1965 Harley-Davidson M-50S

Regular M-50

S model M-50

My very first bike! The bike pictured on the left is a regular M-50, while mine was the M-50S, or "Sport", shown on the right. The only difference, really, was gas tank and the seat. Amazing how those 2 components made the S look like a "real motorcycle", not a "girl's bicycle". That was an important consideration to me at the time, you may be sure! While both pics are file photos, the bike on the right is the spitting image of mine, if you overlook the number plates.

The long narrow tank gave it something of the look of a road racing bike, so sometimes I used to pretend that I was Mike Hailwood, strafing the apexes on the Isle Of Man. Of course, my home riding area was all dirt, so more often I was Torsten Hallman or Malcolm Smith.. ;-)

The little Harley held up amazingly well under the punishment. It was not intended to be a dirt bike, after all, though it did end up wearing a pair of skinny knobby tires, obtained from J.C. Whitney for the princely sum of $5 each. I rode it until '69 or '70, when it was sold to a close friend, and became his first bike, too.

Favorite memories; showing off for my bikeless friends, no doubt about it! Particularly those school-bus-chasing episodes mentioned earlier, and the 5 mph feet-dragging wheelies. :-)

Least favorite memories; I busted my ass on this little bike more than I care to remember! Falling down sucks, then as much as now...

Dec' 2006 Addendum- Found this picture, which is simply too good not to share;

Pity 'tis the regular model, not the S!

As an aside, a bloke from Pennsylvania had an M-50S on about a year back. It was really hard to keep myself from bidding. But it went for $1,200+, and my frugal Scots nature and the fact that I need another old project bike like I need a hole in the head allowed me to resist.