1918 Harley Davidson

My name is Aaron Loveless and I am 22 years old. I currently live in the small town of Prunedale located in Monterey County California. I have always been obsessed with anything on wheels, and my love of vintage motorcycles started early on in life. By the time I graduated from North Monterey County High School, I had ridden my 1950’s motorized bicycle to school every day for three years. During school I spent my time building and racing Vintage-Flat-Track motorcycles, burning up all the money I earned while working at a small engine shop. I drooled over the bare-bones appearance of the early racers, and with the help of my auto body teacher, I built my own Briggs and Stratton 3-speed replica of a Harley Davidson board track racer.

At age 16, I purchased my first real Harley project. It was a single cylinder Model C that was made into a generator long ago. I had the engine running a few days later, and started thinking about where, or even how, I could race it. That’s when I stumbled on the Motorcycle Cannonball.

I took a break from the hobby while going to school for engineering at Monterey Peninsula College, starting my contract goldsmithing business, and developing a Tourmaline mine in the Sierras. Then came the day I recieved a picture of a basket case 1918 Harley twin from my Godfather. The perfect Cannonball bike. I had $400 in my bank account at the time, and with a $1000 loan as a down payment, proceeded to list everything I owned on craigslist until it was mine. I spent the next few months tinkering with it, and with a load of help from Doug at Santa Cruz Vintage Cycles, had it chugging down the road once again.

Today, I work as a Specialist for Communication Power Industries of Palo Alto California, building Electron devices for military, research, aerospace and medical applications. My commute is 140 miles a day on a dirt bike (1977 yamaha TT500). I also have a wonderful lady of 6 years who is very supportive, despite my many long nights in the workshop. I plan on staying in the engineering field, and experiencing every type of motorcycle racing I can. I look forward to the challenge of riding with the Cannonball Family in 2018.