Arlen Ness - RIP

[CGDustDevil]

Man.... Bikers will know who Arlen is. What a great guy and brilliant custom motorcycle designer. He started out up in San Leandro, Ca. back in 1960 or thereabouts. He was all about bikes and bikers for his entire life.

RIP Mr. Ness... I never met him, but I know lots of people who call him 'friend', and to a man they all said he's a great guy.

Regards, Pete

 

[sfhogman]

Dammit.
Another longtimer down the road.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I only knew the name, little of his life and work. But I found a nice tribute here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_PLvatc88s There are some others mentioned there, too. The master talks of his first chopper in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGtmtoZ8O8A

Rick C

 

[rkrcpa]

Wow, a huge loss to the Chopper world. His vision was extraordinary.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Easyriders will never be the same.

 

[pete44ru]

.

R.I.P.

He was so good that, IIRC, BSA & Triumph had him design one of their bikes (Hurricane).

His son Cory, following in his Dad's footsteps, is no slouch either, when it comes to custom bikes.


.

 

[bobski]

nope. stranger to me. rip.

 

[radicalrod]

.

R.I.P.

He was so good that, IIRC, BSA & Triumph had him design one of their bikes (Hurricane).

His son Cory, following in his Dad's footsteps, is no slouch either, when it comes to custom bikes.


.

I believe Mr Vetter designed the HURRICANE......both were quite the visionaries....

 

[Mega Twin]

He was a very talented man,and always seemed modest about his abilities.
I enjoyed seeing his work.
R.I.P.

 

[gunzo]

You're right Rod. It was said that Ness helped Victory with a design or 2.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Cool guy. He will be missed.

RIP

 

[exavid]

I'm more of a Honda and BMW fan but I did appreciate the originality of Arlen's designs. It was too bad Victory Motorcycles shut down a couple of years ago.

 

[CGDustDevil]

I'm more of a Honda and BMW fan but I did appreciate the originality of Arlen's designs. It was too bad Victory Motorcycles shut down a couple of years ago.

Sonny Barger (Oakland Red & White) was very disappointed about Polaris Industries' decision to move their efforts to develop and restore the Indian brand at the expense of Victory. (Unfortunately, Victory lost money in its last 3 or 4 years) Sonny told me that Indian had given him a Chief to ride, but said he "... gave it back ..." after a few weeks, preferring his Victory. The friendship between Arlen and Sonny goes back 60 odd years. In fact, I believe Sonny 'bought' his original Victory from Ness's shop. (Rumor has it he paid $1.00 for the Vision as a promotional deal)

I never rode a Victory, but I know the Indian to be a fine, fine machine. If I was still interested in riding and had the $$$ for a new machine, I'd be riding one just like this, which I have dubbed the most gorgeous motorcycle ever built!

 

[pbslinger]

A good article about him:

https://www.hotbikeweb.com/day-in-life-arlen-ness#page-3