73 Harley Iron Head

Bob Corcoran

I believe bikes have a soul, some of them anyway. It's a visual thing. You have to be able to look through a bike to see its soul. If it's all covered up like a snowmobile, I can't sense it. Don't believe me? Look at a picture of a Vincent Black Shadow, then look at a Vespa. Nobody says" that bike has the soul of a Vespa."

This 1973 Sportster has it. AMC badge, right hand shift, S&S carb, Andrews cams. It reflects the hours its original owner spent looking through magazines and catalogs. Dreams and work are what go into a bike. Memories are what you hope get returned.

A few years previously a TV program about a guy knocking around the country on his Sportster captured most schoolboys' attention. Many of us promised ourselves that we would do the same once out of school. Viet Nam interrupted this bikes owners plans. He returned different than when he left.

We rescued this bike which had been silent for years sitting in a shed in the desert, its owner now passed. With less than 8000 miles on it, one realizes the memories were too few. When I finally saw it shine and heard it roar it reminded me of Ray, once again young with a head full of hair and a vision full of life. More personal than a photo or painting, riding a bike that someone once poured himself into is an experience of time and place and memories converging. 

Those are the reasons to put the time and money into that old bike out in the back.