Freeway Flyer Fats

Joe Hurst sent me this photo last Feb. It's a cool pic, but it was really badly distressed. So every now and then I'd do some retouching to it and today I finaly finished it for publishing.

 

Joe Builds a Knucklehead

A few weeks ago Joe came to town to work on and mock up his Knucklehead so I stopped by to visit and help him decide what fender to use

Joe's had a bunch of bikes but never a Knuck

The narrow glide is for the mock up.

Steve Sharp is building a 4" over springer for it

Joe takes a break to get a little ride in on the Chrome Bike

Dick Jammin

Another never before published photo of Dick Allen headed down the Hwy.

Photo courtesy of Joe Hurst.

Dick at Bonneville

Dick Allen and company (coming or going?), at Bonneville. Just another cool photo by and from Joe Hurst. Not to mention it goes with the header.

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.

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.

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.

The Grass is Always Greener...

...with a chopper on it.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything and even longer since it's been something from Joe Hurst.

Joe's Green Bike. I'd say this is sometime in the mid seventies. Nobody liked it cause it was green. Joe didn't care.

This is the only other photo I've seen of it. It was posted back in July 2011. Now you don't have to look it up.

South Bay Originals- Angel Marc Setting the Record Straight

My name is Marc, AKA Angel Marc.  I was a founding member of the Huns MC So. Cal. in Hermosa Beach and one of the seven Huns who patched over to became the Hells Angels So. Bay.  I moved out of California over twenty years ago. Several years ago, living away from my friends and family, I joined Facebook in order to share photos with them.  A lot of my old Brothers had passed on, Dick Allen, Fats, Randy Smith & Outlaw Chuck among them.   I decided to share the memory of them by posting some of my old photos, first on my Facebook page and then after it was started on the South Bay Originals page.  I posted quite a few old photos for my old friends to enjoy. One old friend and Brother is Joe Hurst.  I got together with Joe when I rode down to the Kern River for the Fats Memorial Run and he told me of your site and that he had sent some of the pictures I had posted to you, among them Dick Allen doing the wheelie, Frank on  trike and the bike with the Huns colors on it.  I realize that when you post on the internet, you’re showing it to the whole world, so if more people enjoy the memories of my old South Bay Brothers, that’s Ok with me.  Which brings me to the reason I’m writing to you, I want to set the record straight as to the bike with the Huns colors on it. You wrote that Joe thought it was my bike, but that beautiful Pan belonged to my Brother Bob Kurek.  Bob was shot dead the year after this picture, so I feel it is important that he gets the credit that is his as the builder/owner of that bike. I enjoyed looking at your art work and pictures.  A nice bit of history.  You have some nice pictures of Randy Smith too, so I thought I would send one of him and me from the last time I saw him.  Also sending one of Bob with his bike.  Use any of the pictures you like, quote me if you want, but at least put Bob’s name with his bike.  Oh and most of the pictures I have were taking by a free lance photographer named Bill Miller.  He was like our unofficial club photographer.

 Angel Marc and his Pan circa 1967.

Hun's at the wall behind Taco Bell in Hermosa Beach. Left to Right: Marc, Lindsey, Dishpan Dave, Filthy Frank, Nez with Copper up front.

Bob Kurek with his Panhead.

One story was left out of Marc's email which will be included in a future post.

Joe Hurst always says the history of the South Bay Chopper really can't start without the tales of Marc and his brothers at that time. Therefore, my thanks goes out to Marc for sharing this history.

The Chrome Bike Chronicles, For Sale

Now before anybody gets excited, it's NOT for sale currently.

A very cool and rare photo of the Chrome Bike circa 1970 while Jim Andrews owned it. Other than the fork, front wheel, and paint job, it's not too different than Dick's last version.

Scan of a Scan. Joe's friend Putty's wife Connie scanned it from their photo album and printed it out. Joe happened to have the borrowed print when he stopped by one day, so I scanned it again.

The Chrome Frame Chronicles, Darcy on Board

Photo: Joe Hurst, Shenanigans: CK

Dick Allen Memorial Party

Last Saturday there was a party at Steve Sharp's that only happened because of the luck of timing. Steve ran into Dick Allen's daughter Darcy at Sturgis. He didn't know her and she didn't know him. She just pulled over to check out Steve's and Robert's bikes because they looked like South Bay Choppers. Darcy said to Steve, "you probably never heard of him, but my dad was Dick Allen". 

In the last few years Darcy had left some comments on the blog but everybody I asked didn't know Dick had a daughter and wondered, was she for real?

Darcy told Steve she had been trying to find out as much as possible about her dad and mentioned traveling the country to get info on him. Steve told her don't waste your time, the best thing to do is come to the South Bay since some of his old friends are still around.

I met Darcy a few days before the party and found out that her parents divorced when she was very young and soon after Dick left for California. This explained why no one knew of her. 

To my surprise Darcy had a photo copy of a fragile old photo of Dick on the chrome bike from about 1966. She also had a scrap book of info she found on the internet. I was happy to find it included a lot of history from this blog.

Darcy's visit to the South Bay was a great reason to get some of the old gang together plus five birthdays were celebrated.

Darcy holding her Dad's Loco-Motion gas tank.

A few bikes showed up like Steve and Carla's his and her's choppers (another Steve).

 Mike Torre's crazy eclectic panhead.

Robert's panhead

Get a group of gearheads together and half will party in the grange.

The evening ended with a birthday cake for five!

 Joe, Steve, and Robert. These last three photos were taken by Mike Torres and stolen from the Ladyhump blog.

 Arte, CK, Fat Lou, and Randy.

A BIG THANKS goes out to Steve for putting it all together!

Dick Allen Wheelie

This is probably the only other remaining photo of the chrome frame while it was still a Panhead with XL forks and the black sulky front wheel.  

This is another one of those South Bay Originals photos. Joe Hurst sent it and says the location was one of those alley/streets in Hermosa Beach where Randy Smith once had a shop. It's was most likely taken by Randy as he's believed to be the photographer who shot the famous photo of Dick posing next to this bike.

The Chrome Frame Chronicles, Done but never Done

Here's some photos of the chrome frame bike's progress from last Jan. and Feb. I did post a shot of Joe riding it at Kern river in May but never posted these.

 Joe tries it out for size as Steve Sharp looks on.

 Listening to that V-Twin music. Note the primary pulleys.

 It ain't easy to shoot a long bike in a cramped garage.

It's now what you might call a running (and registered), mock up. It's going to go through a few modifications and fine tuning then some paint and chrome. 

I case you never quite got the connection, this is the same frame, rear fender, fuel tank, and seat pan that Dick Allen used on the Knucklehead in the post below. This bike has been through so many changes over the last 47 years. It truly lives up to the chopper motto, "Done but never Done."

The Chrome Frame Chronicles, The Knucklehead

Here's Dick Allen's chrome frame chopper as a Knucklehead. This is the same bike as the famous picture of him standing by it when it was a Panhead. It's interesting to note that it was a Shovelhead when featured in Choppers Magazine which was before this photo was taken and it also didn't have a front brake at that time or these cool up sweep fish tails. The rear fender (only), is not flat black but is metallic dark grey which he ended up not liking. This bike changed hands (and engines), a few times and Joe Hurst has owned it a few times himself.  Joe currently has it back up and running as a Panhead but wants to change a few things before he detail's it. I've posted just about every version this bike has been through. One day I'll put them all chronologically in one post. It's a good example of how a chopper is really never done. Photo provided by Joe Hurst. 

The Chrome Bike Rises Again

This is the same chrome frame that Dick Allen and Joe Hurst built many different ways. It might have had more motor swaps than any bike out there. 

Joe aboard it's debut at the Kern River Run.

When I get some better shots I'll post them.

Phase III Shovelhead

A while back, Joe Hurst sent me a scan of an old Phase III catalog and I pulled this Shovelhead from it. Except for the mild goose neck it has a frame very similar to his black bjke (Black Bear). Add  a blower and a black out program and it might look close to what he has in mind. 

New Year's Header Redux

This New Year's Header is based on the ones I did for Jan. and Feb. 2012. I couldn't resist taking a bit from both and changing it some to reflect what's currently going on with Steve Sharp's rebuild of the Joe Hurst/Dick Allen chrome frame chopper. All three version are presented for your comparison. 

These two (above and below), are amongst my favorite headers.

By the way... for some reason the blog's headers at the top of the page haven't been loading with the same color and contrast as they should for the last several month's. Google, please fix this!

Also, sorry for the lack of posts. I was out of town for quite awhile and then had a hard time getting back to the old routine.

Blower Fever

Joe Hurst won't rest until he builds a blown Shovel. He mentions it all the time. It's a disease he aquired from working with Nez at Phase 3.

I believe Nez took the blower from The Force and put it on this Sportster. 

Black Bear Resurrection

A few weeks ago I spent some quality time with Joe Hurst and Dick Doughty. 

So yeah, the black bike hasn't run for some time and desperately needs many details to be right again. That will be dealt with, but for now... get her running.

Adjust

Kick

 Running!