Kurt Clauss, Uncle Blah Blah Blah and a lifetime rider

So I had climbed on the back of my best friend’s older brother’s 1972 CH Sportster for the short 5 block ride across town; to another friend’s house. “Hold onto my belt” Johnny said. I’d been on bikes before. Road many miles through local fields and illegally on the street on my brothers’ hand-me-down Honda 175 Scrambler (stories for another time). The Sportster was different. Deep, raw, and looking lean and mean just sitting still. Pulling away from the curb I could feel the torque, all bottom end. Then he short-shifted into 2nd and I could feel that rear wheel digging in; I could feel the front tubes pulling up, straining against the hydraulic chambers–traveling to the max. “What an animal”,  I thought to myself. This was repeated for the short 4-5 minute jaunt across town. When he dropped me off I told him I was gonna get me one of those. Johnny laughed and rumbled off. I was 16 or 17 at the time. When I was 18 I found a ’72 CH available in the next town over that I was told “might be available”. Problem was the dude that owned it was living in AZ. and the bike had been hibernating on his father’s screened-in back porch. I was determined. I tracked down the address; startled the dude’s father when he answered his front door but, after explaining myself; he was more than happy to show me the bike and supply his son’s phone # in AZ. I think he really wanted it off his porch. With two or three long distance phone calls–she was mine. She was stock except for the 16″ chromed hog rear wheel & hub and the custom paint job. ’72 was the 1st year for 1000cc Sportsters. Two piece handlebars with internal throttle cable. No turn-signals and non hydraulic front and rear mechanical brakes (at 400+ pounds they could be-how shall we say?-“difficult” to stop on a dime when moving at a clip). They were right shifters–attributed to their flat-track heritage. I managed to get her started after much labor (XLCH’s are kick-start only) and sputtered home. I had a good friend who was a mechanic at the local HD shop who came over and rebuilt the Bendix carb for me. That and an oil change was all it took! The following weekend I rode her to the Jersey shore for a weekend of bar-hopping adventure! That’s how my 47 year long love affair with Harley (particularly Sportsters) started. An affair that’s taken me from sea to shining sea (more stories for another time). The best $1700.00 I ever spent. What got me thinking about all this is I just bought another Ironhead Sportster today (1985 XLH). My 5th Sportster–and riding her home made me think of that ’72 CH.