In the course of filming the final scene, one of the two Captain America bikes is crashed as Fonda is shot while riding it. Peter Fonda, playing Wyatt, rode the bike dubbed Captain America. The bike pictured is a very good replica of one of two matching bikes, props made for the 1969 cult classic motion picture. The high rise handlebar, “American Flag” peanut tank, “panhead” motor and “rigid” chrome frame, extended fork, skinny front tire, fat rear, plus the stepped seat and sissy bar became the right elements of the chopper in this era, though some preferred an extended girder or springer fork. The chopper craze was well on its way by the late 1960’s but this film solidified and popularized the form internationally, and for a time the message the film and this motorcycle put forth. There are two stories on where the film’s name came from most likely bike builder Cliff Vaughs came up with it, or the film’s screenwriter, Terry Southern. Fonda contacted his friend Dennis Hopper and together they made the idea into a movie they called The Loners. Hopper was directing, Fonda producing, but they both starred in the film and wrote it. While the idea for the film Easy Rider was created in the mind of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper to bring to the fore motorcycling, freedom and some underlying social problems in America, it did much more and remains an important independent film. Peter Fonda got the idea to make a modern “western” centered around two bikers traveling around America and eventually being shot while riding in the South. Most feel the film Easy Rider and the Captain America motorcycle hold great meaning, many references. Regardless, the 1969 film Easy Rider is familiar and important to many from the baby boom era, and especially those who ride motorcycles. Some say the Captain America motorcycle is the most famous motorcycle in the world, but it probably vies for that status with Rollie Free’s Vincent, maybe Burt Munro’s Indian. With the very recent passing of film maker, bike builder and social activist Cliff Vaughs, we feature the Captain America motorcycle this week.