Back in the day, I rode choppers…The pricinple of which is to strip every uneccesary part off the bike. Face in the wind, rain sleet, rednecks…whatever. I rode a rigid, a 1953 harley chopper, with a 17" over hippie killer springer, a littlejohn coffin tank, with a jockey shifter, rocker foot clutch and big ugly ass bitch rack.
Eventually, I got a little older, the long front end and the jockey shift got a bit much…So I built another 53…Stock front end, with a 21 front wheel, foot shift, still rigid, kick only with a joe hunt magneto. It was a bitch to start, and would beat the hell out of you, but it was a fun ride.
Somewhere along the line, I went from working as a bouncer and a motorcycle wrench, and went back to working with computer shit. I mean, I tried to make an honest living, but with the wife and kid, I needed the money. So I did what I swore I would never do, and went back to corporate America.
Then I got a little older, and my back gave out. All the stupid stuff I did when i was younger and trying to show off came back to haunt me. I had to have back surgery and the rigid had to go. I traded it for a 1974 Harley FLH. An FLH is a big, squishy riding bikes with all these fancy frilly things like Shock absorbers, and electric start, and brakes that work(sorta)…Floor boards instead of pegs. Fenders, a speedometer, mirrors…Both High and low beam headlight…its just wrong.
Life was good again, I could go riding without feeling like I had been beaten…My friends of course gave me no end of shit…
But it gets worse…
I am over at my friends bike shop, I ask him if he has any saddle bags, his wife was in the hospital (she fell of his bike at 80 MPH), things were tight and the only bags he had were hard bags. Tupperware…Fiberglass. I had long ago sworn that I would not resort to fiberglass no matter how bad things got, but I wanted to help the guy out so I bought them. I know, its just an excuse. I could have sold them on ebay, and gotten proper, leather bags, but I started looking at how practical they were. They have locks, and are waterproof. You can use them as a cooler, by filling them with ice.
A few weeks later, Im at another bike shop, I would like to say I was just hanging out, but I was …Well, I was fixing their network. They have a POS machine up front, an inventory machine in the parts dept, and another in the office. I Networked them all togeather, and set up a router so they could all connect to the internet. I had told the guy I would work for parts, and as I am wrapping up, he brings out a mint condition 70’s era windshield and fairing for an FLH.
I took it, once again planning to ebay it, but I starting thinking…Its getting cold soon…Maybe I will hang on to it.
The other day, I broke down did the unthinkable. I mounted a windshield and fiberglass fairing on my harley. It does make the ride to work in a little warmer, but man…I just think back on how I would have made fun of me 10 years ago.
Getting old sucks…How the hell did this happen?
