The Force Was With Him

A while ago, Joe Hurst sent me some scans (magazine unknown), of one of Nez's bikes he really dug.

While diggers or Crazy Frank fenders aren't at the top of my list (I might get flak for that), this thing is pretty damn cool. Especially when you consider when it was built.


Joe likes performance so it's natural, he likes it. One thing he really liked, is the VL style ibeam forks with the dampened springs. It probably doesn't hurt that the paint job is sort of White Bearish in color and style.


This almost identical photo from the Kid Duece' collection looks like it was taken during the magazine shoot. What's up with that?

Enquiring minds want to know. The Force, obviously built after Star Wars (1977), shares a number of similarities with this bike built earlier by AEE in 1974. Digger style chassis, check... Bodywork, check... Supercharger/Blower, check... Springer, check. Now, I like Nez's bike much more but, it begs the question, was he influenced by the AEE bike?

Nasty Nesbit Choppers

Here's some old photos of Nasty Nez's bikes. The first three images are courtesy of Joe Hurst.

Nez's Knucklehead. Probably taken at Dick Allen's shop around '68-69. That's Dick's chrome frame chopper and Joe's wheelie pulling buddy Steve Drale's panhead in the background. Note, both bikes have their primaries removed.


Nez's Shovelhead. I'm guessing it's the same bike below. The twisted sissy features the "South Bay Swoop".


"Confusion". The tanks are not chromed in this version from a magazine. What confuses me is, why run almost the same angle photo twice, and the comment about '69 heads (whatever they are?).


Ladies Like'em Long Phase III style. Nez is the guy responsible for Phase III Belt Drives. This image is from one of their ads. It's probably safe to say Nez liked girders. At this point his bike is taking on a more of a White Bear/Southbay look.