Blog Blahs

I've been slow posting. Once you start one of these dang blogs, you constantly feel obligated to keep posting new stuff all the time. Usually I have a bunch of stuff to post and feel like I'm holding back, but lately I just haven't felt like spending the time scanning, or photo editing, or writing. Maybe it's just August. It's the month of no holidays, nothing much happening and everyone goes on vacation before summer's over. I kind of hate just throwing photos up, but...



...For now, here's a groovy space filler. Retouched photo (removed photo insert), of the cover feature bike.... make that trike, from the Feb. 1972 Street Chopper.



I need to "snap out of it"!

AEE's Big Twin Lives...

...well, sort of.

I thought I had read somewhere that it still existed.

Blog reader Stu, sent an email to let me know it's on freewh33ler.blogspot.com explaining that it's for sale on ebay right now. Item#170675591779. Note the outboard wheel is just placed here for the photo since it is both unbolted and inside out.


The replaced fork and front wheel assembly totally sucks and betrays Ed Newton's original elegant design. It originally showcased a narrow AEE Springer (which is how it looked the best). When AEE repainted it to this color scheme, they replaced the springer with a rigid girder style fork (not the current forks). You'd think that if anything would have been pirated, it would have been the engines.


Someone had the brilliant idea (NOT!), to modified the frame to accept a blower.


Besides the fact that they shouldn't have modified a classic show piece, the blower mod kind of ruins the effort of the reversed heads of the left side. The original intention was for the pipes and carbs to be a symmetrical mirror image of each side. The listing mistakenly states that machining of the flopped heads was done by Harley, it was actually performed by AEE's own machine shop. Good God, what happened to it's seats?!!


Note that it was licensed and tagged up to June 1980, meaning it was likely driven on the streets.


My vote would be to put it back to it's first incarnation's paint and forks.

I guess it's better that it has survived in this shape than not at all. Now all that is needed is for a rare individual who has the means and desire to rescue and restore it to it's former glory.

Best Trike - Lithuania 2011 Super Rally

This trike by Virginijus Mickevicius took Best of Show/Trikes at the Lituania 2011 FH-DCE Super Rally. Every year the Super Rally is staged in June in a different country, organized by a different member club of the Federation of Harley-Davidson Clubs, Europe.

This year's FH-DCE Super Rally® was June 9 to 13 on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Harley-Davidson riders in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium used to meet in the 1960's at the Pinster Rally, organized by the Harley Netherlands' club, H-D C Utrecht.  

In 1973, the Pinster Rally was renamed "Super Rally" with plans for a Paris Super Rally in 1974. Those plans failed, but there was a Super Rally the following year in Kastelree, Belgium. 

Click images to enlarge.

Rally fans will probably return home from the 2011 Lituanian Super Rally with pieces of Amber that can be found along the shoreline.

Next up in Europe is the FH-DCE's PIT STOP Super Rally in Poland.

July 15 to 17, 2011

Click poster to enlarge for details.

Posted by MJ Lloyd Reynolds/MJR Media marketing services for the motorcycle industry - mjr.media@earthlink.net

Dick Allen's Cobra, Shop, and other Wild Things

All photos taken by and courtesy of Bruce Parrish

This shot of Dick and his Cobra Trike is probably familiar to many of you. It was published in Garage magazine and I posted it myself from that source awhile back. This time it's a scan from Bruce's original photo so it's without the magazine's gutter running down the image.


Dick and his pet leopard. It strikes me as very bizarre to see a wild cat on Artesia blvd. I asked Bruce about it and he replied, "Dick was really good with animals". The conversation switch gears, so I need to get back to him on that subject.


A good view of the trike. The bike next to it served as inspiration for Bruce's first chopper. More on that to come.


While Bruce's interest was in shooting the trike and this bike, I really like the fact we get a rare glimpse of Dick's shop. That's Dick to the right talking to someone who's cutoff. Those are the beginnings of more cobra trike frames leaning near the tires. If you look carefully you can also spot 7 Harley frames.


This blown version never got further than this mock up. The Cobra Trikes were a joint effort between Dick and Ed Roth. Dick welded up frames and Roth glassed up the bodies. The frames and the bodies were $250 each. Dick also made and sold the motor mounts. The bike next to it is the bike Joe Hurst referred to as Dick's Rat Fuck. It has the old purple Loco-Motion 1 tank and is the bike (with a different engine), in the previous post (Freeway Jamming), that eventually became White Bear.


It appears there was some type of parts counter in the shop. I'd love to get a glimpse of the bike inside.

I'm very glad that Bruce took and kept these photos. As far as I know, he's the only one who has shots of the shop, and once again, want to say thanks for sharing them. Now, if we could only go and walk inside them.

And Now ...Something Completely Different

I'm not into Hondas, but it's cool.


Just in case you were wondering where it's from.

Leaf Us Alone

One of the (true), Myths in Chopper History

I remember lores like this being told more than once in the chopper magazines of yesterdays. Then, one day while checking Kid Duece's Flicker album (linked from Nostalgia on wheels blog), I found this news clipping among the old chopper photos.

Just too far out. Did any of you notice this? The address is the first clue, then check the blacked out name carefully. Richard.... I'll let you figure out the rest.


I like that they also included a description of the vehicle.


The guy just couldn't get a break.

Random Radness

More good stuff from July 71 Choppers Magazine

This Month's Header

The Candy Box
What do models have to do with Summer? Well, when I was a kid, if we couldn't go to the beach, or playing various games in the street, we built stuff. As a matter of fact, my brothers and I were fairly avid car modelers. Most of the time we just couldn't help but modify them to the extent that they rarely resembled what was on the box cover.


I built this model sometime around 1970-71. It was it's second build and was loosely based on Roth's Mail Box.

When my interest shifted, I stopped building cars and started building bikes. The first one I remember was Revell's "Chopped Hog". At first it was built as it came, but since it was a lousy depiction of a chopper, I quickly tore it apart and customized it. I added a hard tail, a molded in peanut tank, new pipes, sissy bar, rear fender, seat, and scratch built a brass springer.

The next victim was Revell's CHP model. I don't recall ever building it stock. Instead, it became the raw material for a chopper based on Jim Breo's trike from the first issue of Big Bike magazine. I posted Jim's trike here last January.

As in real life, a cop bike becomes a donor.


Here's how it looked the first time around. In someways I wish I left it alone.

Like most of my models, it didn't stay intact long, and soon it was apart for a new build based on Roth's Mail Box. Since, I had already modified the Shovelhead frame and engine to look like a 45 c.i. Servi-car. The new mods consisted mainly of stretching the down tube, molding a cut down gas tank, building a body, and adding a longer springer.

The Real Deal. The Crosley engine really only looks good from this side. Roth didn't want to use another flathead 45 since he had already built the Candy Wagon. Each trike project was built to gain more experience. The Crosley engine was an experiment for using a water cooled engine with the radiator mounted in the back and served as a stepping stone towards the later V-8 powered trikes.



Roth's original Choppers magazine used Ed Newton's Mail Box drawing at the top of the letter's to the editor page. For fun, I took a shot at replicating it.


Engine and frame mod details. The cam cover was cut down and the timer centered. The barrels, heads, and push rods were cut down and filed to resemble flathead cylinders. Drag pipe were fashioned from other pipe pieces. This is the second oil tank and was made from a rear shock capped on each end with a spotlight. Now, the only part of the frame left intact was under the engine and trans and the seat post. The drive chain was moved to the right side. Rear fender mounts were used as 45 brake and clutch side straps. Some parts, like the kicker, brake pedal and foot pegs, have broken off over the years. A top engine mount was never made.


The finned heads were scratch built from sheet plastic. Cutting and fitting each fin and the bolt pattern was the most tedious chore. The carb was moved to the left and a working choke was made from a pin. The primary cover was also reworked to resemble a 45's. The left side engine case was the biggest omission, it should be finned. The spark plugs wires and coil have since come off.

The body was made from balsa wood and the interior is covered with vinyl. The gas tank is from a Triumph kit. To create the indents, the knee pads were cut off and glued inside on the opposite sides. The fork was scratch built out of brass and was from another model I built. I don't remember ever seeing a color photo of the real trike back then, but read it was fogged in various colors. My attempt at custom paint was fogging some red over the green Testors metal flake and was never very happy with the result.

The Candy Box. Another fun exercise, a Photoshoped Candy Wagon/Mail Box combination for comparison. You can definitely see the Candy Wagon's influence on my model.

I still have remnants of other chopper models but, somehow this one survived. It was tossed around and stored in a box for about two decades but has since been on display in my studio for about the last 6 years. I'd like to rebuild some of the others, but that will have to wait for a future Summer.... perhaps in a second childhood?

Blankets To The World

Brothers of the Third Wheel is the largest trike organization in the world. BTW USA Trike Week in an annual event in May - June in Branson, MO.

BTW Europe's Trike Week is held every July in Vaestervik, Sweden.

"Blankets To The World" is the official charity for "Brothers of the Third Wheel Trikers & Bikers Association Europe & Overseas"

"The idea is to collect blankets, sleeping-bags & tents on bike & trike-meetings and to donate them locally to homeless children and families," said Hoagie Ceo BTW-EOS.

"This is a growing problem in western cities and societies. In Germany alone there are 9,000 street kids with a big number not accounted for.

"We have setup a paypal donation button on our homepage http://www.btw-triker.org/ All donations go directly to the cause. The group will also accept new or clean blankets and clothing. Contact: btw-triker@gmx.de to find out how you can get involved today!

"All european chapters are participating, and we hope everybody else around the world will want to get involved," said Hoagie.

Brothers of the Third Wheel was founded in 1983 by Jim Sickler in the United States and is the largest independent trikes organization in the world, with more than 6,000 members worldwide.
Jim & Lady Sickler in Ava Missouri are International Directors for USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and UK - BTW Trikers & Bikers Europe & Overseas (BTWEOS) was built in 2002 with the CEOs Hoagie & Manuela, who are responsible for all other worldwide chapters.

Brothers & Sisters are all equal members, and nobody is discriminated on the basis of his skin color, race, religion, etc. The the main focus of chapters in Europe, is the integration and equality of disabled people and lobbying with the various bodies and agencies and organizations.

In addition, B.T.W. works with other motorcycle clubs and organizations such as ABATE, COC, MAG, NABD, Biker-Union, HOG etc. for the respectful coexistence of Bikers and Trikers.

BTW USA Trike Week in an annual event in May - June in Branson, MO.
BTW EOS's Trike Week is held in conjuntion with MCDagarna every July in Vaestervik, Sweden. Details: http://www.btw-triker.org/

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.

Fike?

If a three wheeler is a trike, then what's a five wheeler? A Fike... a Pike?

Threesome

Tom McMullen aboard his Corvair powered trike. This photo was taken on the way home from the trike's second showing in '67 and was just before or right after he was pulled over by the police. It was published in AEE's Chopper catalog in '70. Other shots from this ordeal with the cops were originally published in the July 68 Cycle Guide which featured the trike's first completed photos. Tom contributed features on custom bikes to Cycle Guide before starting Street Chopper in '69.

Drag Trike?

Very cool but, ...

this is what happens when you can't decide if you want a Fuel Altered or a Drag Bike.

AEE Trick Trike Art

Here's the tale of my first publish artworks.


Three's a crowd? Both of these trikes were three seaters. Trikes were popular at the time. The Big Twin and Three Wheeler were successful show bikes. I was a big fan of both and a few other bikes AEE had built.

Tom Mc Mullen of AEE and Street Chopper Magazine had built some cool show winning trikes like the Corvair powered Three Wheeler and the Big Twin so, I guess they thought to take another wack at it with the Trick Trike.

In the early seventies I bought every Street Chopper I could get my mitts on but, over the years I lost or tossed some. From the ones I still have, it appears that they first announced the Trick Trike project in the December 1971 (now lost), issue along with a contest for readers to sketch how it should look. The contest winner would get a free 1 year subscription.

Since magazines come out a month ahead, it leads me to believe I drew up my first concept around the time of my 16th birthday in late November or early December 71.

Here's the preliminary sketch for the art I submitted. Like many roughs, I like it better than the finished art.

The Feb.72 issue had an article on the trike build (no readers sketches), and the basic shape of the trike was now clearly shown as wedge shaped.

In those days magazines production could sometimes run as much as 5-6 months behind publication and I checked the newsstand every month to see if my drawing made it in.

I was pretty jazzed when my first drawing finally showed up in the June 72 issue.


Here's how the art was presented in the June 72 issue. The other two somewhat more professional looking pieces were submitted by a reader named Bob Wise.


How about those tires... What was I thinking?

By the time my first concept was published it was no secret that the trike was wedge shaped, they were showing details of components, and they were still asking for submissions so, I figured why not give it another shot.

Sketches for the second submission. The one in the lower right is the one I chose to develop and send. Notice the crossed out drawing at the top. It puzzles me cause it looks just like the finished trike.

Again, I wondered for several months what the outcome would be. Then, without any notice, I found I had won the contest after seeing the Feb.73 issue.

Feb. 73 cover. Square and long was in. At least that's what they were pushing.


The magazine layout featuring my art. I won but, was disappointed how the real trike turned out.


This was news to me!


If you ask me, my design had more style. The wild paint with stars and planets are a prelude to my later interest in space and astronomy.


Motorized doorstop? The trike was an interesting build but a visual flop. The only view that sort of works is from the rear.

No one ever contacted me but, the magazines started showing up every month and continued well after the first year ended. I guess my name ended up on some kind of comp list as they kept on coming until Feb. 1980! By that time the magazine had long become pretty sucky anyway. For the most part I only kept the cooler 1970-72 issues.


Different angle but, the same design as the one I sent.


Mystery sketch. I can't remember if this was done before or after the magazine came out? I'm sure it was after and I was trying to see if it would look better with flames?

I may have scored but, on AEE's third strike at building a trike, I think they struck out.