This old 1979 Harley Davidson Lowrider is the sort of bike I first began working on as a rookie mechanic at the Harley dealer in Miami 30 years ago. Lots of good memories learning the trade from a bunch of rough and tumble bikers who were only too happy to share their knowledge and skill with me.Fast Eddie, who rode his stroked Super Glide or a K-series BMW, Crazy Dan had a chopped Panhead with a mouse-trap clutch and suicide shift and had to slide it sideways to get through the service bay into the shop, every single day!! Serge, the French parts guy, Ray who couldn’t read or write but had one of the coolest Softails, Jim who’s favorite phrase was “Not a pretty sight”, Pops who cleaned bikes and stole swigs from a bottle of gin all day long and rode his 1971 FLH with the longest fishtails I ever did see, and the dude who lived on a houseboat, wore John Lennon style glasses, rode his CBX right into the shop and still dropped acid on the weekends whose name I cannot recall. Lemon the service manager with a temper, Ron K took me under his wing and taught me so much, but didn’t even have a shirt with a collar to wear to the shop Christmas party… And Ace the GM made sure everything ran smoothly, Dirk, the owner’s son, fresh out of college who counted the beans and discovered the CPA was skimming profits and sending them to Nicaragua… And the revolving door of folks who came and went with the wind. And the Old Guy across the street who made the very best barbecue sandwiches in a 55 gallon barrel converted into a grill, and made his own boiled peanuts every couple of weeks.

Good times they were.