MLK and the man

Kinfolk

The Close Cousins post got Jeff from the Knucklebuster 1939 blog nostalgic about his 1971 Elizabeth NJ police bike.

Jeff the day he drug it home. Circa 1981.

 I've never seen an 'old' police special with all black fenders. Usually black and white or all white. 

Seems like the right time to finally post Dr.Sprocket's cop bike.

The Doctor told me he was building this 1967 Harley at last year's Born-Free. 

Like minds think alike. Notice I didn't say great.

The Adoration of Potential

There is a phenomenon that has come to past in the last 20 years or so. It's a phenomenon I call 'The Adoration of Potential'. This is the phenomenon of the potential being appreciated for it's own sake thus becoming the end instead of the means. For example. At one time it was only considered cool to have a full blown completely polished and custom painted chopper or hot rod. Then as works in progress and rats started turning up more and more at events, slowly but surely, rough cars and bikes (primer, bare metal customs, and survivors), became admired for what they could become. Or to put it another way, seeing the 'Beauty in the Beast'.

Mix in the emotions of nostalgia that creep in as one gets older and you develop an 'adoration' for the things you once admired solely as potential. Now a days, all kinds of old beaters fall into this kind of adoration. 

For me, this occurred in the form of a growing appreciating of old Harleys and since many a custom was born from them, especially old police Harleys. Factor in, when I was young, sometimes the only Harley you might see on any given day would be a police bike.  Then in 1975 I myself went to the CHP to bid on some cop bikes with the intention of building a chopper.

From Choppers Magazine. Roth's 'Oink' likely came from this adventure. Big Bike magazine also did it's own feature on buying police bikes.

Who among us doesn't dig this old dog?

So now I have a thing for old cop bikes (especially the basic blacked out versions as shown), and have collected the parts to one day put my FL Panhead back to it's believed police origins.

Sac CHP

Kerry Crist sent this photo from Big Roy's collection. It's a CHP officer on his new ride (VL), at the Scaramento Bridge. I'm going to guess it's around 1934-35.

There are several interesting things about this photo. The bike has several chrome items that one wouldn't normally expect on a police bike. Most notable is the completely chromed out front wheel, hub and brake assembly with the center of the rim painted. In addition to the handle bars and crash bar, it's very surprising that the fuel line and clutch pedal and linkage recieved a dip in the chrome tank. Were these factory options, or done after the fact? The officer's uniform is pretty dapper too. Check out the winged wheel on the hat. Riding around on a slick ride all decked out and getting paid for it (especially during the Depression), sounds like a good job. Of course there is one draw back, you still have to be a cop.

Hey Doc. Sprocket. Surely you have something to add.

1965 Panhead De-Rusteration

My friend Larry Settle purchased a reallly rough condition 1965 Harley Police bike something like 12 or 15 years ago with the plan to restore it one day. Larry has a shop in Harbor City, Ca and since customer's bikes come first (plus some other personal bikes), he didn't get to the Pan until maybe 4 years ago. While he had  finished it a little more than a year ago, and I had witnessed it's progress, I never saw it completely finished until recently.

I didn't get any before pictures before the tear down, but the following pictures pretty much illustrate how rough it was. It was possibly one of the worst condition 1965 Electra-Glides out there.

As rough as the outside was, Larry said the internal parts look as though they had little use.
 

Larry tried to salvage as many of the original parts as possible, but all of the sheet metal had to be replaced. If I remember correctly, the bike spent many years outside under a tree slowly leaning and sinking more and more into the earth.

Larry chose to restore it to a civialian mode. The bike's speedometer was marked BHPD.  Beverly Hills Police Dept.?

Strangely, the original tanks were 3.5 gallon which you never see on a '65. Larry found some 5 gallon tanks which were a first for '65.

Another one saved from the ravages of time.

Cops and Choppers

Cops interacting with choppers, a never ending struggle. Bill Ray LIFE photos from 1965.


This shot brings up a couple of things. 1. It's 1965 and that's a brand new first year Electra-Glide, so the biker could be getting one of his first up close and personal looks at Milwaukee's latest. 2. Some cops really dug their rides and took pride in their machines. The non standard chrome kicker lever, brake lever, and regulator cover means someone has customized this ride. Now I doubt the department would spring for such options (many P.D.s went for blacked out standard models), so what it may suggest is, the cop owns this bike and leases it to the city. This was once a fairly common practice with many Police Departments.

Cops, Then and Now

Then
LIFE March 1949, Los Angeles Coliseum. Photographer: Loomis Dean

Note the bottom left, you can see another photographer's hand holding his camera. Also notice the bottom right (LIFE logo),where the photo has been torn. Life Caption: "Los Angeles has world's biggest motorcycle police force, here lining up for review". Looks like 9 rows of 24. That would be 216 if thats all of them?

Maybe one of you can try counting them. I wonder how many of them have survived or how many were later bobbed and chopped? While they were getting their picture taken, it would have been a good day to be out on the streets raising hell.

"Los Angeles motorcycle police force during full scale inspection of cycle corps".

1949. That would mean a mixture of Knuckleheads (possibly some Flatheads), 48 Pans with springers, and '49 Hydra-Glides. Where's the Meter Maids and Servi-Cars?

Now
Exact date and location not known.

A modern day line up of Twinkies just doesn't get me as excited. Yeah, I know, I stacked the deck in favor of the oldies.

It may be a regional bias but, a proper Police Special is painted Black and White, or as H-D liked, Silver.

Cop Owned Dealer

What is it about this shop that makes me not want to stop and hang out?

You'd think selling bikes to your own P.D. would have been a conflict of interest. In '42 cops were some of the only ones able to buy new bikes and even they had to make a strong case for it. I believe Larry Ketzel also raced in hill climbs.

Cop Call #1

I always had a thing for old Cop Bikes (not cops), and think I know pretty much on the subject of Harleys so, it's alway interesting to see something new.

Seeing double? I've seen cop bikes that had springers with dual headlights but, I don't remember seeing them on glides. From Oct. 1959 Enthusiast.