Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Thing


I had seen some old pictures of this bike on some other blogs awhile ago and I was surprised to find that it's still around. It's in a feature on Bikernet.com right now along with a new Evo version of the bike built by the original bike's builder son. It's too bad the feature is mostly focused on the newer bike. Perhaps there's plans for another feature? It also appears the Thing now has new S&S cases. Makes me wonder how much of the original is intact? Yes, I know, racing engines tend to blow up.

Warning!... there's a couple of scantily clad women blocking most views of the bike.
http://www.bikernet.com/bikebarn


I just found this old shot I had saved.

2 comments:

drsprocket said...

Chris, Know this machine well. When they first restored it it didn't have disc brakes. Just the old drum in the rear and no front I believe. My friend Dave Kafton in Lodi helped with knuckle motor parts for it. It ran for the first time on the old Kingdon strip (used in the late 40's and early 50's) in Lodi close to the 5 fwy. This bike was originally built in Stockton and still based there. They must have installed the disc's for safety sake.

Chris K said...

Thanks Doc. Damn safety. I have to say, the disk brakes kind of blow it for me. I always hate to see modern stuff on old iron.

If they had used an older type of calipers and hub instead of billet, it would have come off better but, that's just my stubborn opinion.