Hydra Glide Billy Bike Replica is the Other Easy Rider
Commissioned by Otis Chandler way back in 1993 this Billy Bike looks like it was made to ride.
Rideable Succes
Despite being billed as the sidekick in Easy Rider, the 'Billy Bike' still captivated the imagination of moviegoers. Ridden by the late Dennis Hopper, the Billy Bike was presented as a more restrained, more rideable version of Peter Fonda's gangly, flag-emblazoned chopper. Like 'Captain America,' the Billy Bike has been copied numerous times, with varying degrees of success.
Stolen Scene
Replicas of the Easy Rider bikes are housed in the Custom Culture gallery at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A total of four choppers were built for the film, two of the iconic rides. The original Billy Bikes, as well as one Captain America, were stolen at the end of filming — Fonda's other ride was wrecked in the final scene.
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Authentic Record
The Easy Rider bikes were built in 1968, by Cliff ‘Soney’ Vaughs and Ben Hardy, at Hardy's shop in South Central Los Angeles, California. Sadly, Vaughs and Hardy were not credited for decades. This, coupled with the theft of the originals, meant that no build records exist. One of the more authentic Billy Bike replicas was commissioned by Otis Chandler in 1993.
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Very Close
Built by Glenn Bator and Jerry Sewell, the replica Billy Bike was auctioned by Bonhams in 2011, for $24,570. It is considered one of the best copies ever produced. Bator elaborated in Harley-Davidson: The Good, the Bad, and the Legendary, published by Voyageur Press in 2000. “Purists may be able to pick a few nits. It's not quite 100 percent yet, but it's very, very close.”
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Correct Match
Details abound on Chandler's Billy Bike clone. Heavily reworked, the fuel tank is off a lightweight Mustang motorcycle. The pearlescent yellow flames were applied three times before they matched the movie bike's paint job. A correct brass-body Linkert carburetor was matched with an air cleaner made from a drilled distributor cap, and the long looping throttle cable was left dangling in the breeze.
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Hero Fame
Prior to being auctioned in 2011, Chandler's Billy Bike found its way to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. It is unclear if Chandler's replica bike is the one at the Harley-Davidson Museum. The Billy Bike clone has also been displayed in the Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibition at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and the Born to Ride display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, among others.
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Police Specifications
All the Easy Rider movie bikes are ex-police motorcycles, purchased at auction in 1968. True to form, Chandler's Billy Bike replica sits in a period-correct 1950's Hydra-Glide 'wishbone' frame, which is untouched apart from the signature red paint. The engine is a 1962, low compression, 74 cubic-inch FL motor rebuilt to police specifications with a heavy-duty generator.
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Fragile Ride
The Billy Bike was an exercise in restraint and functionality. The enigmatic nature of the bike was best summed up by Beau Allen Pacheco of Cycle World. He stated, “The more I thought about it, the Billy Bike is the one I imagined myself riding through the countryside. Captain America looks fragile, like a gazelle. The Billy Bike looks like it was made to ride.”
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