This makes me so thankful for my GS

[Spyder]

Yeah, I was kicking it for about a half hour, and it finally gave me "the sign" that it was going to start. I got all excited, and didn't get the peddle set properly. JUMPED on it, and it just dropped out. I landed full force on my right foot slightly turned, and CRACK ! ! ! my wife had just pulled into the driveway, and heard me yelp like a kicked dog, lol...

[jabcb]

Ouch...
my cousin had old sportster he bought to flip. I tried to kickstart it and just the opposite happened to me. The mechanism didn’t catch and I rammed my foot with full force into the ground. My ankle and knee hurt for a bit, but nothing like that. That was the first and last time I tried.

Its been amusing to have an HD owner scoff at my little Suzuki two stroke before going over to kick start his HD. Then with one foot on the ground & a modest kick that little two stroke is running. I’ve wondered how many cuss words were said between my departure & the HD starting to run.

[Rob S.]

I had a '72 Iron Head 1000 Harley...

Bestill my heart!

The '72 Sportster! First year they increased to 1,000 cc's, still shifted on right, braked on left (to emulate British bikes). Four speed, drum brakes all around.

Here's the text from the ad:

"Time machine.

1000 cc Sportster. When you're through with waiting and ready to move. The one machine that straightens it all out. On the road, at the strip...or in your mind."

[Spyder]

Such a hateful machine. Those drum brakes wouldn't stop a tricycle rolling up hill. It was a scary ride, but the fastest Harley I have ever ridden...

[LAB3]

XLCH = Extra Large Charley Horse

[Grimly]

Ok, enjoy how the camera takes a close look at each engine, real Brit engineering here…
(500cc and only 3.5 HP????)))

Probably rated at 3.5hp under the old system which measured bore and assigned a notional power rating to the engine for tax purposes. This led to manufacturers making long stroke engines, some of which were just nasty.

[Admiral Beez]

My bike before my 1982 GS650G was a 1969 Triumph T100S Tiger 490cc single carb. I bought it for CAD$3,600 in 2006 and over the next eleven years and 20,000 miles it broke down so often I think I spend $15,000 in rebuilds. The final straw when when the engine exploded, cracking the barrel on both sides so you could see sunlight straight through the fins. I assume this was due to over boring, but pistons were the allowed oversize.

[Brendan W]

Probably rated at 3.5hp under the old system which measured bore and assigned a notional power rating to the engine for tax purposes. This led to manufacturers making long stroke engines, some of which were just nasty.

Seem to recall that system, for cars at least, still in use here well into the 70s and a rule of thumb was 125cc was one tax horsepower.