As a kid I remember the batcycles (both Batman’s and Batgirl’s) as being some of the coolest rides around. So when I went to relive some childhood awesomeness last week and check them out again as an adult, I was slightly surprised at what I was seeing. The Batcycles I remembered were a pair of Yamaha’s and neither one of them was over 500 cc’s.
Sure there was the one episode where Adam West jumped onto a Harley with a sidecar but that’s not the bike I remember. I remember these.
The Batcycle – A 1966 Yamaha YDS-3 250cc
The Batgirl cycle – A Yamaha YDS-5E 500cc
This is what they started from.
1966 Yamaha Catalina YDS-3 250cc
Yamaha YDS-5E 500cc
What makes me smile today is that both Batman and Batgirl had the good sense to use bikes that would start every time instead of the ole Harley Tune-N-Start dance that many who ride old Harley’s can attest to. Rice rockets didn’t even exist in their true form yet and Batman and Batgirl were forward looking enough to realize that this was the way things were headed. Having owned both a ’78 KC 650 (the successor to these two) and several crotch rockets myself, I can say that the Bats and I have the same taste in bikes. That puts a smile on my face.
Sidenote gathered from several sources worth of digging around the interwebs: You’ll notice that Batgirl’s bike is actually bigger the Batman’s. Yvonne Craig (unlike Adam West) was actually an avid motorcyclist and had bikes of her own already.
Because they didn’t like the sound of Batgirl getting whacked with a kick-starting bike – which happens from time to time no matter who you are, the studio reportedly ordered a bike with an electric start which was Yamaha’s newest feature.
What they didn’t know was that the popular electric model at the time was a 500cc steel framed bike, which Yvonne reportedly said after they got done dumping 60 pounds of crap and gear on it was much too heavy for her to handle in two inch spike heels and she wound up laying down/stepping-off-of every time she took a slow corner. She was most annoyed they gave her a bike she couldn’t pickup herself – as any real biker is.
