Now, you didn't just think we would show you pictures of these bikes, tell you about them, this and that, and the end, did you? No, a little background was in order seeing as there are not enough pages here for Sugar Bear, the individual responsible for the two bikes before you. The other individual you should have noticed on the cover is Sugar Bear's son, Turk. Turk (or Little Bear) started at the shop in September 2006, and told us "he has settled in with his dad." We hope to see the Sugar Bear Choppers legacy carried out.
Although they say ladies first, let's start with the bike before you named "Gorjus." It's pronounced gorgeous, but Sugar Bear put a little spelling twist on it just for fun (and perhaps to drive us editors crazy).
Like flipping on your TV to watch the History Channel, you're looking at a 1948 Panhead with mostly original parts that was built in 1969 by Junior Batista. A bike builder and painter as well as friend and riding buddy of Sugar Bear's, Junior originally built this bike, and then unfortunately had to sell it. He turned the bike over to George Houghley, who was also a friend and riding buddy of Sugar Bear's, "but not really a mechanic or builder." The bike then found its way into good hands: those of Sugar Bear and Ben Hardy, who started working on it. Chances are you might not be familiar with Ben Hardy. Sugar Bear was around when his friend and mentor, Ben, designed and built the two choppers in the 1969 classic Easy Rider, but was pretty much ignored and discredited with the building of those bikes. Ben was profoundly affected by that, but he persevered with the attitude that he was in the business purely for the love of bikes.
Sugar Bear draws on the same parallel, where all he wants to do is ride what he likes. After 30 years on the road, Sugar Bear said, "I just can't ride rigids anymore." And speaking of retiring rigids, Gorjus was retired in 1999 and is living its golden years as a show bike. "I keep it to show people some of my history," he said. And what a conversation piece it is when most people's reactions are to just stand there and look at it, usually uttering the words, "It's gorgeous." Sugar Bear said, "It represents a good deal of the past and what we were riding back then."
Although Gorjus has gone through several changes-we're talking general maintenance, repainting, and rechroming-it's been the same style with few modifications. The motor started out as a stock Pan, the cases were split, 80-inch UL flywheels went in, and spent gases left via Sugar Bear's 2-into-1 exhaust. When it came to the frame, because they didn't rake a bike back then, they cut the front legs and added six inches of stock into the frame. The greater picture here being able to accommodate the 22-over Sugar Bear Springer.