Who stole the Easy Rider Bikes?

Easy Rider was filmed Starting in late February of 1968. It produced the arguably most famous and iconic bike of all time, the Captain America chopper. The Billy bike, while less famous was also made. Before filming concluded, the remaining 3 bikes were stolen.

Who Stole them? I gotta think that someone out there, knows what happened.

We know this: There were four bikes made for Easy Rider. 49 though 51 Police Panheads, Bought at auction and customized for the low budget movie Easy Rider by local LA bike builders Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs. Two were made for filming, and the other two were backups. The backup captain America bike was pretty much destroyed by the ending scene, and what was left of it was given to Dan Haggerty. I love Grizzly Adams, but his stories are all over the place. Turns out, he sold a lot of “original” Captain America’s, and I question his credibility.

Then, before filming was completed the remaining three bikes were stolen. They completed the movie without the bikes. Tex Hall was the stuntman on the movie, and the story goes he went after the guys who stole the bikes to recover them. Guns were involved and a recovery was unsuccessful.

The rumor was, is that the Hells Angels stole it to repay a “debt” in their eyes. Before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda made a movie a year before Easy Rider was even an Idea called the Wild Angels. It was another Roger Corman funded film, and quite honestly set the stage for Easy Rider. If you haven’t seen it, its a pretty campy flick about the late 60s 1%’er motorcycle culture, but worth watching.

I’ve read Sonny Bargers book several times. He’s clearly not a fan of Peter Fonda or anyone flippantly using or disrespecting the name of the Hells Angels. I think he felt Peter Fonda tried to capitalize on the HA name when he made Hells Angels on wheels. Personally, I think he was right.

We also know the Hells angels were not afraid of throwing their weight around in a big way when they needed to. When the HA felt they got screwed over at Altamont for the death of Meredith Hunter in 1969, The rumor was they put a hit out on Mick Jagger. It got real enough for the Stones, that they eventually settled with the Angels.

I actually hit up George Christie who was the President of the Ventura chapter of the Hells Angels for 35 years. I’d read his book as well. George is a natural born leader and quite honestly, a very intelligent and gracious guy. We talked on the phone for a bit. Even though George became a Patched member of the HA/MC 8 years after the Easy Rider bikes were stolen, I kinda wondered if discussions of the of the original bikes being stolen by the Angels could have crossed his path at some point. He was also a member of the Southern California MC crowd around that time with the Galloping goose MC, Satan’s Slaves and the Question Marks. He woulda been involved in the scene during those times. I asked him directly, and he said he didn’t know.

I’ve just always been curious: Who stole the Easy Rider Bikes? Do you know?