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The bell

lorne said:
skin is waterproof....:D
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This is true
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sadragna said:
I had a Harley for over ten years I bought my first one back in 03 from a friend of mine and it had a bell on the bottom of the frame I never knew what it was doing there left it alone now that I bough my first new Harley and someone told me about the "bell" and what it represents. If I have a bell laying around my house can I put it on "will it have the full protection like if someone gift it for me" or do I need really someone to gift it for me.
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Maybe this will help:





The Legend of The Road Bell

It has been many years since I first did the research to find the ‘True Story’ of the ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ of those bells we put on our scooters for ‘Good Luck’ and so I thought I’d pass this on once again for all those new faces I see every time I ride.It is said that it all started during World War II outside Asch, Belgium, in America’s campaign against Germany. The time was late 1944 and Harley motorcycles were being used to carry messages back and forth between the command posts and the front lines. They were nimble and quick and got the job done.

Lt. Dave Knox of the 9th Armored Division rode one of these sidecar equipped Harleys as fast as possible along sometimes muddy rutted, and sometimes very dry dusty roads, heading cross country whenever the roads ran out.

One day, his very good friend Lt. Col. John Meyer, one of the top aces in the 8th Air Force, presented him with a small chime or bell as a good luck symbol – telling David that if this good luck bell were to be mounted very low on his Harley, the chime coming from such a bell while riding down the road would scare off all Road demons, thereby protecting the bikes rider from all harm. Soon Harley riders were giving little bells to other Harley riders as good luck charms throughout the war.

The idea carried over after the war and when our fighting men came home and purchased Harleys of their own, the idea of presenting one’s riding buddy with a “Road Bell” became popular during the late forties and very early fifties. It is said that in 1953 during the filming of “The Wild One”, a movie about motorcycles loosely based on a 1947 fight between some bikers and the townsfolk in and around Hollister, California, that the star Marlon Brando (who rode a Triumph) gave a small brass “Good Luck Bell” to Lee Marvin who got to ride a Harley-Davidson in the movie.

The Road Bell must be presented as a gift from another and not purchased by the bikes owner. Place the bell as low as possible and towards the front of the motorcycle so as to ward off any and all road demons along the road ahead.

Sometimes as I ride along, I will hear the chime from my bell and smile, knowing that another Road Demon was just scared away and my journey that day would be a safe one.
 
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