The Gettysburg Times, Dec. 31, 1981 – Page 3

By JAMES A. KALBAUGH

Editor

O. Fred Schutt has the face of a statesman, the hard and lanky frame of a cowboy, the eyes of an adventurer, the heart of a family man, lives in a historic house, carries the mail through all kinds of weather, and a calling card.

The card is a more refined version of Palladin’s “Have Gun Will Travel.” Schutt is a motorcycle touring specialist extraordinaire.” He has a bike, and will travel.

Schutt, 46, has been riding a motorcycle since he was 17. He was about that age when he took 75 hard earned dollars to Hanover and bought a 1942 Harley Davidson. Every time I rode it, I had to push it home,” he said. He kept it four or five months and then bought another, more reliable machine.

Since then he has housed more Harleys, BSAs, and BMWs, in his stable of chromed hum.

About five years ago, “I thought I ought to have an antique,” he said. So, he looked around and found a 1941, Deluxe 4, Indian motorcycle with a four-cylinder, in-line engine, on the other side of Chambersburg. It needed a lot of work that Schutt was willing to give it.

“It was like a basket case,” said Schutt’s wife, Barbara, who is a licensed battlefield guide.

Schutt scrounged authentic parts from other baskets around the country; rewired it; put on a new, and genuine exhaust system and horn; installed a single saddle seat; shined the chrome and black paint to pass a Parris Island spit-polish inspection; adjusted the valves, and took it on the road. He won third prize in the slow race at an Indian meet in Jefferson, Pa. in June.

Schutt also has a 1968, Italian-made Harley-Davidson he’s restoring in the shop behind their historic, 1838 home, Twin Sycamores, at 404 Baltimore St., Gettysburg.

The shop is where Schutt keeps his regular road machine, a 1979, smoke red BMW with a full, travel fairing, FM stereo system, CB radio, and special fuel tanks to give a 350-mile range. But, still it’s not what he considers to be a “loaded” bike. He’s seen a motorcycle with 300 chromed lights. Some new motorcycles with sidecars can cost up to $10,000, “if it’s really loaded up.”

A plaque in his shop proclaims him a veteran BMW traveler with more than 100,000 miles.

He’s covered all of the U.S. but Hawaii, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Alaska. He’s gone to Mexico and Canada.

Last summer, coming back from the West Coast he met another biker on the road and they rode side- by-side for two and a half days through Nevada, Utah and Colorado when the road forked and Schutt took one turn and his friend the other. He has kept in touch by mail.

In October of 1979, on a trip to New Mexico, he qualified for a 24-hour endurance tour award.

Schutt is active in Retreads, a national group of motorcyclists who are over 40 years of age.

When I first started riding, only the bad guys and police rode motorcycles,” he said. He credits the Honda slogan – “you meet the nicest people on a Honda” with broadening the appeal of motorcycling.

“Most are not just ordinary people in Retreads. Some didn’t start riding until they were 50 or 60 years old.

The lure of the road has its dangers. Schutt has been hit by a drunk driver. “I’ve had a few stiches,” he said, philosophically adding, “if you ride like everybody’s out to get you, then you’ll stay alive.”

Below Picture #1

A BMW with a smoke red, full travel fairing wrapped around a AM-FM stereo system and CB radio.

Below Picture #2

An in-line, four-cylinder engine for a 1941, Deluxe 4, Indian motorcycle.

Below Picture #3

A 1968, Italian-made Harley Davidson.