Description
SOLD!!! I'm reluctantly selling my beautiful 1950 FL Harley Davidson Panhead 1200cc fitted with both electric starter and kick starter. Professionally built in a '48 Panhead/ Knucklehead' style via my own vintage motorcycle business in North Yorkshire. It has undergone a huge amount of work, nut & bolt ground up rebuild, engine & gearbox rebuild, modern upgrades for reliability, rewired to 12V in vintage cloth wiring, E-Spark electronic ignition, N1 Shifter in gearbox, Pro Clutch, Cannonball Electric Starter with starter button etc etc just to list a few... and fitted with all the nicest vintage parts and has been meticulously maintained.
Huge spec below...
Engine
Original 1950 FL Panhead 74ci 1200cc (matching numbers). Full engine rebuild (1000 miles ago), all new bottom end bearings, new crank pin, new pistons, new valves, valve springs, rebuilt rocker arms, new rocker box covers, std heads, new pushrods tubes, rocker covers, rebuilt s&s carburetor, rebuilt oil pump. (Photos available of full rebuild). STD heads offer much better performance as are much closer to Shovelheads than Panheads. I do also have the original 1950 pan heads (available separately). Includes correctly titled V5 in my name. (Worth over £8000 with rebuild & V5).
Frame
Built by Roland Dintor in Germany. High-end reproduction frame with casting numbers, steering lock and even the welds are copied from the exact year frame! Looks just like an original frame. (Cost over £3000).
Gearbox
4 speed gearbox fitted with Baker Drivechain N1 Shifter Drum. The N1 Shifter costs around £600 alone. This changes the stock 1N234 shift sequence to 4321N (neutral all the way up). This is very helpful for faster tank shift set-off because you just stomp down on the shift lever from neutral to upshift. The other benefit from this set-up is that the "all the way forward" neutral makes quick stops safer. The gearbox also has lots of upgraded internal parts including Cannonball heavy duty throw out bearing and kickstart shaft, and also has the vintage pig snout kicker cover and Faber brass kicker pedal. (Cost over £2000 with upgrades).
Electric Start
This is by far the best electric starter on the market. The Cannonball Stealth Starter system by W&W Cycles Germany converts the classic kick start-only motorcycle to electric start yet still retaining a working kickstart. Push the button to fire it up (heavy duty push button underneath the tank in easy reach whilst sat on the bike). Due to the system's low profile, the overall appearance of the bike remains virtually unchanged and most people don't even notice the starter! (See pics). As mentioned the starter button has been wired through the neutral switch for safety reasons so the bike can't start accidentally in gear. The electric start is also super useful with tank shift as hills stalls are soon recovered with the push of a button! Costs around £6000 with accessories including professionally fitted as it requires alterations to gearbox and other upgraded parts.
Gas Tanks
1947/ 48 Harley Davidson Gas Tanks OEM. One year only '47 Knucklehead tanks which makes them extremely rare and valuable. The tanks are the best examples I could find. No bondo or dents. I had them professionally blast etched, zinc etched and etched primed inside and leak tested by Andy over in Pickering and they look like new. Professionally painted by paint by Matt in Leeds in silver with gold swoosh in keeping with the brass theme with OEM brass tank badges. Cost approx £5000 for the tanks, badges, shifter/ gate, paint and etched treatment. No stone chips or scratches! Mint Condition. The shifter gate is a custom made straight slot in brass with an OEM chrome patina shifter lever, gas caps and fuel valve with viton tip.
Speedo and Dash
The speedo is OEM (correct for '48 to 52') and rebuilt by John Bordas in the States and just showing a 1000 miles! The dash is also OEM with a prefect OEM GEN/ OIL glass and fitted with a neutral light switch so the bike cannot be started in gear with the electric start for obvious safety reasons. Fitted with a nice brass period switch and keys. Speedometers rebuilt by John fetch over £1000 and dash with brass switch and glass lens £500.
Fenders, Rack, Bags, Trims & Taillights
The rear fender is made by The Cyclery with exact shaping and 3-piece construction (spot welded side panels) of the original factory part. This fender alone costs around £1400. The front fender is by Cannonball and costs around £500. The rear rack is an original OEM '39 with fixings and these are super rare and in my opinion the best looking racks. Worth around £700 with the correct fixings. The rear light is OEM Tomb stone light with original glass and OEM rear chrome bumper with nice patina. Both front and rear fender eagle trims are OEM. The front is brass and looks amazing and the rear is also brass but with chrome over the top. It could be polished up to match. The saddle bags are nice soft leather decorated with vintage brass stars. Approx £1200 for tomb stone light, front & rear eagle trims, bumper and bags.
Faber Cycles Handlebars, Top Fork Clamp and Risers
Fitted with Stubby Speedster handlebars by Faber Cycles which I've converted to work on an S&S carb with a standard pull throttle. The control wires run through the handlebars. The top fork clamp is bronze cast and the Stelling & Hellings risers are also bronze by Faber Cycles. The complete set costs over £2000.
Wheels, Forks and Brakes
The wheels are new 18" Star Hubs with KHW stamping, with parkarised star covers, axles, spacers, nuts and new Super Classic Shinko tyres (over £2000). Samwel springer chrome forks with ride control and Samwel dual leading shoe springer front brake and a rear mechanical brake by W&W (Forks, ride control & brakes set costs over £3000). The brake lever is by The Cyclery and a very nice reproduction of the 40's brake seen on Knuckleheads (£200). Also, has a Delco Remy Horn and correct headlight/ horn mounting (£150).
Clutch, Primary & Footboards
Fitted with a Performance Pro Clutch by Rivera Primo. This combined with the N1 Shifter makes operating the tank shift as smooth as butter! It's the best combination for tank shift with ratchet top. Costs over £700 for the Pro Clutch. The primary drive is belt drive by Rivera Primo worth around £1000. Rare OEM 1950 Panhead outer primary cover (vertical inpsection cover slotted), OEM derby cover with parkerized screws worth around £1000. The footboard tops are custom made polished stainless with Harley Davidson engraved and comes with extensions parkarised by Strange Bird (over £500 with footboards and extentions). Worth over £3000 for Rivera primary setup, N1 Shifter, primary cover, footboards and extentions.
Headers and Mufflers
The header pipes and mufflers are by Gasbox in the States. I've converted the headers to 3 bolt flanges so they are fixed nice and tight no leaks. The muffler is the rocket fin seamed version by Gasbox which is an authentic reproduction of the original muffler with correct details like the spot-welded bottom seam. These are very hard to tell from the factory equipment and accepted by the AMCA on restored motorcycles. Both the headers and muffler have been professionally ceramic coated in graphite black which is much more hard wearing and doesn't flake off like paint. Probably around a £1000 parts/ ceramic coating.
Carb & Air Cleaner
The carb is S&S Super E and has been fully rebuilt and has a quick release plug for draining float bowl, a custom made air cleaner cover by Tom Fork in Japan. The finned design matched the fins of the cam cover (Cost over £1200 set)
Seats, T-bar, Seat post and Lights
Super solo narrow version seat with new NOS-finish seat post and perfect OEM T-Bar. Plus, OEM under-the-seat '49 guide lights which I've wired up to the rear brake light as additional brake lights. (Seat, Post, T-bar and underseat Guidelights worth over £1000).
Ignition, Generator and Wiring
Fitted with an E-Spark electronic ignition (so no points and condenser to worry about), Accel coil and leads which makes kick starting easy should you wish to kickstart the bike. The bike has been completely rewired with vintage wiring and cloth loom. All done properly (crimped, soldered and heat shrunk) and the bike has been converted to 12V with a Cycle Electric Generator. The E-Spark system with coil and leads costs over £1000 plus the generator costs of over £700.
Battery & Box
Fitted with a 12 Cell Antigravity Lithium battery and housed in a Cannonball battery box and lid with brass wing nuts and vintage cloth wiring tucked inside the horseshoe oil tank. The battery box has a lower section which houses the Cannonball electric starter relay. All done properly. (Over £500 for lithium battery and box)
Windshield & Lights
Fitted with a Hanson Roll-Up Windshield with an extra set of clamps which allows the windshield to be fitted to the narrower Faber speedster handlebars. In its lower position the screen tucks on the handlebars and you are "in the wind", but rolled-up it almost provides the protection of a regular windshield. Cost over £1200 with the additional clamps. Fitted with Springer headlamp, visor, bar and spotlights all fully working. The Briggs and Stratton ignition switch is brass with 2 sets of keys (Lights, spots, bar and switch £500).
Footclutch
OEM Rocker Pedals - nice condition and works great (Cost approx £500 with US custom fees)
Other bits forgot to mention include: Crash Bars front and rear powdercoated black, wrecking crew chain guard, 40's vintage mirror, NOS vintage rear mud flap with jewels plus all the small hardware parts.
MOT & Tax exempt. Recently serviced.
Add it all up - totals more than £45000 in parts alone plus labour on top!!!
Asking price: £23500 as spec above.
