What Kind Of Motorcycle Does Austin Butler Ride In 'The Bikeriders'?

"The Bikeriders" is a 2024 feature film directed by Jeff Nichols, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hardy. It's adapted from a picture book of the same name but based on a real-life motorcycle club. Austin Butler played Benny, who was the spiritual second-in-command of the club behind Tom Hardy's Johnny. Nichols did his best to make the movie as authentic as he could, so the production used roughly 40 vintage motorcycles that they ranked by rideability and startability. Butler handled two separate bikes for filming, the 1965 and 1966 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. 

Harley-Davidson introduced the Electra Glide in 1965, and it was one of the first models to do away with a kickstarter in favor of an electric starter, thus the name. It was based on the Duo Glide, but was modified to accommodate the 12-volt battery that replaced the old 6-volt system. Harley also gave it a Turnpike fuel tank and moved it to the left side. It didn't take long for the Electra Glide to become one of the most iconic motorcycles from the 1960s.

The 1966 version replaced the Panhead engine with the Shovelhead V-twin, which Harley used all the way through to 1984. Butler wasn't a motorcycle owner until he learned he got the role for the movie. He started training and practiced on a variety of motorcycles.

Using period-appropriate motorcycles meant relying on drum brakes, which didn't stop the motorcycles nearly as well as disc brakes found in modern bikes. Austin Butler recalled his experience with the brakes on set during a video made for "The Bikeriders" Instagram page, "The front brakes were very squeaky and didn't want to stop ... It feels like stopping a train."

It wasn't just the brakes that gave the actor trouble. Leaves were an issue, as well, to which Butler admitted caused him to crash once during production. It had been raining the day of shooting, so the crew had — unbeknownst to Butler — swept all the wet leaves off the road. After hitting his mark, he pulled his motorcycle off to the side of the road, "...when you hit wet leaves on a motorcycle, it's like you're on ice. And so the back tire just started to fishtail. I surfed the bike sideways for a while and then I jumped off, but I landed on my feet. I was okay," he told Virgin Radio UK.

In the Instagram video, he said he "messed up" the bike a little, breaking the floorboard and bending the handlebars, but he was okay. He appears to motion to the '65 Electra Glide, confirming which bike he had to bail off of to avoid injury.

Norman Reedus has seen quite the rise in his stardom since "The Walking Dead," where more audiences know him as the motorcycle-riding, zombie-hunting Daryl Dixon. He's back on a bike for "The Bikeriders" as Funny Sonny, an irreverent character who rides a bit of an amalgamation of a motorcycle. It's clear Reedus is more of a motorcycle guy than his co-star. In the Instagram video, Reedus refers to his character's ride as a Frankenstein kind of bike, saying, "This is a late-'40s Springer front end, the frame is a '50s, but there's a '70s motor in this one." Director Jeff Nichols and the stunt coordinator, Jeff Milburn, knew eagle-eyed enthusiasts would notice the different parts smashed together, so they came up with a backstory in the film.

In the movie, Reedus's character says there was a '50s motor in it, but while he was riding out to a meetup, it blew up, so he stole a new one and put it in the bike. Moreover, as if to make a point with his character being the embodiment of chaos, Funny Sonny's motorcycle used a suicide shifter, sometimes referred to as a suicide clutch. It was called as such because the rider had to remove one hand from the handlebars. Reedus admitted that it made riders appear cooler, but it was more difficult to use.