Sunday 8 January 2012

1954 KR750 for sale

From the Baron 73, who spotted it on US eBay. Check out the stubby 'clip-on' for drafting on the straights.

You are bidding on a 1954 an original Harley-Davidson KR750 dirt-track racer. I purchased this bike in 1972 from Doc's Harley-Davidson in St. Louis, MO with the intention of setting it up for street use. KR's were pur sang race bikes and don't do well on the street, so I abandoned that fantasy and the bike sat for years. I finally had it restored in 1996 by former pro dirt-track tuner Jimmy Nichols at Star Cycle here in Tucson. The bike was the subject of an extensive feature I wrote for the August 1997 issue of Cycle World magazine, and was shown several years at the Del Mar Concours motorcycle show. The KR is set up as an authentic dirt-track racer, circa 1967-69, complete with fiberglass tank, Tillotson carburetor, big-valve cylinders and full-length straight pipes. (It hasn't been run in several years, but is still the loudest Harley I've ever heard.) Like any other KR it can also be converted to a KRTT for anyone interested in AHRMA road-racing.

I also have a smattering of spare parts, including a Linkert MR-3 carburetor, Smith's chronometric tach and cable, original friction steering damper, alternative camshafts, an additional cylinder and a few other odds and ends.These I'll include if the bidding goes high enough; otherwise I'll sell them separately. Regardless of the selling price, I'll include a signed copy of the CW article.

Unlike a lot of "KR" 750s I've seen on ebay, this is the real-deal, with "-R" model crankcases and cylinders, front-mounted magneto, and ball-bearing crank and camshafts. The bike was raced right up to the time I bought it, and came with yellow (AMA Junior) number plates still spattered with mud. (The number was 40x; if anyone knows who raced that number in 1971 I'd love to know). I also have my original Missouri title, which lists 1972 as the last sale date. I don't have a reserve or Buy It Now price, so the opening bid is the least I'll take. Once that's made, the bike goes to the highest bidder. It hurts to put this up, but I don't show it any more and it needs to go to a good home with an appreciative owner. Good luck bidding.

5 comments:

23bricks said...

fuck

Sideburn Magazine said...

yeah
BP

Nick said...

Sell the house, live in a shed!!!!!!

McQmoto said...

KRs are fabulous and sound fantastic!

It deserves a good, caring home, frequent love and running a lot in public.

Get the dough any way you can - send your old lady out on the street corner

Unknown said...

I am pretty sure that I worked on the heads on that bike in the early '70s. I had a 57 Velocette 500 Scrambler and my mentor would help me with that, I would pay him back with his H-D.