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Previous Newsletters:
# 1 (04/15/06)
# 2 (08/01/06)
# 3 (10/01/06)
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RealHog Newsletter:
Real Hog Newsletter #3
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In This Issue
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Quick Links
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Greetings Real Hog,
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Welcome to Real Hog Newsletter number 3 and we’re stoked to have you along for the ride. At Real Hog we’ve got all the accessories and gear to keep you riding safely and comfortably down the many roads you ride. So be sure to scroll down and check out our great deals on clothing from Arlen Ness, pipes from Vance and Hines, helmets from Bell, seats from Mustang, custom parts from Pro1 and all the other fine names you trust.
This Newsletter discusses some little-known bits of Harley history, and we’ve put together a quiz to help you test your knowledge of Hogology. And don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom for this month’s sales and specials from Real Hog.
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“It begins here for me on this road. How the whole mess happened, I don’t know. But I know it couldn’t happen again in a million years. Maybe I could have stopped it early. But once the trouble was on its way, I was just going with it. Mostly I remember the girl. I can’t explain it—sad chick like that. But something changed in me. She got to me. But that’s later, anyway. This is where it begins for me, right on this road...”
-Marlon Brando in The Wild One, 1953
OK, so Brando as Johhny and his Black Rebels M/C members weren’t riding Harleys—they rode Triumphs—but his rival Chino (James Coburn) and his fellow Beetles MC members were! But Brando’s lines have a certain haunting quality that rings right down the center line through the mists of time. Maybe these words nail down the thoughtful loneliness of the long distance rider throttling his way from one scene to the next. These words of young Brando were chosen as the opening lines of a new book composed of some of the best writings of Harley’s ageless prophets. I’m talking about The Harley Davidson Reader from MBI.
At Real Hog we’re thrilled about The Harley Davidson Reader, because it brings together the best of immortal riders like Evel Knievel, Arlen Ness, Sonny Barger, Brock Yates, Peter Egan, Arthur Davidson, Craig Vetter, Chef Biker Billy, Bill Hayes, and many, many others. Right away we included the Harley Davidson Reader on our Real Hog catalogue list because we feel that it is bound to be one of the most popular books ever published about Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the lifestyle we love. We’ve prepared a Harley quiz based on The Harley-Davidson Reader, so put on your thinking caps and test your knowledge in the great field of Hog-ology:
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The Real Hog Quiz: Harley-Davidson 101
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1. Describe the “evolution” of the famous Harley V-twin over the years by naming the various engines.
2. The antics of the Boozefighters M/C at a 4th of July, 1947 AMA Gypsy Tour were exaggerated in the press, eventually turning celluloid in The Wild One, which in turn ignited youthful rebellion and created a whole new genre of (awful) sixties biker flicks. To this day the Boozefighters M/C is still an active and expanding club of law-abiding and dedicated motorcyclists. What sort of bikes do today’s Boozefighters ride?
3. What were the first rides of (a) Sonny Barger, (b) Arlen Ness and (c) Elvis Presley?
4. (a) What was Elvis’ first big bike? (b) What motorcycle club was Elvis a member of? (c) What bikes did Elvis ride in which movies?
5. Name some of the famous choppers from Discovery Channel’s American Chopper.
6. (a) What was the origin of the money that made Easy Rider? (b) And who built the Easy Rider choppers?
7. How did Craig Vetter, the designer of the famous Windjammer fairings, learn to respect Harleys?
8. (a) Before Evel Knievel rode Harleys, he made a jump on a bike called the American Eagle. Who made that bike? (b)Once Evel became sponsored by Harley-Davidson, what model Harley did he begin jumping with? (c) How did Evel get his name?
Please Scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter
for all the answers to the questions.
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From Real Hog Member Bob Himber
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PFC Alvin A Himber, age eighteen, England, on his knucklehead EL.
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Young Private Himber rode his sub-machine gun mounted Harley carrying top secret documents through enemy gunfire in Europe and North Africa. The Harley Davidson motorcycle, a symbol of American freedom, also fought for freedom thanks to brave men like Private Himber.
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Real Hog member Bob Himber waxes eloquently when he recalls his late dad, a dashing Military Policeman who rode a Harley in World War Two in Europe. Bob’s four uncles—his dad’s brothers—likewise served in the US Armed Forces at the same time. Bob recollects that one day a few years back his dad, then age sixty, told him he wanted to drive Bob’s chopped Honda 500. Bob put his foot down,”You can’t ride this!” To which his Dad answered, “Damn it! I drove a Harley in WW2 with the Krauts shooting at me so I think I can ride your bike down a city street.”
Bob writes, “I’m honored to have my dad shared with Real Hog readers. He was a true real American hero. Until he passed away at 84, he put all his efforts into making sure returning vets were treated with the dignity and respect they deserved. Unlike the way my brother was treated after Viet Nam." The Himbers are members of VFW Post 4551, Antioch, Illinois.
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Answers to the Quiz from The Harley-Davidson Reader
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1. On page 159, Sonny Barger writes, “The original Harleys were flatheads. A flathead literally means the head of the engine is flat and it has valves on the side like a flathead Ford engine. My 1936 Harley had overhead valves instead of valves on the side going up and down. These were called knuckleheads, because they had a big aluminum block on the side where the pushrods went, looking like a knuckle. In 1948, Harley changed over to a tin cover called a panhead, which evolved in 1966 to an aluminum cover called a shovelhead... In 1983 Harley converted to a different looking engine they call an Evolution head.”
2. Bill Hayes, author of Boozefighters: The Real Wild Ones (MBI) writes on page 140, “Present day Boozefighters Motorcycle Club requires members to ride an American or World War Two-allied brand of bike. But some exceptions are made in some chapters for special considerations. ‘Brooklyn’ is allowed to ride a touring Moto Guzzi in honor of his grandfather who fought with the Italian underground resistance.”
3. (a) Sonny Barger writes on page 158, “I bought my first motor scooter, a Cushman, when I was thirteen.”
(b) Arlen Ness writes on page 287, “...most of my early vehicles were cars instead of cycles. The one exception was a certain Cushman scooter that I brought home during my high school years. I don’t think I was ever off that scooter.”
(c) Elvis fan and moto-writer Evan Williams notes on page 195, “(Elvis) bought a Harley Hummer when he first received his Sun Records money in the mid-fifties... a 125cc utilitarian machine that was designed as an entry-level bike rather than an enthusiast’s ride.”
4. (a) According to Marty Rosenbaum, historian for Harley-Davidson, “It was a 1956 Model K.” This was an 883 model that evolved into the Sportster model. Rosenbaum continues, “(Elvis) appears on the cover of our May 1956 Enthusiast Magazine with the bike.”
(b) Evan Williams writes about Elvis, “You are the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and a lifelong bike enthusiast; you are Elvis Aaron Presley, American Motorcyclist Association member number 94587.
(c) From page 199: “Presley rode a Honda Dream in 1964’s Roustabout, a Triumph in 1968’s Stay Away, Joe and a Harley big twin in 1967’s Clambake. He took his love of motorcycles seriously.”
5. This one is a trick question. Ironworks regular Alan Mayes explains on pages 294 and 298, “And therein lies the rub. Old school chopper guys don’t build new bikes from all-new components, buying a frame here, an engine there... Such bikes are custom bikes, but not choppers. Real choppers are made from existing motorcycles that have been... that’s right, chopped! They are, however, what the motorcycle newcomers and Discovery Channel watchers think of when someone mentions the word ‘chopper.’”
The Teutals don’t build actual choppers on American Chopper; they build chopper-like customs.
6. (a) In the essay “Riding Easy”, Michael Dregni explains on page 282, “Fonda... was turned on to two producers... who had struck gold with the faux-Beatles TV ‘rock group’ The Monkees. The producers dug the concept. Then and there they wrote out a check for $40,000 to start things rolling. As Fonda noted in his autobiography, ‘Monkey money made Easy Rider.’”
(b) Dregni continues, “Fonda then took a portion of the grubstake to the LAPD auction and bought four Panheads...’ I’d designed the extended and mildly raked front forks. Helmet, sissy bar and tank,’ Fonda wrote, ‘but the forty two degree rake that was
suggested by [black activist and sometimes motorcycle customizer] Cliff Vaughs was some piece of work.’”
7. In 1967 Vetter rode the first Yamaha YR1 350cc two-stroke sold in America from California to Daytona. By chance he camped out on an abandoned airfield and awoke the next morning to a large group of black riders racing their Harleys. He challenged and outraced each one, until an amateur black stunt rider and tuner named Jewell “Bad News” Whigam showed him what a tricked out Harley can do. Defeated, Vetter rode away downtrodden, but he never forgot Bad News. Read about the adventures of Bad News in Vetter’s essay of the same name, page 206.
 8. (a) Evel Knievel writes, “I rode the American Eagle... imported from [Laverda of] Italy and introduced to me by Jack McCormack... When Jack was part of American Honda Company he coined the phrase, ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda.’ He is solely responsible for the success of Honda in America.” (page 243)
(b) Evel continues, “Harley Davidson sponsored me and paid me the money I needed to continue jumping. The Harley XR750 had so much torque that when I took off at seventy to eighty-five miles per hour, the bike would twist in the air. The people at Harley-Davidson were one of the finest families I ever did business with.” (page 243)
 (c) From page 224: “Evel earned his sobriquet while stealing hubcaps in his hometown of Butte, Montana, when a victim hollered after him, ‘You’re a little evil Knievel.’” (page 242)
If the above lessons from the acclaimed masters of Hogology aren’t enough to make you want to go out and lay your throttle twisting hands on this Harley-saturated volume, then take a look at this quote from fairing-guru Craig Vetter: “I have seen the Japanese multi-everythinged engines come and go. I have watched Honda—followed by everyone else from Japan—up the ante with screaming, intricate transverse fours. Somehow they have all been exercises in futility. Who could have imagined that Harley’s Big Twin formula would outlive them all?”
Click here to learn more and find out how to order The Harley Davidson Reader.
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