4th Anniversary and Grand Opening Party

1. The Hollister Motorcycle Rally

Thumper, the well-known builder from Arizona, perches atop his Wino Willie Forkner Tribute bike, which he handed over to Bill Hayes, author of The Original Wild Ones, at this years Hollister gathering.

All of us here at Cruiser Customizing hope that you are taking advantage of great summer weather to ride as much as possible. We’re doing the same. Summer is the time for biker meets, and hopefully we’ll all be able to attend a few and enjoy the company of fellow riders from all corners of the world.

Every year here in Northern California towards the end of June and beginning of July there is a big gathering held in Hollister, a quiet town that lies inland and just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Behind this Hollister rally, which is quickly becoming the Sturgis of California, is an unusual history, a saga that looms large in all of bikerdom. I’m sure that many of you have seen the old black and white Stanley Kramer film The Wild One. This seminal flick starring Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin was loosely based around the actual events that conspired to create today’s Hollister rally and, indeed, the world’s image of The Biker.

At the end of the Second Great War many fighting servicemen returned home to a now-prosperous and grown-up America. This new America was a land that these brave men had fought and risked their lives for, yet readjustment and conformity came with difficulty. Today what we label as “post-traumatic stress syndrome”, indicating the lingering psychological effects of the horrors of war upon soldiers, was simply dubbed “shell-shocked” back then. After the war, Uncle Sam released war surplus Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles literally by the trainload. Two-wheeling proved to be an effective “throttle therapy” for many shell-shocked vets, and many rode together to let off steam. On week-ends they raced or enjoyed impromptu hill climbs together, then in the evening, they knocked down a few at their favorite pub, which came to be called “biker bars.” Many “bobbed” their bikes by removing excess parts—like the fenders—to create a new genre of bike, the “bobber”. From these bobbers or bob-jobs the chopper would eventually evolve in the mid-fifties.

At an American Motorcyclist Association race held in Hollister, California on the fourth of July, 1947, a few members of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club stormed into town to ride and to party together. They were having a good time overall, but some of the locals looked askance at their type of fun. Later, their activities were wildly exaggerated in the press, and soon a story blown out of proportion written by Frank Rooney and entitled “Cyclists’ Raid” appeared in Harper’s magazine. This story became the basis of Stanley Kramer’s movie The Wild One in which Marlon Brando as Johnny, the leader of the Triumph-riding Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, faced off with Lee Marvin as Chino, the leader of the Beetles. Marvin’s character was loosely based upon the personality of “Wino” Willie Forkner, the founder of the Boozefighters M.C. Mild by today’s standards, The Wild One was banned in Great Britain until the late 60’s. Legend has it that the Beatles saw the movie and took their name from Chino’s “gang” the Beetles, but that is another story.

"Wino" Willie's likeness is immortalized on the the Tribute bike's rear fender. This old school chopper has an uncluttered and businesslike look that harkens back to the early days of customization. The bike is headed for the Easy Rider show circuit.

What did happen on that summer day in a quiet central California agri-town is that the biker image was born, even right down to the leather jackets. The “outlaws” wore inexpensive surplus leather bomber jackets, which quickly became a statement of biker fashion. When the AMA spokesperson tried to explain away the presence of rowdy, non-conformist, leather-clad motorcyclists, he stated in an interview that only about 1% of the motorcycling community rides outside the rules of their organization. Inadvertently, he gave birth to the term “1%er”, the outlaw rider. Today, members of clubs that are not aligned with the AMA wear patches that read “1%er”, indicating that they are not beholden to the rules of the AMA. Ironically, members of clubs of law enforcement riders can be seen wearing patches with the counter-statement “99%er”.

At this year’s Hollister Rally, around 120,000 bikers showed up to celebrate the “birth of the American biker.” Moto-journalist and Boozefighter Bill Hayes, was there to sign copies of his fascinating history of his club, entitled The Original Wild Ones. The publisher, Motorbooks International, had shipped Bill two hundred copies of the book to autograph, and his entire allotment was quickly sold out leaving Bill with a sore right hand. But don’t despair, for any member interested in biker history, we’ve got copies of The Original Wild Ones featured right here on the CruiserCustomizing website.

No, the ghosts of Marlon Brando and the Black Rebels M.C. didn’t terrorize this year’s event—and neither did the Beetles or the Beatles—but you can still rent the movie and relive Hollywood’s fantastic version of the Hollister “riots”. And this year one stranger-than-fiction event did take place. The well known customizer, Thumper, arrived at Hollister with his “Wino Willie Forkner Tribute Bike”. He ambled over to the booth where Bill Hayes was signing books, and—taking Bill aside—he handed over the title to the motorcycle. Boozefighter Bill Hayes already has plans to enter his serendipitous Wino Willie Tribute in a number of Easy Rider shows later this year!

Ironically, after Big Uwe returned from his ride to Hollister in July of 2001, I began calling him “Boozefighter”. Little did I know then that the Boozefighters M.C. is still an actively-expanding club of dedicated riders, who are heir to a fascinating and unusual history. Now that I’ve read the book, I know the rest of the story…

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2. Are you Insured?

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3. Backfire: Cruiser Customizing Rap
Do you rap? Neither do I, except now when it comes to customizing! What we have here is a new genre of music, moto-rap. A new fad to catch the world on fire? I doubt it, but maybe you can contribute some moto-rap of your own for next month’s Backfire. For those of you who might note how bad this poetry is, well, hey, it’s not Shakespeare, it’s rap!

Cruiser Customizing Rap by Miles Davis:

Saw a bruiser of a cruiser
On the e-bay site
What I did was make a bid,
And owned that bike that night.

Man alive! When it arrived,
I jumped and cried out, “Yikes!”
The swing arm had no charm,
It looked like other bikes.

REFRAIN:
Now when you’re astride
Your very own ride,
Your wheels show who you are.
You gotta customize
To please your eyes,
Or you won’t get too far!

No way I’m gonna ride some bomb,
So to make my cruiser cuter,
I went to CruiserCustomizing.com,
The superstore on my computer.

Within a sort while,
I got an e-mail from Kyle,
With a deal on all my parts.
I saved time and cash
On a custom stash,
Now my bike’s the Queen of hearts.

I got tear drop mirrors from ARLEN NESS,
And chromed front boards from NESS TECH.
The quick-off bags from HEAVY DUTY
Make me proud of her new-found beauty.

The MUSTANG vintage touring seat,
Turns long trips into a pleasure sweet.
My girl says that the contoured sissy bar pad,
Is the best addition my bike has had.

Well, the t-Bar risers keep the bike in control,
‘Cause I don’t want to wrap her around a pole.
They’re from CRUISER PERFORMANCE a name we revere,
And those pull-back bars make me smile when I steer.

Rear floor boards show a machine so mean,
What do you expect? They’re from Jardine!
If you hear her rumble your heart will ache,
“Cause I’ve got COBRA pipes, named for a snake

The headlight sports a SHOW CHROME visor,
And KURYAKYN chrome covers the master cylinder.
When I hit the starter there’s no turning back,
I keep the needle moving on my BARON’S tach.

Now when other Cruisers see me, I don’t want to hide,
‘Cause I’m stylin’ and proud of my customized ride.
If you see me cruisin’ don’t give me no crap,
I just want to hear you CruiserCustomizing rap.

The thing about bikes is they show who you are,
Dyna or Mean Streak or Aero or Star,
Boulevard, Victory or VTX.
Yo! Cruiser Customizing’s got the parts that are best!


Yo! Put this to music and send along a cassette of you rappin’ it, and we’ll play it (occasionally!) at the new Cruiser Customizing showroom. Be sure to write some rap of your own about your own custom, and send it along for next month’s BACKFIRE! See you next month.

-Miles Davis

Editor Cruiser Customizing Newsletter