The Batgirl Cycle
Ah the thought of a beautiful woman on a motorcycle, Yvonne on a Batgirl Cycle fit exactly that mind set for the viewers of the TV series.
What I have found in my research was quite a few untruths about the Batgirl Cycle. Sit back and Ill tell you the true story on the bike.
Yamaha YDS-5E
The
first lie was that The guys that built the Batcycle, Richard Korkas
and Daniel Dempski ( Stage Name Dan Mageria ) created the Batgirl
Cycle. Well I found they did have a contract to build the cycle
however they never produced the one shown in the series. There are a
few scenarios that I can determine happened at that point. The
business of Dempski and Korkes - Kustomotive had a contract to
produce a 
Batgirl
Cycle for " A Special Batgirl Presentation Film" for this
they were to be paid 500.00 for such "temporary alterations,
adaptations modifications and use" Now Im not exactly sure of
the way things turned out, either Kustomotive did make a Batgirl
Cycle which was really terrible as shown in this test reel shot OR
they failed to have the converted bike built and delivered to the
studio by the required date. Its pretty confusing, even the cartoon
from the opening scene in the series looks like the bike in the
presentation reel. In either case, they DID NOT MAKE the Batgirl
cycle that Yvonne drove in the third season. In an episode of
Cinefantastique in 1994, Mageria claimed to have the Batgirl cycle
disassembled in his garage. That would be a pretty neat trick after
learning the true story.
For
whatever reason Kustomotive failed to be the supplier of the bike (
their contract did not grant them an exclusive right to make it ) Fox
and Greenway were sent a stock YDS-5E ( The E stands for electric
start ) motorcycle from 
Yamaha
for the creation of Batgirl's bike. The prop department at Fox
Studios did all the customizing on it and that was that. When looking
at the fiberglass work done on the faring and rear section, I doubt
that Fox did the moulding, painting, work themselves, perhaps they
contracted a bodyshop to do that. I still am unsure of who made the
custom parts but as I understand it they completed the assembly on
the Fox Studios Lot. It was told to me that possibly Gene Winfield, a
custom car builder that once worked with George Barris as his right
hand man did the body work. It did have an electric starter but was a
bit too big for Yvonne to handle according to Batgirl herself. There
was only one made as opposed to all the other bat vehicles and as far
as I know, it was never shown outside the studio on tour.
Great Photo From Scott Sebring of The Batgirl Cycle - Click for Large View !
According
to Yvonne on the Batgirl cycle, " I guess they decided that
since I was an inveterate motorcycle rider I would want something
that had a lot of zip . But they gave me one that actually had more
zip than you need, because you can 
always
undercrank when you shoot and they always undercranked when we were
supposed to fly out of scenes. I didn't need anything that big and it
weighed too much. If I got it more than just a few degrees off
center, I'd have to drop it and pick it up because I just couldn't
wrestle it back. But they did do a good thing. They gave me an
automatic starter. My own personal bike had a kick starter and I told
them that often I'd try to kick it and it'd kick me, and did they
really want to see all this on film? so they said that I'd have an
automatic starter and I just just punched a little button and it was wonderful."
Well
as all good things must come to an end, the series ended and the
motorcycle was to be sent back to Yamaha. A cause of concern was that
the bike was slightly different ( unrecognizable) than when the
studio received it. 
Not
a problem, Yamaha said they would accept it in a modified condition.
Now what I feel was the end of the Batgirl cycle was the fact that it
was now famous. When returned to Yamaha, still the Batgirl cycle,
Yamaha was informed of the many legal requirements to show the
motorcycle if it was done for profit. The show's producers wanted it
to be shown as they got a piece of the pie, as did Licensing
Corporation of America and National Periodical Publications. From the
looks of things it appears that it was a ton of red tape to show the
bike publicly without having to pay an arm and a leg and Yamaha just
didn't want to fool with it. In 1969 Yamaha came out with a
completely redesigned line of cycles making the YM series of their
bikes history. What did Yamaha do with it ? I wonder myself, did they
dismantle it as the old story goes or did one of the VP's of Yamaha
give it to their daughter as a present so she could pretend to be
Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl ? I may find out someday but for now its
still a mystery of the final resting place of the famous purple
frilly motorcycle.
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