A Rare-it-"T" and the "Z" Man

When Bruce Parrish told me he still had a Dick Allen T-shirt, I told him he had to send some photos.

This may be the Holy Grail of vintage chopper T-shirts. I find it interesting that it says California. Perhaps, so Dick could use the same design no matter what city his shop might move to.

I'm not sure if this is a dark photo of the same shirt or a black one. Bruce designed Dick's lettering and drew the art. Joe Hurst said Dick looked like the Zig-Zag man and says he suggested using his head on the art, but Bruce said it was from a cigarette (I never heard of and can't recall the name), that Dick like to smoke. I have to admit, it looks like the Zig-Zag Man to me. Bruce, send me the name if you get a chance.

I don't know about the T-shirt art, but....

Update: Joe called and said the cigarettes that Dick smoked were (sounds like), Shebeedees or Zabedees). That's what Bruce had mentioned. When Bruce told me I did a search, but came up empty. I now found Azadbidi, a brand of bidi cigarettes. That's likely it. Bidis (pronounced bee-dees) are small hand-rolled cigarettes manufactured in India and other southeast Asian countries.

These are not Azadbibi, but show the type. Azad's usually have an elephant on the pack. Bidis are tobacco wrapped in tendu or temburni leaf . Traditionally they are tied with string and come in flavors, like chocolate, mango, vanilla, lemon-lime, mint, pineapple and cherry.

NY South Bay Chopper?

In this case, NY means Neil Young. Vilmino of LoserRules sent an email reminding me of this photo. It's been floating around the blogs for sometime. (this version is a little larger than most). Since I've recently been very focused on the South Bay Style, it seemed like a good time to bring it up.

The sissy bar swoop and Dick Allen style springer pretty much say it's origins or influence are from the south bay. I found a version of this photo with the only credit being, circa 1992 near Sturgis. I'm guessing it's not Neil's bike, but rather someone asked him to pose on it. Can anyone provide more information?

Just'a Few

From yesterday's Long Beach Swap Meet.

Billy Panhead. This bike gets around.


A Servi-Car would be nice to ride to the swap. Great for carrying parts, but I'd have to leave even earlier to get there a decent time.


15k with a $5 seat.


These same funky tanks have been showing up for a few month's now. Must be asking too much $.

In retrospect, I could'a should'a taken more photos. It was a nice day with temps around the mid to high 70's (sorry to our comrades in cold places). Saw a few friends and bought a few parts.

Mystery Bike Part 2, Funny Bike 1

Since I started with the third build of Bruce Parrish's bike, working backwards, here's the second version called Funny Bike 1. Just to keep things straight, the first build of this bike (to be posted soon) wasn't considered a Funny Bike.

This version shown with a long distance auxiliary tank was built around 1975. The oil tank foreshadows Bruce's move towards the use of more aluminum custom fabricated pieces. Although the later version (Funny Bike 2), is a more sophisticated and trick build, I really like the paint and look at this stage.


Bruce looking relaxed as he gets it on.


Much of the basic platform was carried over to Funny Bike 2.


Maybe I should have used this photo for my old running gag, "What Sort of Man Reads MC art?" Bruce circa 1975 with his girl friend (now wife), looking proud of his accomplishment.

All photos courtesy of Bruce Parrish

Nice Bike....

....for me to poop on!

All kidding aside, this bike (from Long Beach last fall), is a good reminder.

You might pick some other bars, style of sissy bar, or a different bend of pipes ....

....but it's hard to improve on the classic style of chop

....and no, it's not a bobber,

Dick Allen's Cobra, Shop and other Wild Things

All photos taken by and courtesy of Bruce Parrish

This shot of Dick and his Cobra Trike is probably familiar to many of you. It was published in Garage magazine and I posted it myself from that source awhile back. This time it's a scan from Bruce's original photo so it's without the magazine's gutter running down the image.


Dick and his pet leopard. It strikes me as very bizarre to see a wild cat on Artesia blvd. I asked Bruce about it and he replied, "Dick was really good with animals". The conversation switch gears, so I need to get back to him on that subject.


A good view of the trike. The bike next to it served as inspiration for Bruce's first chopper. More on that to come.


While Bruce's interest was in shooting the trike and this bike, I really like the fact we get a rare glimpse of Dick's shop. That's Dick to the right talking to someone who's cutoff. Those are the beginnings of more cobra trike frames leaning near the tires. If you look carefully you can also spot 7 Harley frames.


This blown version never got further than this mock up. The Cobra Trikes were a joint effort between Dick and Ed Roth. Dick welded up frames and Roth glassed up the bodies. The frames and the bodies were $250 each. Dick also made and sold the motor mounts. The bike next to it is the bike Joe Hurst referred to as Dick's Rat Fuck. It has the old purple Loco-Motion 1 tank and is the bike (with a different engine), in the previous post (Freeway Jamming), that eventually became White Bear.


It appears there was some type of parts counter in the shop. I'd love to get a glimpse of the bike inside.

I'm very glad that Bruce took and kept these photos. As far as I know, he's the only one who has shots of the shop, and once again, want to say thanks for sharing them. Now, if we could only go and walk inside them.

This Month's (late and temporay?), Header

I got hung up and really late on this month's header. The photo above was the first image/idea I had in mind ....as to say, let's kick start this new year. I really prefer to use and did get started on a illustration instead, but since it's so late, this will do for now.

The photo is a from the end of the Devil's Angels, a movie that I hadn't seen in years and recently Tivo'ed. Styles come and go, but I keep coming back to this style of bike.

700 Horsepower from Suzuki Hayabusa

Perhaps the most insane news we've posted on Gizmag this week comes from the inaugural DynoJet Horsepower Challenge held last weekend in Valdosta, Georgia, USA. Basically, DynoJet make motorcycle dynamometers and they provided a bunch oif them and anybody could roll up and the guy whose bike made the most horsepower won. The winning fellow was Hank Booth of Great Falls, Montana, whose highly modified 1999 Suzuki 1300GSXR Hayabusa motorcycle with an NLR turbocharger cranked out an incredible 701.32 horsepower.

Other winners in the Import Unlimited class with Booth included; RCC Turbo/Richard Peppler, of Ontario with 559.02 HP, and Glen Bertagnoli coming in third with a 445.16. All of the top three competitors were using the Suzuki Hayabusa engine.

Revving the scale in other classes were Kent Stotz with 210 bhp on a turbo powered Honda in the Imported V-Twin Cruiser Open class while Don Smith squeezed a respectable 118 bhp out of a 600cc Suzuki.

The domestic bike category was dominated by, well, what else would you expect ... Harley Davidson. The champ in this class was Kevin Kelly of Weston, Florida who managed to get his harley producing 247 horsepower in the V-twin Unlimited category, narrowly ahead of Nick Trask of Phoenix, Arizona whose Harley generated 228 horses.

Brandon Rybicki's turbo-powered Harley V-Rod produced 191 horses.

BUB 7 Streamliner motorcycle breaks 367mph for new world record

Looking more like a long, blurred, red flash than a motorcycle, the BUB 7 Streamliner is now the fastest motorcycle on earth (pending FIM verification) after Chris Carr set a new FIM world record and AMA national record at 367.382mph (591.244kmh) through the mile - and an exit speed of 372.534mph (599.534kmh) - at the Cook Private Meet at the Bonneville Salt Flats Utah. It probably also makes Carr one of the bravest men on the planet. BUB 7 beat the previous record of 360.913mph (580.833kmh), set by Team Ack Attack last year. We originally covered the BUB 7 when it broke through the 350mph (563km) barrier back in 2006.

To achieve this new incredible speed, the BUB 7 was powered by a 3-liter, turbocharged, 16-valve V4 that generated an estimated 500hp in a package the size of a 1-liter V-twin, because the maximum limit for this land speed racing is 3000cc. This purpose-built motor was designed with one thing in mind – breaking the motorcycle world record. Mission accomplished!

The engine is a big bang type, so it must gain traction, then relax and then transfer power with the next power pulse. Unlike drag racing, one of the challenges all teams competing in land speed record racing face is that their motorcycles have to make two runs; a down and a return that are combined for an overall average, so the engine has to survive for both runs without any modifications.

But power isn’t everything … this winter, the 'Seven' underwent further streamlining using A2 Wind Tunnel (A2WT) facility in South Carolina, where it scored the lowest coefficient of drag (CoD) that the A2WT has ever recorded - a CoD 0.09.

Denis Manning, designer and builder of the Seven, has been in LSR (Land Speed Racing) for the better part of 40 years, and first got the record in 1970 with a Harley-powered Streamliner with rider Cal Rayborn at 265.492mph. This is his seventh Streamliner. He has held the fastest motorcycle record with two of them (twice with the Seven).

Not much more information at this stage, but watch the video below to show how fast 350mph is when the BUB 7 Streamliner broke that record. The team is now aiming for the 400mph record.

Motorcycle Land Speed Record pushed to 350 mph

Denis Manning’s motorcycles have been chasing world land speed records for over three decades and in September, the BUB 7 Streamliner he designed and built captured the ultimate goal when it set the new absolute motorcycle land speed record at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. Rider Chris Carr piloted the BUB 7 streamliner to 354.832 mph on the down run and 346.939 mph on the return for an average speed of 350.885 mph, a new world record. Prior to the 2006 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials the absolute motorcycle land speed record had not been broken since Dave Campos achieved his 322.149 mph world record run in 1990.

Of course, building the world's fastest motorcycle from the ground up is nothing new to Manning. In 1970 another Manning-built streamliner earned the title of world's fastest motorcycle. That machine was driven 265.492mph by legendary road racer Cal Rayborn.

In over 30 years of chasing land speed records Denis Manning, and his team, have overcome some unique challenges in order to reach success. In September 2007, they will once more return to the salt to defend their absolute motorcycle land speed title at the fourth annual gathering of the world’s fastest motorcycles, the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials scheduled for September 2 – 6, 2007. Competitors from around the globe will again meet on the Utah’s legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. The FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) and AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) sanctioned event is the only land speed racing meet solely dedicated to motorcycles, offering the world’s top builders and racers the opportunity to break world and national speed records.

Denis Manning, a 2006 inductee in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, is the designer, builder, and owner of the BUB #7 streamliner – and no stranger to record-breaking speed. In 1970 another Manning-designed streamliner was the fastest motorcycle in the world. That year Cal Rayborn piloted Manning’s streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats to a two-way average of 265.492.

The current world-record setting BUB streamliner, the “#7” sponsored by Drag Specialties & Parts Unlimited, is so named because it is the seventh streamliner Denis Manning has designed and crafted. The streamliner features numerous engineering firsts, including a 3000cc, 425hp engine purpose-designed and built for land speed racing. Says Manning, “The goal is to continue developing and testing the #7 streamliner. We hope to retain the record at the next BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials. Our dedication and hard-work paid off this year. I have no doubt next year will be just as exciting.

source : http://www.gizmag.com

suzuki smash 2006 | suzuki motorcycle | modification

 suzuki motorcycle

Funny Bike 2 Omission

I accidentally omitted this photo in the last post. It was in a separate email from Bruce and got overlooked. I did notice while setting up the last post that there was no right side shot of the bike, so I'm glad to have found it.

Bruce was smart. It's a good idea to build a bike and ride it before making it pretty. The black bike behind Bruce's belonged to Ben Stoner and the blue one, Gary French. Ben's seat was covered with denim. While the execution may be different, this photo illustrates some of the similarities among South Bay Bikes, and practically begs the question, did anyone with a Dick Allen springer not run a Sportster headlight? Photo: Corona, Ca Nov. 1977 Bruce Parrish

2011 Ducati 1198SP Superbike

2011 Ducati 1198SP Black Color

2011 Ducati 1198SP Sportbike

2011 Ducati 1198SP Photos

2011 Ducati 1198SP Motorcycles

2011 Ducati 1198SP Superbike

2011 Kawasaki Versys Motorcycle

2011 Kawasaki Versys Motorcycles

2011 Kawasaki Versys Sportbike

2011 Kawasaki Versys Photos

Motorcycle Insurance

Oct. 2 2009 I was out on my Harley Davidson motorcycle on my way to a job when some one turned left in front of me. I had two choices. Hit the pickup or lay down my beautiful bike. I chose to lay down the bike over hitting the truck. People that ride their bikes into other cars and trucks don't do so well. My bike sustained sever damage. The truck responsible had no damage. I was hurt and angry. I called the police, not the driver of the truck. The driver of the truck seamed to not care if I was alive or dead. They didn't come to see if I was OK or if I needed help. The only call to the 911 operator was mine. When the emergency people of Ogden Fire and Police arrived they did their typical good job. Ogden has some of the best emergency responders in the United States. I thank you. I had some serious injuries! The investigating Officer collected all the information to make a case against the driver of the pickup for failure to yield right of way, driving on suspended driver's license and no insurance. The no insurance part left me to deal with a $20,000 motorcycle that has $8,000 in damages, my injuries and not being able to work. I have insurance! What would have happened if I had been killed? Who would have taken care of my family? It is simply STUPID and against the law to drive around without insurance! John G. Moon Ogden

The comments to this article point out that regardless of the law people, for whatever reason, will persist in driving without insurance.  So what is a motorcycle rider to do?  Buy insurance yourself, that's what!  This is even more important in tough economic times because the estimate of uninsured drivers in Utah is about 12 percent.  In other words 12 out of every 100 drivers are out there driving without any vehicle insurance whatsoever!

When you purchase motorcycle insurance you can purchase what is called underinsured coverage and uninsured coverage.  Underinsured coverage kicks in if the driver who causes the crash has insurance but not enough to cover your damages.  For example let's assume the offending driver, like in the article above, turns left in front of you and causes the crash.  Let's also assume, not like in the article above, that the offender has the minimum coverage for bodily injury in Utah, $25,000.  Let's also assume that your total damages are $100,000.  You may get the offender's policy limits of $25,000 but what about the remaining $75,000 you lost?  If you had purchased adequate underinsured coverage of $100,000 that underinsured coverage would kick in because the offender was underinsured.
Uninsured coverage kicks in if the offending driver has no insurance coverage, like in the article above.  In that case, with clear and convincing evidence, you would make a claim on your own uninsured coverage.  If you had purchased $100,000 in uninsured coverage chances are your own insurance would pay for all of your damages.
So the answer is to make sure you carry enough insurance yourself to cover your damages should the other driver that causes the crash either does not carry enough coverage or no insurance coverage at all.  Furthermore, underinsured coverage is a right in Utah.  Often I discover that our clients have not made a knowing waiver of that right and under Utah law if that right to underinsured coverage is not made knowingly you are entitled to full underinsured coverage.  At utahbikelaw it is part of our routine investigation to make sure that you get what you are entitled to under the law in Utah when you are in a motorcycle crash.

Mystery Bike Revealed Part 1 Funny Bike 2

This unidentified bike was recently featured in Irish Rich's post on Phil Ross. It looked familiar and had South Bay Style written all over it, so I made an inquiry to a good source and after a chain of emails it's owner and builder contacted me.

This photo from Rich's blog started the inquiry. The stance and style of the paint seemed all too familiar.

The man responsible for the bike is Bruce Parrish. If the name sounds familiar it's because he was mentioned in the Why White Bear? post as it's painter.

The following is the email I received from Bruce. I'll fill in what he later told me in the captions.

Chris, I am the mystery bike owner and builder. I still have it. That was the 3rd. build of the same frame over a 10-13 year period. I have pictures from most all the projects I have been involved with over the years. I was a painter for a lot of South Bay bikes. AKA Painter Bruce.

The running mock up. One reason the bike looked familiar, the handlebars were lent to Joe Hurst when White Bear was in the Trident's Show. See last August's Header. All photos courtesy of Bruce Parrish

I hung out, partied and road with Dick Allen and the like from the Redondo Beach area. For a few years my paint shop was in the back shop of Phil Ross's known as "Parrish Arts. " I later became a metal Fabricator and called my business "Parrish Parts", worked for several businesses for about 16 years.

This was the 3rd build of this bike and 2nd of what Bruce called the Funny Bike. Funny Bike?... it's because Bruce built it like one would build a Funny Car. Bruce fabricated both the gas and oil tanks plus all the trick goodies you can spot.

I have been back on my own since 1992 with my business now as Parrish & Sons Specialties. Do check it out www.parrishspecialties.com Thanks for your interest and feel free to contact me. Happy New Year, Bruce Parrish


All laid out and ready to go. Something tells me this guy is meticulous.


The frame was altered to Bruce's specs. (2" in the back bone and about 3" in the front legs), by Kevin Daily of Zap Fab. Kevin started calling this style of neck a "Brucie -Neck". The South Bay Swoop sissy bar is unique as it's a true two piece type and mounts through the top of the fender.


More of Bruce's fine and tidy work. Most of the work was done while he worked at Dan Woods shop. Yes that Dan Woods. Prior to this he shortly worked for Steve Davis and largely credits him for learning and developing his metal shaping skills.


Bruce spent about two years (1976-'77), on the bike and was finished in '78. The bike was ahead of it's time. Note the attention to detail on items like the fender bracket, clutch linkage, the shifter and ratchet . This kind of machine work with these types of materials was pretty much unheard of in those days.


The bike could be run minus the top sissy bar section. Bruce knocked the center out of a 15" Porsche rim and had Buchanan's dimple and drill it for spokes. It was then laced up to a Kosman hub. The fork is an 18" over Dick Allen springer.

Here's the left side again, but this time all dolled up. The engine is a 1950 with S&S flywheels and Sifton cam. The carburetor was first an SU but was later switch to a Branch dual throat Mikuni.

It's hard to believe that this bike was never featured in a magazine. The bike was almost sold and disassembled many years ago, but Bruce still has it. Hopefully one day he'll put it back together as Funny Bike 3.

Bruce definitely played a part in the South bay bike scene and I'm honored to shed some light his contributions. He has since sent me more photos, some of this bike in it's other guises.... so stay tuned folks.... and oh yeah, don't forget to check out his website.