More White Bear at Tridents Show

Two more cool cool photos (this time Polaroids), of Joe's White Bear at the Trident's show from about'72.

Pre-belt drive open primary featured a chrome chain for show. Barrels were aluminum sprayed.

As good as they get. White Bear was the epitome of the South Bay Style.

A Crazy Idea... or a Loco Notion Part 2

Arte knew that one of the most important parts of this build would be the forks. He figured that even if he could find a set of Dick allen forks, they'd need to be refurbished and re-chromed. He also wanted to run a front brake which would be a difficult fit in the very narrow forks. For these reasons he decided it would be better to source a new one.

He contacted an individual who builds Dick Allen style springers. The conversation was friendly until he mentioned a brake, then the old timer turned cold and said what he's heard before, "you can't run a front brake on them, it ain't going to work!" 

After that pleasant exchange he contacted Sugar Bear. Sugar Bear makes them two ways. Very narrow for no brake or slightly wider with a provision on each rear leg for a brake anchor. And in addition to his two styles of signature rockers, he still offers the Dick Allen type.

Sugar Bear proudly holding the newly finished forks. He makes them look very small. Arte started to wonder, "were they really 12"over?"

Arte not really being a long bike guy and a bit of a conservative builder, ordered a 12'' over springer. He knew he wasn't trying to build an exact clone, but rather kind of a Loco-Motion tribute bike in the general South Bay Chopper style. After putting in the order, he started to wonder if he should have gone for 15" over?

Sugar Bear said they would be done in about six to nine weeks and they were. 

While waiting for the forks Arte had been busy working on all of the stuff covered in part one, plus painting the tanks and building the motor. 

Arte did a slight variation of the lines surrounding the lettering. Working from old and tiny photos, he did his best to capture the feel of the lettering on Dick's tanks.

The left side was even more challenging since fewer photos exist of it.

The engine started around an old set Knucklehead heads, lifter bases, and a few other parts he's had for many years. The cases are new S&S with a alternator left side for modern reliable juices. It was also chosen for the readily available and less costly '70 and later OEM electric starter hardware.  

The New Old motor in all it's glory. A good last minute decision was to send the new cam cover out for a polishing.

Since Arte now had his forks, he could finalize the rake and weld up the neck.

A narrow glide spool was chosen for the 18" front wheel which he also already had. The front and rear brake are late model swap meet finds. Again readily available and cost effective. Also, since he's used them on more than one build, he's very familiar with setting them up.

Some last minute checking of the stance before the tear down.

Off the bike he thought the forks looked short, but once mounted he was happy with them.

Did I mention Arte does his own paint?

Once torn down the frame was lightly molded and painted. Now the final assembly would begin.

Captain un-America Your 15 Minutes Are Up

I just read on the Vintagent that Cliff Vaughs recently passed. I mean no disrespect by the title as Cliff himself mentioned his fifteen minutes of fame in a comment he left on that blog. I also used the term un-America. Because being black and an activist, likely lead to him being a mostly unknown co-creator of two of the most famous motorcycles there's ever been. Sort of a underground unsung anti hero.

In truth, in the scheme of things Cliff really only got about fifteen seconds of fame compared to all the hoopla the film created. Photo from the Vintagent blog.

Larry Marcus is credited for building the B-Bikes made for the stunts/wrecks at the end of the film.

In recognition of Black History Month, In Feb. 2012  I tried to give some due credit by depicting Cliff and Brother Ben Hardy building the Captain America chopper.

Prior to that I posted this of Ben from Roth's Choppers Magazine. Click on it and read the text.

For more about Cliff, go to the link below. It has several links to previous articles 
cliff-vaughs-rest-easy

White Bear at Tridents Show

Six years ago this month I do my first post on Joe Hurst and his bike White Bear talking about how I first saw the bike at the Tridents car show (LA Sports Arena '71-'72?), and how it made an impression on me. So after these six years of getting to know Joe, talking with him, and posting a bunch of his photos, a little earlier this year he sends me some more pics from the show. WTF!? Here's the link to the first post

This really takes me back to the memory of walking up and first seeing it at the end of the aisle. A couple of other other interesting things. 1. Check out the pin striped mufflers on the yellow bike. 2. Check out the people. We used to dress nice to go to a custom car and motorcycle show. Not like the bums we are today.

A Family Affair

The family that rides together stays together

This doesn't appear to be done just for the photo. Note that everyone has a set of foot pegs and the youngster up front has a grab rail. The bike is a 1971 Electra-Glide.

Anything Goes?

Even More South Bay Originals

Angel Marc sent more photos awhile ago and I thought it's about time I shared them.

Lindsey(up front) and Alki Al trailing. I'd say it's near the Hermosa /Manhattan Beach border.

Angel Marc and Lindsey in front of the Club House.

Marc's photos are truly among the best historic chopper photos around. If you'e never seen them click on the label/link Angel Marc, or South Bay Originals just below this post. Even if you've seen them they are worth a second look.

A Crazy Idea... or A Loco Notion

Our story begins about a year and a half ago when Arte accompanied me to the Dick Allen Memorial party. 

 Arte got to thinking... Since he already had a few parts like some knucklehead heads, a flat rear fender, a Wassel peanut tank, a Lucas tail light, and some Anderson pegs.Why not build a Dick Allen Loco-Motion inspired chopper? It didn't have to be a perfect clone, but rather something with the general look plus a few of his own touches and some updates for comfort and safety.

First up was the exhaust. Arte had made a few collector systems before but it had been with existing mufflers. A friend was throwing out some stock 3" dresser mufflers so he took them to play with.

A Goldilocks tale. From the bottom up: A collector he had laying around. At about 3 1/4" It was a bit too big in diameter. The middle one was an experimental first try with an improvised turn out (it's since been refined with a proper one). Top: I gave him an old muffler with a good turn out and he got the next try just right.

Moving on to the tank. Dick's tank rested high on the backbone Frisco style... so out comes the tunnel.

Tunnel relocated and front filler piece ready for welding. After welding, the sides were indented

Arte chose a Kraft Tech frame to stay within his budget. While he's not crazy about the thicker 1 1/4" tubing, Kraft Tech's $400 swap meet price made it easier to live with. Also, since the frame will be black the larger diameter won't be so noticeable. While at the swap meet, he ordered a seat from Bar Enterprises. While Dick used a very thin cobra, Arte being a senior biker made a concession for a little more back comfort.

With a frame in hand work began on a South Bay Style Sissybar and the fender mounting. The swoop bracing was made as a separate bolt on section to make chroming and installation easier. 

Tabs were added for passenger pegs and at the rear for some turn signals and running lights. This was done to keep it legal (easier to get pass the CHP inspection), and to be seen on the busy SoCal streets.

Stay tuned for part 2.

Kern River Run

The 22nd Kern River Run was last weekend. It's an annual South Bay event honoring Fats. I'm always out of town when it's happening, but my art made it on this years T-shirt. 

They slightly modified my old header art it to make it Fats and Dick... and yes, it was done with my permission.

Loco-Motion #1

In the chopper world, mention Loco-Motion and people will usually think Dick Allen. But Loco-Motion was first a knucklehead chopper owned by Nez. He gave Dick the tank and let him use the name. Most people think it comes from a train but Joe told me the name actually comes from the 1962 song The Loco-Motion sung by Little Eva. It was co-wrote by Gerry Goffin and Carol King, yes that Carol King.

Photo of Nez on the original Loco-Motion in front of Joe Hurst's house in 1969. That kid was probably never quite the same.  photo courtesy of Joe Hurst.

Here's where it gets interesting. From what I've found, the above photo is not the record's first release cover art, but likely from a later release. It has Loco-Motion in a jumbled type similar to the way it's written on the tank, so I suppose the Nez got the idea from this cover. It does also have a train on it. An internet search will show several other versions of the cover with trains on them too, so in a round about way there is a train connection.

These are the best photos I can find of both versions of the tanks. Nez's original paint on the left (on the Vincent experiment), and Dick's on the right.

Dick Allen's Time Machine/ The Chrome Frame Chronicles

I've been sitting on this photo for some time and it might just be the oldest known photo of Dick on the chrome frame. But I kind of hesitated to post it.

In Sept. 2014 Dick Allen's daughter Darcy came to visit the South Bay and brought along a scrapbook. Inside was this photo, only it wasn't exactly a photo. The original was disintegrating and too fragile to transport so Darcy brought a color photocopy. I was pretty bad with bits missing, cracks and lines everywhere, plus purple colored ribbons running through out. She let me borrow the copy to scan and later I spent many hours (off and on), restoring it the best I could.

It's pretty cool to see this early stage in this bikes development. It still retains the Sportster fork boots, alloy wheel and brake. After working on this photo so long, I wonder how many times it will be copied and re-posted all over the internet without anybody realizing what a pain it was to restore? I guess I gotta share.

A Time Machine you ask? Well, I've seen the photocopy on another site stating that it was taken in 1959. Well if it was 1959 then Dick must of had invented a Time Machine since the gas tank is from a '66 Harley Sprint. It's much more likely that the photo is, at the earliest, from 1966.

Here's a 1966 H-D Sprint for reference. 1966 also happens to be the first year for this style of bar and shield logo which is faintly visible on Dick's bike. 

Around the same time, I also scanned an original print of this now famous photo. My archives have it marked as 1967 which may be correct. I never really thought about the paint's design origins, but clearly Dick liked the basic design from the 1966 tank.

The high res scan reveals some details that are interesting to see up close.

It also revealed this message on Dick's button.

Twin Cam Patina

MLK and the man