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My name is Bill, in 1969 I was 15 years old with a Honda 90, my first real motorcycle. That June I turned 16 and was racing a Motocross KX100. Behold, "Then Came Bronson" on TV and my life was forever changed. Ten years later I rode my Kawasaki Kz1000 from Virginia to the coast of California and back, largely because of Bronson. Ok, fast forward to the 21st Century. I was surfing the internet, looking for old TV shows, I did a search for TCB and I decided I wanted my very own Bronson bike. |
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So in August 2007 . . . . I bought the bike you see here, a 1970 Sportster. It had been converted to a Bobber, I cut down the front forks, since they had been replaced with 4 inch extended forks for the Bobber look. I liked it because the chrome was in the right places and it was electric and a kick start. I bought the gauges and a stock rear fender off of EBay, and cut the back off. The next step was to get some tapered mufflers and I was on my way. |
I bought a new gas tank, headlight, handlebars and a round mirror. The bike also needed a new Lucas tail light and I made the bracket for it. I installed new stock foot pegs and my buddy Mark gave me the Anderson Passenger pegs. Since I am a retired metal and blacksmith, I made the sissy bar, the front fender and the chain guard from scratch; great fun, pride and ownership in having worked this restoration project with my own hands! |
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I traded metal work labor to my buddy Ron for a paint Job, and had another good friend Roger, made me vinyl decals that he scanned off of the stickers on the web. This is what it looks like now. |
I'm still collecting parts to make it more accurate. Here you can see I have the Avon Speed Master tires and a stock aluminum back wheel to replace the smaller chrome back wheel and fat tire that was on it as a Bobber. Note the almost correct air-filter cover. The seat is a Mustang Cobra. |
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Next I was hard pressed to find the correct two-piece handle bars and a correct vintage exhaust system. The easy part here was painting the cylinders silver. Almost 40 years after the TCB movie first aired, I have my very own Bronson bike. Do I look happy or what? Pacific Coast Highway 101 and the Bixby Creek bridge look out, 'cause here we come! |
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