More Uncles and motorcycles

Over the past weekend Mrs. Surly and I went down to Seymour to hang out and went to a little party in honor of my Crazy Uncle who passed away last year. We had a great time and with the help of my Old Man, we dragged back Unk's 1971 BSA Lightning. He wanted us to have it and now we do. Not sure how joint ownership is going to shake out but this would be the third BSA twin and fourth total BSA I have been the proud (or partial) owner of. One of my friends is a motorcycle savant and has a set of sleeved carbs for this baby. With those and a little TLC, I could have this thing running in a weekend. If only I had a weekend.

The Beesa in STB's pickup.

In an unfortunate coincidence, another uncle passed away a few years ago as well. He had a 1969 XLH Sportster. I eluded to it back in June of 2011. There was a bunch of stuff that we helped sell for my aunt but understandably, she wasn't ready to sell the scooter at the time. I respectfully asked for right of first refusal and long story short...I'm picking it up on Sunday.

There's a sporting motorcycle hidden somewhere in this picture.

So I've been trying to keep the garage and my life uncluttered and I wind up with half a motorcycle and a Harley. Well I suppose that since it's Independence Day here in the good old U.S. of A the purchase of some Milwaukee iron offsets the partial ownership of the BSA from jolly old England.

This would be the target. Pic lifted from The Zon

It certainly warrants it's own post(s), but this is what I'm thinking I'll do with the Sporty. The blue bike is what it would have looked like originally. The Old Man thinks the hardtail is a bad idea. I don't know why that would make any difference to him considering he has about 10 bikes and only one is rideable. If it's parked, what difference would it make if it's uncomfortable? Just kidding Chief. I think making something like the above would be pretty attainable without too much money being spent. Of course, I've said that before.

Happy Independence Day!

Ironhead

I guess if you look at pictures of enough H-Ds, eventually you'll want one. I'm there. Crap, how did I let this happen? Now, like all my motorcycling pipe dreams this will probably never come to fruition but here's what I've been thinking. And when I say thinking I mean morning, noon, and night. I can't shake this. There is a remote possibility that I could wind up with this:

The how's and why's of this are not appropriate to discuss here but if the planets align, it could be mine for a fair price. 1969 XLH. I've no clue as to how it would run or the state of the internals. It could be put back to stock fairly easily. I'm thinking, given my 'druthers, that I'd like to have something more like...

The three above pics were snatched from the web.

 If these pics belong to you hit me up and I'll give credit or remove them. 

...KR flat tracker style. I'm sure my Dad would never notice the Ceriani front end had gone missing from his parts stash. If I didn't get too picky about things I'm sure it wouldn't cost all that much. Throw away all the stuff that doesn't make it go or stop. Bolt on hardtail (sorry Chief), set of dirt track bars, Bates style seat and a P pad. I'm sure my neighbors will just love the straight pipes waking them up at 5:30 as I leave for work.
I don't love all choppers per se but It's the handbuilt aspect of it. Certain styles of chopper I absolutely love and others I wouldn't even notice if I was standing in a field full of them. That said you'll probably never see me owning a chopper. I sure love looking at pictures of them, though. I've always associated motorcycles with racebikes. Sitting on something that has forward controls or bars with grips at odd angles is just so foreign to me I'd never be comfortable. It would need to have the foundation of a racebike. When thinking about the Sportster above, "what would this bike look like with my stamp on it?".  XR750 replica street trackers abound and could get pricey. They look too specific. Also, I think if I was gonna build that style bike I'd do it with a Jap bike. I don't know why. Maybe because I know where I can score an SR500 on the cheap... I know ironheads are evil. There's a real good reason most guys run the new stuff. I think I just need to get it out of my system. There's only one way to do that.