March 23, 2023 Black Motorcycle Builders

Honoring the African-American bike builders

There are so many well-known bike builders in the industry. They leave their mark in their styling and engineering. Many are now legends. Here are the stories of some African-American bike builders who have also left their name in bike building history.

Ben Hardy

It’s one of the most iconic and famous bikes around – the “Captain America” bike from the movie “Easy Rider.”

Clifford Vaughs was a bike designer and Ben Hardy was a bike builder. Together they came up with a the red, white and blue, panhead, hardtail chopper that is captured in so many movie photos with Peter Fonda behind the handlebars. Hardy also built the “Billy” bike, driven by Dennis Hopper, that also appeared in the movie. The “Captain America” bike was painted by Dean Lanza and Fonda specified that the tank resemble the shield belonging to the comic book character Captain America, hence the name of the bike.

For 25 years Vaughs and Hardy remained unknown and uncredited as they were not accepted or welcomed in the motorcycle world because of their color. Their names don’t even appear in the credits of the movie.

Hardy’s motorcycle shop, Ben Hardy’s Motorcycle Service, was located in Los Angeles. He died in 1994.

~

Sugar Bear

Legendary bike builder Sugar Bear is known for the Sugar Bear Springer. His shop opened in 1971 in Los Angeles with the intent to produce street worthy choppers.

His business relied heavily on word of mouth and he was unable to gain notoriety in bike magazines because of his race. In the past few years, he has started to receive the recognition.

Sugar Bear built his bikes with the belief that all were meant to have scrapes, chips, burnt pipes, style and “smiles-per-miles.” At the time most Springers were tubing, the Sugar Bear Springer was built out of solid steel and the triple tree was offset for greater turning radius. Sugar Bear Springers were available in lengths up to 40 inches over stock. He also designed bearing cups for iron head Sportsters so the same forks for big twins could be bolted directly onto the Sportster's smaller fame neck without any modifications. The same cups are still in production today.

Hardy and Sugar Bear’s names may not have been heard before but they have certainly left a mark in bike building history.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

March 2, 2023 Math & Science

Image
Influential Black Scientists From left to right: Gladys West, Charles Henry Turner, Alice Ball, Percy L. Julian, Sophia B. Jones, Elijah McCoy, Charles Lightfoot Roman. (U.S. Navy, Public domain, DePauw University Archives and Special Collections, Public domain, New York Public Library, Ben Shannon/CBC.) Innovators across disciplines who have made significant, enduring contributions to the world. From the first treatment for leprosy to the foundation of the global positioning system, Black scientists have long been involved in major scientific developments, despite being pushed to the margins, refused jobs, and denied credit for their discoveries.  Charles Henry Turner | Discovered animals can have complex thoughts Among Turner's many discoveries, he was the first to prove that insects have the capacity to hear, and that they can learn by trial and error.  He was one of the first African Americans to earn a PhD from the University of Chicago, and in 1892, was the first Black s...
Read more

June 7, 2023 Sharon Mosely Braun - 1st Black woman in the U.S. Senate

Image
Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate, was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 16, 1947. She attended the Chicago Public Schools and received a degree from the University of Illinois in 1969.  She earned her degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1972. Moseley Braun served as assistant prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago from 1972 to 1978. In the latter year she was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives and served in that body for ten years. During her tenure Moseley Braun made educational reform a priority. She also became the first African American assistant majority leader in the history of the Illinois legislature.  Moseley Braun returned to Chicago in 1988 to serve as Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Capitalizing on the public furor over the Clarence Thomas–Anita Hill controversy and in particular the way in which Hill was treated by U.S. Senators, Carol Moseley Braun upset incumbent Senator Alan ...
Read more

March 6, 2023 Auto Designers

Image
Mckinley Thompson Jr.  (November 8, 1922 - March 8, 2006)  McKinley Thompson was the first African American automotive designer, and he was the first African American Designer to work at the Ford Motor Company. C.R. Patterson & Sons - the First Black Owned Car Company. By the late 19th century, the United States had been fully ushered into a period of dramatic industrial and economic growth commonly known as the Gilded Age. Some of the industry’s pioneers and gamechangers Every February, the United States celebrates African Americans’ contributions to society. Black History Month can be traced back to a week in 1926 when Black historians held the first organized commemoration. In the decades that followed, the Civil Rights Movement prompted huge strides in legal and cultural progress, and in 1976, President Gerald Ford made Black History Month official. At around the same time, Black professionals, including car designers, finally began to get some of the opportunities and...
Read more