My name is Tony. I got my first motorcycle when I was 11 years old. It was a Honda 50 passport step through, and I rode it for two years. After that, I got my brother’s Honda 65cc which was an upgrade at that time. My father bought three Trail 90cc Hondas for our motor home and I got one of them. At that time, I had just started riding my father’s Honda 305cc dream. It was large, fast and red. 

When I grew up, you could only ride and operate a motorcycle below 6BPH, and when I was stopped by our local motorcycle policeman, I received five tickets at one time, and got a free ride in the back of his car to you know where. 

Eventually, I turned seventeen, and was able to talk my parents into co-signing for a loan. I bought my first bike, a Honda 500cc four cylinder. Chopper motorcycles were getting popular at the time (1973), and so like any young rider, with a job and money, I began to order chopper and custom parts. 

By the time I was nineteen years old, I had already sunk about $9,000 into my radical custom Honda. Now it was show time. I had started going to shows and placing in the top four spots. 

With a win here and there, in 1975, Daytona Beach was hosting the Rats Whole Chopper show on the boardwalk, and I was asked to be a judge for the show. The show was put on by Big Daddy Rat, Ed Roth, and spending time setting up and having dinner with everyone sure was a treat for all for all the time and money I had spent so far.  [Big Daddy passed away last year in his home in Utah. He will be greatly missed along with all his crazy drawings. He was a fun guy.]

At twenty, I got a Kawasaki 1000ltd, and a in 1977 after installing a new clip-on set of handle bars, and jetting the carbs with velocity stacks, installing two new tires, I hit the road. 

On the way home after a day of riding, my bike went into a speed wobble (my speed had to be close to 135mph, don’t ask). I was able to get my speed down to about 105mph, before impact. After being rushed to the trauma ward of the local hospital, where I was not supposed to make it, and only by the Grace of God, and some great doctors and nurses, after three months I went home . . . . .returning for some plastic surgery in early December. 

Later that month on Christmas Day, I took my show bike for a ride around the block, and coming around a long sweeping left hand turn, an elderly lady backing out of her driveway, ran over me, breaking my left elbow again, and my right leg in two places. Great Christmas present, hey? 

After four years of operations and major therapy on my broken body, I was on my way back. With trading two motorcycles and some insurance money, I was able to buy a 1960 Corvette and began restoring it for shows. 

Spending a lot of time in a hot rod shop, where I was building a blown 1934 Ford, high boy three window coupe, I had noticed over in the corner of the shop, a Harley-Davidson, dusty and dirty. . .a XLCR Harley-Davidson . . . the attraction was immediate. Asking the owner of the shop regarding the XLCR, he told me it needed a battery and some gas. Well always having a love for motorcycles, and for custom race bikes, I fell in love with that XLCR Café Racer. 

That’s when it all started. . . .I began to spend time going to all the area shops, talking to salespeople and owners, to learn as much as I could about this XLCR. After buying my friend’s XLCR for $2,500, with only 5200 miles, the love affair began. I have owned one of these classic/collectibles since 1979. Through 2001, I have owned 12 of them. 

About five years ago, I began building and restoring XLCR’s to 100 point concourse-quality restoration. I have had my hands on about 25-50 of these love/hate relationship motorcycles. Knowing my past, and my love and the experience of motorcycles, I have been encouraged by my friends and fellow owners to begin an XLCR club. While after years of this encouragement, and after many years of experience, I have decided to pursue this dream, and together we can preserve the future of the XLCR Café Racer. 

Together we can have these time Classic/Collectible motorcycles around for years to come for everyone to enjoy.

I invite you to become a part of the members who own/ride and collect these XLCR motorcycles.

**Click here for details on member in the club.