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A Great Piece of Harley-Davidson History!

Buellxb Forum

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Barrett

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Messages
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Location
AmishLand, PA
Latest Tourettes' style incessant H-D bashing thread has been removed. NFG please cease and desist with further outbursts. Having a great history with the Company and still having 2 immediate family members employed by H-D... your comments are both unwarranted, baseless, annoying and borderline unintelligible.

Speaking of my beloved H-D motor company....this is some of the most entertaining 33 minutes of H-D history that i've recently had the pleasure of viewing. feeds my XR1200 addiction.

the pics: #1- THE very first day of XR750 production. all hand-built in a very small dedicated assembly area on the 5th floor of the Juneau Ave corporate building. circa October/1970. in the foreground is THE very first XR750 ever assembled. courtesy of H-D factory archives.

#2-one of my best friends Ricky Rizzon with the immortal Jay Springsteen...Spring of 1982.... at the historic York Fairgrounds 1/2 mile Grand National speedway. literally right down the street from the York H-D assembly plant. To this day, they stay in frequent touch and provides me with some priceless autographed memorabilia. I took the pic.

first xr.jpg
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Great stuff John! Thanks for sharing:angel: You haven't collected ALL the XR's yet! Opto got ahold of one as well, I wonder how it does in the snow up there?
 
Thanks much for the kind words Shaughn. and speaking of which....got an email two weeks ago from a 72 year old guy in northeast PA who bought his XR1200 new at Hannum's and now has health problems and can no longer ride. driving up early sunday morning to buy it. unmolested low mileage original at a decent price. they're out there, but increasingly difficult to find low mileage mint original XR's.
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FOUR IN STOCK...ready for immediate delivery. LOL
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Nice! Those are some good looking bikes. We really need to see more of whats in that garage. :eagerness:



I still regret selling my Sportster. I'm such an idiot.
 
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Holy cow John! It does look like you're starting a XR dealership. Congrats on the find! And thanks for posting the historical pics and vidjya



thanks a ton Cody and though i realize you have some beautiful bikes and an almost new Big-Twin steed....if you ever get in the mood for an XR1200....please reach out and would be my pleasure to accomodate a great friend such as yourself.
PS- in stock and ready for immediate delivery. fully TEABAG approved!
 
feeling a bit nostalgic today and not sure why...but here's an extremely rare pic from archives. doubt it's ever been seen before.

history line: original founding fathers were William Harley...William Davidson...Arthur Davidson....Walter Davidson.
the gray haired woman 2nd from left is the grand-daughter of William Davidson. seated in the chair front row is last surviving child of the original founding four. it's Arthur H. Davidson....son of original founder Arthur Davidson, Sr.
picture circa summer of 1998.
the family resemblance is uncanny. i love this pic.
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thanks a ton Cody and though i realize you have some beautiful bikes and an almost new Big-Twin steed....if you ever get in the mood for an XR1200....please reach out and would be my pleasure to accomodate a great friend such as yourself.
PS- in stock and ready for immediate delivery. fully TEABAG approved!

That's a super generous offer John and I definitely would hit you up if I was in the market especially knowing what sort of condition all your bikes are in! I bet you can guess which one of the 4 I would want too...
 
It's really uncanny how much Barrett looks just like Arthur! Arthur does have youth on his side, but Barrett could pass for a great uncle or Grandfather to him. Wow we have someone famous on this board!:angel:





(Super neat pic John, thanks for sharing it:eagerness:)
 
All,

Been out of action for the last two weeks. Some kryptonite in the sacroiliac area--very debilitating. Was wondering for awhile if I would ever ride again. Meantime, the XR is sitting the barn--waiting.

So yes, I do like the XR and hope to get a few miles in before too long. My first ever HD btw. I mentioned that the XR is not a Ulysses. The Uly outperformed on all levels--ride comfort, handling and zip. I went for the fact that HD is everywhere and I won't have to chase fuel pumps and other oddities.

Cooter the snow has long gone except for up in the mountains. We had some frost a few weeks back but now it is full on blossoms.

See you all out there

Opto
 
Hey Opto, thanks for checking in and I’m sorry to hear about your back. I went through something similar that was extremely painful and debilitating a few years back as well. I hope you are able to resolve it soon and get some miles in on the XR. I think of you and John whenever I see an XR on the road. Take care!
 
Yeah it was weird--Of course being the guy with big dually I got involved with moving two different households, probably something to do with it. I was up and happening and next I knew it took me 10 minutes to go from sitting to standing. Not whining at all but a week in the Lazy boy did the fix but basically sucked.

So looking fwd to some XR time--soon as the latest monsoon blows away.

Just so everyone knows, but all the Buell bits that I gave away--everyone paid their postage/ The prob was the mails were so slow at the time everything took forever. Happy endings are good and now I explore the XR world.

see you out there,

Opto
 
some Harley nostalgia--my first Harley ride was in '51. My sister's boyfriend, Junie, arrived with this immense(I was 11)Harley, cream in color, a gated side shifter, huge floor boards and a giant version of a bicycle seat with a fence around the back and full tassels underneath. He took me for a long spin.

Most exciting thing in my life to that point, roaring around the country roads. No helmets or gear of any kind. Just the roar and the wind and the Joisey skeeters.

Opto










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