Flew into LA a couple of days before, and the next day headed over to EagleRider for a meeting about the trip. Met the EagleRider crew, and talked about the route.
I’ll admit, I had no idea what to expect. I just saw a group of people from the UK, Switzerland, Brazil, New Jersey, Belgium and Australia. Just names on paper. Could be good or bad, and I had no idea. I was ready to ride and I’d figure it out as I went along. Met Steve, our tour guide for the first time. He seemed professional and pretty easy going. In the end, my instincts weren’t wrong. Brandon was on his first run with EagleRider on the chase vehicle, and felt we were both kind of in the same boat in a way. We spent the morning getting a few things ready, checking out a few locations, having some lunch and shooting the shit. We drove over to LAX to find a spot to park the bikes for our first stop, just as a plane was coming in right over our heads, just like in the movie.
A Good omen. The first of a few on this trip. It was starting to feel like I’d finally gotten here.
We headed back to EagleRider to get ready for everyone to arrive and get everything ready. We spent some time loading Captain America, a spare bike, and double checking equipment and tools. I paid attention and tried to learn a thing. Getting a feel for this tour, and how EagleRider works.
Easy Rider Tour Signage. EagleRider did this right. Official Tour of the Movie. No one else can claim that.
I knew they’d built the bikes for this ride, but I’d never seen them up close. I am not gonna lie – I had a woody.
First thing you notice on the Captain America BIkePretty damn nice job methinksThe Billy BikeAnother Shot
Beautiful bikes. EagleRider did a good job.
About the bikes: no, they’re not hardcore original. Even Peter Fonda didn’t ride the whole route on a hardtail. They’re softails, and V-twin engines. They’re made to ride. They look pretty damn good.
Got to drive the EagleRider van to pick people up. They launched a whole lotta tours that day, so it was kinda hectic. The focus for them is customer experience. In my 2 weeks, it showed over and over.
When everything was somewhat settled, they gave me my bike for this trip. 2013 Street Glide. Six speed, 103. 11 miles on her.
2013 Street Glide. My bike for this ride.
We all got our bikes going, headed to the hotel. Then dinner, at Gene Simmons Rock and Brews. Pretty Cool Place. Conversation was good, and we were all looking forward to tomorrows ride I think.
Everyone was a stranger at that point. That would change. In the morning, we’d ride. Quick Easy Rider stop at LAX, then on to Death Valley where the movie really starts.
Exactly one week ago, about this time, I was sitting in the Court of Two Sisters, a Restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, wondering where the last 2 weeks went.
After 2 weeks of riding, I was pretty beat. We’d ridden half way across the country, But I really didn’t want it to be over. Met some solid and quality people on this trip, got to tell about the movie that I love and spend years figgering out, and had the longest stretch of riding I’d ever done at one time. Basically, I just had the best time of my life.
I was going to do this post each night on the road, but I wanted time to think about it some. Even one week later, I’m still not sure I’ve digested it all.
So anyway, going to take this day by day, as I remember it, starting over 3 weeks ago. Ill get through as much of it as I can. A post a day, for the next 15 days should cover it.
To me, it was the best time of my life. I wanna do it again.
The Easy Rider tour begins in a a little over a month. I’m prepared as much as I can be, for not riding the route for several years. I hope I remember it, and hope I do a good job telling the stories. I know Easy Rider like the back of my hand, but I’m not sure who I’m talking to on this trip, and If I’ll over tell the stories. I’m not sure if they just want to do the ride, or if they want to know the details. I guess its a game time decision. I’m good with that. I work better on my feet and can shoot from the hip. Either way, its been on my mind. I’m preparing for whatever.
The soul of easy rider is the message. And the RIDE! A man went looking for America, and didn’t find it.
I can’t wait to go and make some new friends. I hope I can make it fun for them 🙂
I fired up the smoker this morning. Prepped-up-us some corned beef brisket, and when I’m done in several hours, that fucker will end up as sliced Pastrami. Well, it’ll end up as the best Reuben sammitch you’ll ever eat. At least that’s what I’m imagining. The Monkees have been in my head all morning.
Did you know that that Monkees were the reason that Easy Rider even happened? Monkee money financed the filming of Easy Rider.
I’m not sure if anyone knows, but for the last year I’ve been working with Eagle Rider out of Los Angeles, to do a tour of the movie Easy Rider. From 2006 to 2009 I spent a good chunk of my riding time finding the route and documenting it. I put a lot of it down in my blog post about the Easy Rider Route, and last year Eagle Rider hit me up. I’m excited as hell for this ride, which starts in May. its the official ride of the movie, and has its blessing from Sony Pictures as such.
Eagle Rider is out promoting the ride, and they just sent me this pic:
Eagle Rider made a beautiful (and street legal for 2012) Replica captain America Bike for the tour in May.
Check out the bike. It’s not 1969 authentic (Can’t hardly do that these days), but you can definitely ride it cross country without being hassled by the man. Really nice job methinks.
I just finished writing the scripts for the tour guides for Easy Rider. I’ve compiled a lotta info over the years, and it was kinda tricky to me to know what people would want to know about. I’m so close to the trees, tracking down clues that sometimes I lose track of the forest.
Eaglerider lauched the tour. We start in october. here’s the link.
98 percent of all creation is accident, and 1 percent is intellect. At least that what Dennis Hopper said. I think thats an extremely humble way to describe natural talent and desire. Hell, mostly desire. But then again, Dennis Hopper smoked a lot of pot.
I’ve watched American Chopper since it came out. Jesse James makes some killer bikes. Been to bike shows and seen some really custom bikes that just blow my mind, and a few make me just wonder why. Anyone who fabricates something out of metal and it ends up rideable and 2 wheels tho, has my respect. I can’t do it. I never tried, and its always been this goal of mine to get to a place in life that I could try. I think I could make something cool. Maybe an old school bobber from the 40s or 50’s. I love that history; Guys came home from WWII, started cutting off fenders and lightening up their bikes so they’d go faster. Thats when the custom bike was born. But what is the most famous custom ever? To me, its pretty easy. I bet most people can tell you what this bike is.
Captain America – Easy Rider
Man, I double dog dare you to find me a more recognizable bike. I can’t figure what that bike would be. Evel Knevel? Steve McQueen in the Great Escape? Both are great bikes, but would you know em if you saw em? Whether or not you’ve seen the movie, that bike is an icon. It’s a 1950’s panhead motorcycle ripped from its police bike frame (peter Fonda bought 4 old police bikes from ranging from 1952 to 1954 for the movie) , and then someone got all freaky creative with it. The rake is crazy, the fender is gone, and there is no rear suspension. Hell, there’s no front brake. I am not a chopper guy, but you gotta respect that teardrop gas tank, the king and queen seat and you’ll find waldo faster than you can find the rear shocks. Maybe I’ve got my head lodged up Easy Rider’s ass (and that may be true), but tell me a more famous bike. Either way, you can’t tell me a bike that influenced more people to ride, and start customizing.
When The Easy Rider concept was quickly made into form, Peter Fonda set out to get him a couple of bikes for the movie. There’s lots of controversy about who built these bikes. Some say Dan Haggerty, who was in the movie. The guy who painted the bikes, his son says it was him (his dad, that is). Some say it was Peter Fonda.
But the guy who built them was a guy named Ben Hardy. Ben was an African american man who knew Harleys, and knew what he was doing. When Cliff Vaughs was asked by Fonda to oversee the building of the bikes, Vaugh’s turned to Hardy who was well known (if you were black) in Los Angeles as the go to guy to build a killer bike, and do it right.
Ben Hardy was the man who built the Easy Rider bikes in 1968. A man lost in history, yet was one of the men who built the most famous bike ever built. Click on his picture for a cool story about someone who dealt with him.
Peter had only one thing he wanted on the bike. He wanted captain America to have a flag on his gas tank. Beyond that, the design was left to Vaughs. I gotta think tho… Peter was an experienced rider, and Dennis hopper wasn’t. That had to have come up in the conversation somewhere, because the Billy bike was a much easier bike to ride. I had a fat boy that was really close to the same configuration, and my brother has a friend with a Billy Bike replica. They’re easy bikes to ride. The captain America bike? Cut that steering head off and rake that bitch out like it is, throw in those long forks with no front brake and see how you fare. You don’t give that kind of bike to a beginner.
It was Cliff who actually first offered the name “Easy Rider” to Fonda. It was a term he used in the day. Whats an Easy Rider? that depends on who you ask. In the 1900s it meant a freeloader. A guy who mooched off you. To Dennis hopper, it meant a man who lived off the money of a whore. He got it from an old Mae West movie. Whatever cliff meant by it, I’m not sure. All I know is he redefined the word. To this day I think it is associated to Harley riders. Maybe because of cliff, but most definitely because of the movie. When you say Easy Rider, I think of the movie. I think of Harley’s.
Vaugh’s quickly took the idea to Ben Hardy. Peter bought four 1950’s panhead police bikes from auction, and got them to Hardy and Vaughs. Jim Buchanan fabricated the frames, The engines were built by Hardy, Dean Lanza did the paint (his son is adamant he built the entire bikes). 2 bikes were for filming, 2 were for the final sequence of the movie, which I’m fucking assuming you know about, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this. Hardy went to work, and the rest is history.
Ben Hardy’s shop, back in the day – Builder of the Easy Rider BikesBen Hardy Shop Today
Ben Died in 1994. Cliff is still alive today. Both men haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve— in my opinion, for building the most famous bikes in the world. Ben’s old shop is still around in Los Angeles if you want to see it.
The next time you’re at a gas station, and you’re staring down into your tank and pouring gasoline all over it, think of Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs. They made a killer movie as much as anyone else, and I dare say the most famous motorcycles ever built.
After a few months of Talking, I just barely signed a Deal With EagleRiders to start guiding tours of the Easy Rider Route. First one is a 2 week run in october, then 5 dates of 20 bikes each starting in may 2013. I’m beyond pumped. I love the movie, Eagle Rider is the finest touring company in the world, and I get to ride, tell what I know about Easy Rider, and make some lifelong friends.
I’ll give more details later. This is a class outfit, with an unmatched safety record and ownership that has truly plugged into the motorcycle enthusiast lifestyle.
