Why a Shovel?

[pappyfreebird]

thars ya go thar chappy ,,,tyun ta give growd men stiffies again...well least werked on me..love that ol skoot

[amf 71flh]

Like alot of you, riding the Shovel takes me back in time to a much simpler place. No wife, kids, mortgage, steady job, or getting old. I bought my 1st Harley at the age of 19; a brand new 1976 Orange XLCH. The best summer of my life. I got more tail that first year than I ever got the rest of my life. Sold that bike many years later and have yet to find out where it went. When I came across my 76 FX 10 years ago, I fell in love and had to have it. Just purchased my 71 FLH last year. What's better than having two Shovels, two wifes? I think not................

[HotRodShovel]

Hey neten-o, my first ride was a 1968 650 BSA Lightning. I wish I still had it.

[Brrrap]

I've had as many as four bikes at one time. Gave the '59 XLCH, my first Harley, to my son. My second bike, a 79 FLH, I gave to the wife and am currently upgrading it for her. Leaves me with my '59 FLH and a 2002 FLHT. I've said it before in previous threads, Nothing does the "Potatoe Potatoe Potatoe" like a shovel, but thats just one of the voices I love hearing start up out in the garage. The son's XLCH Sporty (Hillside Performance) has always snorted like a high strung horse and my old pan has that generator sound always doing the "Whirrr". The 2002 sounds to me like an effective tool for long range and i appreciate it as well.  Shovels really are ,in my opinion, the Panhead of today in the eyes of both the less seasoned and more seasoned riders. They're drying up out at the runs, and thats part of the allure. "Hey man, see that ol Shovel ?"  I normally would say that it would take a Flattie or a Knuck to get that response out of me, but I find I do the same thing. "Hey'd you guys see we have a couple Shovels running along with us?" Lets face it, They're ingrained in our hearts!

[HotRodShovel]

About three weeks ago I took the bike to my local MoCo for whatever. As I was there,one of the mechanics comes out to see my ride. Wait here, he says and brings his 79FLH around. A few minutes later another shovel pulled up. By the time everyone came out of the store to see the three shovels parked outside, another one pulled up. The only four bikes and they were all old school shovelheads. The manager came out and said he could not remember the last time four shovelheads sat parked in front of the store.
A few pics were taken and we all went on our own ways.
Yeah, there is just something about them.

[76shuvlinoff]

  Every year or two I get a couple of my evo buddies together and we run up through Michigan across the Mac have a beer and a burger, sometimes a lot of beer spend the night and ride back. This year I took the new bike because what-the-hell I had a new bike, but it's been the shovel every other time.
A couple years ago we're up in St Ignace shooting pool and having a good time when this big bearded fella comes through the door straight back to us and asking who the hell rode the shovel?  Ok I'm not a big guy and I'm thinking ..wtf? .. there are three of us but I may have to use this pool que in other than it's designed intention.  I speak up that's my bike.  He grins at me and says loudly it takes a Man to ride a shovel!
My evo buddies just groan and go back to the game,  I had a beer with a new friend.

While I'm putting that new cam in last weekend one of my oldest friends stops in to shoot the "Potty mouth".  I'm setting there on my stool taking stuff off cleaning each part up and laying it out in the order of dis-assembly.  I drifted off looking over at the pile of sheets and blankets that are covering the Fat Bob.

He says whatcha thinkin?
.... "I'm thinking that was a mistake"
..."WTF do you mean a mistake?"
... "It just ain't the shovel"
.. "you're full of "Potty mouth""
... "sure I am"

He's right, I am full of "Potty mouth" but that pretty FXDF ain't the shovel.

[neten-o]

Hey neten-o, my first ride was a 1968 650 BSA Lightning. I wish I still had it.

Yea..I also had a Spitfire Mk 2 .but wanted a Hornet .. but that was only for you guys ..great days ..Rich ..

[autoworker]

I keep asking myself the same thing.

[HV]

I have a second lift next to my normal one in our shop......in the off season like now I keep my shovel on it....and work on it on my days off.... almost every day a customer that's in checking out the new bikes we are working on asks me who owns the old shovel ? .... it gets more looks then the new $30,000 bikes next to it.... yep its just something you cant explain ....

[dave_9113]

Because a flatside shovel is the prettiest engine Harley ever made....well at least in my eyes.   Took 8 years waiting to get my birthyear bike, but she is not going anywhere other than to my son someday. 

[otis]

It's a funny thing isn't it - I could not provide enough rational reasons to overcome the irrational.  I love my Shovel. Why, well it just become part of my "being" that could never be replaced.

I really like the way EASY stated this....... "my Shovel.... well, she sings to me, I whisper to her, and we pop down the highway together. Sometimes she drives, sometime I do, but we always have a good visit with each other.   I've owned alot of other bikes, Ive riden almost every brand and every style, but my faithful ol 76 is all I wanna take home, and that my friend is why I ride a Shovel. EASY"

I too own other bikes, but the Shovel is the only one I would never sell.

Pat

[kickstart]

[quote
Because a flatside shovel is the prettiest engine Harley ever made....
[/quote]

I think a Knuck takes that prize JMHO
that said it's the top 3 that ALL make the grade
Knucks, Pans and Shovels -esp flat side shovels
the fortunate son would have all 3
keep on keepin on 

[verson22]

Shovel was the bike I lusted after when I was stealing Easyriders from the corner store 'cause they wouldn't sell them to me. It looks the way a motorcycle should, black and chrome. I've got an evo and I look at it or a Twin cam it just doesn't look right.I pull in some where I never see 20 copies of my bike.When I bought it it was set up perfect for my height w/ short apes and floorboards, I think it was waiting for me.

[rbonner]

I think the EVO is the motor that is the missing link.  They tried to get by with just updating the upper end again and they made it look like something the Jetsons would ride...  It never quite settled right with me.  The Twin Cam however just looks right and is stylistically worthy in my opinion.

[shoveldog81]

Gee - Altho I think the shovel is a great ride (again, I have my 81 FLH Heritage) I think the Evo is the biggest advance the MoCo ever made since the Knuck. The first bike that can go 100K without opening it up!!!  I love my shuv but come on!  The evo is what put the MoCo in the black!  In fact, I think evos are a bargain right now.  Imagine - paying $6K for a big twin HD and then ride accross the country without a worry.
Don't get me wrong - luv the shuv, but let's not dis the evo. To me the TC is the odd duck- the transition motor to something else.  Then, as they say, IMHO
Dog

[rbonner]

SD81, when they claimed the EVO would go 100,000 miles they had actually ran a couple up; one on the dyno and sent one out on the road that summer for a serious ride...

Unfortuantely both motors were hand builts and not production.  I don't think ANY EVO actually made 100,000 miles.  The twin cam however was potentially a 100K unit out of production.  A major step up.

BOB

[ST40]

I seem to remember an early Evo that went well over 100,000 in an article in Easyriders.  It may have been Rip in the monthly Rip's Ride.  I'm sure I still have that copy.  Finding it is another story.  Seems like they opened up the top end and did some minor work around 140,000 or so.   Marty

[76shuvlinoff]

.... and that's why I like shovels.

[rbonner]

I seem to remember an early Evo that went well over 100,000 in an article in Easyriders.  It may have been Rip in the monthly Rip's Ride.  I'm sure I still have that copy.  Finding it is another story.  Seems like they opened up the top end and did some minor work around 140,000 or so.   Marty

Yeah exactly...  The one I said went out for a serious ride was the HD/EASYRIDERS bike...  Hand built and HD maintained.  That sort of treatment is really sort of a scam.  When the bike is continually running it doesn't have the time to get all crapped out.  It's just straight WEAR only situation, NO TEAR...

One of my buddies is an engineer at Jeep.  He designed the keyless entry and some other stuff.  Well when I was living in Detroit, they had just punched out the first two, hand built Jeep Grand Cherokees...  The first was destroyed in destructive testing and the second was the engineering mule.

They'd loaded six engineers in it and drove it laps of america and put 100K miles on it in a little over a month.  The engineers when they had problems would call the factory with fixes.

I actually drove the GC a few times, once on a trip to Dayton Ohio with my buddy and a couple pizza runs.  This car was still like new even with 100K miles plus on the clock.  As far as the engine, when you don't have the acids building up in the oil due to short time of use, the tear factor is almost non-existant.

BOB

[kickstart]

[quote
They'd loaded six engineers in it and drove it laps of america and put 100K miles on it in a little over a month.  The engineers when they had problems would call the factory with fixes.
[/quote]
If you stay on the interstate and cruise @ 70mph you usually Avg 50 miles in an hour.
Maybe they went a little faster, they probably stoped for 10 oil changes too.
BUt with a 50 mph average it would take 93 days , give or take

[rbonner]

I just told the story the best I could remember, that was 1991.

They loaded the staff in and took off.  They swapped off guys and just rolled....  Yeah you are correct they could have been gone up to three months depending on what they were doing.  I'm not Dave's keeper but, It sounded pretty disgusting.  Six slimey guys riding almost non-stop for 100K.  I asked if there was any fun along the way and he said NO...  It needed to be completed as fast as they could and get the bugs rung out as they went.

It had a major mistake they found in the tooling.  The plastic was without the fake woodgrain texture.  It looked really goofy, fortunately they caught it preproduction with this unit.

I also followed the Easyriders story as a subscriber at the time.  That would have been fun.

BOB

[Reddog74usa]

Gee - Altho I think the shovel is a great ride (again, I have my 81 FLH Heritage) I think the Evo is the biggest advance the MoCo ever made since the Knuck. The first bike that can go 100K without opening it up!!!  I love my shuv but come on!  The evo is what put the MoCo in the black!  In fact, I think evos are a bargain right now.  Imagine - paying $6K for a big twin HD and then ride accross the country without a worry.
Don't get me wrong - luv the shuv, but let's not dis the evo. To me the TC is the odd duck- the transition motor to something else.  Then, as they say, IMHO
Dog

I have a Bro that bought an 88 Heritage new. He ran the snot out of that bike. I mean he would just ride that sucker hard, real hard. He kept it stock except for a set of drag pipes and a S&S Shortie. Thats it. He did however religously maintain it by changing fluids as recommended. He never even tore it down to do the base gaskets although they leaked some because he wanted to see how many miles he could get out of it without tearing into it. He ended up getting just over 100K miles on it before he sold it. It was a bit tired but still ran good. Facts is facts and I love the old scoots but the Evo is a hard one to beat IMHO  RD

[shoveldog81]

I'm with you, Reddog - I didn't mean to make this an Evo discussion, but I get a little tired of "urban myths" when it comes to some stuff.  Again - I ride my shovel to bring back the "good ole days", when riders needed to know their bikes and make roadside fixes.  Many of the twinkie owners nowadays, need the dealer to do oil changes.  To some degree the Evo was the first HD that anybody could ride, because it just didn't need that routine maintenance.
Dog

[Reddog74usa]

Well with all this bein said. Evo's are boring and Shovels are anything but that. besides nothing but nothing but nothing sounds as good as a properly tuned Shovelhead from idle to wide open throttle 

[easyricer]

I bought my first Evo about 7 years ago. It had a little over 80k on the clock when I got it. The guy I got it off of wasn't the original owner and he didn't know very much about it. It was an 85FLTC (one of the one year wonders)
It started smoking a bit at 134k so I pulled it down and found the rings were worn and the valve guide seals had given up. I re-ringed it, replaced cam bearings and a new S&Scam. I had some type of valve failure at 225k and I called it dead and replaced the motor with an S&S96 IST. that's 225,000 miles on the factory pistons. For any motor (regardless of who built it, that's pretty darned good!)
I own a 2000 Roadglide today that is just a means of transport to me. It has a 95in EFI motor in it. I've been in that motor already more time than I can count, and have had numerous other problems with it. As far as I'm concerned it's a failure in design! I will never buy another one and this one is for sale!
My Shovel, has only about 32k on the clock right now, The motor has still never been opened up. The only problems I've had with it was fouling Champion Sparkplugs. She starts on the coldest of mornings and the hottest of days, never misses a beat. I need to rebuild the tranny and fix a few leaks but other than that she is the best bike I've ever owned.
As far as I'm concerned HD built the best rides on the road up to 1998, when corporate greed took over and product quality plunged dramatically.
I may never in my life own a real Panhead, so I might never understand why those guys love them more than Shovels. I do know that my Betsie is the one going to take us on our honeymoon in June, the one I ride every morning to work through the rain, snow, ice and other weather, and the bike I'll die with.
The more I work on "OTHER BIKES" The more I love my Shovel.
EASY