be my brother of 30 years. I sold him my first sled. 1968 Triumph TR-6. Never cared for the bars he put on it, later he sold it to a guy he worked with and bought himself a 64 Pan. Decades later, we were going to track her down and rebuild it to stock. She was destroyed, it was a good thought.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh189/crasha51pan/Motorcycle048.jpg

[crasha51pan]

Sometimes you got to make repairs
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Kickin back by the river
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[crasha51pan]

They keep rollin in..
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Kickin back at the park, Kernville
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[Maico Shark]

Enjoyed the story but when I hit on a photo it took me to a site that started spamming me. Advise members against it. Just post reasonable sized photos here.

[crasha51pan]

Have been messin with a new photo site. Once posted, I click on thumbnail and all I get is the picture. I have not been spammed once. Curious, has anyone else had this problem ?

[crasha51pan]

Bike Swap
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Panhead not for MotoCross
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[crasha51pan]

I worked and rode, daughter was born. Bought a small home, I was still having drama with the citizens. Told the wife
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that at some point of my life I wanted to live in the mountains. I needed away from crowds, I needed space ! She agreed and the first thing I did was sell my beloved Panhead and use that money as part down payment on some land in the Rocky Mountains. The day I sold the bike the guy paid me cash (I asked if he ever rode a bike before, he said sure) and rode off. He went thru all 4 gears in 30 ft, that poor sled was choking and coughing down to the corner at which he turned and I never saw it again. I turned around at that point and the wife was crying on the front porch, she knew how hard it was for me to sell that bike. The wife went back to work and we started to squirrel money away. We bought 20 acres in Montana and dreamed of living in a log cabin someday. Time passed, wife was "with child" again, I was to have a son. We would go to our land once a year and look for a building site for our cabin. X marked the spot...
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Was happy about having the "Space" I always wanted, but I missed that Pan !!!!

[crasha51pan]

A couple of years passed, I was looking for a new scoot. My 48 was stretched and raked, when a 18 wheeler would pass it would blow me over two lanes. This one would be different, wanted it short and fat. It would also be an early Pan, wishbone frame and NO DMV tags. It was hard to find. One day on my way to work I drove by a scooter parked on the street with a for sale sign on it. It was a 1951 Pan, stock and no tags. I bought it that evening. Tank shift, foot clutch, large saddle with seat post, she was a beauty. I started to take it apart that night. I was to build it for the long haul. I built the motor, I painted it, I made it mine. It was down for one year.
I now had my land and my new bike, things were good !
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh189/crasha51pan/51%20PANHEAD/Motorcycle046.jpg

[crasha51pan]

Finished !!!
Replaced the 16 with a 21" tire up front, kept the 3 1/2 gal. tanks. Forks were 2" under and I put on the sweetest set of turn-outs that made just the right sound (especially when splittin lanes). Added some chrome (I have heard it before "Chrome Won't Get Ya Home", but I like chrome) and a S&S B carb. Swapped the tranny lid and made it a foot shift. Belt drive closed primary and ape hangers.
I never owned a bike with an electric start, this bike would remain in my family for 22 years...
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh189/crasha51pan/51%20PANHEAD/Motorcycle001.jpg

[crasha51pan]

I just liked it sittin in my garage, I was a happy camper !! I had been without for near 3 years, it was like "Comin Home".I'm thinkin, what could possibly go wrong ?
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[emd001]

great story, and none of the pictures have spammed me, they just open up bigger.

[crasha51pan]

Rode that scooter for 2 months, was as proud as a new dad. It was Sunday, went riding early in the hills surrounding LA. Got home in the afternoon, put the bike in the garage and went in to take a shower.............
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The insurance man came , checked it out and made this comment: You lost alot ! he then pointed at my scoot and said, thats the only thing not covered !!!
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DAMN !!!!! Back to the drawin board...

[crasha51pan]

No Big Thang, just do it over
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[crasha51pan]

The important thing, I was "Back on the road again" (think there is a song title in there somewhere).
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[crasha51pan]

As years went on, I would add this, change that. I loved to ride it, loved to work on it !!!
I called this "Boots and Saddle". Eastern Sierra near Mammoth. Me, the bike, a fire and to watch the sun go down. Everything was right !!!!
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[crasha51pan]

June Lake Loop, Silver Lake. Waterfall in the background, very cool !!
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[iamgumby]

I remember, I might have been 5 years old. My older brother came home on leave from 'nam. He had the small cereal boxes tht you cut open with your thumbnail, folded open and used the box as a bowl. Anyway I remember him sketching out that "mean green machine" helicopter in your very first pic. Thanks for the memory!

[crasha51pan]

At Lake Topaz. headed into the Carson Valley then on to Tahoe. Gals wanted a picture of them and the bike.
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[crasha51pan]

Give me a long day's ride, some beer on ice, a bucket of KFC, the smell of pine and lots of space. A camp fire as the sun goes down, it don't get better than that !!!
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