Hmmm...bell bottoms, tie-died T-shirts, snakeskin boots, huge belt buckles, and wild choppers. We could be talking about the present day, but we're taking a look back at 1974. And just like they were back in '74, long bikes and crazy fashion are once again all the rage. It is true that what comes around goes around, and the huge success we've experienced with the revival of STREET CHOPPER proves it. But we're not here to explore today, so back to 1974 it is.
The only real changes from then and now are that most of today's breed of choppers seem to run on drivetrains that are strictly American- made -- unlike the foreign powerplants that used to dominate the scene back in the '70s. The offshore engines were much cheaper and far more plentiful, as were the parts needed to hop them up and keep them going.
In fact, the majority of the bikes featured in the Mar. '74 issue were driven by Honda four-cylinder engines. Of the seven bikes featured in this issue, five of them were using the Honda fours, while Billy Graham's "Sunflower" bike from Honolulu, used a highly polished '60 Triumph mill that was punched out to 820 cubic centimeters with a Chantland kit. This radical bike had a twin-rectangular headlight arrangement perched atop its springer frontend that was very common on choppers back then. The other non-Harley-powered creation was the "Fast Dog" trike, owned by Patricia Dilthey, of Torrance, California. The Dog began life as a '42 ServiCar with a 45-inch flathead engine, but was stripped down to save weight. The engine was hopped up with a 0.030-over bore and bigger cam. There's even a really cool photo of Patricia's boyfriend, Marty, cleaning her bike while she sat back in the grass watching. It's caption has a little quip about women's lib tossed in just for fun.
Denver's Choppers built one of the coolest Honda-powered bikes in this issue. If you've seen the Denver's truck at a show recently, you've probably seen Mondo's (Denver's present owner) restored old Springer. Many of the styling queues from that bike can be seen on the "Foxy Four," shown on page 34. With the peanut-shaped tank blended into the frame with a high-rise centersection, this bike is classic Denver's. Just as cool is the "Project Street III" bike belonging to Paul "Street" Walker of Tujunga, California. This 750 Honda-powered bike had a Springer frontend, an angular coffin-style tank with a speedo and tank sunk into the top, and set on a Triton frame.
The tech articles dealt with common issues of the day, such as mounting a disc brake to a Springer frontend. Of course, this was only of interest to the few who actually ran front brakes. Everything had point-style ignition back then, and a great article covering high-performance points and how to properly set them up for dwell and timing was included. Everything from checking your old points for wear, replacing them with a set of performance points and condensor, and the importance of using a good point cam lube were shown. Carl Morrow, of Carl's Speed Shop did the work on a '72 Sportster while taking us through the procedure step-by-step. We also dropped in on Morris Industries to see how they made its cast mag wheels--another item that was very new at the time.
Even though some of the powerplants and names have changed over the years, many of them still around today are familiar to those who made the chopper scene what it was more than 20 years ago.
Until next time, ride the wheels off and stay safe!