Harley-Davidson touted the new-for-’73 TX-125 as an “on-road, off-road, 5-speed, oil-injected good time machine.” We’ve seen a few Harley+Aermacchi motorcycles here on Barn Finds over the years, and they’re always interesting to dig into. This 1973 Harley-Davidson TX-125 can be found posted here on craigslist in St. Louis Park, Minnesota (wait, what?!), and the seller is asking $1,250. Here is the original listing.
Aermacchi (Aeronautica Macchi), with factories and headquarters in the Varese, Italy region, less than five miles from the Swiss border, began making planes in early 1912. Motorcycle production was as far removed from the company’s to-do list as you can imagine. They made planes for the Italian military, and it would be another 38 or 39 years before they produced their first motorcycle in 1950-1951. They specialized in enclosing most of the greasy bits under a shrouding system to protect the rider.
Their breakthrough was the beautiful, jet-age-looking, enclosed Chimera in the late 1950s, made until 1962. We saw a 1962 model here on Barn Finds a year ago, what a gorgeous design! The one-year-only, $600 when new, TX-125 was almost as far-removed from the Chimera as making motorcycles was for an aeronautics company, especially with Harley-Davidson plastered all over it. Harley-Davidson bought half of the company in 1960, and the TX-125 was only made for 1973. In 1974, AMF Harley-Davidson acquired the rest of the company and sold rebadged models until 1978, when it was sold to the Italian motorcycle company Cagiva, also based in Varese, Italy.
Whoa, I’m not overly-superstitious, but I’d probably roll this one around until it read 667 on the odometer, ha. Maybe that’s why the kick-start isn’t currently working. This example could use some cosmetic help, as you can see, mainly on the gas tank. I love the classic 1970s Harley graphic running across the 2.4-gallon gas tank; I’d want to redo that. U.S. regulations required turn signals on motorcycles by 1973, so those are seen here.
The engine, protected by a steel plate for off-road use, is Aermacchi’s 124-cc, oil-injected two-stroke single with 15 horsepower, and it’s sent through a five-speed manual to a dual-sprocket rear wheel. I had a similar system on a 1967 Honda CT90 that I had recently, and it wasn’t ideal to change between the two sprockets. This one appears to have had the engine cases painted black, which isn’t the end of the world with the black, upswept off-road-friendly exhaust being black. It’s said to run well if you push-start it, but the kicker isn’t working. Gearbox and hard-to-shift issues are fairly common, so hopefully it isn’t related to that. Have any of you heard of this model?
This must leak olive oil…
Cool find. Most have forgotten about these.
Definitely a unique sight at a Bikes And Coffee place (are those still around?).
Didn’t HD make some awesome flat-track bikes too.
I’m assuming this is in jest. Regardless, yes, the 70 degree twin HD motors are great for dirt track.
What happened was in the late 60’s, Yamaha came out with the DT1, then Hodaka came on the scene, and finally Honda came out with the fantastic Elsinore. Bike sales exploded by the millions, dirt bikes specifically. Harley wanted a piece of that, but they didn’t make a 2 stroke let alone a dirt bike, so they thought they’d but Aramachi. Unfortunately, at the time, Harley was owned by AMF who mfg bowling balls among other things.
It was not a successful marriage, even after making a MX 250 and hiring Marty Tripes and Rex Statton.
Meanwhile, Harley continued to have success at dirt track with Jay Springsteen among other great racers.
To Stan: they sure did, but they weren’t ring dings. I think Gary Nixon had his greatest success on a XR750, and I think cemented the #1 symbol for HD.
Once again, the author in his professional demeanor keeps an optimistic tone, and then along came Howard. Coming from Harleyville, I can say without reservation, you dasn’t be seen during the day on one of these. It went agin everything a HD purist held dear. Even with AMF, we remained diligent. In fact, an AMF SuperGlide is one of the most sought after HDs. I believe they had some following in other parts of the country, not in Milwaukee, that’s for sure. I had a friend with a 350 Sprint, 4 cycle, wasn’t a bad bike, but just wasn’t what Milwaukeeans wanted in a bike. The HD transmission plant in Wauwatosa, Wis, now a freakin’ UHaul facility, good heavens,,, had a MX test track behind the factory, and we used to ride our dirt bikes there. Once in a great while, you’d see one of these, but not very often. I say Harley missed the boat BIG TIME, by not having a Sporty type dirt bike. I sure would have bought one. This was one bike that really didn’t do well on the street or the dirt, but fun factor was off the charts. So many folks I knew with motorcycling in their blood, got their start on bikes like this. If they didn’t kill you( I was riding with a guy that got killed on one of these, a Yamaha), you usually went on to bigger and better bikes.
And another thing, I’m with SG, that odometer reading would send me running,,,
Howard AMF had their hands in alot of pies 🥧 from Harleys, to cabin cruisers 🛥 , to racquetball. Lol.
Hey Stan, I think most of us remember AMF for their bowling escapades, and in case some don’t know, AMF, American Machine and Foundry, bought Harley in 1969 and was an odd matchup, for sure. I don’t recall any real work slowdown at Harley during those years, they still cranked out a lot of shovelheads. It was clear by 1981, Harley was behind the times, again, and the employees and Willie G. ( and Citicorp) bought the company back, and the EVO motor in 1984, changed everything. I tell ya’, nobody in Beer City missed these 2 stroke contraptions. Not to sell these short, HD did have a Aermacchi MX 250 in 1975 with an unusual “twin fork” design, with front forks on the back, with limited success, if any. The conventional MX250 did a lot better. Far as a a 2 stroke, these were actually pretty rugged machines.
The nice thing about the AMF Harleys was that, if they wouldn’t start, you could just push the “reset” button, and who could forget the little fan on top of the fuel tank that you could hold your hand over, in case your palms got sweaty while riding… I have to admit that the ubiquitous multi-colored lace up leather boots with the size shown with a contrasting leather color numeral on the heels were a bit much, however.
Didn’t the AMF Harleys feature a “lane departure warning system” to help keep you out of the gutters?
Nixon won his two Grand National titles on Triumphs.
Had the same year in Black. Saved my money and bought my first big boy bike after I sold my H-D Shortster. Unfortunately the engine seized on my ride home.
Nobody has mentioned the twin rear sprockets on this model. The chain had two master links and a small extender section. The big off-road sprocket could be unlocked and slid over the small highway sprocket to change the gearing to suit the terrain. My TX-125 fouled plugs with nauseating regularity. It was also a heavy bike for off road use. I quickly sold it after one season.
I mentioned that in the last paragraph, RobM.
RobM, I bought a 1970 Rapido 125 that also had the twin rear sprockets. You would loosen the axle nut and spin the axle adjusters ( one on each side) and move the drive chain to fit tight on the sprockets and tighten the axle nut, done!!! Easy. I never had to shorten the chain, I just had to slide the wheel, forward or back. I had to mix the oil in the gas on fill-up, with the measure cup in the gas cap. A messy job. I did have a lot of fun with it, until a car made that illegal left turn in front of me.
I’ll pass on the Harley, but tell me about the El Camino in the background.
There was an earlier version that said Harley Davidson on it. One of my high school buddies got one for Christmas one year. (1969 or 1970) same color blue. We spent a whole day riding it across the frozen lake he lived on. I’m not sure on the % of how much was riding, sliding, or falling was done. But we had a blast and many bruises to show for it. Little did I know that 10 years later I would be racing cars on a frozen lake! (was pretty good at it too!)
I have been Harley for 56 years; I am now 74.
I had 1968 Harley XLH, then in 1969 came
the AMF Harley Davidsons, their quality was
suspect so I hung on to my Harley until I traded it in
for a 1985 1200 XLS, AMF sold Harley back to the
group that included Wille G. Davidson in 1981 so I
had a real Harley again. I kept my 85 Harley for
20 years until I traded it in for a 2005 Harley XL
1200C, my 2005 Harley 1200 custom was
personalized with Screaming Eagle Carb and
Vance & Hine Long Shots.
In closing back in 1981 when AMF went bye-bye
you figure out what our Farwell was to AMF:
Adios
M
F