An antique road show

Al Jaffee and touring on a 62-year-old motorcycle

Al Jaffee and his 62-year-old touring Harley-Davidson.

June 21 - Sixty-two years ago, World War II was well under way, the first synthetic rubber tire was exhibited in Akron, Ohio, America saw its first televised baseball game - and Al Jaffee's current touring motorcycle fired up for the first time.

Jaffee, a 47-year-old from Los Alamos, New Mexico, is currently on his sixth cross-country tour riding his 1940 Harley-Davidson Flathead motorcycle. "But this is kind of a fast one," he says, "only three and a half weeks for this trip."

Considering the age of the motorcycle, Jaffee's actually making pretty good time.

"I can go about 80 mph with the windshield," Jaffee says. "Without, I can get up to 100."

Jaffee says he usually travels between 200 and 300 miles on a riding day. "But some days I'll only do forty miles," he says, "like when I get to Baltimore, Maryland, and I'm riding around there - and then sometimes, maybe none."

It's the days when "none" occurs that tend to slow the tour down.

Low mileage days can occur just because he's at a place where he wants to look around a bit, like the day he spent here at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio.

Jaffee's touring bike is for sale. Asking price: $9,500.

But more often than not, it's because of maintenance.

He says he really doesn't do anything special before he heads out. "I'll do a little PM (preventative maintenance)," Jaffee says, "then you just deal with it as you go."

Some of his more recent "dealings" include a brake job. "I just bought a set of pads at a Kansas City meet," he says. "I put them on the front - they're a little noisy but they work."

The old Flathead comes with mechanical brakes operated by cables. When asked if this setup creates any problems, Jaffee says, "Yeah, they're terrible. I've learned to anticipate all stops way ahead of time."

But the fact that they work at all is sort of Jaffee's touring mantra - just keep things working.

"Maintenance is the big thing with these old bikes," Jaffee says. "It's always something."

Even as recent as last night, Jaffee says he had to lube the cables for the front brake and throttle because they were both sticking. "I do that particular exercise about every 5,000 miles," he says.

Other more high-maintenance exercises include valve adjustments every 1,500 miles. Luckily, according to Jaffee, that's just a ten-minute job.

"I did that just the other day," he says. "Woke up, first thing in the morning, I opened them up, looked at them, and everything was spot on - it was just great."

Keeping tools handy, like in a pouch hanging off the forks, makes maintenance times a little quicker.

Unfortunately, Jaffee says another gremlin has popped up.

"I've had problems on this trip with the primary chain adjustments," he says. "For some reason that front chain oiler just quit - it's got a blockage in it. So tomorrow morning, I'll pull off the chain cover and try to suck the blockage out. If it doesn't, well, then I'm stuck with oiling it manually."

He also says his rear cylinder oil ring has failed. "So now I'm adding a quart of oil about every 150 miles," he says. "Normally it's up around 400 or 500."

The transmission has also started to blow oil. "It doesn't burn up, though; it keeps running just fine," he says. "I've got to add a little bit, and then clean up the mess on the exhaust pipe and all."

The pipes on the old flatty do show the remnants of escaping petroleum, but the rest of the machine looks in remarkably fine shape. "Of course it's got oil all over it right now," Jaffee says, "but the bike'll clean up real good."

"One thing I've found with an old bike," Jaffee says, "is there's always somebody available to help out. Like here, I stopped at a store to add oil and a guy comes over, he's from the local Harley dealer, and he says, 'I saw you over here with a broken down bike, you need any help?'

"I said, 'it's not broken down, I'm just adding oil."

Jaffee laughs and says, "It happens a lot, but less so anymore."

With five generations of engines separating Jaffee's Harley and a new one, he say's not many folks know what he's riding. "They'll look at it but they haven't a clue as to what it is.

"Actually," Jaffee says, "I think it's more the people that don't know much at all about motorcycles, your average citizen, that'll know and remember what I'm riding. They'll say, 'Wow, it's good to see an old machine running.' It just makes my day"

On the other hand, Jaffee says, "The new riders are into their new pretty bikes and like that. This thing is just too foreign to them to digest, I guess."

Jaffee thinks of himself as simply a motorcyclist that loves to ride, even if it is a 62-year-old bike.

"I've got this dentist," he says, "and he just bought one of those new touring Harley's, and I asked him, 'Why aren't you out riding that new bike?' And he says 'No, I'm scarred to ride that thing, I've got so much money in it.'"

Jaffee says he's reached a point where he'd rather ride on them than wrench on them "When what you're doing is new, then its fun," he says. "But after you've done it, like this is my fifth overhaul, its like, 'got to do it again, got to get greasy again.'"

On that point, Jaffee says, "You know, I think I'm going to upgrade. I'm going to go for one of them new overhead valve, swingarm models - maybe a Panhead."