 At one time in their long history, Harley Davidson got into financial trouble and to remain in the motorcycle business, they sold majority shares to an Italian firm. After this, all big twins were badged with the AMF/HARLEY DAVIDSON logo. At the same time, a slew of small two stroke and four stroke motorcycles hit the market bearing the same logo, although designed in Italy. Some of these bike were pretty strange looking creations with less than great reliability and handling, while others looked decent and performed at par. This period in the company's history is a very confusing one, which Harley, i'm sure, wishes they could forget. Unfortunately for them, a lot of these AMF bikes were raced on dirt track and the tt circuit, by some very famous racers, and continue to be associated with them..in other words, the AMF bikes aren't forgotten. Harley fielded a sizeable motocross team in the late 1970's with some big names on their team...which may be why when any of the mx bikes go up for sale, its usually for a five figure price tag.
Over the years i have seen several of the sx series two strokes built during the AMF era, but never the larger four stroke. When i attended this years' Atlanticade" rally in ST. Andrews, New Brunswick, low and behold, all alone on the porch of a building, sat an SS-350. The owner kindly started it up for me, and it sounded really good for it's age. The engine in this bike was very sucessful in the Aermacchi 350cc road racing bike, and it seems to me they called the engine the "aladoro". Anyhow, from the seat back, the bike resembles a Triumph bonneville, the rest being AMF. Some pictures of it are posted below.
|
The Showcase > Non Japanese Motorcycles >
