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Fonda was quoted as saying that he used seven chaps from Watts, a suburb of southern Los Angeles, to build them, and if you study American history you will find that Watts was a very unsettled place back in the Sixties and not the place you would expect Hollywood to be building motorcycles. The more famous of the choppers was nicknamed Captain America, the other known as the Billy Bike, and both were custom built just for the movie.Įasy Rider’s ‘free soul’, anti-establishment theme was even carried over in the building of both bikes.
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Although not all may remember the full extent of the story line, boy oh boy do they remember the two motorcycles – choppers, to be more precise – that were used in the making of what became a landmark movie. However, for most there is one that stands out above the rest – Easy Rider, released in 1969 and starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Many people will have an iconic biker movie, be it The Wild One, Mad Max, On Any Sunday or Silver Dream Racer. It needs to be on a podium."Įisenberg said he plans to donate "a significant amount" of the proceeds to the American Humane Association to honour Fonda's involvement in the organisation.FMM curator Wayne Harley is a self-confessed motorcycle enthusiast and this month he goes cruisin’ with Fonda and Hopper… "But once it sunk in that I actually had it, then I realised how important it was." He had for years inquired about buying the bike from Haggerty and then the museum. When the museum decided to sell it last year, Eisenberg jumped at the chance to buy it.Īn "Easy Rider" fan since childhood, Eisenberg ran the Thunder Road House in West Hollywood with Fonda and Hopper in the 1990s until it burned down due to an electrical fire. That new life was at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, run by a friend of Haggerty's. Haggerty rode it often, an experience he likened to "going out with Marilyn Monroe." Parting with it was like having a "child finally getting married and moving away and starting a new life on their own." "They were never recovered."Īfter the film was finished, Hopper told Haggerty to keep it.
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"Three of the motorcycles were stolen, even before the movie was released, which was a sign of the overwhelming power that these motorcycles had," said Haggerty. It was used in the climactic crash scene in which Fonda is thrown off the bike. "Easy Rider" is a classic road film about two drug-using, long-haired bikers, Wyatt (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), who go on a cross-country odyssey to New Orleans in search of personal freedom and easy money.įour motorcycles were created for the movie, but only one is known to have survived. It was designed with input from Fonda who insisted on it being decorated with the American flag.
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The bike features a forward-angled front wheel and handlebars, fishtail exhaust pipes and a teardrop-shaped gas tank where the protagonists stashed their cash. Another is from Fonda and a third from Haggerty. One is signed by the National Motorcycle Museum, where it was displayed for 12 years. The gleaming stars-and-stripes panhead chopper with a chromed hardtail frame is accompanied by three letters of authenticity.
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The seller is Michael Eisenberg, a California businessman who once co-owned a Los Angeles motorcycle-themed restaurant with Fonda and "Easy Rider" co-star Dennis Hopper.Įisenberg bought it last year from Dan Haggerty, perhaps best known for his roles in the "Grizzly Adams" TV show and movies, who was in charge of keeping the custom-designed bike humming during the 1969 movie's filming.
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The auction house Profiles in History told The Associated Press that it estimates the Harley-Davidson will bring $1-million (R11-million) to $1.2-million at its 18 October sale being held online and at its galleries in Calabasas, California. NEW YORK - The customised Captain America chopper Peter Fonda rode in the film "Easy Rider" has come to symbolise the counterculture of the 1960s.