ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB
April 2021 Club News
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Before and After - Ronnie’s 1976 Harley Davidson
By Antoinet
The Netherlands, 1992: Ronnie was twenty years young and he bought a 1976 Harley Davidson. A Dutch company had imported 100 Harleys from Iran. They were all old police motorcycles.
Ronnie's mum couldn't believe he had saved all his money and borrowed
some too, to buy this heap of s..t. For the next year all of Ronnie's
monthly wages were spent on parts. He loved the project. He would often
work on it till 1 at night.
After 18 months of hard work he took it out for a test ride but didn't
get far as he ran into his dad's car. The hand gear shifter and foot
clutch were not something he was used to yet, but soon he got the hang
of it and rode it everywhere: Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, all
over Europe.
When Ronnie got the go-ahead to move to Australia he got all the
paperwork sorted to have the Harley shipped over to Sydney.
When we got together in 1999 we rode two-up from Wollongong to Melbourne and took the Devil Cat to Tasmania where we rode around for ten days. It was a great holiday.
In 2004 we moved from Wollongong to Albany and of course the Harley came along. It was in parts in our trailer that we were towing behind our 1962 Kombi.
Our first years here in Albany and as members of the club we travelled
two-up on the bike but later on I got my license.
Now the Harley is in bits to be done up again - just one of many projects in our shed.
It will be good to see it on the road again, one day...