The world was going to hell in a cheap plastic grocery cart, kids were shooting up first graders in elementary schools, the Demlicans and Republicrats pointing fingers, nothing getting done and what was I doing? Hauling a trailer load of disassembled motorcycle parts to Hugh Owens, the "MacGyver of Motorcycles" for a permanent magnet alternator for a bike he had probably never even heard of much less ever seen.
When I was younger the trip from Greensboro to Asheville took the better part of a day and when I ride it on a motorcycle it still takes me the better part of a day as I seldom take the most direct route but with truck and trailer in tow and on modern Interstates I was pulling in at Hugh's shop before Noon. "How's it going?" Hugh waved.
"Pretty good," I replied, "I brought you a project."
"Steve called, said you were coming, but why did you haul the whole thing up here? I could have shipped you a Yamaha PMA. It might not talk but I promise it will work."
"Not on this one," I laughed.
"Well it looks like an XS 650 to me."
At any other time under any other circumstance, Hugh would have been right. His shop was filled with XS650 Yamaha engines being restored and modified for customers around the world. Few men alive today know XS 650 Yamaha's better than Hugh Owens but as soon as he tried to slip one of his custom built high output permanent output alternators onto the Wackemall 750 crankshaft he said, "I must not have bored the hole big enough. Let me go get another one."
But it wasn't Hugh's alternator that was the problem and after the second alternator was also found not to fit Hugh reached for his micrometer and measured the diameter of the Wackemall crank. "That's odd."
"It's not a Yamaha," I said.
"It looks like a Yamaha."
"It's a Wackemall 750, built in 1938, the only one of its kind. The Hosk and the XS were both inspired by this one obscure motorcycle."
"Really," Hugh asked, still not sure if I was pulling some sort of prank on him, "How did you come to own it?"
"I bought it at the salvage yard where I worked when you and I first met."
"No way."
I told Hugh the story of how I'd known Veggie all those years before and how I believed someone intended for me to find the Wackemall 750. He's always known me to be a little bit nuts so I'm not sure how much he believed but after an hour or more of trying to fit Yamaha parts to the Wackemall parts he was convinced that what I had was not any kind of production motorcycle. Still, Hugh believe I had gotten my hands on some sort of pre production R&D Yamaha never made available to the public though the use of all SAE fasteners on a metric motorcycle was something even Hugh couldn't explain away.
It wasn't necessary for Hugh to build an entire alternator for the Wackemall but he did have to modify one of his PMA units to make it fit. The enlarging of the tapered bore that slides over the crank was the hardest part but Hugh made it look easy.
Later that same day I backed the trailer into our shop in Burlington where Donny, Wooley and Steve were grilling burgers and waiting for my return. Now we could begin the process of building a real motorcycle and perhaps even get around to doing some work that might actually pay the bills.
Continue to Rewind.
*Photo courtesy HHB
When I was younger the trip from Greensboro to Asheville took the better part of a day and when I ride it on a motorcycle it still takes me the better part of a day as I seldom take the most direct route but with truck and trailer in tow and on modern Interstates I was pulling in at Hugh's shop before Noon. "How's it going?" Hugh waved.
"Pretty good," I replied, "I brought you a project."
"Steve called, said you were coming, but why did you haul the whole thing up here? I could have shipped you a Yamaha PMA. It might not talk but I promise it will work."
"Not on this one," I laughed.
"Well it looks like an XS 650 to me."
At any other time under any other circumstance, Hugh would have been right. His shop was filled with XS650 Yamaha engines being restored and modified for customers around the world. Few men alive today know XS 650 Yamaha's better than Hugh Owens but as soon as he tried to slip one of his custom built high output permanent output alternators onto the Wackemall 750 crankshaft he said, "I must not have bored the hole big enough. Let me go get another one."
But it wasn't Hugh's alternator that was the problem and after the second alternator was also found not to fit Hugh reached for his micrometer and measured the diameter of the Wackemall crank. "That's odd."
"It's not a Yamaha," I said.
"It looks like a Yamaha."
"It's a Wackemall 750, built in 1938, the only one of its kind. The Hosk and the XS were both inspired by this one obscure motorcycle."
"Really," Hugh asked, still not sure if I was pulling some sort of prank on him, "How did you come to own it?"
"I bought it at the salvage yard where I worked when you and I first met."
"No way."
I told Hugh the story of how I'd known Veggie all those years before and how I believed someone intended for me to find the Wackemall 750. He's always known me to be a little bit nuts so I'm not sure how much he believed but after an hour or more of trying to fit Yamaha parts to the Wackemall parts he was convinced that what I had was not any kind of production motorcycle. Still, Hugh believe I had gotten my hands on some sort of pre production R&D Yamaha never made available to the public though the use of all SAE fasteners on a metric motorcycle was something even Hugh couldn't explain away.
It wasn't necessary for Hugh to build an entire alternator for the Wackemall but he did have to modify one of his PMA units to make it fit. The enlarging of the tapered bore that slides over the crank was the hardest part but Hugh made it look easy.
Later that same day I backed the trailer into our shop in Burlington where Donny, Wooley and Steve were grilling burgers and waiting for my return. Now we could begin the process of building a real motorcycle and perhaps even get around to doing some work that might actually pay the bills.
Continue to Rewind.
*Photo courtesy HHB
