Knuckleheads Motorcycle Repair

Wayne bought this bike at a popular motorcycle auction in Las Vegas and tried to take it into operation. Unfortunately, the bike was not ready to ride, but only optically designed. In workshops and private persons, Wayne brought the bike. Unfortunately, it needed major repairs and a careful decision. He came to us and gave us help. After a precise inspection, we found that the bike was in good shape and was almost intact all his life. We agreed to the request, under the requirement, that we should take every aspect and every part well. Good day, the video shows our finds and the result of our a few years of work. Have fun! Here we are with a beautiful black Harley-Davidson knucklehead from the year 1937. We got this bike from a friend from North Dakota. He bought it at an auction. He had a few problems. It was somehow assembled and it was chaos. The motorcycle is a early 37 knucklehead. It has 36 engine n That means that they used houses that were actually produced in the 36-er production series were. And it has many really cool early parts. There were three different frames, three different fork, which were used in 37. And this is the earliest version of all. It has a large 3,637-heel with the 7. 8-inch pipe. It has a 36-er transmission housing, a kicker cover and a transmission upper part. Something that's cool and unique about it is that it has a holder that is screwed on the kicker cover and runs 90 degrees and comes back. And then you can use your fifth holder instead of the small kicker support in the early 36-er style used, which was used before. M. The oil tank has a 36-er and a 36-er fork with small protection brackets without reinforcements. The motorcycle is in some ways really beautiful. It required a lot of work. I remember when Vane gave it away, it looked at the loading area of u200bu200bhis truck and the rear part of the frame and saw that it was really wave- And I knew that there would be problems. And eh, we took the motorcycle to the last screw, nut and screw apart and polished everything sand and insulated everything and found countless mistakes and mistakes that we had to lift. The challenge with these motorcycles is that they all start fresh and perfect and then start a new life and then lead a different life. Some are mis-s When these motorcycles were completely newly produced, there were no quads or dirtbikes or ATVs or whatever. Do I don't know what this thing had for a life. I think it stayed relatively intact. Do I think, that's all together. Since it was new, people have repaired it as well as possible. But they all have a different life. So, back to the frame. I'll wait for something to add to the video. After we had sanded it, there were a lot of minor repairs on this upper tube. And then the left rear frame was very poorly repaired for the ax plate and had a terrible connection. And then there were also a few terrible repairs on the lower tube. And finally I found an original tube from one of my friends in Virginia. And I have exchanged the whole tube and part of the frame. But the large part of the ax plate used, which was delivered with the motorbike. That was a strange, tricky repair, but I gave everything and in the end everything was 100% approved. I'm really satisfied with it. The crotch wings are fantastic. A lot of work was put in there. There was no rod in it, but they were totally bent and ugly and just lay everywhere. We got the backlight really well. The side cover creaked, the mount is painted. The gasoline tanks were strongly pressed. I had to cut out the back sides, knock out the springs and grade them. And I'm really satisfied with the result. The armature and board cover is an original cover and has all the right markings. It was never chrome-ed yet, which is good. The contours here and these small edges are always very nice, but in this area a lot of silica bronze was welded and it was very elaborate until it fit well. But we invested a lot of time and in the end everything turned out very well. The steering wheel was rebuilt when buying. I didn't find the set 367, but an original, early smooth piece. Tom Farber worked on it and it was perfect. There is nothing better than having steering slits with accuracy so that they don't break and feel The front fork leg had to be re-roofed. We make the holes for it and a layout. So it's very easy to do. M. The front fork leg has the recesses here It's harder to sand up here. I can't prove that this is the fork, which was on it, but I think that's the right one. It still has the front brake dr The front brake plate 3637. The original steel hubs that we chrome hard again. They had as machine rims when they came and we found a few original ones. They let you restore and then put it on. It's an open-air lift engine, which in this respect is really cool. We made about 36 videos about it and talked about it. And it's just fun to see you in action. One of the biggest problems was that the oil wasn't really drained from above. And when we took it apart, she had the wrong waves. Three of the lift were later on. M. The exhaust hole was completely closed and we finally built in a exhaust with high exhaust. And all other tricks used, which we talked about in other videos, to get you as far as possible, that it works. And I'm really satisfied with the result. We haven'taken it into action yet, but I think the setting is very simple. Trunk. M. This bike is fresh. It's brand new. M. We're starting tonight at night and then starting with the setting. I thought, it's all detailed. We should at least record the right side of the video. M. Another thing I had to find was the right rear brake pedal with n They have two holes down here. This one doesn't have a hole for the fixed brake. It's very similar to the model 36. But a 36 would have a 5. 16 hole and no quarter inch hole down here. I think that's the right brake pedal for it, because it's about a so-called serial n It's all just speculation and you just hit a foundation, in which you look at engine wheels and the available information that you find in the course of the years. Pulls. Nice, original, air-conditioned seats. I think Chuck and Joe did it. And M. Yes, it's just a great bike. We took the bike and said, if we take it apart and start from the bottom and repair everything we find, then we'll take it. And Wayne was there with it. And went through everything. And I'm really satisfied with the result. I know it's going to work out so well, how it looks. And what problems we have after starting, will be in comparison to the condition in which it came to us, very little. So that's the left side of this 37R. We just rolled it on the lift stage for the first time. We're going to start it tonight or tomorrow. And if we're going to crash on these engine wheels for years, it's a joy for me to see you on the ground for the first time. You almost take it as a natural thing to be able to work on these things all the time. It just feels so good when you're standing on your own two wheels, the tanks and the armature and board are on it and you can see the straight lines and the nice things that make these things so special. That's a fantastic 37. That's a very early model. It's not painted in a conventional color. When the 37 came out for the first time, it was only in red and brown. Later, the line blue came to it. We talked about it in the past. There is a cool picture of the letter that Harley sent to his dealers to announce the new, exciting color and the ban on color-coded oil tanks. I think that's one of the videos about the blue 37 that we uploaded. This bike should have been specially ordered in black with silver, gold-plated stripes. We bought a really cool set of Big Twin Flathead Tanks from Bill Heissie a year ago. They were so painted and I always thought that was great. And we also have a friend who bought a NOS Lincoln Tank for his 37U that is so painted. So that's unconventional. That's a bit far away. We can't prove which color the bike originally had. But we know that they really wanted all the colors and combinations and the dealers really wanted everything. What they wanted and Harley did it because it was a depression. They just came out of a car And when they were able to paint a motorcycle in a special color to make the customer happy and make him proud, that guaranteed a lighter sale. There was definitely a price for it. They didn't do it otherwise. If you look at the left side of this motorcycle, there are many cool special functions from 1937. It's the first year for the switch from the steel and the raster coolers. The first year for the armature board with a daily kilometer count and a small light here. It has the long head of strength that came around in the year 2000 in the model 36 on the market. When you look at the motorcycle Because from the size it is exactly the same motorcycle as a 36R. Eh, it has a 25-degree steering angle, an inline fork and 18-inch wheels. But through the stripes the motorcycle looks, in my opinion, much longer, sharper and lower. It is simply an absolutely dangerous motorcycle. You can see that the stripes are directly on the outside of the rivets. They run to the tip here. And then they go completely from the back of the front back wing. And then they go completely to the right of the rear back wing. And then you can hear it on the left side right here where the chain protection comes in. I'm going to let Brian post a picture, how thick the stripes are on some NOS coat wings and original lacquers, which I have, so that you can help with your motorcycles. The I have a few NOS tanks, of which I don'take the measure for these parts. And you really have to be careful. You don't want to look These were made by hand. And I'm sure there were some deviations there. But as a false rule, I And they should only show a little up. So if you look at 15 original painted motorcycles, they all look a little different, but no sink in. So that's a good false rule that helped me in the past. The biggest feature that this motorbike shows in contrast to later models from the year 1937 is probably the frame. The first year was 37 for a inch and an eighth of a row from the neck to the new part of the side carcass. And then at the bottom of the side carcass it goes on a inch and then this row goes all the way back. That was a huge improvement. It made the frame so much more stable, stronger and stiffer. And it really affected many of the problems that have 36 frames. As I already said, these frames were very deep in here, but we could use new rows. And then I replaced this with a good original row. And on the other side I think I did the row for myself. But it turned out well. That and the oil tank and the gasoline tanks, which all needed a larger operation. But with a little love for attention and a little time and effort we brought them so far that they last for another 80 to 90 years. With these saddle bags it is about so-called basket weave saddle bags from the years 1937 They are so elaborate and detailed and just cool. My friend in the east made them for us. As you can see, the logo is very three-dimensional and has just a lot of topography, details and textures. They are just cool. In the rims these cool small rows are cut in. Even the attachment plate is made of cork. I just love your looks. In addition to the looks, they are also much better because of their size than the earlier bags, which were much smaller. The early bags hung on gloves and had a small leather belt, which you could attach to. You could hardly understand a jacket in it. This is an enormous improvement, because now you can change clothes, tools and a replacement chain. That opens up a really new possibility. Would be good to have a replacement belt parat or we love belt drives. An enormous improvement. Nice that there is something It's funny, because we invest so much time, money and effort to attach the protective plate to it and then attach it to the motorbike, so that they absolutely fit perfectly and the chain is perfect. And then we drill five holes on each side for the saddle pockets and do a large part of the work again. But do You want to be able to take your things with you when you go on trips. And yes, these are super cool. 37 in the first year. And they just look really good. It feels good to bring the motorbike to this point. It's a huge relief. I have the feeling, we have tried everything, tried to lift it up and find all possible problems. It's fantastic to bring it to this point. There is no lag. The whole wiring works. Everything does what it should do. But the really fun part is, when we start it for the first time and drive it, you tune and bring everything in this respect in order, so that the customer can really enjoy and drive. It was so fun to get to this point. Tonight and tomorrow it will be even better. Because we start the motorbike for the first time. We will let it run a few times, set the empty run. After all, the first 160 to 320 kilometers to put it back and make sure that it starts clear and we have a lot of fun with it. Here is the black 37. We have made a few studio recordings and will start them for the first time now. Yes. It will run very well. So, we turn the gas on. It takes about 17 seconds until the gas runs out of the car. I think, that will work. Okay. So, give gas. It is a pretty cold day. So we will give gas twice. How do you find it? People, first order. Class. There we have it. Live. Sounds a bitter. Turn on the next episode, where we talk about beautiful restorations and motorbike adventures here at Karl's Cycle Supply. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye.