Sugar Bear with Bikernet’s Layla at Easyriders Show.
We’ve met all sorts of guys through the years whobuild bikes. Some found a niche and stuck to it–likeSugar Bear. He started building his own front ends’cause he couldn’t pry one from the fingers of thefamous Dick Allen. Sugar Bear grew up in Los Angeles,hanging out at shops like MC Supply and Bennie Hardy’s,who was his mentor and built the bikes for the movieEasyriders.
“He became pals with Peter Fonda when he built thebike for ‘Wild Angels,'” Sugar Bear said about Bennie.”The Billy Bike was a basic South Central bike in the’60s. I used to sit and listen to the old masterstalk.”
CB Clausen owned MC Supply. “He was one of theoriginal Booze Fighters and I paid a lot of attentionto his ramblings,” Sugar Bear said. While learning fromthe South Central originals, he built long bikes inhis own garage: Harleys and 750 Hondas.
“We had just survived the slug era,” Sugar Bear said.”In ’72 I bought an Amen springer and bolted it to aHarley. The springer bowed under the weight of theheavy bike, so I went back and got another one. It didthe same thing. Neil, the owner of the company, toldme that if I didn’t like his front ends, I shouldbuild my own. He was a little upset.”
Sugar Bear tried to buy a Dick Allen front end. “Getting onewas like pulling granny’s teeth,” Sugar Bear said. “Iended up with some parts.” He started playing with thecomponents.
“Dick’s trees were in line with the neck like stockfront ends, so I made a set of trees that pushed thelegs forward,” Sugar Bear said describing his changes. He decided to useoil-light bushings (instead of zirk fittings)that were narrow and not like the wide brass bushings. “I don’tuse zirk fittings because people don’t use them and wear out bushings.” Heonlyweighed 170 pounds, so the long front end needed to belight to handle.
“I was good at math in school, so I started to figureout the rake and trail.” Sugar Bear taught math inhigh school as a substitute teacher. He moved out ofhis garage in ’71 and into a shop, but the hours were4:00 p.m. to 10:00, in order to teach school in theday. About the same time he started fooling with thetrail of his front ends.
“I took two straps 3/8-inch thick and drilled holesdown the center, 7/8 inch apart until I had eightholes.” He bolted them to the legs with a 21-inchfront wheel and started to study the flop using thevarious holes.
“It was like developing power steering for longbikes,” Sugar Bear said. He discovered that if hedesigned a front end with zero trail that it handledsmoothly, turned easily and never flopped. “Customersdon’t need fork stops unless you lift the bike off theground,” Sugar Bear said.
Sugar Bear builds between three and six springers amonth by himself. He’s never had one returned.”Sometimes a customer will call and tell me that hecan’t ride the bike,” Sugar Bear laughed. “I tell themto ride the bike around the block with their left handbehind their back. I know they’re over steeringbecause it feels so light. Works every time.”
If you tell him the frame stretch and rake on yourbike, he will recommend the length. He is accustomedto building front ends that are 25-30 inches overstock. “Even if the guy orders the wrong size, theyusually buy another front end and keep the first one.”
Each front end is handmade. He developed specialsprings to eliminate pogo. He manufactures the springand rocker nuts, and the clevis at the bottom of thefront legs to ensure the axle runs straight. Since the’70s, his springers have remained the same–madefrom bar stock, not tubing, to the design of the wild rockers. As a test heasks riders to sit on their bike and turnthe handlebars one way then the other. “The frame behind the neckshould not move or lift.”
Sugar Bear is a craftsman who builds each front end tosuit the customer’s bike. They’re wild, yet work likepower steering for custom bikes. For more information about his springers orSportster neck cups that adapt springers contact the man himself at (310)768-4158.
–Wrench
