UTS&BOLTS
CAPT. AMERICA PANHEAD
YEAR 1969
BUILDER Cliff Vaughs & Ben Hardy
MODEL Captain America
ENGINE 74ci H-D Panhead
TRANS H-D 4-speed
FRAME H-D rigid
FORKS Telescopic/12" over
RAKE 42 ̊
FRONT WHEEL Spoked 21"
FRONT BRAKE None
REAR WHEEL Spoked 16"
REAR BRAKE H-D drum
EXHAUST Cliff Vaughs
PAINT Cliff Vaughs
Below: A basic chopper of its
time, as the specs above reveal,
the Captain America chopper is
both an icon of motorcycling
history and a symbol of freedom.
EASY RIDER 50TH ANNIVERSARY
one of the leading aftermarket parts distributors
in the world.
Built by Ron, from what he insists is an origi-
nal frame from one of the movie bikes, it totally
follows the specifications of the Captain Americabike. Ron has been in the industry for many years,
and lived in California for a long time before
moving to Carson City, Nevada. Other bikes in
his office include the first Knucklehead ever made
and an original 8-valve H-D racer.
When Ron invited me to sit on the Fonda
bike one year, he suggested that I lift it off thejiffy stand and straighten the handlebars. Wow!
The combination of the extreme frame rake and
way-over-length forks made that very difficult,
so that turning the front end even a couple of
degrees from straight ahead, caused it to flop
way over. It would have been an absolute pig to
ride and that is exactly what Fonda has admitted,
using doubles in the movie wherever practical.
Hopper also hated riding his chopper even
though it was constructed more conservatively
and we’re told he would dismount the first second
he could. Watching the movie again for this
article, I think Hopper’s body language on the
bike demonstrates that he was not a confident
rider. Check it out for yourself.
Now their sojourn with the hippies has not dated
well at all (thank goodness for fast forward) and
neither has the cemetery LSD trip. But is the movie
worth watching again? Absolutely! As long as you
can fast forward through the boring parts. HD"THE CAPTAIN AMERICA
PANHEAD IS UNDOUBTEDLY
THE MOST RECOGNISED
MOTORCYCLE ON THE PLANET."