Oh give me a home where the street choppers roam, where the V-Twins and the metric bikes play...
No, we don't run around the office singing terrible song parodies all the time, but that's what came to mind when I flipped through the July '75 issue of STREET CHOPPER. Here in Bikerville I am surrounded-nay, make that drowning in V-Twins. We have choppers, Pro-Streets, tourers, and more here in our land o'American iron, but I can count on one hand the times I've seen a metric bike within five feet of me, unless it's some thrill-seeker in sneakers trying to tear off my sideview mirror on the freeway. I know things were different back in the day, but I'm still always mildly surprised when I pick up an old issue of this rag and find HONDA! splashed across the cover.
So what's a metric bike to do in the midst of old-school V-Twins? Well, look pretty cool, for starters. Some snazzy work has been done on these imports, including wedging one of them into a Harley frame. There's plenty of people out there who wanted the performance of a metric engine with the look of a Harley (as opposed to those who inexplicably buy a bike like the Kawasaki Vulcan, which made me do a double-take when I first saw it sitting in our garage).
That wasn't the only Honda in there, though. Eric Ellis-Esteemed Editor of HOT BIKE and inadvertent contributor to this column-actually paused when I wandered in to ask him about the cover bike. "That's a four!" he exclaimed, snatching the magazine for a closer look at the bike (or maybe the babe, whom Steve Stillwell just "happened" to stumble across during his photoshoot thirtyodd years ago). "A Honda four. Niiiice...where'd you find this?"
I told him I found it in the depths of the STC archives and hurried back to document my observations: "Harley men seem impressed by vintage imports. Fascinating."
We also had "Honda Hog," where the editors of Street Chopper decided to build a Honda chopper and illustrated it with the most offensive piece of motorcycle art since...well, maybe ever. You can probably see it if you squint, but we're not about to blow it up for fear of getting, you know...sued.
"Aw, lookit young Steve," Ernie Lopez crowed when I showed him the offending drawing (he was referring to a photograph of the builder, not the hog). Mr. Stillwell emphasized that he had plans to travel far on this chopper, which meant "trying to conform to many state laws while treading the thin line of being just legal...that's the only way to really build a good-looking chop and still be able to ride it." (Which is somewhat refreshing to hear in this age of "Let's build a gorgeous bike and never take it out.")
We also met Larry the kung-fu biker and his '67 police bike. At least, it started out as a police bike; it became the "Fire Dragon," and Larry showed off some pretty cool karate moves as he posed with his tricked-out wonder. Now that's what I call a streetfighter!
(Come on, chuckle. You know you want to.)
Last but not least, we had an eye-popper in the "Kuntry Charm," better known as a Chevy V-8 powered trike with...well, with an outhouse on the back and a Confederate flag peeking out of the door. If that's not wild and crazy (okay, maybe just different), then I don't know what is.
All in all, it was another refreshing journey to the past in this installment of Back in the Day. By the time you read this, we'll have had the dirt riders move in with us, bringing with them...well, who knows, but we assume they'll have dirt bikes. Maybe we can bring back the true spirit of chopperdom and see if we can cut one of those puppies down...with their permission, of course.
I know where the blowtorch is...