Nice Bike....

....for me to poop on!

All kidding aside, this bike (from Long Beach last fall), is a good reminder.

You might pick some other bars, style of sissy bar, or a different bend of pipes ....

....but it's hard to improve on the classic style of chop

....and no, it's not a bobber,

This Month's Header, Wowed by Joe Hurst's White Bear

This is a tale that spans decades and could only have happened with the advent of the internet. It's also a tad lengthy to properly explain.


Joe Hurst's White Bear. Definitely one of my all time favorites. The mag wheels, the metal finish, and the length reminds one of the purpose built machines built for drag racing.

Certain bikes strike a nerve with each of us. That being the topic, not long ago, Chopper Dave asked his readers, "what bike did it for you"? Almost all of his respondent's comments cited recently built bikes. I added my two cents, listing only older builds. The first one's that came to mind were, Sonny Barger's yellow panhead, Roth's Oink, Dick Hirshberg's '69 shovel, and Joe Hurst's White Bear. Now, over the years "the list" might have been different, but Joe Hurst's White Bear would always have been included and somewhere at the top.

I first saw Joe's bike many years ago. I vividly remember the place but am still not 100% sure the month and year (71-72?). It was at a Custom Car and Motorcycle Show that was held each year at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. My memory says it took place sometime around November or December and I keep thinking it was called the L.A. Winternationals. Yes, I know that's a Drag Race, but it's also a show mentioned on the cover of the Feb. '69 issue of Choppers Magazine. Anyway, at the time, I didn't know anybody else interested in Choppers so, I asked my dad if he would take me.


A somewhat disappointing spread from Street Chopper July 1973

It's one of my fondest memories but, I only clearly remember two bikes from the entire show. The bike that just completely blew me away was Joe Hurst's White Bear chopper. After walking through the show a couple of times I kept returning for another look.

I remember at one point, Joe kicking it to life and then pulling out a giant screw driver in which he proceeded to check the spark by arcing each plug as the engine roared inside the arena. I was already a fan of Dick Allen, so that combined with his forks, the paint, bead blasted engine, pipes, dual carbs, mags, the sound, plus seeing that fully chromed open chain drive primary whirling was more than my adolescent mind could handle. It was akin to standing next to a Top Fuel Dragster on the line at Lions.


This photo can't do it justice. It was the early '70's and I had never seen anything quite like it. All the aluminum of the engine and trans was bead blasted. The matte finish contrasted nicely with every nut and bolt being chromed. This reinforced the competitive look that the stainless lines, headers, Posa carbs, and Joe Hunt magneto, brought to life.

Afterwards, I remember describing Joe's bike to anyone who would listen. Surely a bike that cool would be featured in one of the upcoming magazines. With that in mind, each month, I went to the news stands hoping to see it featured. I knew it would take awhile since in those days it was months between production and sales. It seemed like 9 to 12 months passed when White Bear finally showed up in the July '73 Street Chopper. Boy was I shocked and disappointed to find my favorite bike wasn't on the cover, no color photos, only two pages, and the last bike featured in the back! To add insult a Honda was on the cover. I didn't understand it and hoped it might show up in another magazine, but it never did. I figured I'd never see that bitchen paint job in color ever again.

Fast forward to 2006. I stumbled upon Jesse James' History of the Chopper program on Discovery and low and behold, there's Joe Hurst being interviewed for the segment on Dick Allen. I thought, wow, he's still around (possibly still local), how cool it would be to someday somehow talk with him.


Forks is a 20" overstock Dick Allen springer. It was shown with one piece pullbacks instead of risers and z-bars.

Summer 2008. On a mission to find vintage chopper photos on the net I find these dang blogs and in September decide it's time to jump in myself. One of the best blogs for chopper history and info is Irish Rich's Applied Machete and on January 19, 2009 Rich does a post on Joe's bikes titled, "More Dick Allen goodness". This prompts me to leave the following comment: Damn, You beat me to it. I've been planning a post on Joe and his bike. I was wild for the White Bear version, saw it at a show about 9 months before it was in St Chopper magazine. The paint was unreal. I was shocked and pissed they didn't run it in color. I'll still do a post on it anyway.


Open primary is chain drive, Joe mentioned it featured chrome primary and drive chains for the show. Belt drives didn't exist yet.

July 2010. One day I dig out that Street Chopper so I can finally do the post and the very next day I get an email with the subject, Joe Hurst Rode with Dick Allen. He tells me how enjoys the blog and wonders if I'm interested in some old photos of his and Dick's bikes? My response, WOW!


The issue that featured Joe's bike. That's One Wild and Crazy Honda. Joe really felt strongly that his bike should have be in Hot Bike and be feature on the cover, and told them so. Hot Bike was relatively new and catered to the performance scene. I know there are fans and friends of Jim Noteboom out there, but I still would have much rather seen White Bear on the cover. I was even less tolerant of Honda's then.

After a few days Joe sent some photos but, I wanted to wait until I had talked to him before posting anything. After a brief call, he calls me back Saturday evening and we spoke for about an hour and a half. It was a lot of information to digest. He told me how he thought of Googling "Dick Allen Biker", wondering if anything would even show up, then re-thought, why not try "Joe Hurst biker"? To his surprise he finds Rich's post with my comments, and thought to himself, he's pissed?, it was my bike, how the hell does he think I felt?


It's only been 38 years since I've seen these colors. Joe says this is from that show. He said the show was put on by the Tridents Car Club. I recall their name but not sure that's what they called the show. He mentioned a Honda won first place at the show too. He's also a little unclear what month it took place. He thought it was in the spring of '72 as later that summer he rode it cross country with Dick Allen. This and the photo below were photoshoped to bring back their faded colors.


It was always a mystery why this colorful bike was named White Bear? That will be revealed in an upcoming post. Those living around the South Bay (Los Angeles), should recognize this green belt under the power lines.

It's a real honor for me to hear, and share this historic stuff. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting more of Joe's awesome photos and info. I am really looking forward to more chats with Joe. We'll likely be meeting soon with maybe a visit to the Dick Allen Wailing Wall.

Better Late than Never?

Funny How the Brain Works

About a year ago Big Scott of the Cycle Zombies sent me the following email:

"Hey Chris,
I just picked up a 1965 XLCH... the guy I bought it from said he was the 2nd owner, the original owner was a actor and used the bike in a lot of 'B' Biker Flicks? I think he went by the name of Snake, or Spider? probably Snake since that was the theme of the bike. Anyway you might recognize it or maybe know some history about it. Also on the motor it is stamped Sy Gray maybe his real name? Check out the pics on our blog and let me know your thoughts. Thanks, Scott"

One of the pics from the Cycle Zombies Blog April 2009. Hard to see in this shot, but it has snake scales painted on it's molded frame.


I didn't recognize the bike and told him the only guy called Spider (who rode a Sportster), I knew of was this Stunt Man from the late sixties.

One thought I had was, Since the bike and dude was in several movies, could the original owner have been a pal of Gary Littlejohn?

Then this and another photo of the bike were recently posted on the ZZ Chop blog saying it's now gone to Japan.

The weird part is, seeing it again, triggered the memory of where I had seen it. It was in the June 1996 25th Anniversary issue of Easyriders as one of the Staff Rides. Easyriders did have staff members called Snake and Spider, but since they made up lots of pen names to make the staff seem larger, there might not be a connection to the original owner/builder

This article was a typical Easyriders fanciful uninformative bull-shitty history of the bike. Big Scott's photos show the tags on the license plate as being last registered in 1986 and this photo was in the June 1996 issue. So the dude in the photo, Clay Dog (if that's his real name), might not be much of a rider or truly one of the bike's owners. It could be just a posed shot for that issue, since they were featuring the staff and their bikes.

One other funny/strange thing. When I first saw this photo in ER, I thought it would be cool to see more and better shots of the bike.

Custom Chopper July '71 East of Eden

The style of this feature fits right in with this month's header. As in the header, the young lady is wearing hot pants, tall boots, a knitted sweater, and round sun glasses

One of the best Custom Chopper covers and a good issue overall. Note, it's the same issue that featured the Christian Chopper.


I should of saved this shot for my '"What sort of woman reads MC art?" series.


I'll let the article do most of the talking.


Not many guys run a single carb on the left side. In this case, an S.U.


One happy dude. How many 19 year olds have/had a bike this nice?

IronHead Ron

Two weeks ago I paid a visit to my friend Ron. Ron's a Die-Hard IronHead Sportster Hi-Performance Freak and always has some interesting projects up his sleeve.


Here's his XR Ironhead that he's building for the street. He started with a genuine factory XR 750 frame and oil bag.



Look close and you'll see that the cylinder fins have all been drilled. I believe he said it's a 77" stroker. Ron likes to use socket (Allen), head fasteners as much as possible.


His next project, an Ironhead Bagger. Ron always uses trick parts. That's a raked XLR frame and those are aluminum engine mounts dangling up front.


This 1965 stroker will go in the bagger. It's cases will be converted for electric start. When was the last time you saw Axtell aluminum Ironhead cylinders?


A flat track style Triumph project awaits in the back. Once again, featuring aluminum cylinders.


Here's a shot taken in Dec. 2001 of the Sportster from the above shot. There is a lot more going on here than at first glance. Ron shaves, drills, and massages each part before it goes on any of his rides. After an unfortunate incident, that motor went into the bike below.


This bike also recently had an unfortunate and very serious incident. We're glad Ron is now OK. Some of you may remember this bike from the Dec. 08 Century Motorcycles Post.

I'll post more shots as Ron progresses and finishes these very personalized machines.

Teaser

BiG BiKE #1, Part 3 The Daily Trike

A lot of dudes hate trikes and I understand some of their reasons, but there was a time when they were very popular.

I was just a kid when this scene was taking place and I was really into trikes. One guy that was a big proponent of them was Ed Roth. Roth's trikes were some of my favorites and still are, but one of the my all time favorites from this period was this trike built by Jim Breo.

It's just right. Anyone into vintage choppers has to love the look of this trike.


Just before or right after this was published, I witnessed this trike tooling down the Ventura Freeway from the back seat of my parents car. I forget the exact timing, but the trike itself, was permanently etched into my young impressionable brain.


This shot really shows off how tasteful and well proportioned this trike is. Are "Indy" type tires still available today? Again, can you believe what you could build for $800 back then?


Contrary to what the upper caption says, Servi-Cars are essentially rigid, those rear springs don't do much more than cushion the rear seat.


Too many trikes had poorly executed back seats or boxes. For some reason, the wooden office chair fits nicely with the bare bones chopper look. The Ripple label reminds me of the days when Annie Green Springs and I, would go over to Boone's Farm for a good time,... but that's another story.


Super-swoopy is right. This is one nice photo of a 45 engine. I could stare at it all day.


Circa 1970. I was so jazzed by this trike that I made my own version by cutting up a Revell CHP Shovelhead model and making it a 45 flathead trike. This shot was an attempt to make it look real. I still have this model, but in it's later guise which was inspired by Roth's Mail Box.

It Lives!

or Stu's Wild Ride!

The owner builder of the Way Too Much (my title), extreme Sportster chopper emailed me and sent some photos.

Proof that it's ridden. From the front, although extreme, it doesn't look that crazy. Looks sort of like a Dave Mann painting.

Hello, It is nice to see someone appreciates my effort and posted a picture. The picture you have is from the “Reading Public Museum “ exhibit. On display for five and half months along with fifty other bikes.


I built it from parts saved over the years. 17” 5 spoke front wheel, 22” over springer, 32” ape-hangers, triangle headlight, 2 gallon prism tank, 1968 Ironhead-kick only, custom velocity stacks, custom iron cross oil tank, custom seat-sissy bar with devils tail, exhaust pipes, carriage tail light, 16” 5 spoke rear wheel.


Outside the Reading Museum. No Fat Chicks! Stu says, "there's roughly a 120 pound weight limit on the rider because the seat is behind the rear axle".


Stu and his creation. Until seen with a person, being ridden, or two up, it was a little hard to get a complete sense of the bike's size or scale.

I have been in several eastern states with it, given thousands of rides to all ages who although they loved the thrill, were happy to get off quickly. The seat has steel and wood inter- structure with a thin leather covering so it doesn't collapse down on me. From the ground to the tip of the pipes is 6’-8”. I have ridden over 3,000 miles in five years with it, been in several magazines, and won a lot of “best of shows-or first places”. Always a crowd pleaser, and with the right female perched up top will just about shut down anything else going on when it rolls in. It is one of eight I rotate through, five Harleys, two Triumphs, and I just finished a 750 Suzuki GSXR in a chopper frame, 300 x 18 rear tire, 21” front, 15” over tubes, custom everything. Hope your weather is nicer than the COLD/SNOW we have going on here in Pa. Later…Stu

What were the chances of him seeing my post? Perhaps more people are reading this blog than I thought.

BiG BiKE #1 Part 2 Bad Banana

I've seen a few images of this bike posted here and there but, here's the whole damn feature.

Keeping it simple and classic. You really can't build a nicer bike than this. This color shot is printed on the page preceding the feature.


1969 and already considered as done like "the good old days".


Nice shot/stance. Note that the copy states, styled as a perfect "1960" chopper. The term bobber was not, and really should not be used for bikes like this. Some might prefer a side mounted light and plate and although the caption implies otherwise, side mounts were run well before 1960.


The copy shouldn't say "74" in regards to the "XA" springer. My guess, they're referring to it as having a 1" stem thus fitting a "74" . Back then "74" was commonly used to mean big twin. Interesting how XA forks were considered rare even back then. It was a lot tougher to find parts before the internet. Hell, in 69 there probably wasn't a decent MC swap meet anywhere.


Do you really think you could do better? That's a 20" wheel up front. I've only heard mention of one since then, and I think it was on the Born Loser blog.


Check how nicely the tanks have been axed to fit.


The copy mentions the dilemma of the 20" tire. (Note: a 21" is not mentioned as a replacement as they were beginning to be considered a bit "out" in '69). The bike is so well balanced that a 19" might be too small and a 21" too big. That said, I'd probably opt for the 21". It's hard to think that $1,700 was considered a lot of bread.


From the David Mann Chopper Fest of several years ago. I see several differences, so I'd say it was inspired by, but not the same bike. Behind the bike there appears to be framed pages from a magazine feature. Anybody know the story on this bike?