Even with all the pre-fabricated sheetmetal, frames and parts catalogs available to today's motorcycle builders, some still choose to piece together their choppers as they did in the beginning: Scavenging parts from wherever possible, stretching and raking frames to different lengths and degrees, all to achieve that classic chopper style. Glen Sauer of Sauer's Garage in Bennington, VT, is one that stays true to this chopper building tradition.
Glen opened his garage six years ago, and at that time he sold or traded everything to get his shop running. Still, after the shop opened he knew something was missing-a motorcycle that showed what his place was all about. So Glen did what any true bike builder would have done: He put together some parts and came out with a one of a kind chopper.
"I traded, bought and sold whatever I could to build this bike," he said. Inspired by some of Chica's bikes from Chica Custom Cycles, he went to the drawing board and emerged with a bike of his own.
"It was Chica's Joker bike that really got me rolling on building this bike," Glen said. With the help of Josh Ford from Killer Choppers, Glen designed a frame with a five-inch rise on the legs, a one-inch stretch to the backbone. and 34-degrees of rake. Glen used one-inch thick tubing for the frame to harness the 80ci H-D Evo engine. "It was a three-way trade for the Evo engine so it worked out pretty good."
He worked out a deal with a concrete guy he did construction with, bartering his skilled labor for the H-D engine in question. To get the frame rolling, Glen bolted on a 40-spoke wheel on the front end and a 60-spoke wheel to the rear and then covered them with Metzeler tires. Staying true to the stripped-down chopper style, Glen said that he wanted to keep the bike as simple as possible.