Obviously choppers are a hot topic these days. Proof can be found in your hands right now-we retired the STREET CHOPPER name a number of years ago-and saw fit to bring it back because you are riding choppers again. Yes, yes, I know some of you never stopped and we gave the few, the hardcore, the chopper riders plenty of pages in our sister magazine, HOT BIKE.
So with choppers on everyone's mind these days, the eternal debate is back and better than ever. What debate? Well, on one side of the street is the group that say that choppers are only choppers when they were built from a stock bike and finished with only hand made parts. On the other side of the street is the other group that says a chopper is what you want a chopper to be since there is no clear cut definition.
Listening to people fight this battle is way more entertaining than an HBO program and probably as exciting as a moto-cross race. I get such a charge out of it because I can see both sides as clearly as the members of each group.
But, lets face it, hand making every part on your bike is going to take forever. And, if you plan on riding while the current President is still in office, you are inevitably going to buy a few parts off the shelf. However, the majority of choppers that I see these days have been built by modifying the hell out of store bought parts. By adding a personal touch to a basic design, you ensure your bike is yours while saving a year of two of fabrication. Seems smart to me, the sooner the bike is on the road, the sooner you can start wearing it out.
Staying on the topic of store bought parts, it makes even more sense to me to buy a frame that is the geometry you want from the beginning INSTEAD of cutting up a perfectly good stock frame. Hold it, before you start screaming that is what choppers are all about, let me explain. Back when the first chopper builders started cutting up stock frames, a Harley didn't cost well over $15,000 plus tax, license, set up, shipping and dock fees. So, instead of throwing away most of the parts that come on a stock bike and doing a lot of modifications to the stock frame to get it CLOSE to what you want, just buying a new, higher tech, better engineered frame exactly as you want it makes more sense.
OK, back to the debate. So, let's say you buy a frame, motor, transmission, primary, wheels and controls and start building a bike. Once you have a rolling chassis, it is time to start the personalization (not that getting everything already mentioned above in the specifications you wanted isn't personalized already) of your chopper by designing the sheet metal-the look of the bike. I am a big fan of modifying pre-made parts for this operation. With the number of custom bike builders that have released their own lines of fenders, gas tanks, dashes and other pieces, you can't go wrong starting with their designs. To this day, I still have not "seen an off the shelf" chopper. Nobody leaves one alone when they build it, so if this sounds like the chopper in your garage- congratulations, when you are done it is going to be a bike like no one else's!
Now, on the other side of the street is the most romantic notion in the chopper world-a hand built bike based on a stock chassis. The romantic part comes from imagining a chopper builder, alone in his garage, basement or living room (if he is lucky) with nothing but a well stocked toolbox, a welder and some basic sheet metal tools. Night after night he comes home from work and locks himself away meticuolusly crafting each and every part that will touch his creation. It is the reality that puts the dream of building a bike into every rider that has ever bolted a "Live to Ride, Ride to Live" derby cover on his bike. The men (or women) that dedicate themselves to this ritual of building a bike with nothing but the tools they own have kept the custom world alive for the last 40 years.
Which side of the street is best? The answer is, well, there is no answer. I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to check out a fresh built chopper because the majority of the parts started out as store bought pieces. And sure I appreciate the hard work and incredible dedication to hand crafting everything (I usually chase down the owners of these bikes to get them in the magazine), but I don't treat them any different than the store bought part bikes. A chopper is a chopper. The fact that it's owner has made the commitment to riding a bike that isn't really comfortable, isn't really easy to ride and isn't any semblance of practical-but is damn cool-is fuel enough for the debate to rage on forever, which is OK with me! n
By adding a personal touch to a basic design, you ensure your bike is yours while saving a year or two of fabrication.