Roy's Beer Keg Trike

Somehow this photo was left out when I posted Big Roy's trike a few years back. It's been in a few post. Click here for another look or search the 'Trikes' label for more.

Photo courtesy of Kerry Crist

More South Bay Coolness From Marc

Angel Mark sent these follow up photos of the South Bay Originals.

Filthy Frank wheelies while Marc (to the left), and others watch.

Marc says Big Chuck was not holding the bike up, just worried as the bike was firmly planted. That said, it does look a bit precarious.

More Randy

 An early shot of Randy on his street legal Harley 45 WR

I thought the shop was in Gardena but, the1485 Canal St. address suggest this is Venice, Ca.

Photos from the Facebook RS memorial page.

Randy Gervais Smith

Here's another cool photo from the Randy Smith memorial page.

 I can't help but see a resemblance to Ricky Gervais.

Dick Allen's Cobra Trike with Roth

Here's a post for fans of Dick Allen or Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

As many of you know Ed Roth and Dick Allen collaborated on selling Cobra Trike kits. Here's a couple of old photos of Dick's trike at a show with Big Daddy himself.

Roth hanging loose with some cat called Lovely Lenny

I'm guessing that Dick made his own show card. Check the spelling of "Crome", and Trik's at the bottom. Also, note the kit body with seat to the right as well as Roth's California Cruiser in the background.

Photos are from Puttie's and Connie's photo album via Joe Hurst.

Sano Trike Origins II, Wild Child's Customs

Back in March 2010 I did a post called Sano Trike Origins which featured the Himsl bodies, Roth's Candy Wagon, Ed Newton, and the David Mann art shown below. I was wondering who was the first to come up with this style of trike and was leaning towards giving Dave the credit, but as many know, Dave had a habit of using real bikes for his art's inspiration.     

Detail from Dave Mann Painting, Ride Hard Die Fast.

I've been meaning to update this story for some time as I had found several photos of another trike that I believe to be the grand daddy of this style.

Three trikes from Jim Greene's of Wild Child's Custom Shop. The one in the foreground is the most famous and known as Wild Child, but check out the one in the back left! The body work is pretty similar to Dave's painting. I believe it predates Roth's Candy Wagon plus we know that Roth knew Jim and featured the Wild Child (foreground), trike in Choppers Magazine. Not to mention there is a photo of Roth with that trike that had circulated the blogs.

Here's a good photo showing some details. The body work is pretty similar to the one in Dave's painting, but features two pipes on each side. The pipes are easier to see in the photo below.

I rediscovered this old Street Chopper photo while looking up another article. If it has a single down tube make it a double. If it has a double make it a single. That's the custom way.

More Cobra Trike

Here's two more shots of Dick Allen's Cobra trike. It changed hands and paint jobs a couple of times. First to Jim Andrews and then to Gordon Labell. I believe it belonged to Gordon when both of these were taken. Photos courtesy of Joe Hurst.

Those tiller bars are way long. Makes you wonder what it's like to steer this monster.
Taken at the Indio Run.The paint only looks different here because it's in the shade.

2 More Sac Trikes

Here's a couple more trikes from Dr. Sprocket.

Nice!. Dig the Harman springer and Principal's office school chair.
Holy fiberglass Batman!

Roth's Experiments

When Ed Roth built each new custom vehicle (car, bike, or trike), they weren't just frivolous show vehicles. They were also experiments for new ideas or bulding techniques like using fiberglass for building the body for the Outlaw and then applying these successes on future vehicles.

The California Cruiser was such a vehicle and became the starting point for other V8 trikes and kits. 

Roth didn't care that the Mail Box used a fairly underpowered Crosley 4 cylinder engine. The main idea was to see if a water cooled car engine would work with the radiator mounted in the rear. It did so the next project was to apply this knowlegde to a larger engine for the California Cruiser. One lesson learned was to never again build a body that cut off your side and rear field of vsion.

The Candy Wagon was his first experiment with trikes and although also underpowered it was built for long hauls, so it used the large fiberglass seat/body as the fuel tank.

Roth's California Cruiser The Article

Here's the article from the December 1969 issue of Choppers Magazine featuring the finished project. Click on each image to enlarge and read.

 This is the prototype and grand daddy of all the Roth/Allen V8 Trikes. It used a small aluminum Olds V8 instead of the Ford 289 used in Dick Allen's and the kits.

In a lot of ways it is also the grand daddy of all V8 trikes, as builders to this day still build frames eeriely close to the original. For the Kits, Dick supplied the frames (and engine mounts), while Roth supplied the fiberglass bodies.



Cross Bones Trike

Recently on ebay

Seller said he was trying to make it look as if it was stock. Custom made steel pick-up truck style box plus wire wheels do a pretty good job of it.

The Thinker

More of Big Roy from Kerry Crist.

 Big Roy comtemplates his next move. Everything about this photo is classic Biker. It could be a David Mann painting.


Nice molding. Sadly, Big Roy past away before finishing his trike's rebuild.

Sacraknucklehead Trike

Continuing with the trike coverage, here's a Sacramento based Knucklehead trike from the early '70's.

The seats and pipes look to be inspired by Tom McMullen's Corviar trike. Photo courtesy of Dr. Sprocket.

Jasper's Trike

I still have a bunch of photos from Mr. Joe Hurst that never got posted. First up, his friend Jasper and his trike.

Joe say's Jasper (may he R.I.P.), was one cool dude.

I also have more trike photos from Dr. Sprocket and others, so like it or not...  More Tirkes To Come!

Wise Guy Trike

The infamous Dr. Sprocket sent these vintage photos of Bob Wise's  chopped trike circa 1970.

While chronically underpowered, the 45 cubic inch falthead Serv-car makes for one cool chopper.

Talk about stance! Chopped Trikes were once very common. Even with todays re-interest in vintage choppers, you don't see that many trikes.

 It's a small world after all! The very same Bob Wise submitted the two black conept drawings for Street Chopper's (June 1972), Trick Trike contest. My art is on the facing page. I posted this a few years ago which lead to me meeting the good doctor.

Roth's California Cruiser

Ed Roth's V8 powered California Cruiser was the prototype for the Ed Roth/Dick Allen joint venture Cobra Trike kits. I'll be posting the article from this issue soon.

This Month's Header-The South Bay and Trikes

Sorry about the new all time low. Two months headers back to back without any other postings! A few things have conspired against me.  1. Blog burn out. 2. My ancient computer's browser is not supported. 3. I hate the new posting process. 4. More important issues to address. 

I hope to do better and plan to partially dedicate the next month (or two), to trike stuff and more South Bay Chopper history.

Just when you thought you'd seen every Dick Allen photo. Dick at his Artesia blvd. shop aboard the Cobra trike running mock up. Courtesy of Joe Hurst.

Big Roy & Little Bob

More photos courtesy of Kerry Crist.

Little Big Men. Little Bob cruising with Big Roy.

Big Roy built this trike after losing his leg. Check out the unusual 'sprung' dual beer keg seats. It wasn't too uncommon for beer kegs to show up as seats or tanks on all kinds of custom vehicles in those days, but two with springs set these apart from others.

Golden Three Wheeled Memories

Mark Bourassa sent a couple more of his buddy Greg Thompson's trike. Enjoy.


To see the first post it was in, click here.

This Month's Header

September pretty much means 'back to school' plus I wanted to do something related to trikes, so this old drawing seemed right. I'm sure it was done when I should have been doing homework.

This pencil drawing is from around 1967-68 (Junior High), and is amongst the oldest drawings I still have. I didn't have any Harley references, so stuff like engine details were mostly based on a friend's drawings I'd seen at school. That explains why the push rods and carb are on the left side.

This drawing also relates to a post I had done about Roth's Candy Wagon that I'd like to revisit.