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Full Throttle to the Past

Full Throttle to the Past

Let’s rewind time a little, say, 80, 90, or 100 years and switch into black and white mode. Let’s imagine thundering, brakeless machines, barreling around board tracks, flat tracks and dirt tracks, kicking up the dust and the oil fumes, their riders hunched way down, their throttles wide open all the time. Screaming metal, burning steel, reduced to the absolute essentials, sleek, lightweight and loud as hell …

It’s kinda easy for true Harley aficionados

to get inspired by the awesome racers that intrepid riders such as Red Parkhurst, Jim Davis or Joe Petrali thrashed around America’s race tracks. Why not transplant some of that spirit on to one’s own bike and get a step closer to those heroes of yore.

Racing vintage Harleys of the 1910s to 30s

has been one of our favorite pastimes over the years. More than once we hit a wall though, when parts, needed to replace the crumbling vintage innards of our machines, were hard to find. Those narrow tanks and low slung handlebars, period correct seats, magneto ignitions, hubs, rims, throttle cables, switches, all that stuff essential to keep those classics rolling just wasn’t there.

At some point we began to have non-existent parts reproduced

by craftsmen using traditional methods. True to our motto “We race it, we sell it.”, we built up a range of parts that not only can help to revive the old clunkers, but carries a load of inspiration for late model sleds too. An Evo engined board tracker? It can be done. If it’s vintage or late model, our team of Harley riding phone operators is there when you need them. Ask them all those questions about your Harley of today, yesterday or – as just described – the beginning of all time.

Morris ZEV Magneto
Morris ZEV Magneto
In the early days of motorcycling batteries and charging systems were a far cry from what we know today and a constant source of trouble for riders who were stuck in the middle of nowhere with dead batteries. So when Robert Bosch from Germany came out with a compact, lightweight magneto ignition at the beginning of the 20th century it was quickly and gladly received by most riders for its simplicity and dependability. The only drawback was that you had no power for lighting which had to be accomplished with an acetylene (carbide) system. 1912 was the first year when you could order your new Harley-Davidson with a Bosch magneto ignition, made under license in the US, and the factory continued to offer this as an option until 1929 for all F-series ioe models.
The magneto offered here is made by the renowned US company Morris and it represents an authentic reproduction of the legendary Bosch ZEV type for 45° V-Twins. From the exterior you can hardly tell the difference from its historic counterpart, with cable activated advance-retard, cotton braided spark plug wires and cast end plates, but inside it features various updates to make it even more reliable than its great-grandfather, including an improved armature, coil and "modern" points. It is driven by the stock magneto gear which is also available and mounts with 3/8”-16 bolts to the crankcase.
Can be fitted on J-series (battery ignition) models, where it requires modification of the gear case.
The drive shaft deliberately has no keyway. With a tight nut the drive gear will safely stay in place on the shaft taper. And without the key timing can be set more easily and accurately.
more …