Very cool. Vintage Motorcycling in NJ

Via The Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/vintage_photos_of_motorcycling_in_nj.html#incart_m-rpt-2

I added the captions from the paper for the more interesting ones. A LOT of cop ones, don't know if because Police Departments at the time could more easily afford bikes as opposed to the average citizen or if better records were kept so we're left with more police photos.

 Aaron Morris stands in his bicycle and motorcycle repair shop in Elizabeth in this photo from the early-1900s. Aaron Morris Bicycles went out of business in 2007 after 103 years. Courtesy of the Morris family

 Tom Quigley Sr. of Iselin straddles his Indian motorcycle in this circa 1940s photo. Quigley, who was known to be a dapper dresser, was said to ride the bike up the stairs and into his house on Bird Avenue. Courtesy of Allison Quigley Soltys

 Woodbridge PD, I'm old enough to remember the old town hall. Classy old building, miss it. 1928 Memorial Day

 Gloria Struck, at age 25 in this 1950 photo, was already a very experienced motorcyclist in Clifton. She joined the Motor Maids club in 1946, and rode to the Sturgis and Daytona motorcycle gatherings in 2013 at age 87. Courtesy of Rider Magazine

 Sayreville, wonder what buidling this was in front of.

 This photo, taken in 1918, shows members of a Plainfield motorcycle club known as the Queen City Motorcycle Club. Men and women are shown posing with their Harley-Davidson motorcycles in front of the stores of Randal Harness Co. and H.J. Pasch on Somerset Street in North Plainfield. Courtesy of the Plainfield Public Library

 Vineland's Motorcycle Club posed for this 1915 photo in front of J.U. DuBois and John Potts' Vineland Repair Shop on the 300 block of Landis Avenue. Courtesy of Arcadia Publishing

 Perth Amboy PD, talk about changes

 Earl Heyer, in the dark shirt at right, and a friend are shown at the corner of Bloomfield and Glen Ridge avenues in Montclair before leaving on a cross-country motorcycle trip in 1924. Their odyssey was covered by the Newark Star-Eagle. Courtesy of Charles Heyer

 The Millburn Police Department purchased its first motorcycle, this Indian, in 1911. From the photo, it's obvious that a different kind of 'horsepower' was still useful to the force. Courtesy of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society

American craftsmanship...

There are only two parts on the Aermacchi that are American, Harley Davidson built. The tail light, and the bracket for the tail light. These are also the only parts on the bike that aren't metric, which made me add another wrench to what I thought was a complete tool kit for the bike.

When I built the Aermacchi, I actually planned on putting on a smaller CEV tail light and making my own bracket, but having found a cheap NOS Guide one still in the box, and already having the stock bracket I figure why not retain the only American flavors of the bike and this is how H-D rewarded me.

This happened after a 6 mile ride, at the end of my block (thankfully). The tail light bracket sheared off, and the whole assembly got caught in between the wheel and the frame, seizing the bike. When this happened I initially thought I really had seized the engine, or the chain jammed up somewhere. Since everything was stuck, I literally lifted up the bike and moved it to the curb to muscle out the housing.

The real kick in the ass is this isn't the first time this bracket snapped... Back in August 2013 it happened, but just sorta hung off the fender. I welded the bracket back together (see below)

and attributed the whole thing to a possible existing crack in the bracket that I neglected during the build of the bike. Well, this time it sheared about a cm behind the weld I made. So it's just a crap part that obviously wasn't engineered for the vibrations of an Italian thumper.

Now I will be making my own bracket, and putting that CEV light on the bike. I hope the steel is Chinese and the light is made in India.


Good thing the starter for the BMW came back from rebuild is whirring like the turbine on an ME262.