Pie's Goose

A few years back I did a search for Goose Neck Choppers and came across this photo on some Harley site. It was submitted by Jim Boatman (of himself), circa 1972.

I figured this had to be a Goose Neck from the South Bay.

About a year or so later, Joe Hurst sent me the following photos of an old friend's bike. Joe remembered him as Pie.

If you wait long enough, it all shows up on the internet.

Hector's Knuck

Kerry Crist sent this photo from the 70's of his old friend Hector's chop.This bike looks like it came right off the pages of Big Bike Magazine and D&D Cycles (later known as Jammer).

1965 Panhead De-Rusteration

My friend Larry Settle purchased a reallly rough condition 1965 Harley Police bike something like 12 or 15 years ago with the plan to restore it one day. Larry has a shop in Harbor City, Ca and since customer's bikes come first (plus some other personal bikes), he didn't get to the Pan until maybe 4 years ago. While he had  finished it a little more than a year ago, and I had witnessed it's progress, I never saw it completely finished until recently.

I didn't get any before pictures before the tear down, but the following pictures pretty much illustrate how rough it was. It was possibly one of the worst condition 1965 Electra-Glides out there.

As rough as the outside was, Larry said the internal parts look as though they had little use.
 

Larry tried to salvage as many of the original parts as possible, but all of the sheet metal had to be replaced. If I remember correctly, the bike spent many years outside under a tree slowly leaning and sinking more and more into the earth.

Larry chose to restore it to a civialian mode. The bike's speedometer was marked BHPD.  Beverly Hills Police Dept.?

Strangely, the original tanks were 3.5 gallon which you never see on a '65. Larry found some 5 gallon tanks which were a first for '65.

Another one saved from the ravages of time.

Chuck's Knuck

A while back, Bruce Parrish sent these shots of a Knucklehead that was willed to a to a friend. It's a South Bay chopper that now resides in Utah.

After talking with Joe Hurst and taking a second look, it was determined that's not a Dick Allen springer. Dick's were too narrow for probably even these small disc brakes. Plus, this has offset trees, so it's likely a Sugar Bear springer. It's hard to tell if the frame is a highly modified Harley or aftermarket. I'm going to say the collector exhaust is from Alphabet's Custom Cycles.

One of the most interesting features of the bike is the top motor mount. It's exactly like the one on Dick's Loco Motion in that it bolts directly to the rocker shaft ends and like on Loco Motion, it has open rockers. 

Having a friend pass is hard to take, but what a inheritance/memorial.

South Bay Originals Countinued

Here's another photo of Dish Pan Dave courtesy of Joe Hurst.

This is probably the same bike that was shown in front of the Hermosa Pier in the earlier post, but now sporting extended forks as was the hip thing to do in '68.

This Month's Header

This art was inspired by the tank art on Doc Holidays Witch done by Randy Smith. Go back to last October's header to see what I mean.

She was suppose to be more malevolent but, because of my haste, it didn't turn out that way.