and opening the shop where I am at present. I
have been on the Coast for seven years now.
The Billy Bike replica from the Easyrider
movie started from my customer buying a
replica Captain American Easyrider bike
from the USA. He also bought the original
rolling frame from (with the documents of
proof) Billy's bike from the accident scene.
Unfortunately, the frame was a mess where
someone in the USA tried to rake it and
stretch it.
My customer bought the frame to me to
start work on; converting it back to the Billy
bike specs was the task. He said he had a
engine for it as well.
When he bought the engine in, that's
when I realised this wasn't going to work. The
engine is an Australian-made, 145-cubic-inch
Renegade. They are a massive engine and
there’s no way it was going to fit the original
Billy frame without chopping it to pieces. Even
the tubing was too light for the power of this
engine and it would had flexed and cracked
for sure.
As the customer left, he said, "There's the
engine, all I want is something that looks like
the Billy bike. Let me know when it's finished.”
7 Ozbike