HIP TO BE SQUARE
Backin the free spirit heyday of the 1960s and 1970s referring to something as “square” was a put-down. Square was a term used to denigrate the straight-edged conformist establishment, and if you were labeled square you certainly weren’t “with it.”
When Wisconsin adopted a helmet law in 1968 many didn’t appreciate being told by those in power what they could and could not do. One of them was Bill Schertzl of Eagle River, Wisconsin. Bill was a long-haired free-spirited individual, and together with several of his like-minded friends, they protested the law. Eventually, on March 3, 1978, the Wisconsin helmet law was repealed and it was declared that only those under the age of 17 had to wear a lid.
That meant Bill and his friends could ride with the wind fully in their hair. But what is incongruent with Bill and his anti-establishment attitude is his motorcycle of choice happened to be an Ariel Square Four.
And not just one Square Four. In the 1970s he had several, including a chopper and a couple of nice, tastefully chromed out originals. He rode them regularly, but over time they ended up parked in his garage and eventually had to be sold off. That’s when, two years ago, Jim Balestrieri of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, heard
