Up On The Seat

I found this picture HERE at Nostalgia on Wheels. Now that picture has just the sort of daredevilish appeal that Grumpy Unk and I would have found to our liking back in the day. While most blogging is pretty much self-indulgent, this post is basically a trip down memory lane for Grumpy Unk and myself. Unk's comment about getting the old '48 Chevy up on two wheels a few posts back got me to thinking about some of the goofy crap we did to amuse ourselves. First of all, there's really no trick to getting a car with a center of gravity about 5 feet high up on two wheels. Just run 'er into the corner a little deep and turn a hard left - it'll do it every time. Likewise, it's not all that big a trick to get up on the saddle of a bike. It seems like everyone Unk and I knew did this kinda crap on a regular basis.















The guy down the street from us used to ride around no handed on his Honda Super 90. Like leave the house and then come back and hour later no handed. Unk and I used to fool around on our Harley (like the one pictured) no handed, up on the pegs no handed and at least a couple of times up on the seat no handed. We didn't think much of it at the time. We weren't exactly the Victor Mc Laglen Motor Corps - just a couple of knuckleheads havin' some fun on a little motorcycle the old man had drug home. I did manage a little bit of the sit on the tank and ride backwards routine. A small bike and a soft spot to land are definitely recommended for learning this trick.

The little Harley is still around. When the old man brought it home the deal was, if I could get it running we would be 50/50 partners. The engine was locked up and missing the seat and tank. I got it running and terrorized the neighborhood for a while until I moved up to something a little bigger. My half of the partnership went to Unk and his half was later passed down to the youngest brother. When Surly was a young'un he learned to ride on it and I eventually ended up with it as sole owner. Surly went through the motor a few years back so it's pretty much ready to roll. When his boys are big enough to ride, they can take over ownership. I'm sure that would please the old man if he were still around to see it. When the weather gets nice this spring maybe I'll drag it out and get it running and take a few pictures like the guy on the Sporty.