One thing I never really understood NGC

[drdwb]

Just in case you can't resist. I know I'm being judgmental here. But even after all these years I still don't get it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-Yamaha-XS-/262845584120?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3d32d152f8:g:l0cAAOSwx6pYnQT~&item=262845584120

[kirby1923]

Don't know how old you are or where you have traveled but I think I can say without much doubt that if you had spent some time in California in the 60' you'd have a pretty fair idea of why.

Doesn't translate into word very well.

:-)

[kenvil1]

It must be a scrambler, judging by the knobby front tire and the high mounted pipes.

[flip]

It must be a scrambler, judging by the knobby front tire and the high mounted pipes.

 

[sib]

Makes perfect sense to me.  Motorcyclists tend to be little boys who never grow up, and this is great for the guy who remains a little boy long after his legs can propel him adequately.

[azguzzirep]

I don't know about THAT bike, but I'd take a Captain America style chopper any day!

I think they are, too coin a phrase, "bitchin"!

Like Kirby said, you need to have grown up with it. It's like music. My dad liked big band music. He thought music couldn't get any better. I like Led Zepplin. Today's youngs like rap or whatever. It just depends on what you were exposed to, and when.


I loves me a chopper!😀

[Turin]

I don't get the knobby tire.

[SmithSwede]

Personally?   My reaction has always been:

Kill it with fire !!!

[Groover]

Those are sort of back in style. I saw a group of them last spring downtown Columbus. Young group maybe mid 20's, hipster-esc. I took this video.. you can see my G5 at the end of the video 

https://youtu.be/5pCRK3XQIco

[Lannis]

I don't get the knobby tire.

Faux-scramblers (street bobbers) with radical knobby tires are "kool-looking" among the grand-poseurs these days, even though they don't go off road and would handle like a drunken hippo on skates, on the road.

This guy is starting a New Trend.   High apes and knobby tires ....

Lannis

[Guzzistajohn]

I'm not a big chopper fan either but an old school bobber.....that's bitchin'!

I don't get the big tyre

[Penderic]

Hah! It's not really a chopper unless the front forks are extended at least 6".

Like zo.....


 

[Mr Pootle]

Hopper and Fonda have a lot to answer for.

[Kev m]

I hate em

But I kinda understand them.

It's a mechanical "FTW".

It's a "I built it cause I can, cause it pisses you off, cause normal is boring, because it makes going down the road a challenge, cause anyone can buy/ride a stock bike."

Not my kinda thrill, but I get it.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Personally?   My reaction has always been:

Kill it with fire !!!

Sledge hammer. Ahem.. 44 Magnum.
All of the above. <shrug>
Yes, I'm a flower child. Didn't get it then, either.  That free love thing was ok, though. 

[ITSec]

I was raised in a household where the bookshelf held publications by Bauhaus, Parsons School, and portfolios by Frank Lloyd Wright. I read them all, many times, and to my eye the expression of Wright's adage "Form and function are one" or (grandson) Ferdinand Porsche's "If you analyze the function of an object its form often becomes obvious."

A chopper to me is like a gargoyle on a medieval building. I understand the aesthetic, I know the history and lore, and I can (within limits) appreciate it for what it is.

But I'd never build one or even ride one, let alone own one - any more than I'd use a gargoyle as anything other than  a scarecrow.

[rodekyll]

Should someone tell him there's fish in his tailpipe?  That's gonna stink.

[Muzz]

The son bought a non goer "parts" chopper bike so the grandson nwho he employs can scoot down and get bits.

Registered as a 50 but someone has hung a 110. Grandson on his first trial ride. I have turned it in to a full rectified 12 volt system but it still has the magneto ignition. He reckons it's a real hoot.

[Shorty]

Some people's religion is their motorcycles. Some got their motorcycle beliefs from a father or uncle. Maybe the father or uncle got his beliefs from an old greasy Easyrider magazine. Or a dirt bike magazine. Or a MGNOC monthly newsletter. There is a subculture of young guys who feel they are honoring the religion and their ancestors by "building a bike." They lack the skills of a craftsman, but not the zeal. They have learned some of the holy words of the religion, and include them in the advertisements.  They build what you or I call an abomination, and expect the "true brothers" to recognize their offerings to the gods. Or some such crapola.      I must confess I admire a one off, monstered bike now and then, but this turdwagon is not one of them... 

[azguzzirep]

I wish they had posted a picture with someone sitting on it so we could see just how bad the ergonomics of this bike are.

[wymple]

Pull the stupid off the tail end and it becomes a steal. 650's are quite in vogue these days and this bike a bit less radical might well go 2500.

[Arizona Wayne]

Whoever made this morphodite POS has no understanding of what they think he/she put together and deserve zero respect for their effort. 

[Xlratr]

I grew up in North West England, which is far away from California, in both distance and climate :-)
But I still "get it".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chuck peterson]

Naaaa....this ones better...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Yamaha-XS-/332117255328?forcerrptr=true&hash=item4d53bb24a0:g:9zMAAOSwUKxYj88D&item=332117255328

[chuck peterson]

It's a thing, now...

https://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/mcy/5999926365.html

[Scott of the Sahara]

it looks like some one was copying a Schwinn Stingray bicycle from the late 60's early 70's

[JJ]

I do understand the chopper thing, and I say: "To each his own!"

Choppers, in general are not my cup of tea...However, I would have no problem riding something like this:

1938 Indian Scout Bobber! :1:




post pictures online free

[drdwb]

Kirby
To answer the question about the late 60s California trend. 1973,graduated from high school one of my best friends got enough money from graduation and working to go out and buy a brand new Honda 750, it was a thing of beauty, of course everyone in our circle was completely jealous. He put straight pipes on it to get the sound he wanted and than decided to go to Caliofrnia. 3 months later he returned to rural Minnesota on a completely chopped out bike that looked very much like the original photo I posted. The bike looked and rode nothing like the original. Fast forward to 79 I'm home from college on my new 1979 Yamaha XS 750 Special I meet up with my buddy at a locale joint he's still riding this chopped out Honda now with about 50,000 miles on it, we decide to go for a ride at 70 mph his front tire starts hopping, at 80 he can't keep the front end down and at 90 he's just a speck in my mirror. Later following behind I watched as we went through a series of S curves ,mild sweapers that for me normally required just leaning at 70-75, my buddy on the chopped 750 had his hands full trying to negotiate at 65.

What I learned from this is the guys that get paid to design bikes usually know what they are doing, some owner modifications can help a great deal. But some of the stuff done just to look cool makes no sense ( to me) and certainly doesn't help and can be dangerous. But if your just going from from one joint to another and it's only a few blocks away I guess it's ok.

I just hope my daughters don't show up riding or on the back of one of these.
Dave

[kirby1923]

Believe me I understand the risk of riding such a kluge!
But it was the counter culture at work in those times an "in your face" thing. I was on the other side riding brit motos and the fast Japanese stuff sometimes.

I have to smile when I see one of these things...sort reminds me of my youth.

BTW the young college girls, mostly bank burners, loved to be seen on the back of a  "chopper".

Bitchin!!

:-)

[drums4money]

I see a cool chopper occasionally.  They don't make me wish for a chopper, though.  They make me wish I had one of these: