Lou had been riding choppers since they were called bobbers and motorcycle clubs had names like the 13 Rebels, Galloping Gooses, and Deuces Wild. Gearheads Mil Blair and Joe Teresi teamed up with magazine editor Lou Kimzey to produce a lifestyle-driven magazine that would appeal to bikers. At the same time the Super Glide hit the streets, two biking friends from Minnesota that moved to southern California were poised to change two-wheeled history. The Super Glide marked the beginning of factory custom motorcycles by Harley and shows that the Motor Company was watching what custom bike builders were up to and trying to give consumers what they wanted. The bike was painted “Sparkling America” red, white and blue (perhaps as a tip of the hat to Easy Rider). Davidson married a Sportster front end to an FL frame and designed a fiberglass rear “boat-tail” fender. The 1971 Harley-Davidson models were pretty much the same as they were in 1970 save for the new Baja 100 trail bike and the FX Super Glide with its 74 cubic inch motor. It was the fastest speed any motorcycle-powered machine had ever attained up to that time. With a suped-up Sportster engine positioned right behind his head, Rayborn piloted the H-D streamliner down the salt setting a two-way record of 265.492 miles per hour.

On a cool, dry day in October 1970, Harley-Davidson and racer Cal Rayborn went to the salt flats of Bonneville near Wendover, Utah to prove that a single-engine Harley could break the absolute land speed record held previously by twin-engine machines. In 1971, the two-wheeled world was primed and ready for Easyriders magazine.Ī lot was going on in the motorcycle world at about this time. The early ’70’s have become known as the flower power years of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, custom choppers, hot rods, disillusioned youth and rebellion. (If you’ve missed any of our Birth of Bikers series, click here to catch up.) I wonder what happened to it?”-Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider “This used to be a helluva great country.

Easy rider magazine