Editor’s Note: This kicks off with a letter from a reader to the Editor of “Choppers Mag” in 1969, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. –Bandit
Big Daddy,
I have just seen a photo of the bike Peter Fonda rides in his new Movie “Easy Rider.” It is a really boss street machine, which is what I like to see. Why don’t you run a few pages about it in your magazine and maybe a few lines about the movie.
“Choppers Magazine” is a great help to people like myself who have a lot of learning to do before it is possible to build a good (in dependability, as well as looks) custom machine. I hope that it keeps coming for years to come.
Thank you,
–Bill Johnson
You asked for it Bill Johnson, so here it is, the complete rundown of the bike for Fonda’s movie “Easy Rider.”
Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper both had two bikes each for the “Easy Rider” movie. The man responsible for coordinating the bike building effort is Cliff Vaughs. Cliff worked with Fonda to get the right people to do the jobs on the bikes. For instance, Ben Hardy (brother Ben) added his thing by gathering all the parts necessary for the job.
Ben and Cliff retained the early cradle frames (’48-’56) and too, the Captain America frame to Buchanan’s frame shop for a rake of 45 degrees. The neck was cut off and repositioned, so that the forks make an angle with a vertical line of 45 degrees. The glide forks had to be lengthened 12 inches to compensate for the wild rake.
Stock glide risers are bolted to the ’57 top tripe tree and fitted with a set of A.E.E. lower triple trees, which in turn had dog-bones mounted on them and a set of 13-inch high-riser bars. Fonda and Vaughs told Dean Lonza (the Dean of bike painters) to make the bike look like Capt. America’s Shield… and it does!!
Brother Ben hardy is the man behind the most of the Easy Rider Bikes construction. His shop was on Florence in Los Angeles (1168 E.).
Fonda had added a giant moneymaker to Movieland. His “Easy Rider” is a boss flick and one to be sure to see. It deals with things as they are. Fonda and Hopper filmed on the road and used real sets and people. The results are excellent.
Hardy’s experience in bikes ranges back into the ‘50s when he picked up on bike engines at MC Supply…Now his business consists mostly of assembling choppers and selling used parts that are hard to find.
