by EKHKHK56 » Wed Dec 24, 2014 4:50 am
Mike, you could not of said it better...In 1990 I started with a part basket 52K and part basket 56KHK. Now I have a 56KHK in pieces after taking it apart for the third time after accidently locating the correct 56 only frame. I have about 15 K baskets now. The K FEVER which is well documented even by medical experts had set in ten years before when I married a Gal with a 55KHK rat chopper. I rode it everwhere, all the time, even down to -20F. We split, she left and took it with..however the K Fever remained. That first pickup load of parts should have been a warning. Over 100 people looked it over and thought be nice but a long way to go before you would have an actual motorcycle. I didnt have the money, but knew he was selling out in three months so still broke, I called him with an offer two weeks before he had to leave. Yep, still got it he says, and took my offer. Than I had to hurry up and raise The $$!! This started a trend that lasted for 25 years! Find Ks, and parts, buy them by begging, borrowing or stealing and repeat. Not really but you get It...There were actually many times when I didnt eat, bills piled up and or got eviction notices or evicted feeding the fever. That first parts stash had some good K parts but was 90% junk, used, broken, worn out, parts of all types, including the few Chevy parts that often accompanied the H-D ones in these stashes. It had a Nice Old Bike Journal centerfold of a Rio Blue 52K. Ahh this is what I will have someday! Wrong. 25 years later I have around 15 basket cases, one Chopper thing, and no K put together like I want. After years of collecting parts I built a 61.5" BigK for a fellow and spent a year doing it. Burnout set in and everything stopped and went into storage containers when I downsized my shop in 2005. My Dad passed right than, and I locked everything K up in the containers in my yard and there everything sat until Jerry R contacted me last year with an offer to join the K XL 'list'. NOW the fever is back, so going to keep on attempting to build my 56KHK for the final time. One thing, careful what you wish for, a Rio Blue 52K all stock, barn fresh from 1973 when the transmission broke and it was chained to a tree for 40 years. His daughters liquidated 150 vehicles when he passed but had no home for his beloved K. They found me through the local H-D Dealer, they took my offer and once again I bought it on a handshake, than scrambled once again to find The $$ as I was late on rent again, etc. Some things change but beware, the all encompassing K Fever is a lifetime iillness treatable only by years of wanting that K and finally having it...a nice running Sportster is known to help as a placebo however, and more readily available.