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About a year ago, my son Matt and I decided to jump in on a new project in the shop. Matt had been on board here at the museum for about a year and a half at that time, and had gotten to the point where he needed a bit bigger of a bike than the forty-five I’d built him when he was a kid. After throwing around a few ideas, we decided on building him a Knucklehead bobber. Boy was he excited. We got to work pretty quickly, assembling a genuine 1938 Harley-Davidson 61" Knucklehead engine, starting with a set of motor cases that I found several months earlier at the AMCA swapmeet in Davenport, IA. There’s nothing like genuine H-D parts, and when you find a set of great cases, its inspiration enough to build a beauty.  After a smooth motor and transmission assembly, we began mocking up the bike, fitting countless parts to ensure a problem-free assembly. We decided to make it a period bobber, exchanging many stock ’38 Harley parts – such as fenders, handlebars, forks, rims, and a few others – for period "hot-rod" parts that the old-timers used to use back in the 30s and 40s.
After about eight months of assembly, the bike was just were we wanted it. John the Painter was quick to spray us a stock 1938 paint scheme on the tanks, and black out pretty much all parts that would have been chrome. After a little bit of simple wiring, hooking up the clutch, and bringing together many of the sub-assemblies, all we had left to do was the pipes. My good buddy Gerald Rinehart of Rinehart Racing has been a great friend for many years. Gerald has been making exhaust systems for years, ranging from high-performance NASCAR headers to exhaust systems to give your stock Harley a lot more go. After talking to Gerald and our old buddy Legend for a few minutes on which direction to go, we came to the conclusion that a set of custom dual "shotgun" pipes would look great and give the old ’38 all the power it needs. Matt and I are both excited to see what Gerald creates. I’ll be sure to post a few pictures when its done. If you’d like a little more information on Gerald and Rinehart Racing visit his website. Last night, we tied up a few loose ends, put in a couple quarts of oil and a battery, and decided, "What the heck, we may as well make sure she runs.. Since its Matt’s bike, and he’s been working so hard to get her up and running, it was only fitting that he’d be the one to fire her up for the first time. Flip on the choke, give her two kicks, flip of the choke, turn on the ignition and kick – and guess what – it fired up on the first kick.
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