[ExI] zmm: quest for the holy honda

[spike]

> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Damien Broderick
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 8:54 PM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: Re: [ExI] zmm: quest for the holy honda
> 
> What about Fonda's chopped sickle (is that the term of art?) from EASY
> RIDER?


Ah yes, the famous Captain America, the cruel device which was modified to
the point of being nearly impossible to ride, upon which the drug smugglers
went in search of America.  Did you notice the rear shocks of the otherwise
perfectly good Harley panhead were replaced with hard struts?  And just to
demonstrate our manliness, most of the padding in the seat was removed,
perhaps to insure severe spinal damage to the hapless operator and his
football helmeted passenger.

One of the two original Captain Americas is believed to have been stolen
from a shed on the property of MGM studios.  The other is residing currently
at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa.  I have seen it, but
failed to be impressed.  Replicas have been created in profusion, all of
which are equally unroadworthy as the original.  For about $24k, I am told
one can purchase the kit with all the chrome bits and modifications needed
to destroy your own panhead Harley.  You might even be able to find an
authentic old pickup and a couple of shotgun-wielding hicks willing to
commit motorcycular homicide, thus putting the suffering rider out of his
misery.  

If it is literary artifacts we seek in general, I have learned during my
quest that Ken Kesey's electric kool-ade bus Further is still in existence.
Why, I couldn't say.  

I am particularly interested in the motorcycular variety of literary relics
however, so I would sooner seek the early-sixties vintage British twin upon
which Steve McQueen attempted to flee the Nazis in the otherwise excellent
film The Great Escape.  Come now Hollywood, did you think we bikers would
fail to notice the unit-construction crankcase that was a clear indication
of English post 1961 manufacture?  Could not the props department locate a
genuine late 30s vintage beemer?

Still I prefer the Holy Honda or its companion, John and Sylvia's R60. 

spike