XH Motorcycles Forum
General Communications Forums => General Discussion Similar to Facebook => Topic started by: Donkey Hotey on February 19, 2024, 08:42:13 PM
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2/19/1999, the last of the Demo Fleet, marketing bikes and spare engines were being completed and loaded to trucks, bound for their coming out at Daytona Bike week.
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Sunday, February 28, 1999
Excelsior-Henderson motorcycle and accessory show; Peabody Auditorium, Wild Olive and Auditorium Blvd., till 6 p.m.
Monday, March 1, 1999
Noon
Excelsior-Henderson Kick-Off Parade departs from E-H demo site at Speedway and ends at Peabody Auditorium
Daily, from March 1st through 5th, 1999
Excelsior-Henderson motorcycle and accessory show; Peabody Auditorium, Wild Olive and Auditorium Blvd., till 6 p.m.
1 PM Excelsior-Henderson demo rides, till 4 p.m.; Speedway (corner of Midway and International Blvd.)
My 0315 was part of that demo fleet and would soon be on her way to Florida. Who was there and got a demo ride that first year?
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Thanks for sharing
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The 1999 Daytona Beach rally turned out to be spectacular for us. Our annual parade went smoothly, and we proceeded to take Daytona by storm with our new Super Xs. Our demo rides were slated to start on Monday, March 1st, at 9:00 a.m. By 7:30 there was already a crowd forming. True to the now-growing Excelsior tradition, we were ready. And we didn't want to keep them waiting. We opened early, and the average wait for a ride that week was several hours.
We were busy. Our Road Crew Demo Team was new at all this, but I don't think it showed. We were passionately inspired. To work at these rallies, we recruited from our Road Crew, their spouses and children, our Excelsior-Henderson dealers and parts suppliers, investors, and some official, unofficial, rally volunteers, like Panhead and Holly. I guess Panhead has a real name, but I didn't know it the first year, he never used it. He was a died-in-the-wool genuine biker, tattoos all over, big and burly, mean if you didn't know better, and a full white beard, he looks like Santa Claus. He was also a diehard Harley guy, obviously with a nickname taken from a Harley engine, until he met the X. It didn't take long for him to become a loyal X-Man, and he rode those Xs mercilessly. I have never met someone who rode their bike so hard. Flat out. Full throttle. All the time. And he and Holly bought two Xs.
Dan Hanlon 2003
Riding The American Dream: Surviving Road Rash & Living To Tell About It: The Official Story of Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycles
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I have 307, the second demo bike, bought it from a farmer in Iowa who said he got it from a former EH employee who received it as severance. Noticed under the tank on the frame someone wrote in paint stick large letters "THUNDER!" I have often wondered how much abuse she received at some of the events. Also have noted a lot of parts not standard in the machine such as the late crankshaft and dampener, undercut stem valves (only half of them), what else I don't know.
I got an extra set of bars from a deadwood special and similar seat, but didn't get the stock seat.