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What Can a Nickel Buy?

February 6^th, 2006

muse@bikerenews.com

The other day I was on my way to buy my third, fourth or sixth diet coke of the day. As I walked towards the vending machine, I glanced at the coins in my pocket. There in the palm of my hand was a plain old nickel. Normally, I don't give nickels much of a thought. After all, it's not like they buy much of anything. Heck you can't even get five pieces of bubble gum anymore. At least not quality bubble gum that comes wrapped in a comic strip about Bazooka Joe.

But as I looked at this nickel, I noticed a very interesting fact. The mint date on the nickel was 1941. Image, in my hand I was holding 66 years of history. Borrowing a thought from a popular HGTV show, "If These Walls Could Talk," I started thinking about the events that had taken place during the year that nickel was minted. In 1941 alone,

Roosevelt started his third presidential term
The USO was formed to entertain US Troops
The first FM radio station went live in the United States
Germany plotted the "final solution".
The first Jeep was produced.
Mount Rushmore was completed.
Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Bob Dylan, Dick Cheney, Palcido Domingo, Ann-Margret were born.
James Joyce, Jelly Roll Morton, and Lou Gehrig died.

That alone would be enough to ponder for an afternoon, but since I can't seem to keep a single train of thought in my head these days, my brain wandered to motorcycles (big surprise). What would Biker eNews have been talking about in 1941? I decided to do a little historical surfing on that information wave called Goggle.

In 1941, Biker eNews would certainly have been talking about Indian Motorcycles and the heavy competition they were giving Harley-Davidson. The Indian Chiefs and Police Specials of the 1940's made an impression on the minds of the public that continues to last today. Today the image of full skirted wheels around a 77 cubic inch (1265 cc) engine is thought of as more art than as reality. But in its day, the Indian was a work horse for motorcycle riders. The brand recognition and the surreal image that bikers have for the Indian name has brought the company back to life not once, but twice. While it remains to be seen if the mass produced world of today's motorcycle industry has room for a new competitor, there is no doubt that the images of old will live on in our motorcycle memories. (http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/classics/bike.asp?id=73)

Of course, Harley-Davidson wasn't standing still in 1941. They were inventing what some would call the first "modern heavyweight motorcycle," the Model FL. While some of you may not recognize the name FL, almost every rider recognizes it's a.k.a., "Knucklehead." This distinctive name comes from the look of the rocker boxes on atop the FL's cylinders. This design became the standard for Harley-Davidson's engines for the next half-century. But the appearance of the engine is not the only memorable feature of this bike. The "lines" of the bike have a diagonal slant that can still be seen in most cruiser bikes today. Of course, rear shocks tend to straighten out the line on today's bikes. (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/002372.asp)

On the other side of the pond, BMW was introducing a little number that would become synonymous with the German Army of World War II, the BMW R75 Sidecar Unit Specification. Coming into production in 1941 and lasting until 1944, about 18,000 of these bikes were produced. It featured BMW's two cylinder flat twin 745 cc engine. It had a 3 speed with reverse. It was capable of carrying 594 pounds with 6.3 gallons of gas up to speeds of 59 mph. While most Americans were not familiar with this BMW, many of our fathers ran across them in Europe during the war. Of course, most of us became familiar with this motorcycle and sidecar by watching "Combat" on TV or at least by watching Steve McQueen being chased by German motorcyclists in "The Great Escape." http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/specpages/R75_sidecar_unit.htm

Now for the mechanic or the purest, the above review of 1941 motorcycles may not provide much insight to engineer design, motorcycle history, or fill the need for technical trivia. But as I drove my two-wheel mouse on the cyber-asphalt, I couldn't help wondering if today's Shadows, V-Rods, and Ninjas will even be a footnote in motorcycle history. As for the article coming up short on technical review, all I can say to that is the name of the article is, "What Can a Nickel Buy." For me, a nickel bought me an afternoon of motorcycle riding on the internet highway. As for you, I hope it provided at least 5 cents worth of diversity from what you were doing before you clicked on Biker eNews.

Stay safe until I see you at the Rest Area.

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