Anyone here ever owned/ridden a chopper?

[wymple]

[Tom H]

Many years ago I had a '70's Honda 500 4cyl with the forks about 6 over with stock rake. Also had a '56 Triumph that look a lot like RER's pic but with a stock front end with the chrome nacelles. So I would say it was more of a bobber.

Tom

[oldmxdog61u]

Sweet.

[Guzzistajohn]

Can't believe no one's used the term "visceral" so far <shrug> I do like the bobber/chopper what ever you call it, nice work!

[F-22]

I expected to see some cool Guzzi choppers, but I guess the wide engine does not fit well with such style (more of a cruiser).

[JeffOlson]

My first motorcycle was a Suzuki Savage, a 650 cc single that was a bit of a chopper. It rode pretty well, and I really enjoyed riding it.

Here's what mine looked like (but without the windscreen):

[Shorty]

When I first started riding I wanted a chopper. What I had was dirt bikes.  I guess I spent too much time reading chopper magazines and hanging around with old time riders. The central theme about choppers to me was that you build it yourself. This is mostly an illusion, since few people have the skills to extend a springer or girder front end, or fabricate a custom fuel or oil tank, construct a seat, do a proper weld on a frame.  SO, the magazines became a pipeline to supply suckers customers to the guys who could make those products. So many choppers are bolted together warehouse specials.    I always enjoyed seeing the home made bits that solved various problems, or provided some touch of originality or art. I had a "poor boy chopper" Triumph with an extended front end and struts for shocks. But it was pretty much unsafe junk, and I ran it into a utility pole,  thereby fulfilling the prophecies of most everyone who knew me.....

[mjptexas]

I rode a couple in the '70s.  Both Yamaha 650s

Both had extended forks, one had a rake change and the other not.  The one that was raked drove OK, the other one, not so much.   Of course I was loaded at the time, so who knows?

Loaded?!  John, I'm shocked!! 

[Lannis]

When I first started riding I wanted a chopper. What I had was dirt bikes.  I guess I spent too much time reading chopper magazines and hanging around with old time riders. The central theme about choppers to me was that you build it yourself. ....

That's how I remember it when I was coming along.

1) Go to an LAPD or CHP auction (take a battery and some gas and a tire pump).   Do NOT bid more than $250 for a tired, worn out Duo-Glide panhead police bike; that would be a ripoff.

2) Strip it down to the frame.  Scale the dresser stuff into a lake or sell it for scrap.

3) Cut the frame join from the bottom up just behind the steering head, about halfway through so that it can be raked.

4)  Stick an 8' bar through the head, heat up the cut frame point, and (using the long bar to maintain alignment and keep it pointed "straight ahead") gradually bend it back the desired amount.

5)  Cut two triangular plates to reinforce the new head angle, and weld them on.

6) Get out the Bondo and "blend" all the joints and lugs so that they're nice and smooth.

7) Buy a junk springer front end from a pre-'49 Harley.   (If you can get an "XA" springer, so much the better; they're already 2" longer than stock).   Take two sets of Ford Model A wishbone radius rods (common junkyard parts) and weld them in place to extend the front end the necessary length.

8) Customize as desired.   A "jockey lid", forward controls, spool front hub, and Maltese Cross taillight are "de rigueur" for proper street cred.

9) Try looking as much as possible like a Dave Robinson drawing as you jam down the Ventura Highway ....

Lannis

[Shorty]

That's how I remember it when I was coming along.

1) Go to an LAPD or CHP auction (take a battery and some gas and a tire pump).   Do NOT bid more than $250 for a tired, worn out Duo-Glide panhead police bike; that would be a ripoff.

2) Strip it down to the frame.  Scale the dresser stuff into a lake or sell it for scrap.

3) Cut the frame join from the bottom up just behind the steering head, about halfway through so that it can be raked.

4)  Stick an 8' bar through the head, heat up the cut frame point, and (using the long bar to maintain alignment and keep it pointed "straight ahead") gradually bend it back the desired amount.

5)  Cut two triangular plates to reinforce the new head angle, and weld them on.

6) Get out the Bondo and "blend" all the joints and lugs so that they're nice and smooth.

7) Buy a junk springer front end from a pre-'49 Harley.   (If you can get an "XA" springer, so much the better; they're already 2" longer than stock).   Take two sets of Ford Model A wishbone radius rods (common junkyard parts) and weld them in place to extend the front end the necessary length.

8) Customize as desired.   A "jockey lid", forward controls, spool front hub, and Maltese Cross taillight are "de rigueur" for proper street cred.

9) Try looking as much as possible like a Dave Robinson  Mann drawing as you jam down the Ventura Highway ....

Lannis

[Lannis]

Hal Robinson, then.  Get 'em mixed up.

Either one!

Lannis

[cognosticator]

Here is one of a few I had in the 70's, this was around 1979 and my last chopper.

[guzzisteve]

Jerry,  Sweet bike!!

[LowRyter]

Loaded?!  John, I'm shocked!! 

Back then when i got loaded it wasn't on very fine Colorado Malt Whiskey. 

[Toecutter]

Yes. And the answer is "depends on how they're built". Some are rickety deathtraps, built by people who have no concept of geometry or fabrication. Some are fantastic. Which can be said of any custom vehicle, really.

Got one in the garage now, being built. The frame was built by CycleOne Manufacturing, front end is Harley, engine is SOHC CB750. 6" up in the downtubes, 4" out in the backbone, gooseneck gusset, 36 degree rake. Trail should, when all is said and done, be about 4.5".

[BrotherJim]

Never rode one, and maybe I won't, but I've seen some I liked and some that made me scratch my head.  Here's one I saw at the Kentucky Kickdown a couple of years back.  CB750 with chain frame and bars.  The thing wobbled like a bowl full of jelly.  Imagine peering around the side of the tank to ride it and all of the other scary stuff!  Skilled welder, no doubt. 



 

[Sheepdog]

I’ve ridden a number of choppers over the years. All of them had atrocious steering, very little cornering clearance, a punishing ride, and some sort of ridiculous handlebar. They are very popular here, but none of them get further away than the local taproom...at least when under their own power. I think that choppers are not motorcycles in the same way that I have come to think of them. Instead, they are more an artistic interpretation for motorheads. I like good looking bikes, but not at the cost of mechanical competence.

[egschade]

Rode a rat BSA with at least a 10" extended/raked front and no front brake in the late 70's. This explains why I've never ridden, much less owned, another chopper.

I do appreciate the workmanship and even beauty of a well executed custom though...

[lost]

I made and rode a chopped Duo Glide from Cleveland, Oh to Florida to CA and back. It helped to be young at the time but I rode it for 5 years then got some sense. At the time if riding an HD you needed to sleep with it to be sure it would still be there in the morning. Finally ended up with road bikes or sport touring. I would still be riding but last year I met the back end of a pickup and broke my neck. Am able to stagger around a little but not able to ride yet.

[Tom]

Hang in there.   

[Motomoto]

If your chopper is uncomfortable it was built for someone else. Google El Diablo Run. Put it on your bucket list.

[scura283]

I built this one when the OCC chopper craze was going on, from an '02 Sportster that I purchase new.
Started as a standard red 883 with wire wheels.
The forks are Seeger Cycle 8" over tubes with an additional 13 degrees of rake, they use a ball joint on the lower tree
so you don't have to cut the neck.
I used a set of Softtail tanks, dash etc. The Harley guys usually take a second look trying to figure out what it is.
It rides way better than you would think, super stable and not at all floppy.





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[Chuck in Indiana]

Uhh,

Anyone here ever owned/ridden a chopper?

That would be no. <shrug> Sorry, not my thing at all.

[Yeahoo Whoyah]

Earlier this month on my morning walk I happened across this Chopper parked on the side of the road.  The rider has his tools out working on its ignition advance weight springs.  Nice guy, younger than his bike.  I guess my point is, with an old school Chopper expect more wrenching than riding.



how to delete
 

[twowheeladdict]

I got a pile of complete worn out Shovelhead shite from a buddy for a cheap price and decided to build a chopper out of it.  It ended up being one of the most fun bike builds ever.   Since I always shoot for the museum quality, rivet counting type of restorations, building the chopper was a freeing experience.   

I was quite an  honor to have my chop selected to be in the Mama Tried bike show in Milwaukee right out of the chute.  Later that year I rode it to Detroit to see the Oily Souls bike show.  The bike ended up winning Best In Show - Ride In category out of hundreds of bikes.

I set this one up in the standard chopper hard core format;  jockey shift, suicide foot clutch, open belt primary, and  no front brake.  Since I was only going to a rear brake I wanted it to be reliable so I deviated from tradition and went with a disc.  You haven't really experienced motorcycle riding at its most elemental until you master a foot clutch, jockey shift bike.  It is a fun skill once mastered, but a bit intimidating until it becomes second nature.   An old fart like myself that can still handle a rigid frame, jockey shifter is kind of rare these days, at least around this area.

Try it, you will like it!!!   



Jockey shift setup shown here.





One of the best looking engines ever made, the Shovelhead






I have another chop project in the works, maybe 2 or 3.  :)  They are fun!!

WOW!  Came across this while doing a search.  WOW! 

So clean looking, with no wires on the handlebars.

[joe-dean]

1969 r69us I built in the 70's    650cc big bore kit 10 inch over Harley wideglide   21 inch front wheel.

BMW purist are still hunting me for building it.

[Siamese]

NO.  A thousand times, NO. 

Nor did I ever wear platform shoes, dance disco, watch Dynasty, or wear my shirt halfway open with gold chains.

What a horrible thing to do to a motorcycle.   

[thechief86]

I once rode a shovelhead sportster with 10 over forks and some wacky close together shorty antenna handlebars. That thing was terrifying.
It did sound cool though, after about 137 kicks and my buddy almost having a heart attack trying to start it, and it had great power.
Slow speed handling was nuts, it just wanted to fall over at any speed under about 40, and any lean angle would fight to yank the bars from your hand and bottom out on the steering stops.
It had character, but what a pile of crap, lol. We rode from Nashville to Chicago all in one day, Andy was on the shovel, and me on my Breva 750. He was ready for a drink long before we made it there, lol.
He would have traded his right arm for a ride home on a trailer.
A couple of days later, we did it again, but in the other direction. Once home, his bike sat for a month untouched. He really had to build up any desire to ride it after that.

[bodine99]

Been there done that still doing it! wifes BSA my Tri.

[kirkemon]

In a previous life I co-starred with Fonda and Hopper.
https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-easy-rider-captain-america-bike-sold-20141019-story.html#:~:text=Autos-,'Easy%20Rider's'%20'Captain%20America'%20bike%20sold%20for%20%241.35,some%20question%20the%20bike's%20authenticity.