Get up, procrastinate a bit, fix exhaust leak with shim stock, wash bike & trailer, do not go for test ride. But this ain't weather for man nor beast. Actually it is just cold and it rains, but seeing that I trust the MZ to run right tomorrow or day after tomorrow, there's no reason to do a test ride. Guffey is at 8658 feet of altitude, Colorado Springs at about 6000, La junta at 4078, Wichita in Kansas at 1299, and the MZ - or any motorcycle - is supposed to run better down there than up here.
We all stay put, and at some point the conversation drifts towards Travis' past as 'The Harley Hummer Nut'. "Got any left?", I ask, and sure enough, aside from the v-twin I saw the other day, he has two flattrackers. "Where?" Out in a container, better bring a flashlight.
Stripped rigid rear end 1960-ish H-D Hummer with checkered 3.25 x 19 tyres, that I've been looking for since 2008. Note purple petrol tank with ignition hole covered up.
Travis made the steel shoe for racing his Hummers.
Travis bought a bunch of H-D Hummer stuff from the family of Harley tuner Lewis Puckett after he died, including more than a dozen different types of cylinders and cylinder heads. The family was only interested in the big Harleys, but getting hold of all this two-stroke stuff was great for Travis and other likeminded racers. Buying parts often involved taking the whole lot, and he reckons he bought probably everything from three dealerships and four private shops. Along with a partner called Les Bull (ha-ha), who dealt with the Aermacchi Harleys.
The frame has been modified with a swingarm conversion kit, that was advertised so one could have a rear suspension 'just like on the H-D K model'.
'Lewis' Puckett's Coup de Grace' - the final engine LP worked on sits in this frame.
The engine they tried to ban because of its reed valve. Too modern they said, but Travis persisted, and finally got permission to race it. "But if you win, you won't get a trophy!", they then said. The carburetor is off a Harley-Davidson Servi-Car three-wheeler.
Pics of some of the close to 300 H-D 125s, 165s, Hummers, Super 10s, Pacers, Rangers, Scats and Bobcats that Travis sold over a 20-year period. This was part of how he was able to afford his move from California to Colorado, and build the house here. "Best investment I ever made", he says.
Above and below: Aftermarket swingarm conversion kit from Wright's Springer Products.
'Harley-Davidson Bobcat Hunting & Fishing Model' with single seat. And a rifle holster down along the front fork, just like the wartime WLA models.
1960 H-D Super 10 at the Quail motorcycle gathering. Owned and built (over a fair number of years) by antipodean Jackson Burroughs, it won here in 2018, proving that even humble Hummers can steal a show.
After two decades of dealing with Hummers, other people finally got into the game, and Travis could no longer find parts or dealership inventories to buy. So he phased out the little DKW-derived two-strokes, and got into Nimbuses instead.
And....after a week in the company of Travis and his brother Eric, it dawns on me that it'll be a while before I see them again. Travis perfectly making the best meal* of the week - the venison Tim brought over yesterday - is a fitting end to a week of the most fun, pleasant, patient and first and foremost helpful company one could hope for. Thanks guys - get those passports and come over; let me return the favour.
* Speaking of meals, when I step outside the house for less than 2 minutes, the cat follows. When I go back, there he sits, with a tiny dead bunny in his mouth. There must be a litter nearby, that he knows of. Henceforth he'll be known as Tiger 'Bunnybreath' Scott....
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