53 KK with Movie History on eBay

Not really sure this is real thing with the good stuff still in it, but it's got a 53KK serial number.

eBay item# 140235489662

The numbers look good, but I thought i'd never see one in street trim. G

Greybeard,

Numbers looked good to me too. Checked my Harley Racer book last night, and there's only about one sentence on the KK model . Says it was a K street bike, produced in limited numbers, and fitted with KR top end and cams. A hot rod for sure. Not sure if the bottom end was all roller bearing. Patrick can probably fill us in on it!

If it's a complete KK, it's probably worth more for it's rarity, than the movie connection. Take a check book bigger than mine on this one!

Looked at the posting photos again. Seems to me it probably has a standard set of K cylinders, as the pipe appears to clamp to the exhaust spigot, instead of slipping inside and being held in place with a spring, the usual KR set up. May have started off as a KK engine, but who knows what's left inside.

Hi guys, I don't believe the KK had a KR top end, more likely factory relieving / porting, lightened valve train, and the KR grind cams (marked 1,2,3,4 etc). You can see the differences in parts in the earlier parts manuals. Bottom end is bushing type, not roller. I've only seen a couple in the past few years, two of which were just bare damaged cases, and one that I'm collecting parts for now.

Funny that they should have chanced upon a KK for the movie!

I've owned several original KK and KHK motorcycles. Both models had hand assembled and fitted top ends that were set up to mild KR specs using standard K/KH cylinders. Ported, polished and relieved as the KR. The cams were mild KR grind. I've seen some marked 1,2,3,4 and I've seen some marked KK. Same with the KHK. Some marked 1,2,3,4 and some marked KHK. The bottom end used bushings for the cams and roller bearings for the mains. The KR used ball bearings for cams and mains. From the outside you can't tell the KK/KHK from the K/KH except by looking at the number pad. It's what's inside that counts. The difference in performance is real.
My first KHK was really a KH that was my every day ride. I got a complete KHK top end with cams and installed it. My grin could be seen for miles. A big difference in performance.

Hi All,

Just a small note, the KK is the only one that got real ?????-??R race parts in it, as in WR valves and drilled/lightened lower valve spring collars. The KHK had none of these!!!

I had a KK for a while, quite original, it never went apeshit as my KHK somehow... Still hit 90mph everyday, got in some fight with evos and won. Put it once for a laught in a Dyno Shoot Out... Got 11 bhp out of it in 3rd gear, it wouldn't pull 4th gear on the machine!!!



Patrick

Thanks for sharing your expertise guys. It's a rare bird for sure. No way of knowing what's missing over the last 55 years. Don't think the seller knows what it is, or was. He's pushing the movie angle. Somebody will pay too much for it! Hey Patrick, how old is that picture?

Hi DLM52

That KK on eBay just about has the engine right, all the rest is way wrong from what I can see, starting with Sporty or late KH frame, wheels, rake, heads, seat...

I don't mind one or 2 things wrong, it's part of a bike's history, but this just smells recent unfastidious reassembly... It was on eBay about a year ago, can't remember if it did sell...

That KK photo of mine was 11 years ago, about a year or 2 after I got it. It's now blue and in London, in the care of a friend of mine... Front fender was later one, the rest was period and only 2 owners in the States up to 1979, the 2nd one swapped it in 1966 for a boat???????????. He lived near the sea in CA, Big Sur?, the place made famous by a Jack Kerouac book. It only had 12000 miles on the clock when I got it. The engine was opened once in 54 to put the gearbox updated gears, still had the spindly early shifter forks, frightfully thin stuff indeed... T'was originnally that deep shade of Burgundy/brown, not appealling at all...

Patrick

Thanks for the info Patrick. I'm with you. It would cost too much to return it to true KK spec. Love to have the motor though!

Very familiar with Big Sur,CA. My father was a Marine Corps test pilot and went to the Naval Postgraduate School in the early sixties. We lived just up the road from Big Sur in Carmel, CA. Back then, it was one of the most beautiful places I'd been. Before I left Orlando FL. for Alabama last year, they were trying to turn Jack Kerouac's old College Park cottage into a museum.