For anyone with a passion for unusual, small, oddball, weird motorcycles, it hardly gets any better than this 1969 Benelli Dynamo custom chopper. The seller has this one listed here on eBay in West Palm Beach, Florida and there is a $1,700 buy-it-now price which would have been clicked on by now by yours truly if there wouldn’t be $900 in shipping charges added on top of that.
Although, I guess I could fly down and ride it home… hmm… Enough of that. Having a 65-cc bike, you’ll run circles around the Honda 50s which is a bonus. I’ve seen chopper-like mini bikes and small motorcycles before – including this one from a year ago here on Barn Finds. Frankly, seeing the quality and condition of this Benelli compared to that other bike, this one is a steal. The small Benellis were real motorcycle-type motorcycles, unlike a mini bike, they had a kick starter and a clutch grip and shifter. Sturgis, here I come!
Benelli made several small motorcycles and a company called Cosmopolitan Motors was one of the first to import them from Italy and distribute them to US dealers and also to JCPenny which sold them in catalogs and in some stores. I believe that this model is a Dynamo II which, of course, would never have been a chopper and would have had knobby tires rather than smooth street tires. There was a similar Benelli Compact II which didn’t have a skid plate (as this one does) and had street tires.
You can see from dozens and dozens of outstanding photos that the seller has uploaded to their eBay listing (nice work!) that this bike could use some sprucing up. The paint is faded and there are visible chips and scratches, the gas lines and cables appear to be fairly old and I can almost feel how brittle they are by looking at the photos. Hoses and cables are an easy fix and I’m on the fence about repainting this one, I think it looks cool the way it is. I might paint the forks either silver or red, although black isn’t the worst look.
Benelli referred to their 65-cc bikes as, well, 65-cc bikes, but the engine is actually a 59.3-cc two-stroke single-cylinder with 3.5-hp. The seller says that this bike has been sitting in their museum for a couple of years and hasn’t been started since, but it should run without too much trouble, hopefully. They say that “the shifter needs a new retention spring, otherwise it won’t stay in 1st or 4th gear” and a person could always polish up the engine cases and get it looking nice again without doing a full-blown restoration. I would love to have this Benelli, have any of you owned a Benelli Dynamo or other small Benelli motorcycle?
Git yer motor runnin’,,that song, and the movie it graced, had a profound impact on our way of thinking. It was the ultimate in rebellion, and suddenly everyone wanted to be”Captain America”. “Choppers” came in every form, from Sting Ray bikes, to mini-choppers ( seen here), even “Limeys” got chopped. Benelli has the distinction of being the 1st in-line 6 cylinder motorcycle, the Sei 750,,a beast in it’s own right, which shares nothing with the CBX, btw, about as opposite this bike as you could get. I suppose that’s good marketing, cover both ends of the spectrum. These were nothing more than for the kid that had everything, and still would put a smile on any kids face, but for the street? Um,,no thanks. Very neat find, from the master!
No doubt, “Easy Rider” impacted many of us on multiple levels. Still have my posters rolled up in a tube in the attic.
Agreed. I can picture some people we know driving something like this to school.
2 stroker ying ying 40 mph with one person too slow for a highway cruiser but a nice looker for in town
Easy Slider
Only a hour left, seller has 577 items listed. Get your offers in.
Auction update: this one ended with no sale.
My very first bike, not a chopper, but exact color and all! A gallon and a half tank of gas and I could ride it for months, grew out of it, was apart when dad got rid of it, I still have pieces off of it, been lookin for one for my grandkid!
My very first bike, got it when I was 7 or so, 50 years ago now, been lookin for one for my grandkid, this one is the exact same color. My cousin had a blue one, we rode the wheels off of them! My dad got rid of it for some reason, it was all tore apart, I still have some of the pieces off of it laying around here somewhere. Might just look that guy up and buy that thing!
Is the clown suit and big red nose included?
That’s just like the bike I kyped when I was 14 and went to juvie haul for, when I was caught. Good times!
Never went to juvie until I got my YZ400, couldn’t catch me but they knew where I lived, yes, good times!