The Big Bang

Anyone who's been into the custom H-D scene for a long of time will certainly know the name Gary Bang. As a matter of fact, there was a time (in SoCal), if you walked into any Harley dealer or custom bike shop, practically the only aftermarket parts you'd see on the walls were Gary's in their familar orange and yellow packaging.

Stumbling upon this box in my garage prompted this post. It's from a FL rear wheel brake cylinder purchased at Motorcycles Only in 1992. Remember them? That's where I bought my '70. I kept the box since I thought the graphic was cool. The good old days. Not only made in USA but California to boot!

The Bang family has been into motorcycles as long as long as motorcycles themselves have existed. I believe Gary's grandfather tinkered with building a motorcycle even before Mr. Harley and the Davidson brothers came up with their own first motobike.

An ad from Street Chopper circa 1972.

For many years you'd still see Gary at swapmeets (like Long Beach), selling parts from his big yellow delivery truck. Then one day I realised, you don't see him there anymore. So, about a year ago, I Googled his name and found that not only is he still around but, he and his family have operated an H-D dealer in Atascadero, CA for the last 20 or so years.

The 3 images below are enhanced photos from his website that are no longer posted.

Here's an old picture of Gary. I believe he was a distributor of these popular sissybars. I had one on my first Sportster and bought another one at the swap meet a few years back.

Some of Gary's old pals.

Some of you might recongnize this trike. It's the trike from the cover of the 2nd issue of Big Bike magazine.

El Camino 2011 Part 1 Sportsters Only?

I'm real late in posting anything from this years show.

If you go to the promoters website, it says that this years show was the biggest and best ever!... "Really?"

When I was asked what it was like, my reply was, "it sucked"! ... and think it has been in decline for sometime. My reason... for the last several years there has been a shrinking amount of American bikes entered in the show. Sure, there are always some interesting ones in the vendor's booths or rode in, but actually entered, very few. I do have some ideas why, but won't get in to that.

That's All Folks! This photo shows ALL of the bikes entered in two classes of American bikes, 1936-64 and 1965-89. Way back is Ty's very nice panhead , a K-model (cool, but of not show bike quality), and some sort of modified scooter that was completely out of place. To top it off, I overhead that the show officials had to ask 2 vendors to bring their bikes over to the show. There were 3 or 4 more Harleys in the custom class.


This very nice '72 and the above orange '69 were automatically in contention for 1st and 2nd place in the '65-'89 class. I would have liked to have got the owner's names.


This is definitely the nicest '72 XLCH I've ever seen and makes me question selling mine.


Again this bike, is nice, so don't get me wrong!... For fun and a personal challenge, I like to play judge and see if I can detect anything slightly a miss on bikes like this.

Disclaimer: I realize that many times an owner will make some personal choices which they are fully aware of. That said, I came up with 10 small items that a judge might find plus 2 I'd have to double check.

1. Fork bearing cups should be cad plated not black. 2. Front fender should have rivets not acorn nuts. 3 Inner front fender mounts improperly positioned. 4. Kickstand should be cad not chrome. 5. Kicker should be black not chrome. 6 Battery lid should be chrome not black. 7. Wire loom should be plastic not fabric. 8. Speedo cable routed incorrect. 9. Rocker box plugs should be cad, not chrome. 10. Carb/Air cleaner support should be cad, not black.

Two questionable items. 1. I'm not sure this type of passenger pegs were an option for this year. Most had a mount bolted to the rear engine mount. 2. I don't think the #1 points/timer cover is correct for this year.

I know this post got sort of disjointed, but wtf?... and OK, the show wasn't all bad, so I'll be posting more.

One last thing, Hey Noot, How'd I do?

One For Noot

The other day Noot posted a bike he thought I'd like. I've been meaning to post this 66 XLCH, and now he gave me the perfect excuse to do so.

Mildly customized Ironheads rock. Besides the wildly cool up sweeps, there's some interesting things going on here. This bike's air cleaner looks like stainless steel to me. I recently picked up a stainless oval air cleaner and I'd guessed it was a '66 only (or 66-67), part since that was the oval's first year and the last of the rounds were stainless. Anybody know the dope on that? The Batman sticker sure tells you the era. I used to draw that logo all over my school notebook and book covers.

Kool Knievel Art

Kolorized art from the H-D museum.

WTDWA 79 XL II

Garage Co. Evel Knievel Replica

Evel never had one this pretty. It's making me take a second look at my '72 XLCH. Maybe one day...?

What to do with a '79 up Ironhead

When the 1979 Sportster came out very early in '78, I like many tradition Harley fans hated it. It's new frame may have done things better, but it was a lousy platform for a custom. The first thing that struck many was the triangle section under the seat making it now look like every other (mostly from Japan), motorcycle . The seat was too flat across it's top, and then there was those pipes! Sure almost everyone replaced pipes on a new Harley, but this one proved difficult due to the location of the rear brake reservoir. Soon custom catalogs advertising pipes had the now famous disclaimer, fits all years except '79.

Perhaps ugly ages more gracefully with time... or maybe it's just the slick studio photography? Later, I sort of liked this look. Even the weird pipes kind of grew on me. This two page center spread ad is from the May 1978 Street Chopper.

The brake reservoir location, pipes, and this style of battery/oil tank cover only lasted a year. It seemed like each following year, Harley would slightly modify the Sportster to try and make it once again more appealing to the traditional Harley buyer.

The once unpopular 1977-'78 XLCR. Harley recycles everything. If I'm not mistaken, the fiberglass front fender is the same one that was advertised in the parts and accessories catalogs many years before this model was offered.

As time passed and XLCR's became collectible (nobody liked them at first either), I thought these later Ironheads would be good raw material for XLCR type bikes. One big plus, you could do them up anyway you wanted without messing up a collectors item. (My personal idea/concept was always to be more like a XR750 with no fairing and traditional spoke wheels). I wasn't the only one. A few years ago at El Camino, I saw XLCR clones made from '79 and later XL's.


This bike (from last week's Long Beach Swap), prompted this post and is fairly close to my vision of what a cool street tracker would look like. It turned out to built by the guy that does the CR clones and was done up from some of his parts wheeling and dealing. It would be really cool to use a pre-cone motor with magneto in one of these frames for an even more authentic look.

Maybe Harley is smarter than we think. It's history seems to be littered with models that were not first liked or didn't sell well, that later become very sought out. 1971 Boat tails and 1983 XR's come to mind.

The story of the first FXR's is pretty similar, and I didn't like them at first too.

35 Years Ago Today

... I bought my first motorcycle.

I was stubborn. Right or wrong, I wouldn't by a motorcycle until I could afford a Harley. I thought spending a few hundred dollars on a Honda would be a waste of money and would just make getting a Harley take longer.


The day I bought it. Not much to look at, but I was jazzed.
Special features: 6 over forks and no front fender. In the early seventies, probably half the Sportsters sold had extended forks before leaving the dealer.

In the mid '70's, Harley's were in big demand in the LA area, so prices were relatively high for the times (especially when you didn't have a big network of bike riding friends). My outlook was pretty much limited to the local paper's classified pages.

Several weeks earlier, I had gone to the CHP auction and put bids on three bikes for $1,200-$1,500 each hoping I'd get one. I didn't, so the day I would have found out, I bought my Sportster. It was listed in the LA times. I was in Downey and it was close by in Paramount.


More special features: Radiator cap and dent in tank, Posa (or Lake?) Fuel slider carb, Braided vinyl fuel lines. The stock Tillotson carbs had a push inner coil for the throttle, so with this carb, it meant you'd rotate the grip forward to go. It was awkward.

The hillbilly who owned it, was the second owner and kept it in a backyard full of junk. It was only a 4 year old bike and the motor had already been rebuilt. By today's standards, the way it looked, you'd have thought it was a 10 to 20 year old bike.

I think I paid a whooping $1,300 for it, which was likely way too much, but I was getting impatient. Keep in mind, in 1975, new Sportsters were about $2,300 plus dealer fees and taxes at this time. Also, I had a friend with a '71 XLH who wanted about $2,000 for his bike.


More Special Features: Custom seat and sissy bar, a piece of cardboard for a battery lid, and no horn. Bonus feature: A tendency to jump out of third when getting it on.

In any case, I was happy, had plenty of fun with it and nine years later in '84, it got me $1500 credit towards a big twin.

This Month's Header

This month marks a couple of anniversaries.

Thirty five years ago, I bought my first motorcycle, a 1971 XLCH Sportster.


September 19, 1975. Downey, Ca. This photo wouldn't exist if it wasn't for my friend Zach Ananias. I was taking pictures the day I bought it when he happened to be driving by. Also, In the background is my first car, a '71 VW Super Beetle. In many ways, the Seventies, for better or worse was my era.

I therefore dedicate this month to First Rides and that great feeling you got when you took your first ride or finally got a bike of your own.

...and oh yeah... it's 2 years for the blog on the 8th.

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.

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

Studs Don't Last Long?

There's several jokes in there. You think they were going for a Peter Fonda look?

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.

Way Too Much

The handle bars... extreme. The pipes, sissy bar, and velocity stacks... over the top... but,... that seat!

World's Fastest Motorcycle!!

At one time. I believe the record was set in 1969. Sportser powered too. Another gift courtesy of Big Scott.

Bronson Bikes

Next to the Easyrider bikes, the "Then Came Bronson" Sportster is probably the next most commonly imitated bike. Still, you don't see that many. I found these photos on the web (Flicker?), taken outside the H-D museum.

The third one back is a replica of the H-D Sprint used sometimes in the show for stunts.


It really wouldn't be too hard to build one. Most I've seen are not completely correct.


These two are the closest to the real thing in the bunch. They both feature a correct 21" front wheel.

What Sort of Man Reads MC ART?

An adventurous man. A free spirited man who can handle any curve life's long lonesome highway throws his way. The kind of soul that knows where to find MotorCycle entertainment that's cool to hang with.

The Sportster

...That Never Was

Where would they have fitted a generator?

The KL model was originally planned for release in the early 50's. Instead, the poor performing K model was rushed into production to fill it's gap. The high cam KL was continuously plagued by overheating problems, so the later (1954), experimental XL overhead design superseded it. At one point both the KL and XL were being tested side by side. Harley originally didn't want an overhead design based on the old flathead four cam bottom, but it worked and it's performance pretty much surprised everyone. What shouldn't be a surprise is that the XL's top end was designed by the same guy (Charley Featherly), who had done detailed work on the Knucklehead and later the Shovelhead. Since early Panheads had trouble with their aluminum heads, he stuck with iron like on Knuckles. Charley also thought that the valve covers on Pans held too much heat.

Sportsters Are a Drag

From 1968. Check out the unique fork mounted gas tank. Way cool!
Show and Go.... I dig when drag bikes double as show bikes.

More of DH's Dirty Sporty

In case you missed it on Stretch's blog, here's more of Dick's dirt bike.

Sort of a English Harley. You could build something quite similar starting with a '79 and up Ironhead.

The Dutch's Touches. The specs. of the bike are mention in the post below comments.