There's Something Interesting About The April 1973 Cover Of STREET CHOPPER. At first glance, it's perfectly normal:a group of friends with a flamed van and a few choppers obviously going camping. Aside from the bizarre resemblance to the Scooby Gang, all seems well...until you look closer, and realize that the dark-haired girl is not smiling just because she's happy. She's smiling (and perhaps happy) because she's just found a snake on her sleeping bag, and her friends are also quite amused by this. Respect to the slithery critters aside, a snake in a sleeping bag possibly indicates that bad things are afoot for our chipper chopper campers.
April was a great month for chopper fiends and for science-not only was Pioneer 11 launched to explore the solar system, but we learned how to apply metalflake from a lovely model with the biggest set of falsies (eyelashes, gang-get the minds out of the gutter) we've ever seen. Cal Custom produced this Super Flake kit, and back in 1973 this was big news. Metalflake in an aerosol can? If only life were still so easy.
Eddie Greathouse showed off his dazzling red Sportster, which, aside from its bright color, showed off a 1 1/2-inch rake and a three-pronged "sissy bar." Props to Eddie for designing the only cool thing to ever come out of Stockton.
Technical Editor Dain Gingerelli gave us a lesson on how to design and build an exhaust system, using collector headers as an example. "The past year and a half have seen the surgence of 4-into-1 and 2-into-1 (3-into-1 if you own a Triumph Trident!) collectors that do much to increase power potential of the bike...collector headers work on a vacuum principle. It is a complementary vacuum, one exhaust stream leading another."
Dain also solved a problem common amongst those with super-stretched bikes: getting the brake cable to connect to the hand lever. Beyond that, the man earned his keep by showing us the Super Chain, which is treated in such a way that it "eliminates the need for chain oil and increases chain and sprocket life by three times." He also offered a review on the Pocket Tool Kit in the '73 precursor to STC's Toolbox.
Aside from the piles of tech, the main draw to this issue of STC was camping with your chopper. "If camping isn't one of the favorite pastimes of the chopper rider," Steve Stillwell declared, "it should be...since you already have a motorcycle, and must enjoy the fresh air and outdoors, camping out is a natural for a biker." Granted, 34 years later, the outdoors is rapidly shrinking and "fresh air" might be easier to come by in the form of air conditioning, but back in '73 there was still the possibility of taking your bike out for a forest adventure.
Everything detailed in the article was aimed at safe camping and conveyance by choppers-from a tiny package of cooking utensils and a white-gas operated stove that fits into the palm of your hand to collapsible water containers, a first aid kit, and a tent that could be purchased for $1.49. Most importantly, Steve stressed that all campers should make sure that their intended grounds would accept bikes at all: No point in riding all day just to be locked out at the gate!
Last but not least, we received great coverage from the Hawaii Show. Some fantastic bikes were featured, ranging from standard choppers to regular Harleys to wild trikes, and all we can say is that it's a shame some of the shots weren't featured in color-but such is life: full Technicolor one page, drab black and white the next. And on that note-see you next month.