Henry's Home Page
Hi, I'm Henry.
I'm a 1997 Harley-Davidson FLSTC
I was delivered to Dean's Harley-Davidson dealership in Souderton,
PA, in Juno of '97, having been ordered before Goodwrench even knew
that he was moving to Texas.
This is Henry
I've been to Sturgis.
Here's a shot of Goodwrench & Goodwench by the famous Hewlitt, WY antler stack on our '97 trip:
I'm hoping to get the Screaming Eagle air cleaner on very soon.
See article from American Iron Magazine: A No-Budget Fix for CV Carbs
11/16/97 I must admit, I've been spending a lot more time on the
computer than the bike for the past month. The bike is tucked safely in
the garage. Because I replaced the handlebars with a pair of old style
real wide ones, I was not able to get the bike into the house for the
winter, though I had a space all set aside for it.
4/24/98 Henry's got just a bit over 4,000 miles on him now. It sure
is nice to finally live in an area where I can ride year round..
10/28/98 I got really busy with moving into the CyberRanch and
hadn't had much time to ride Henry. When I took him to get inspected in
July I thought his battery had gone bad from lack of use for two
months. The new battery I purchased quickly ran down as well. When I
determined it wasn't charging, I took the bike into a Harley dealer
because the problem had started within one year of the purchase of the
bike. Because it was the end of September when the dealer discovered
the regulator had gone bad, Harley said that the bike was no longer
under warranty and refused to help at all. I'm very disappointed with
Harley Davidson's attitude toward the customer. To add insult to
injury, when I finally got enough time and someone to run me down to
the Harley shop, I arrived about 7 minutes after closing time. Because
the work wasn't yet paid for, the employee wouldn't let me take the
bike. It was another two weeks after that before I could finally make
some time to get by the dealership. They were all apologetic and told
me that the employee couldn't release my bike when I tried to pick it
up because the mechanic hadn't yet signed off on the work. I almost
believed this story until I was riding home and I realized that I had
gone to pick up the bike three days after I received a telephone
message that the work was done. I sure can't believe that I'd get a
call telling me the work was done when the mechanic hadn't signed off
on it yet.
Motorcycle History
(written Oct. '96 for Physician's On Line)
I've
been riding motorcycles since I was
8 yrs old. I began by sneaking the little Ammericci Harley 50cc out
of our barn where a friend had stored it when he went off to see the
sights and experience the wonders of Southeast Asia. I lived in a very
rural farm area, so we could go 40 miles on our dirt bikes without
using "hardly" any roads.
I started on a Kawasaki 100, then
graduated to a Honda 175 twin street and dirt. Then I got one of the
original Yamaha DT-250's to really fly over the back country.
After getting totally bored with
showing horses, I started racing motocross with Honda's 125 Elsinore
which was absolute state of the art it's first year, somewhat dated
during its second year, and a total dinosaur when I raced it the third
and forth season. It's really good that I kept getting better, because
the competitors bikes sure did.
My first real street bike was a
Honda CB-350-F, the four cylinder, that I bought new in 1973 when I
turned 16. I still have that one, in pristine condition in Fathers
basement. My black 79 CB-750-F was a really great bike. From near
Philadelphia, I rode that one to the Florida Keys twice, through Maine
up to Nova Scotia, and then later completely cross country, taking 8
weeks and camping all but three motel nights. The first year 1983 V-4
Interceptor that I had after that was supposed to be really trick and
state of the art. I really liked the '79 better. Next I got an XL-350
street/dirt Honda. Was pretty funny when I traded the Interceptor in on
it. That little dirt bike was great for commuting around Philadelphia
to my rotations during med. school and residency. On the really curvy
roads through Fairmont Park I could blow off all the hot Sportbike
weenies on their 600 Kawasaki Ninja's and 750 Suzuki's. Took it
everywhere that I didn't ride to on my Mountain Bike. Didn't have a car
on the road for two winters around about then, and got through them
both fine, thanks to the help of an electric vest, and other warm
accessories.
I liked the dual purpose bike concept so much that I then purchased a 1987 BMW 1000-GS
(like the Paris to Dakar model). Not only was this good around town,
but the legendary 1000 cc boxer twin was up to any length trip. Really
took care of this baby, changed the oil ever 2,000 to 2,500 miles, and
had put a quart of Slick-50 in it when it hit 30,000 miles. Sadly, on a
beautiful moonlit spring night (May 24, 1994) I found out first hand
that a tractor trailer - motorcycle collision is not a fair match.
Truck driver claims he never even knew he hit me. Thankfully, I was
only close to going under the trailer's wheels. Probably should list
damages to me and the bike here on a posting. Suffice it to say that
the bike was totaled and I wasn't quite. Thank God for Medivac
helicopters and Hospital of the Univ. Penn's excellent trauma unit....
I ordered my first real Harley back
in March of 1996. The Heritage Softail Classic should have a build date
of March or May of this year. It will be the Birch white and Bright
aqua custom paint. The reason I took so long to order my Harley is that
I had been looking for a '36 to '41 big twin. Actually, I still am, if
anyone knows of one. An Indian between 1932 and 1953 would also be
acceptable. Fortunately Goodwench has no problems agreeing with me that
a clean and detailed Harley makes a good centerpiece to really set off
a living room.
Now, I don't ride incognito, though
it is true that we are living in times where it more respected by
society to be a biker than a doctor. One of my only concerns is that I
might be mistaken for one of newbies, who are called RUBBIES (Rich
Urban Bikers). This includes all the "beautiful people" like Bruce
Willis, Gary Bussey, Sly Stallone, Cher, and for God's sake, even Billy
Joel. (Aw, poor little Billy Joel, tipped over in the Hamptons and hurt
his little piano playing wrist)
Anyway, due to a motorcycle
accident, I'm giving up on the delivery of medical services, but I'll
never not be a biker. In fact, I am moving to Central Texas where I can
ride all year round. Yeeee ha....
08-02-06 Things sure don't always work out as
planned
This is not Henry, I just thought it was a cool bike.
Email me at goodwrench@cyberranch.org
Email me.
Y'all please come back soon.
updated July 24, 1998