New Jersey State Police Museum

By Joe Berk

Here’s something different:  A visit to the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton, New Jersey.

A statue of a New Jersey State Trooper on the Museum grounds.

I’d seen references to the NJSP Museum on Facebook and elsewhere, and being back in New Jersey a short while ago, Susie and I found ourselves casting about for things to do.  Ordinarily, our visits to the Garden State include the same stops:  Lunch at the Shrimp Box in Point Pleasant (awesome seafood), every once in a while a visit to Bahr’s in the Highlands (another spot for awesome food), maybe a trip to Asbury Park (think Bruce Springsteen and Danny Devito), a few of the Soprano’s filming locations, the Rutgers University campus, the Old Mill in Deans, New Hope (just across the Delaware River), and a few of our other standard stops.  This time we wanted to explore a bit more, and I put the New Jersey State Police Museum on the list.  I knew that it had a couple of vintage motorcycles, and I figured it would probably have a few firearms on display.  Guns and motorcycles fit the ExhaustNotes theme.

The New Jersey State Police is a paramilitary, well-disciplined, and impressive organization.   I’d call it a STRAC outfit (in Army slang, STRAC is an acronym derived from skilled, tough, and ready around the clock).   One thing I’ve never seen is an out-of-shape NJ State Trooper.

A statue of Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf near the NJSP Museum entrance.

New Jersey State Troopers are the Marines and Green Berets of the police world.  That didn’t happen accidentally:  The guy who formed the NJ State Police a century ago was none other than Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf.  Not the guy who led US troops during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 (that H. Normal Schwarzkopf was his son), but the original.  Colonel Schwarzkopf was a US Military Academy graduate, and when he formed the NJ State Police, his vision was a military organization with the same look as that instilled at West Point.  I’d say he succeeded.

Trooper Ralph Dowgin gracing The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.

I touched on the NJ State Police when I wrote The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.  The cover photo shows Captain Ralph Dowgin on a 1934 Harley-Davidson.  Captain Dowgin went on to command Troop D, the NJSP branch that patrolled the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.  We also wrote about Jerry Dowgin, Captain Dowgin’s son and a friend of mine who owned a 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler (a bike featured here and in a Motorcycle Classics magazine story).

Getting to the NJSP Museum was relatively easy, although the location was tucked away on the NJSP Headquarters grounds.  We just plugged the name into Waze, and after meandering through a bunch of small streets in West Trenton, we were at a manned gate.  The location is essentially a military compound.  The nice young lady at the gate called ahead to confirm the Museum was open (it was), and then she raised the gate.  We followed her instructions and the map she gave to us, and we were there.  We were the only visitors, so we had the place to ourselves.

The NJ State Police guns story is an interesting one.

When the New Jersey State Police organization started in 1921, their first duty weapon was the Colt double-action revolver (a six shooter) chambered in .38 Special. This very handgun you see here was issued to Colonel Schwarzkopf.
Four cylinders full of .38 Special ammo, for a total load of 30 rounds carried by each Trooper. Reloads had to have been painstakingly slow back in the day. I remember seeing these ammo carriers on State Troopers when I was a kid.  With their Glock sidearms today, the gun itself and one additional magazine exceeds all the rounds seen above.
Another .38 Special Colt revolver on display.  Troopers have been assigned sequential badge numbers from the very beginning, with Trooper No. 1 being H. Norman Schwarzkopf.

Back in the day, the NJ State Police also issued the .38 Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece to their Troopers, which was a 6-shot revolver with adjustable sights.  This one has a 6-inch barrel.  I’ve owned a few of the Smith and Wesson revolvers; they are good guns.

The Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece. These are beautiful revolvers.
Colt released a commemorative version of the NJSP revolver, cased and finished in high polish blue.
Colt released a commemorative NJSP revolver, with high polish blue and the NJSP emblem. Commemorative guns, for the most part, don’t appreciate at the same rate the basic (i.e., non-commemorative) guns. I’ve owned a few commemorative guns, but not this model.
More information on the Colt NJSP 75th Anniversary commemorative revolver.  We previously visited the Colt Custom Shop; you can read about that here.

In those early days, the NJ State Police also used 1903A1 Springfield rifles. I have a 1903A1 in near perfect condition and I’ve written about shooting cast and jacketed bullets in it, and the rifle’s complex rear sight.  They are nice rifles and they are collectible.  Truth be told, though, I can shoot tighter groups with my 91/30 Mosin Nagant.

A NJSP 1903A1 Springfield. The 1903A1 has the 1903’s more complex right sight and the so-called “scant” stock. I was surprised to see this. You don’t encounter to many 1903A1 rifles.

Later in their history, the NJ State Police used Ruger .357 Magnum double-action, stainless steel revolvers.

Ruger revolvers used by the NJ State Police, in both 4-inch and 6-inch barreled versions.

During the 1980s, many police departments made the switch from revolvers to 9mm semi-automatic handguns.  Not all choices worked well for the NJ State Police.  One firearm, the H&K 9mm squeeze cocker, was particularly troublesome.  The NJSP experienced numerous accidental discharges.  Sometime after that, the NJSP went to SIG handguns.  That didn’t work out, either.  When the NJ State Police made the switch to SIGs, the handguns had reliability issues, and when SIG couldn’t fix the problems, the NJ State Police sued SIG.  It seemed like the NJSP couldn’t catch a break in their quest to adopt a 9mm handgun. Ultimately, the NJSP went with Glock 9mm handguns.   That worked out well.

A Glock up top, and several SIG handguns. The SIG at the bottom of this photo is chambered in .45 ACP.
Another SIG handgun in the NJ State Police Museum.
Good intentions, but bad results. It’s unfortunate. I believe that SIG makes the finest 9mm handgun in the world. But I don’t carry one for a living (like the New Jersey State Troopers do).
The 9mm Glock currently carried by New Jersey State Troopers.

The firearms exhibits also displayed other long guns used by the New Jersey State Police.

A .45 ACP Thompson submachine gun the NJSP used decades ago, and an M16. A submachine gun can fire in the fully automatic mode (like a machine gun). The “submachine gun” designation typically means the gun uses a pistol cartridge.
An exhibit displaying a sampling of confiscated weapons. New Jersey police agencies typically confiscate between 7,000 and 10,000 guns annually. All are delivered to the NJSP Ballistics Unit for destruction.

The New Jersey State Police also have a rich tradition using motorcycles, although they no longer use motorcycles for patrol duties.  The NJSP has a few modern Harleys, but these are used for ceremonial functions only.  In the early days, the NJSP used motorcycles year round, and in New Jersey, the winters can get cold, wet, snowy, and icy.  Back in the day, the NJSP used tire chains when it snowed.  That’s hard to imagine.

An early NJSP Motors group photo.
Mittens used for cold weather riding. Those guys were tough. Unless they are electrically-heated, mittens like these don’t keep your hands warm for long.
New Jersey State Trooper Justin Dintino, a motor officer who went on to become the 10th leader of the New Jersey State Troopers. Colonel Dintino graduated from the NJSP Academy two years after I was born.
Trooper E. Paul Sjostrom with his Harley-Davidson police motorcycle in 1925. Back then, the NJSP had 40 Harleys, 40 horses, 20 cars, and a single truck to patrol the entire state of New Jersey.
A more recent Harley police motorcycle. As mentioned above, the NJSP no longer uses motorcycles for patrol duties.
A macro shot of the tank and engine on the NJSP Harley.
Distinctive colors and a distinctive emblem.
A 1948 Harley Panhead used by the NJ State Police.  It had a hand shift and a foot clutch.
The tombstone taillight Harleys used in 1948.
The Harley siren used back in the 1940s and 1950s was activated by pivoting the entire siren such that it was friction driven by the rear tire. I used to have a similar siren on my Schwinn bicycle, which drove our neighbors nuts.
Harleys rode with the NJSP from the very beginning. This is a 1921 NJSP Harley.
A closer photo of the 1921 Harley’s V-Twin engine.

One of the NJSP Museum’s exhibits was a wanted poster for a particular person.  That wanted poster is for Joanne Chesimard, who is a fugitive being sheltered by Cuba.  Chesimard participated in the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in May 1973.  The murder occurred very near where my family lived.  Another NJ State Trooper had pulled over a car driven by Clark Squire (Chesimard was also in the car).  Foerster arrived in a backup patrol car.   A gun battle ensued, Foerster was murdered, and Squire escaped into the woods just to the east of our home.

Squire remained at large, hiding in the woods, for several days.  We thought he had escaped from the area, but police officers continued the search. Squire finally surrendered to a local police officer.  We believed that if the NJ State Police had found him, Squire would not have been brought in alive (and that would have been okay with everyone I knew).

Squire, Chesimard, and a third person were convicted of murdering Foerster and sentenced to life in prison.  Chesimard subsequently escaped and found her way to Cuba, where she lives in freedom to this day (sheltered by a Cuban government that refuses to extradite her to the United States).  Incredibly, when Barack Obama wanted to recognize the Castro regime and lift sanctions on Cuba, returning Chesimard to serve out her sentence was not part of the deal.  She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted List to this day.

In yet another disappointment related to this Foerster murder, Squire was recently released on parole (50 years into what should have been a life sentence).  I know. It’s not right.

To get back to the main topic of this blog, if you ever find yourself in New Jersey you might want to spend a few hours visiting the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton.  It’s free, it’s a great museum, and it’s an opportunity to learn a lot about one of the most elite police organizations in America.  We enjoyed it.  You will, too.


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India 2025: Jain Temples, Crowds, and More Culture Shock

By  Mike Huber

India 2025: Part VI

Waking up the next day was a little bit easier.  This was due to the fact there were only three switches on the wall. Much easier than the usual 100+ switches in the previous hotels.  In those I wasn’t sure if I was turning on a fan, light, or launching an Apollo mission.  I was even able to find the switch for the water heater to have a nice hot shower.  After a short walk to obtain some much-needed caffeine and having the Royal Enfield Himalayans loaded, we were ready to head out and kick the day off.

Today was going to be about 250 kilometers of riding to the small town of Bhilwara.  Along the way we would visit one of the very few Jain temples in India. Upon arrival, we instantly noticed the amount of detail on everything.   The temple was more than one can comprehend in just a short visit.

We enjoyed soaking in the culture both from the temple and the locals taking more selfies of us. After a bit, it was time to start moving as we had one more temple to visit and a 2-hour ride to where we planned to stay for the evening.

The next temple was only about 10 minutes away but Google routed us through a local bazaar.  Thankfully we didn’t attempt anything like this on Day 1 in India, as it would have been more than overwhelming.  I figured this would start getting interesting as soon as the streets began to narrow and the crowds filled in.  I cannot find a comparison other than to imagine driving through the 2004 Red Sox World Series Celebration at Government Center in Boston. Packed doesn’t even begin to describe it.  Normally I would have thought motos weren’t supposed to be driving through here but with seeing one or two other motorcycles (other than us) I figured we weren’t doing anything too bad.

The ride was tight.  We slowly made our way through the crowd with a constant honking and a light nudge of a pedestrian or three until we finally arrived at the temple.  We weren’t quite swarmed by people looking for selfies but there were crowds everywhere around us. As always, they were super friendly so we took our time with each group and chatted with them on where we were from and where we were going.

Once we took a short tour of the temple and were asked for a bunch more selfies, it was time to head back on the road and the path to that road, you guessed it, it was through the same bazaar we squeezed through on the way in. By this time we were familiar with how to negotiate through the crowd and we did so.

As we approached Bhilwara we were more than ready to get off the bikes and get some dinner.  Well, India had different plans for us.  It turns out Bhilwara (as with other small towns we would learn) requires the hotels to file paperwork with local authorities for foreigners.  Normally this isn’t too big a deal, but in this case none of the hotels in this town had the proper paperwork, nor did they seem too motivated to obtain it.  This forced us to drive another hour until we were in a more populated area where we could finally rest for the evening.  We were cutting it close with time as the bright red sun was just beginning to set as we pulled into the hotel.  This was a fine way to wrap up another day motorcycling through India.


India Part I

India Part II

India Part III

India Part IV

India Part V


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India 2025: Alawar to Jaipur, Step Wells, and Forts  

By Mike Huber

India: Part V

As I woke up in my dark hotel room it took me a few moments to realize where I was.  What took longer was figuring out how to turn on the lights via the Rubik’s cube, but mashing all the light switches on the main panel helped me regain my focus and vision in this now dimly lit room.  The bigger issue was finding the correct switch for the hot water.  So after a short and cold shower (I didn’t find the switch) it was time to meet everyone downstairs and get our plan for the day together over some much needed coffee.

Once downstairs I looked at each of my friends, then myself in the mirror.  It wasn’t difficult to tell who consumed the 8% Kingfisher beers the previous evening.  I also learned that one of them went back to the store for another beer after I went to sleep but the store was closed.  That didn’t stop my highly motivated friend from discovering that there was a guy next to the store selling Kingfishers at a mildly elevated price from a ditch next to the store.

With a few coffees in us we loaded the motorcycles and we were ready for another day of adventure.  Today would be our first full day of riding from Alawar to Jaipur, which was only around 160km.  There would be plenty of sights to see along the way as we traveled through some pretty remote backroads and Google Maps even had us go through a field trail for a few kilometers.  We took turns leading although my cell service was still unreliable, so we would only have me lead when we were on one road for a solid length of time.

After an hour or so we decided to take a break in a small village and get a few bananas and some water.  It only took a couple minutes before most the village came out to meet us all.  Even a school bus stopped and let the kids off to check out the bikes and talk with us.  It reminded me of my first experience in India 20 years prior.  This would become a familiar sight for us with crowds coming up to us to chat and take selfies.  They all were the friendliest people.  We enjoyed these stops and opportunities to engage with the locals in these little villages that were so far off the maps.

Our next stop was to check out a step well.  One of the guys had this thing for step wells, and by the end of the trip I hoped I would never see another step well again.  I think he had to have like a Global map for them.  Step wells are really just a deep brick hole in the ground with several steps from all angles going down into the hole to fetch water with buckets and bring it back up.  Some of them went over 60 feet down.

Once we arrived in Jaipur it was early afternoon, and the traffic was really starting to become congested.  This made it a challenge for me to stay within line of sight of the guys (again). There is a huge fort in Jaipur called Nahargarh Fort.  It was the first of many forts we would be visiting.  The fort was stunning to walk around and the views from that high ground were spectacular. We could view the entire city from this fort.

As we wrapped up the tour of the fort and returned to lower ground the traffic had become beyond insane.  The streets were narrow and filled with tuk tuks, motorcycles, cows, cars and just overall chaos. It seemed every inch that was gained to stay in a tight group was a fight.  The others driving wasn’t so much as aggressive as it was just cramped and tight.  My bike got scuffed up by a bus at one turn, but I had to keep on riding to keep up with the others.

By the time we reached our hotel we all were more than ready for a Kingfisher and we each hoped they were the 8% ones. We survived another day motorcycling through this fabulous, but intense country and were eagerly looking forward to what the following day would bring.


India Part I

India Part II

India Part III

India Part IV


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The Wayback Machine: Jerry and the Jersey Devil

By Joe Berk

If you can find a copy of this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, there’s an outstanding article in the “Off Duty” section on the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  We blogged about my ride through the Pine Barrens with Jerry Dowgin and his vintage 305 Honda Scrambler a few years ago.  The Journal article’s lead photo was of the Jersey Devil in front of Lucille’s (read on and you’ll see what I’m talking about), and that had my attention instantly.  I had a great time with Jerry, and that ride and visit went on to become a featured article in Motorcycle Classics magazine.

Jerry went on to his reward a year or two after my visit, and I miss him. Read this blog, and if you can, the MC article.  Jerry was a great guy and a good friend.

Rest in peace, Jerry.


I’d heard of the Pine Barrens when I was a youngster in New Jersey but I’d never been there, which was weird because the northern edge of the Pines starts only about 40 miles from where I grew up and geographically the Pine Barrens cover about a quarter of the state. New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the US, but you wouldn’t know it in the Pine Barrens. Pine trees and sand, lots of dirt roads, and not much else except ghost stories and New Jersey’s own mythological Jersey Devil (more on that in a bit).  The region is mostly pine trees, but there are just enough other trees that our last-weekend-in-October ride caught the leaves’ autumn color change. That, the incredible weather, and saddle time on Jerry Dowgin’s vintage Honda Scrambler made it a perfect day.

Kicking back in the Pine Barrens town of Chatsworth.  Check out the leaves changing colors in the background.
A 305cc Honda Scrambler, the Jersey Devil, and Lucille’s Country Diner.  Life is good in the Pines.
Jerry Dowgin at speed in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. He’s been riding the same motorcycle for five decades. Jerry paid $10 for his Honda Scrambler.  I offered to give him what he paid for it, which drew only a smile.

There were other things that made the day great.  For starters, that has to include riding with Jerry Dowgin, former South Brunswick High School football hero, vintage motorcycle aficionado, and son of the late Captain Ralph Dowgin.  SBHS is my alma mater (Go Vikings!), and the Dowgin name is legendary in New Jersey.  I didn’t personally know Jerry when I was in high school (he was four years ahead of me), but I knew of his football exploits and I knew of his State Trooper Dad. Captain Dowgin commanded Troop D of the NJ State Police, and thanks to a photograph provided by lifelong good buddy Mike (another SBHS alum), Trooper Dowgin graces the cover of The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.  Take a look at this photo of Jerry, and the Police Motors cover:

In the New Jersey Pine Barrens with former football star Jerry Dowgin and his awesome Honda Scrambler.  I only run with the cool kids.
Jerry’s father, Trooper Ralph Dowgin of the New Jersey State Police. This photo was taken in 1936.  The one above it was taken 4 days ago.
Trooper Dowgin’s original leather motorcycle helmet.  Jerry showed it to me.

My ride for our glorious putt through the New Jersey Pine Barrens was Jerry’s 1966 CL77 Honda Scrambler. Jerry has owned the Scrambler for five decades.  Jerry’s name for the Scrambler is Hot Silver, but I’m going to call it the Jersey Devil.  The bike is not a piece of Concours driveway jewelry; like good buddy Gobi Gresh’s motorcycles, Jerry’s Jersey Devil is a vintage rider. And ride we did.

Honda offered three 305cc motorcycles in the mid-1960s: The Dream, the Super Hawk, and the Scrambler. All were 305cc, single overhead cam, air-cooled twins with four-speed transmissions. The CA77 Dream was a pressed steel, large fendered, single carb motorcycle with leading link front suspension. Like its sister Super Hawk, the Dream had kick and electric starting; the electric starter was unusual in those days.  The Dream was marketed as a touring model, although touring was different then. Honda’s CB77 Super Hawk was a more sporting proposition, with lower bars, a tubular steel frame and telescopic forks, twin shoe drum brakes (exotic at the time), twin carbs, a tachometer, and rear shocks adjustable for preload. The engine was a stressed frame component and there was no frame downtube. Like the Dream, the Super Hawk had electric and kick starting. It’s been said that the Super Hawk could touch 100 mph, although I never saw that (my Dad owned a 1965 Honda Super Hawk I could sometimes ride in the fields behind our house).

The Scrambler fuel tank. Honda hit a home run with the Scrambler’s styling.
Everything on this motorcycle is well proportioned. The ergnomics fit me perfectly.
The cool kids removed the Scrambler’s bulbous two-into-one muffler and replaced it with Snuff-R-Nots. Jerry is one of the cool kids.

The third model in Honda’s mid-‘60s strategic triad was the CL77 Scrambler, and in my opinion, it was the coolest of the three. It had Honda’s bulletproof 305cc engine with twin carbs, and unlike the Super Hawk engine, it was tuned for more torque.  The Scrambler didn’t have electric starting like the other two Hondas (it was kick start only, a nod to the Scrambler’s offroad nature). The Scrambler had a downtube frame, no tach (but a large and accurate headlight-mounted speedo), a steering damper, and a fuel tank that looks like God intended fuel tanks to look (with a classic teardrop profile and no ugly flange running down the center). The bars were wide with a cross brace.  With its kick start only engine, the magnificent exhaust headers, and Honda’s “we got it right” fuel tank, the Scrambler looked more like a Triumph desert sled than any other Honda.  In my book, that made it far more desirable. I always wanted a Scrambler.

The Scrambler’s speedo. The switch on the left is for the headlight; the amber light is a neutral indicator. The speedometer is accurate; we rode through a highway sign that showed your speed and it matched the speedometer indication.
The Scrambler’s front fork damper.
The Scrambler’s tool storage compartment.
Jerry’s wife Karin made the toolkit pouch. Jerry’s toolkit includes the original Honda tools and a few extras.
A single overhead camshaft, two valves per cylinder, and threaded locknut valve adjustment. Honda’s casting quality was superb for the time.

Jerry and I had great conversations on our ride through the Pine Barrens.  We talked motorcycles, the times, the old times, folks we knew back in the day, and more.  Other riders chatted us up.  The Scrambler was a natural conversation starter.  Every few minutes someone would approach and ask about Jerry’s Scrambler.  Was it original?  Was it for sale?  What year was it?  I had a little fun piping up before Jerry could answer, telling people it was mine and I’d let it go for $800 if they had the cash.  I can still start rumors in New Jersey, you know.

The Scrambler’s rear suspension has three preload adjustment positions.
Relatively sophisticated for the time on a mass-produced motorcycle: Twin shoe brakes.
The Scrambler’s rear brake was similarly equipped.
Gresh and I are both members!

The 305cc Honda twins of the mid-1960s were light years ahead of their British competitors and Harley-Davidson.  British twin and Harley riders made snide comments about “Jap crap” back in the day (ignorance is bliss, and they were happy guys), but at least one Britbike kingpin knew the score and saw what was coming.  Edward Turner, designer of the Triumph twin and head of Triumph Motorcycles, visited Honda in Japan and was shocked at how advanced Japanese engineering and manufacturing were compared to what passed for modern management in England.   No one listened to Turner.  The Honda 750 Four often gets credit for killing the British motorcycle industry, but the handwriting was already on the wall with the advent of bikes like Honda’s Dream, the Super Hawk, and the Scrambler.  I believe we’re living through the same thing right now with motorcycles from China.   Or maybe I just put that in to elicit a few more comments on this blog.  You tell me.

I’m always curious about how others starting riding, so I asked Jerry if he inherited his interest in motorcycles from his motor officer Dad.  The answer was a firm no.  “Pop wasn’t interested in motorcycles; he saw too many young Troopers get killed on motorcycles when he was a State Trooper.”    Jerry’s introduction into the two-wheel world was more happenstance than hereditary.  He was working with his brother and his brother-in-law installing a heating system in a farmhouse when they encountered the Scrambler.  Jerry bought his 1966 Scrambler in 1972 for the princely sum of $10.  Yes, you read that right: $10. The Scrambler wasn’t running, but the deal he made with his brother was that Jerry would do the work if his brother would pay for the parts (and in 1972, the parts bill came to $125 from Cooper’s Cycle Ranch, one of the early and best known East Coast Honda and Triumph dealers).  Getting the Scrambler sorted took some doing, as the engine was frozen, it needed a top end overhaul, it had compression issues, and getting the timing right was a challenge.  But Jerry prevailed, and the bike has been a Pine Barrens staple for five decades now.

Jerry shared with me that he plans to leave his Honda Scrambler to his son and grandson.  I think that’s a magnificent gesture.

Jerry on his Scrambler at the end of a great day on the road.
Jerry and his Scrambler were featured on the cover of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club’s magazine about 4 years ago.

Our ride in the Pine Barrens was most enjoyable.  It’s amazing how little traffic there is in the Pines, an unusual situation for me.  As a son of New Jersey, riding with no traffic in the nation’s most densely populated state was a new experience.  But there’s a lot of land down there in the Pine Barrens (the area was a featured spot for dumping bodies on The Sopranos, and that probably wasn’t just a figment of some screenwriter’s imagination).  Riding into the Pines (where we saw few other motorcycles and almost no cars), we made our first stop in Chatsworth.  Chatsworth is an old Pine Barrens wide spot in the road with only a few buildings and a roadside eatery with no seating.   You buy a soda and a dog (of either the hot or brat variety), find a seat on one of the roadside benches, and chat with other riders. It was different and much more fun than what I remembered New Jersey riding to be, but I had never ridden the Pines before.  The locals told me it’s always been like this.

From Chatsworth, it was on to Lucille’s Country Diner, a popular Pine Barrens roadhouse more like a California motorcycle stop than a New Jersey diner.  Lucille’s is known for its pies, and (trust me on this) they’re awesome.  We parked under a carved, presumably life-sized Jersey Devil statue.   I’d heard of the Jersey Devil when I was a kid (it’s a New Jersey thing; think of it as a cross between Bigfoot and Lucifer and you’ll understand).  We didn’t see the Jersey Devil lurking out there in the pine trees on this ride, but who knows?  Maybe he saw us.  As a New Jersey native, I know this: Anything’s possible in the Garden State.


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China’s Shaolin Temple

By Joe Berk

I posted a blog yesterday about Chinese pocketknives and drew a few comments (as I knew I would).  One of them mentioned Shaolin martial arts, and that prompted a response from me about the Shaolin Temple in China.  Not a lot of folks here in the US have been to the Shaolin Temple.  I know of two who rode there on motorcycles (that would be Joe Gresh and yours truly).   I covered that visit in Riding China, and I thought it would be good to share a part of that chapter with you today.  Who knows…I might even sell a few books by doing so.  You know, so you can read the rest of the story about our ride through China.


We continued riding and entered a mountainous region. I liked that a lot. The roads were nice, there wasn’t much traffic, and because we were both moving and climbing, the heat abated a bit. We stopped for a break, and a fellow came along on a 250cc Yamaha that was configured for touring. He stopped and chatted with us and we took turns taking pictures of each other. His bike looked good. We only saw a few other Chinese on our trip who were touring on motorcycles.

A Chinese motorcyclist on a 250cc Yamaha. His luggage is from Lester Peng’s motorcycle luggage company. Lester rode with us last year on the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but we were very close to the Shaolin Temple when we stopped to talk to the Yamaha rider. That would be our next destination this day. Another fellow then came by and he had an animated conversation with Sean (our guide). It turns out he was selling, Sean was his mark, and the guy was working Sean hard. This guy owned a restaurant and he wanted us to eat there. He was successful; we did.

We didn’t pause for naps after this lunch, but Sean was soon having another excited conversation with folks outside the restaurant. I didn’t know what they were discussing, but I later realized it was about transportation and how we would get into the Shaolin Temple. The bottom line to this conversation was that we all piled into three small gray minivans that took us about two miles down the road, back the way we had ridden to get to the restaurant.

What I learned later was that there were two ways to get into the Shaolin Temple complex. One was through the main gate, and apparently that cost more. The other was a woodsy trail through the mountains that required a climb over two or three mountains on a slippery muddy trail. If you did that, you could sneak into the Shaolin Temple complex for free. That’s what we did, and that climb was rough. The trail was slippery, and by now the temperature and humidity were up again. Had I known what was going on I would have gladly paid to go in through the front door, but I didn’t realize what we were doing until I was doing my best impersonation of a mountain goat in the hills behind Shaolin.

So here’s the deal on the Shaolin Temple: It’s famous as the home of Chinese Kung Fu. No kidding; it’s both a Buddhist Temple and a world-renown Kung Fu school (the original Kung Fu school, actually). It’s where Bruce Lee learned his craft, and if you’ve ever seen a martial arts movie with scenes that have large numbers of young Chinese guys learning the martial arts, it was almost certainly filmed here.

The Shaolin Temple was beautiful. As we walked along its well-manicured paths, a young guy went into a martial arts routine that was mesmerizing. It was something right out of a movie. The guy was executing all of these snappy martial arts stances (one seemed to flow into the next) in a manner that almost made the display a dance routine. It probably only lasted a minute or two, but when it ended, a large crowd had already gathered and everyone applauded. I enjoyed seeing it, even though I know nothing about any of this stuff.

A martial artist demonstrating his moves at the Shaolin Temple.
More moves. I told the guys I could do this, but I don’t think they believed me.

The Buddhist Temple was beautiful, but by then it was so miserably hot and humid we weren’t enjoying anything. We were in a walled courtyard that allowed no airflow, and I couldn’t seem to get my body temperature down. I was still perspiring from climbing over the mountains.

I shot a few photos of some of the figures inside the temple (yet again, the D810 Nikon’s incredible low light level capabilities came through).

A figure inside the Shaolin Temple. It’s likely Bruce Lee saw these things when he studied here.
Another huge and menacing figure inside the Shaolin Temple.  These statues were about 15 feet tall.

On our walk out (we left through the main gate), it mercifully started raining again. The rain finally helped me cool off. So far, this day was the hottest and most humid day of our ride (and I found I was saying that nearly every day for the last several days).

At dinner that night, I thought I would have a little fun with the guys. One of the dishes that evening had black fungus mixed in with the vegetables, and I loved that stuff. As I mentioned earlier, what the Chinese call black fungus is a mushroom of some sort, and I loved the taste of it. A small speck of one of the mushrooms, a black piece about a quarter of an inch long, was on the edge of my dinner bowl. I managed to pick up that tiny piece of mushroom with my chopsticks in preparation for solidifying my reputation as a chopstick martial arts master.

I told Tracy, who was sitting next to me, that I wanted him translate exactly what I was about to tell the Chinese guys in our group. He said okay, but went back to his meal. “No, Tracy,” I said. “I want you to tell the guys to stop eating and listen to what I have to say.”

Tracy looked at me for second, and then he spoke to the group in Chinese. The others stopped eating, looking at Tracy and then at me.

“We all visited the Shaolin Temple today and we saw the birthplace of Kung Fu,” I began. I paused, nodded at Tracy, and he started speaking to the group in Chinese.

“You may not know this, but like Mr. Bruce Lee, I, too, am a martial arts expert,” I said. Tracy looked at me and translated what I just said. The others stared at me, taken in by my serious demeanor.

“You know that I am an expert with chopsticks, as I demonstrated on our second night in the peanut contest,” I said. Tracy diligently continued to translate. “You may not know that I am a master at using chopsticks in the martial arts. In fact, I created a branch of Kung Fu that relies entirely on chopsticks.” As I said that, I motioned with my left hand as if I was shooing a fly away from the food on our table. It was a motion all of us had used across China at all of our dinners to get rid of the flies.

As Tracy continued to translate, and when I saw everybody look at my left hand shooing the imaginary flies away, I lunged out into the space over our table with my right hand, still holding my chopsticks. As I did so, I emitted a piercing “eeeee yah!” (my best rendition of a martial arts cry, worthy of no less a master than Bruce Lee himself). I held up my chopsticks, which still held that small morsel of black mushroom. No one could have confused that speck of mushroom for anything other than a fly captured in mid-air by a martial arts master (with his chopsticks, of course).

A loud gasp of astonishment and admiration went up from all of the Chinese riders. Before they could get a closer look, I plopped the tiny piece of mushroom into my mouth and exaggeratedly swallowed. There was a second of stunned silence at our table, followed by another gasp and heavy applause. Gresh was the only one who rolled his eyes. A legend was born that evening, my friends, and he be me.

We had a great dinner that night (I know, I’ve been saying that about every meal on this trip). Eeeeeeyah! The fly-impersonating black fungus. The chopsticks. The applause. It was wonderful.

After dinner, all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel, take a cool shower, crank the air conditioner all the way down, and get some sleep. I posted a blog that night, I went to bed, and I probably dreamed about being a chopstick martial artist.

They’re still talking about me over there, you know.


The ride across China was amazing, the adventure of a lifetime.  You can read about the adventures of dos Joes on the entire trip here:


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The Wayback Machine: Aging Out

By Joe Berk

A wise man once said there comes a time in every man’s life when he decides to hang it up…his riding days are over.  I guess the follow-on comment has to be:  Is that true?

I turned 71 a few months ago (note that this blog originally published three years ago; I’m 74 today and I’m still riding).  To a lot of folks, that’s old.  The funny part of it is, though, I don’t feel old.  A little earlier today I was putzing around in the garage and my Royal Enfield was making me feel guilty.  I hadn’t had the 650 twin out on the road in the last few weeks, a character deficiency I promptly corrected.  The old girl and I had a nice ride around the neighborhood, I got the oil circulating again (in the Enfield and in yours truly), and I snapped that great photo you see at the top of this blog.   That’s snow-covered San Gorgonio Mountain you see off in the distance, a destination I’ve visited many times on a motorcycle.

But to get back on topic:  At what age should we think about hanging up our riding gear?   Now that I’m a septuagenarian (I had to look it up, so you can, too) I’m wondering about things like that.   But then I think about the guys I’ve ridden with and maybe I’ll continue riding for another 20 years or so.  Take a look.

Simon Gandolfi, who just turned 90 and is arguably the most interesting man in the world, is a novelist and moto adventurer extraordinaire. He’s ridden around the world on small displacement bikes.
Colorado Dan, the man. He cuts a dashing figure and is a great traveling companion.  He’s a year or two older than me.
Another most interesting man in the world…good buddy Willie. He’s usually riding when he’s not pitching Dos Equis.
James, our Texas Ranger and a serious traveler, is in my cohort and he rode Baja with us.

You know, the funny thing is the tone of the conversations during and after a good ride hasn’t changed at all over the nearly six decades I’ve been riding.  The topics have changed a bit, but not really that much.  We still mostly talk bikes and good roads.  But instead of bragging how drunk we were the previous night and who we spent the night with (which was mostly bullshit, anyway) the topics today address different specs.   Instead of 0 to 60 times, quarter mile performance, and top ends, now it’s things like our A1C, PSA, and HDL numbers.  You fellow geezers know what I’m talking about.  But the discussions are just as lively, I think a little more interesting, and probably a bit more truthful.  We’ll touch on politics on occasion, but if the conversation gets too heated or goes too far in that direction, I can always get us back on track (and get a good laugh) when I weigh in with a single question:

You guys know what the problem is in politics today?   All the guys who really know how to run the country are out screwing around riding their motorcycles.

So, at what age should you hang it up?  I’m finding that’s hard to say and most guys my age and older seem to just keep on going.  I’ve ridden with guys well into their 70s, 80s, and sometimes even more.   Good buddy Dan is heading down to Baja next month to camp on the beach near Gonzaga Bay, and he’s a little older than me.  Sim0n Gandolfi, the British novelist and adventure travel writer, rode to Cabo San Lucas and back with us on 150cc CSC Mustangs about a dozen years ago, and he’s about to leave on another epic moto trip at age 90.   James from Texas bought a new motorcycle and rode one of the Baja trips with us.  He spun off somewhere about halfway down the length of the Baja peninsula to take the ferry across to mainland Mexico, and he was going to ride home to Texas through Mexico.  And Willie, another most interesting man in the world, rides every chance he gets when he’s not doing Dos Equis commercials.  Like me, all of these guys qualify for that 89-cent cup of coffee at McDonald’s.

Yeah, I think I’m going to stay at it for a while.  I think you should, too.


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The best riding in the world?   In my opinion, it’s unquestionably Baja.  Take a look!

Colombia’s Mighty Magdalena

By Joe Berk

I felt a mix comforting mix of “been there, done that” and smugness when I read the Wall Street Journal yesterday.  The lead photo in the paper’s “Off Duty” section was strangely familiar, and as the coffee kicked in I realized it was because I’d been there:  Colombia’s Magdalena River.  My Magdelena photo (one of many) is the photo you see above.

The Wall Street Journal article featured places not part of the borscht belt (i.e., typical tourist destinations), and the stops it recommended along a Magdalena River cruise were locales I’d been to: Barranquilla, Cartagena, Mompox, Magangué, and others.  I’ve been luckier than most because I’ve had incredible motorcycle adventures:  China, Mexico, the Three Flags Classic, Baja, the Western America Adventure Ride, and more.  The ride through Colombia and along the Magdalena River, though, was in many ways greater than the other motorcycle adventures.   The Journal’s story had me thinking about Colombia again, and I thought I would share a few photos of the places it mentioned with you.

Mompox

Ah, Mompox.  It’s pronounced and sometimes spelled Mompos…an amazing city, unlike any I had ever visited.  The night we were there I wanted to stay in the hotel and post a blog for my CSC readers, but good buddy and ride leader Juan told me:  Joe, your readers will wait.  You need to see Mompox.  He was right.

A street along the riverfront in Mompox. People actually live here. Wow.
One of several churches in Mompox.
Carlos, me, and Juan having dinner in an Italian restaurant run by a German in Colombia.

Magangué

We began our ferry ride to Mompox from Magangué (pronounced ma gong gay). It was brutally hot and humid and we had to wait a couple of hours for the ferry to arrive, but that ride down the Magdelana was worth the wait.  Dreamlike, it was a scene from a 1930s adventure movie.  Peaceful.  Indiana Jones.  That ferry ride had it all.  There are more adjectives I could use, but you get the idea.

The ferry at Magangué.
Headed downstream and facing north on the Magdalena River.

Barranquilla

I first saw Barranquilla (pronounced bar en key ah) on an earlier business trip to Colombia.   I’d just purchased a new Nikon D200 (the cat’s meow back then), and it had a backfocus issue I later had corrected (you can’t see it in these photos, though).   I felt like Indiana Jones at a beauty pageant.  If there are unattractive women in Colombia, I couldn’t find them.

Business beckoned in Barranquilla…good buddy Paul Smarr and yours truly examining manganese dioxide.

Cartagena

Yep, that Cartegena, the same one as is R0mancing the Stone (although that movie was actually shot in Mexico).  On that same business trip, we took an afternoon to visit Cartegana, about an hour and a half down the coast from Barranquilla.

Two Colombian highway patrol officers on the road to Cartegena. My friends thought I was nuts when I jumped out to grab this photo. The Colombian police officers probably thought so, too.
A shopkeeper in Cartagena who agreed to let me take her picture.
Cartagena is a very photogenic city.

There were many things in Colombia well beyond what the WSJ article covered:  Honda (the town, not the motorcycle), Covenas, Volcan Los Nevados, La Playa de Belem, Barichara, Villa de Leyva, and more.   I saw them from my RS3 motorcycle (the carbureted version of the RX3) and you can, too, if you don’t mind living vicariously through my lens and keyboard:


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Too Pretty To Fight?

By Joe Berk

The Harley WLA at the National Infantry Museum was a lot prettier than any other WLA I had ever seen, but  I wasn’t impressed.  It was way over-restored, finished in gloss OD green (something I had never seen on a WLA before).  I couldn’t find anything in my research to show that any World War II Harleys might have had such a paint treatment.  I found a reference that indicated Army administrative vehicles were sometimes painted gloss OD, but nothing about motorcycles.

Can you say over-restored?
Fancy leather. I doubt anyone ever sat in this saddle.
The port side of the Harley 45.

I once saw General William Westmoreland’s Cadillac Sedan de Ville in Washington, DC, and it was gloss OD.  But WLAs had been out of service long before that, and in any event, when I spoke with General Westmoreland he didn’t mention anything about riding motorcycles.  If anyone out there knows anything about WLAs with glossy paint, please leave a comment.


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Dave Barr (12 Apr 1952 – 7 Nov 2024)

By Joe Berk

I first heard of Dave Barr on a motorcycle ride with Baja John and friends through the wilds of Tehachapi and Kern County.  One of the riders in our group (an Air Force colonel) mentioned Dave’s book on a roadside stop somewhere out in the Owens Peak wilderness area.  It had my attention immediately.  The Internet was in its infancy in those days and when I made it home, I managed to find more about Mr. Barr online.

The site I found listed a book (Riding the Edge) and a phone number, so I called.  I ordered several copies, one for me and others for friends.  The guy on the other end of the line was Dave Barr himself and we had a nice conversation.  As it turned out, Dave lived in Bodfish near Lake Isabella.  One thing led to another and in that conversation, I arranged another ride to meet Dave in person.  Good buddy Baja John rode with me.

Dave Barr and yours truly 20 years ago in Caliente, California.

It was a grand ride, starting in Caliente (on the magnificent Bodfish-Caliente Road) and then around glorious Lake Isabella with world traveler and living legend Dave Barr.  Dave rode a Sportster in those days; his earlier ride was a 1972 Super Glide.  Much has been made of the fact that Barr rode that Super Glide around the world as a double amputee, but it took only a few minutes knowing Dave to stop thinking of him as a double amputee and to see him as a fascinating and genuinely nice guy, and that’s what I remember about him.

Dave Barr’s book, Riding the Edge, is the greatest motorcycle adventure story ever told, made all the more significant by two facts.   The first is that Dave Barr, the author, did the ride after losing both legs to a land mine in Africa; the second is that Dave did the ride on a beat up old ’72 Harley Super Glide that had 100,000 miles on the odometer before he started his run around the planet.

Dave Barr’s ride around the world took four years, mostly because Dave financed the trip himself.  He’d ride a country or two, run out of money, get a job and save for a bit, and then continue.  I first read Riding the Edge two decades ago, and it was the book that lit my fire for international motorcycle riding.  I’ve probably read Dave’s book five or six times.  The guy was and still is my hero.

Rest in peace, Dave.   You inspired me and many others, and your memory will far outlast all of us.


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World War II Harleys

By Joe Berk

Harley-Davidson built four military motorcycles during World War II: The WLA, the WLC, the Knucklehead EL Overhead Valve, and the XA. The 45-cubic inch V-twin WLA was the preferred US Army motorcycle, and it was the motorcycle Harley-Davidson produced in mass quantities.  We recently visited the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, where I was able to grab most of the photos you see here.

The WLA

The WLA Harley-Davidson (if you haven’t tumbled to it yet, the “A” in WLA stands for Army) used a detuned 750cc air-cooled engine. The motorcycle had a springer front end and a solid rear (there were no springs or shocks in the rear, other than the spring beneath the seat post).   The WLA, like other Harleys of that era, had a foot-operated clutch on the left and a hand shifter on the fuel tank’s left side.

The Harley- Davidson WLA. This 45- cubic-inch V-twin was the U.S. Army’s principal motorcycle during World War II (photo provided by the American Motorcycle Historical Foundation).   This photo is in my book, Police and Military Motorcycles.

Simplicity was the WLA’s defining theme. Its flathead engine could be disassembled using only hand tools. At the army’s request, Harley built the WLA with a carburetor that had nonadjustable needles and jets, a configuration Harley used on some of its police motorcycles. The idea was to prevent soldiers (or police officers) adjusting the carb.  The WLA didn’t even have a key.  A trooper just had to kick-start it and ride.

A US Army WLA on display at the Harley Museum. It’s authentic.

The Army quickly found WLA improvement opportunities. Travel on dusty roads tended to accelerate engine wear, so Harley added a monstrous oil-bath air filter. The second improvement was the headlight location.  WLA headlights were initially above the handlebars (like on the civilian models).  Part of the Army’s tactical doctrine, though, included a move that required the rider to use the motorcycle as a shield.  The drill in that move involved skidding the rear wheel, flipping the rear out, and then laying the bike down to form a barricade…you know, so you could shoot at the bad guys from your now-prone  motorcycle (thus giving new meaning to the time worn “I had to lay ‘er down” and similar expressions).  The problem here was that the above-the-handlebars-headlights often broke during this maneuver.  Harley remounted the headlight just above the front fender to better protect it.

The Army started buying WLA Harleys even before the United States went to war.  In 1940, the Army ordered 16,000 WLAs to be delivered in 1940 and 1941, and then after Pearl Harbor, the pace increased.  Harley won contracts for 13,000 WLAs in 1942, 24,000 in 1943, 11,000 in 1944, and more than 8,000 in 1945.

A United States Navy WLA in Navy gray. Note the headlight location above the handlebars.

Even the Navy got in the act with a WL variant painted sort of a battleship gray.  The Navy used their motorcycles for shore patrol duties (the Shore Patrol was the Navy’s Military Police function).  I saw one with a sidecar at the Harley Museum in Milwaukee.  It was a sweet-looking motorcycle.

Harley-Davidson sold 88,000 military motorcycles during the war to the United States, England, Canada, China, India, and Russia.  Many were eventually sold to the public.  Most are in collections; some are still ridden today.  In addition to the 88,000 complete motorcycles, Harley built enough spare parts to build 30,000 more motorcycles.

The WLC

During World War II, the Canadians also bought Harleys for their army, as did many other countries. The other countries used the standard WLA, but Canada had its own unique requirements.  These included an auxiliary hand clutch, interchangeable front and rear wheels, and a front wheel stand (the U.S. model had the traditional Harley side stand). Harley-Davidson built 18,000 WLC motorcycles for Canada.

The 61 EL

Harley had introduced its 61-cubic-inch EL Knucklehead engine to the civilian market in 1936. The Knucklehead and its overhead valve engine offered better performance than the flathead 45 W-series Harleys. Harley-Davidson delivered a small number of military motorcycles based on the 61-cubic-inch Knucklehead engine.  Man, that must have been a good gig…being an Army dispatch rider and drawing a Knucklehead for your ride.  The military Knuckleheads are rare (no jokes needed here, folks).  I can’t remember ever seeing one.  But, I found a video of one that was for sale in 2017.  Enjoy, my friends…

The XA

The Army preferred the Harley WLA to the Indian 30-50, but it had problems with both motorcycles. In addition to the engine wear and broken headlight problems mentioned above, the rear chain had to be adjusted and replaced frequently on both motorcycles. Engine overheating was another problem (the Harley and the Indian both had V-twin engines, and with a V-twin, the rear cylinder runs hotter than the front cylinder).  The rear cylinders could seize because of this.

None of the XA Harleys saw active duty in a war zone. This one looks ready, though, with a .45 ACP Thompson in a scabbard on the right and a .30-cal M1 Carbine in the scabbard on the left. Check out the tires!

When the British captured BMW R 12 motorcycles in North Africa and provided a few to the United States, the German machines appeared to provide the answer to the U.S. Army’s major concerns with the WLA. The BMW had a relatively maintenance-free driveshaft to provide power to the rear wheel. The BMW’s horizontally-opposed twin cylinders were both out in the airstream, and as a result the BMW engine ran about a hundred degrees cooler than the Harley and Indian engines.  The shaft drive did away with the chain and its wear and adjustment issues.  The giant oil bath air cleaner was in a great location.  And the BMW had a foot shifter and a hand clutch, a much easier to operate arrangement.

The Army asked both Harley-Davidson and Indian to develop prototypes based on the BMW R 12. Harley-Davidson’s answer was the XA, which looked, for all intents and purposes, as if the BMW engine and shaft drive had been grafted into a standard WLA. In reality, what had happened was very close to that. Harley reverse-engineered the BMW drive train and mated its version into the WLA chassis. The first few, including the prototype, even had the Harley springer front end.

A closeup of the 750cc flathead Harley boxer twin.
Another view of a non-sidecar-equipped Harley XA. Note the twin carbs, the air cleaner location behind the generator, and the foot shift.

The Army was impressed with both the Harley and Indian BMW clones, and they gave both manufacturers production contracts. Harley and Indian each built 1,000 machines based on the BMW design. Harley’s XA was more of  a direct copy; Indian’s design had the cylinders tilted up like a modern Moto Guzzi.  But while the Harley and Indian development work was under way, the army had been experimenting with other transportation concepts and found that the 4WD Willys (the Jeep) was a much better all-around military vehicle.  The Army shifted its resources to Jeep acquisition and did not take delivery on the motorcycles Harley and Indian had already produced.  The Army can be fickle like that.

Both Harley and Indian did not pursue BMW clones, since neither company saw any significant civilian demand. Both manufacturers sold their machines to the public and walked away from further development. Today, both the Harley XA and its Indian counterpart are highly collectible.

The Real Knuckleheads?

On that topic of knuckleheads mentioned above…no, not the EL model mentioned several paragraphs up, but the guys running the show in the War Department and over at Indian.   You see, the War Department’s spec for their desired military motorcycles called for a 30.5 cubic inch motorcycle (a 500cc twin).  Indian snapped to and developed the Model 741 you see in the video below.  Harley thought about things for a minute and told the Army they didn’t make a 500cc motorcycle, and they let the Army know they weren’t about to start.  Harley further informed the, er, knuckleheads that they made a very good 45 cubic inch motorcycle, and if the Army wanted Harleys, that’s what they could buy.

The knuckleheads (the ones in uniform, not the EL motorcycles) quickly found out that Harley was right.  The troops let the brass know that Harleys were better motorcycles, and that’s why the Army ordered many more Harley WLAs than Indians.

There’s one more area in which Harley had to set the knuckleheads straight.  During the war, the Army told Harley and Indian to cancel all civilian motorcycle production and make only military motorcycles.  Indian saluted and executed.  Harley let the War Department know they could go pound sand.  By keeping their civilian production going, Harley preserved their customer base.  After the war, Harley prospered.  Indian?  Well, you know how that story ends.


I wrote a story for Motorcycle Classics magazine about the Indian 30-50 (Indian’s World War II workhorse) a few years ago.  You can view it here.  I also have a video of that bike you might enjoy:


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