Mike still has his bike and as you can see, not only is it almost unchanged, but it also looks fresh as ever. The beautiful forks deserve a double take as they are narrowed and extended Harley (by Mike), with Dick Allen rockers.
While not having all of the exact same styling cues, the look and stance is definitely South Bay. The Sportster headlight, Hunt magneto, 12 spoke mags, and D.A. rockers do add to the recipe. Go back and look at Joe's White Bear, Foots bike, or Bruce's Funny bike, and you'll see it was all in the family of friends.
Compare this shot with the one in the last post and it drives home how, other than the paint and the plug wires, nothing has changed!
While repainted, the tank retains the Ride to Live and Wings theme. The frame is fantastic. Note the seat area. It's been stretched, raked, and molded with metal before chroming. The sissy bar doesn't have the normal South Bay Swoop, but instead has an almost invisible fender following support bar. The oil tank reminded me of the Funny Bike's tank and it's no coincidence since it was made by Bruce's mentor, Steve Davis.
My thanks go out to Mike and Joe for sharing this cool ride.
2 comments:
I was one of the south Bay enthusiust and I can tell you Dicks front ends were strong, not to mention I welded a lot of them while working at Ace welding in Elsegundo. I would so like to hook up with some of the people from those times. I think they ought to do a piece on Dick DeRitter also. All of my bikes have been influenced by what I learned from these people.
Art, Email me and I'll forward your info to Joe Hurst.
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