harleyKmodel

Rubone,
Who sells the '55 KH rider's manual? It seems the only one I can find is the 1952 version.
George

They are regularly on Ebay. The last extra I had I gave to a young guy who said he wanted to restore his dads old bike. Next thing that happened the bike was for sale.....

One listed right now
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-Harley-Da ... SwQVJeaUum

They are regularly on Ebay. The last extra I had I gave to a young guy who said he wanted to restore his dads old bike. Next thing that happened the bike was for sale.....

Several are listed right now:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-Harley-Da ... SwQVJeaUum

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-1955- ... SwrClcWKGC

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Harley-Da ... Sw1LJd-keG

Rubone,
Thank you. I just ordered the KH manual from Indiana. I appreciate your help.
George

Has anyone considered using this chain on their K models:
https://www.bmwblog.com/2020/08/27/m-en ... ike-chain/

A maintenance free chain is appealing.

George

IMHO an x-ring chain for your bike would be a good idea, would last dramatically longer than a conventional chain with less mess and require little maintenance. The BMW Endurance chain you referred to is a spendy proposition as it lists for over $300 and comes only in size 525, so you’d need to narrow your 530 sprockets from 3/8” to 5/16”.

If you are having to narrow a sprocket anyway, a much more appealing financial proposition might be to use a 520 weight x-ring chain (for ¼” width sprockets) that you can buy from eBay for ~ $70 delivered, e.g., an RK 520 XSO series chain. Similar sprocket narrowing has been done by privateers on XR’s for decades.

The 520 XSO chain is rated for 80 HP so is way more than enough for your 40 HP KHK. This is not RK’s top of the line chain (which claims 10X the wear of conventional chain), but is a good chain claimed to provide 7X the use of a conventional chain. The XSO series is also slightly narrower and lighter weight than the top end chains which are good for 200 HP, which would be gross overkill on a KHK.

The 530 x-ring chains are significantly wider than a conventional 530 chain which can result in clearance issues, although others here on the forum have testified to using them with no interference. That said the 520 x-ring will fit with no clearance issues.

If the 49T rear sprocket is so rare, why doesn't someone have a company like Industrial Sprockets & Gears, Inc. located in Santa Fe Springs, CA produce a bunch of them?

Coolbreeze wrote:If the 49T rear sprocket is so rare, why doesn't someone have a company like Industrial Sprockets & Gears, Inc. located in Santa Fe Springs, CA produce a bunch of them?

The 49T sprocket isn't rare, since they are readily available as was pointed out on page one of this thread by Tim the Grim

https://www.shop.pbisprockets.com/product.sc?productId=10

Let's put it this way; NOS 49T harley sprockets are all but gone. Like racing hubs, they come up now and again and are never inexpensive. If you're truly restoring -- you want one. If you're an old school speed freak, you want one.

But, that's about the end of the demand. So, the aftermarket is/was slow to respond. The PBI offering is "relatively" recent.

BUT -- three things come into play:
1) Because sportster lore (not K model lore) says 51T is what you got -- the myth wins and few people go hunting for anything other than CS sprockets. We can all appreciate few K guys already exist and fewer are hunting 49T
2) Most sportster guys are so damn cheap they don't even want to replace what they got -- let along spend an hour chiseling off one to try another. And most guys are scared numb to rivet anyways and won't pay to get it done.
3) Relatively few folks are piling miles on these bikes and wearing out sprockets. If they do wear one out . . . it's like the last replacement ever.

Put it together and the demand is pretty low.

So, most of the guys who are really hunting for this stuff and serious about buying it either come onto a site like this; meet the appropriate sporty nuts at AMCA or regional meets; or happen on it through a google search.

I'm probably going to buy a couple of the PBI sprockets this winter just to put on my shelf for the day they are no longer available. Along with the recent run of Andrews 900 main shafts -- you just never know when this stuff will again go out of production and maybe never be brought back.

I now have new 49T and 51T sprockets, but only one rear brake drum. I am considering buying a spare rear drum so I will have one with a 49T sprocket and one with a 51T sprocket. That way, I can switch ratios without having to mess with rivets. It appears that later (1954?) drums have "cogs." I am not sure what this means. J&P / V Twin sells one but it is not clear whether it has cogs. Does anyone have a suggestion where I might find a good rear drum for my '56 KHK besides swap meets and eBay?