Dave Hennessey - 1962 XLCH

When I bought my 1954 KH, I mentioned I was sorry he didn't have the solo seat. He replied "I never had one, but I might know where one is". He gave me the phone number of his younger brother's best friend. Well, he had a seat, but it came attached to a 1962 XLCH.

May 2014 - Right side	May 2014 - Left side
Mid 1960s with Skippy & 1949 Triumph T-100	First-to-second owner - ca. 2000

The younger brother and his best friend both bought 1962 XLCHs brand new. The best friend sold his around 1990, and I suspect younger brother didn't do too much riding without his buddy. Around 2000, younger brother was moving to Florida, and needed some money, so he sold his Sportster, and his boat, to his best friend. Best friend used the boat, but the XLCH slept in a garage in Germantown, Maryland, with a blue 1965 Corvette convertible for a bed-buddy, for 24 years.

I bought the seat...

June 2015 - Right side

June 2015 - Left side

The previous owner had raced the bike, and had removed the generator, regulator, regulator bracket, stop light switch, and inexplicably, the wiring inside the headlight. Over the years, he had lost them all. With some hunting, I found all those parts. I got a big surprise when I went to install the generator - the previous owner had also removed the idler gear and shaft, so the generator had nothing to mesh with. I found one of those. With some minor tinkering, I soon had the bike on the road.

The previous owner had also removed the horn. This was a problem, as the horn changed from the old "wings" variety to the "swiss cheese" style sometime in mid-1962, but no one is quite sure when. Serial number 62 XLCH 2373 translates to the 373'rd that year (out of 1998), which puts it pretty early in production. While wondering which style horn to search for, one of my fellow AMCA Highlands Chapter members found a swiss-cheese in his stash, so that pretty much made up my mind.

I rode the bike during the 2014 season. It runs great, has blazing acceleration, but getting the darn thing started was a problem. Sometimes it started easily, and sometimes it was a nightmare. Eventually I tracked the problem down to an intermittent magneto coil, which was the last thing I suspected. Starts great, runs great, but dang, the bike sure was ugly.

I want to do a complete restoration, but I need to attack the 1954 KH first. So, in the cold months of 2014-2015, I did a cosmetic make-over - whatever I could do to make the bike look prettier, but without taking the engine out of the frame, or disassembling the wheels. This included painting the tank and fenders with a one-color spray can job, having the seat recovered by Michael Paquette of Worsham Castle, replacing the fork boots, polishing the brake backing plates, and many other little improvements. It's certainly no jewel, but at least I don't have to wear a bag over my head when I ride it.

Now that the XLCH is less ugly, my plans are to get the 54 KH on the road summer and fall 2015, then starting a complete restoration of the XLCH winter 2015. Then back to the KH for a complete restoration in winter 2016. I'm trying to keep three of my four bikes on the road at all times, which requires this leap-frogging approach. Check back in spring 2016 and see what progress I've made.