Photo © 2001, First Flight Bicycles from their MuscleBike Museum |
Above: Barris / Iverson 20 X 20" Dragster. The 20 X 20" Dragsters were available in both girl's & boy's versions. Buyers also had their choice of a single, 3 or 5-speed model. Alfred Eckstadt has kustomized the girl's version of this bike. |
W H E N T H E "Kustom King" D I D B I C Y L E S The "Muscle Bike"came out of the hot-rod and kustom culture of '60s California. To capture some of this hipster cachet, the major bike makers introduced their own takes on the concept. Only one of these makers went to one of the original kustom kats for design input- Iverson, with George Barris. This page's bikes and images from the collection of With His Commentary. |
Above: Iverson Ad From Boy's Life Magazine. One wonders how much the $1 Barris kustomizing kit would bring on e-bay, nowadays. |
W H E N T H E "Kustom King" D I D B I C Y L E S The "Muscle Bike"came out of the hot-rod and kustom culture of '60s California. To capture some of this hipster cachet, the major bike makers introduced their own takes on the concept. Only one of these makers went to one of the original kustom kats for design input- Iverson, with George Barris. This page's bikes and images from the collection of With His Commentary. |
Above: Barris / Iverson 20 X 20" Dragster. The 20 X 20" Dragsters were available in both girl's & boy's versions. Buyers also had their choice of a single, 3 or 5-speed model. Alfred Eckstadt has kustomized the girl's version of this bike. |
Right: Those darling moppets from the Family Affair TV series are shown with their Iversons. His is the Mini-Indy model; notice the Mag wheels. Hers is the Mini-Miss. |
Below: SHIFTER: Close up of the Muscle Car-inspired 3-speed console shifter with dial indicator. Check out the simulated wood grain insert. |
Right: This bike is all original/correct 1969 Dragstripper. This bike has the shock-type sissy bar (some of the later models did not). All of the 1969 16"x20" Dragstrippers were painted this "retina burning" Orange originally. This orange color is actually a two-stage paint process similar to the candy apple custom paint jobs that Barris was doing on his custom work back then. A yellow base was applied & then the orange-tinted clear was shot over that to give the color that extra 'glow" that the Iverson advertisement described. These bikes are very scarce today but do not command high prices because they are relatively unknown. |
Lower Right: 1969 Barris/Iverson 16 X 20" Dragstripper. The bike featured a Messinger "spoon"-style bucket seat, tall sissy bar with padded Messinger headrest, 16" front rim with drum brake, 20"x2.125" racing slick rear tire, & 3-speed console shifter with dial indicator. The red color on this bike is the only thing on this bike that is not correct. Growing up I wanted an Apple Krate so I painted my Dragstripper red. This bike was restored to duplicate that childhood bike. |
Photo © 2001, First Flight Bicycles from their MuscleBike Museum |
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Below: Barris/Iverson Charger. |
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