On a recent trip up to Big Bear Choppers' state-of-the-art manufacturing facility on the banks of Big Bear Lake in California, we were lucky enough to be given the keys to one of their bikes and a map of the area. The Big Bear Choppers crew had two things that we needed to know before we strapped on our helmet and headed out on our day-long adventure on their brand-new Merc Chopper: First, if we were going to take the bike out on some of the winding two-lane mountain roads we needed to watch out for deer. Second: Have a great time on their bike, and they would be there at the shop whenever we returned, because they have two shifts working to assemble their bikes.
Upon exiting the driveway of Big Bear Choppers we could tell we were riding the most extreme Softail chopper in the BBC fleet, with a 48-degree raked neck, stretched out frame, and an 18-inch extended Springer frontend. The combination of the laid-back neck and the long frontend make the bike exceptionally stable at speed, but slow turns are a little challenging in comparison to a stock Softail. We never had to take our feet off the pegs, but you could tell the bike wasn't built for the slalom course. The look of this bike is unmistakably that of a chopper, and we expected difficult slow speed maneuverability-but a bike with a 116-inch wheelbase is usually much more difficult to handle at slow speeds than the BBC Merc.
The minute we had the bike rolling down the roads that surround Big Bear Lake, we knew that we weren't riding the typical long-bike. The BBC Merc was so smooth and stable on the road that there were a couple of times we had to look down at the engine to see if it was still running. The BBC crew credits their amazingly smooth-running fleet of bikes to a couple of things. First, they build the backbone of their chassis out of 0.250 wall tubing, and that really helps to stop the transfer of vibration into the neck of the frame and right into the handlebars. Secondly, they use a proprietary engine from S&S that they call the "100 Smooth." The internally reformed 100ci engine boasts a healthy 110 lbs of torque. With a "square" configuration of a 4.00-inch bore and 4.00-inch stroke, proprietary compression ratios, redesigned cam timing, and reciprocating weights all result in an incredibly smooth-running engine while meeting all the strict legal requirements for engine emissions.
Another thing we really liked about the BBC Merc was the rider's position on the bike. We had several riders ranging in height from 5-feet 8-inches to 6-feet 2-inches tall taking the BBC Merc through the picturesque mountain roads of Big Bear that day, and each one of us was as comfortable on the bike as the next. There weren't any complaints about leg cramps or not being able to reach anything from any of the riders. That really says a lot about the BBC engineering staff, considering that they started with a chassis that has a backbone stretch of 3 inches, a downtube stretch of 6 inches, and an 18-inch extended Springer to give it the right long-bike look, and still managed to provide the complete bike a low seat height of 23.5 inches so the bike would work for riders under six feet tall.
The Baker five-speed transmission offered a very positive feel, as did the BBC chain-drive primary and clutch. The H-D-style hand controls put all of the switches and levers just where we expected to find them, and even the seat was comfortable for our mountain-top adventure.
And when it comes to head-turning looks, it is difficult to beat the combination of the fenders, fuel tank, oil bag, and the show-stopping paint on this particular Merc. Combine that with a set of color-matched spoke wheels and a Springer frontend with chrome accents, and you have a bike with a timeless look that is loaded with state-of-the-art parts.