Day 19: End of the Road
Day 19 of the 1933 Harley-Davidson VL cross-country ride brought the final push into San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Coast, and one last ride back through city traffic on foot-clutch, hand-shift flatheads.
Day 19 Ride Stats
- Date: October 7, 2015
- Start: Joe’s place in California
- Finish: Pacific Coast public beach access near San Francisco, with return to Joe’s place
- Distance: 115 miles round trip
- Trip total: 3,649.5 miles
- Route: Joe’s place to San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge overlook, south on the Pacific Coast Highway to a public beach access, then back through San Francisco traffic
- Motorcycles: 1933 Harley-Davidson VL and 1934 Harley-Davidson VLD
- Gas added: 2.325 gallons total
- Oil added: 1 quart total
- Roadside issues: none noted; final cleaning, last oil top-off, San Francisco traffic, and lane splitting on foot-clutch hand-shift flatheads
Day 19 Ride Journal
In complete disregard for the water shortage, I decided that before we rode the last 60 miles to the coast, my bike was going to be clean. After nearly three weeks on the road and its tendency to sweat horsepower, i.e. leak oil, there was plenty of grime, bugs, and debris that needed to be hosed off. Once clean, I strapped my camera bag to the luggage rack, poured my last quart of Spectro 50wt oil into the tank, and kick-started the bike for the last leg of the trip.
The ride to San Francisco was relatively painless. We headed out late morning, so we missed the morning commute traffic and rolled right up to an overlook across from the Golden Gate Bridge. Construction on the bridge actually started the same year my bike was built, but Harley was able to finish its build within the year, while the bridge didn’t open for another four. After clearing off the tourists, we got down to the business of a proper photo shoot. I’m sure there were some disgruntled folks who wanted to shoot selfies with the bridge, but after riding across the country I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to capture the end of our ride.
Photos at the Golden Gate were nice, but we were doing a coast-to-coast ride and had to reach the beach to complete the trip. So we headed south down the Pacific Coast Highway and pulled off at a public beach access. We took some more photos, but more importantly we gained bragging rights for a true coast-to-coast ride on 80-plus-year-old motorcycles.
We had some help making our way through San Francisco from another flathead rider whose sweet ’40s bobber made me rethink having a modern engine with recirculating oil.
After leaving the beach around 2:00, I figured it would be an easy ride back to Joe’s house. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as we got into town, traffic was bumper to bumper. There was no way we were going to let our flatheads burn up in traffic, so with Joe in the lead on his Ultra, we started splitting lanes. For the uninitiated, lane splitting seems to border on insanity even with a new bike. Adding to the excitement, we were riding bikes with poor brakes, foot clutches, and hand shifters. That’s a lot to coordinate while squeezing between cars! The traffic was relentless and really never let up until we reached Joe’s house. By the time we pulled into the garage, both me and the bike were ready for a well-deserved break.
As I look back over the last three weeks, I’d like to tell you about all the times things went wrong and we just got by holding things together with duct tape and bailing wire, but it turns out we never had any issues with either bike. Sure, there is a little luck involved with a problem-free ride across the country on antique motorcycles, but I like to think it was the intense preparation and careful attention to daily maintenance which kept us running smoothly for over 3,600 miles. One thing is for sure: these old bikes can still be viable forms of transportation and, with time and dedication, just about anyone can learn how to keep them running.
The round trip from Joe’s house to San Francisco logged another 115 miles on the old GPS, putting the total mileage for the trip at 3,649.5 miles.
