I am one of the homebuilt rat- chopper riders... And thanx, means alot. I did pour my heart, soul and countless hrs into making it exactly like i want it. I do however like other types of bikes also. as a gearhead and craftsman anything mechanical usually has an interesting story... and if you look at a bike considering what it was made to do, most bikes have their own strokes of genius! :)
@@wranglercody8422 I remember when Larry's opponent couldn't get his bike started, and Larry helped him fix it. I wanted to win, but not as a DNS. He seemed like a great guy.
What i love about the chopper scene is the freedom of creative choice, and how one bike can tell such a rich story. Right now i'm building a bobber/ chopper out of a 1986 suzuki intruder that was given to me by a friend of the family. I tore the entire bike down to its bare frame with my dad, and every single part has been changed to fit my vision.
I personally love those old school choppers from the 60s and 70s like the ones you see in Easy Rider,because most of them were built by their owners,so they show creativity and owner's personal preference (long vs short forks, telescopic forks vs springer vs girder, leather saddlebags or no saddlebags, back rest or no back rest, rear suspension vs hardtail, ape hangers vs Z bars vs T bars vs buckhorns vs six bend pullbacks vs standard handlebars, etc.),not to mention they look really cool. As for those 90s and 2000s choppers,they look cool,but they were made by bike builders for customers who can afford them,so most of them tend to look similar and they don't really tell much about what the owner wanted from his bike other than "I wanted someone to build me a chopper".
Having been around when Choppers were relatively new, I'm happy to hear you explain the various types of bikes people have been drawn to building or buying. I've heard so many people try to tell me a Chopper is a bobber or a bobber is a Chopper. Having an outlaw bike shop near my house, I often hung out around and asked, why's it called a Chopper. Simple, the head is "chopped" so the rake can be changed to allow a longer fork without raising up the height. A bobber keeps the stock rake but "Bobs" the back fender, or remove completely and use a single "saddle" as they were called back in the day and as the Yam master said, remove everything that's not absolutely necessary to ride it. Thx little buddy, I've been a fan awhile. I've had, starting in late 60's 175, 350 Honda's, a bultaco, Pan head Harley hard tail that I couldn't wait to get rid of to buy a CB750, a 360 Elsinore, 250 Elsinore, 250 Enduro Yamaha 500T Suzuki an XR500 Honda another 500T a 75 Gold Wing hot rodded out a 750 Ninja and others I'll remember later while sitting on the toilet. Also, my CB750 was heavily modded by a Honda tech aka Mechanic who was a sponsored racer and had parts not really available to the public. On that bike, I could easily outran Z 1 Kawasakis Oh, I had an XS1100 I didn't keep long, it was so so slow compared to what I expected. Thx for the entertainment Mr Noob!
I built a chopper as a daily rider in the 1980s. An x-Police bike, Shovelhead Harley, rigid Arlen Ness Digger frame, extended springer front end, no front brake, hand shift, foot clutch, open belt primary...
The first motorcycle wreck I've ever seen was a death wobble on a chopped -- also bright yellow like the thumbnail used for this video -- accelerating to merge onto the interstate neat Atlanta, probably having recently left the Buford, Ga. Harley dealership, whether for its purchase or from spending a little time in the shop.
I remember as a kid after seeing Easy Rider having a poster of their bikes on my wall. I never liked Capt. America's bike but loved Billy's. In later years, one of the guys I rode with had a chopper and the extended front forks were perfect for strapping a case of beer to, so they do have a purpose. 🙂
Shop near me has a custom chopper for sale. A guy traded it in on another bike. It has a giant piece of paper beside it trying to explain how much money went into making it. It also has an $60,000 price tag. That said it got there 2 years ago and now I think it is more of an ornament for showing off their style when you want in.
I built a shovelhead chopper and it annoys me to death when people with stock modern fuel injected bikes talk shit about choppers because they aren’t as fast. You’re missing the point here, it’s all about the esthetics and the feel, modern stock bikes just don’t look good. A 60’s 70’s chopper is a pinnacle of a good looking bike.
One thing I think helped knock back the chopper craze, the advent of manufacturer choppers. Namely the Fury and Stateline. Both are awesome and safe bikes. Honda put time and energy into engineering those things to be inherently safe (for a motorcycle).
True choppers should be self built as intended. When I was young I helped my old man build his 55 Panhead chop, which was so minimalist it didn’t have a key. There was a toggle switch hidden high on the frame center. Those reality shows made a few nice art pieces, but no old school down and dirty choppers that were for daily use.
Chopper were Basically the first real custom motorcycle. They don't ride all that good but park a nice one around any other motorcycles of any Band! The chopper will catch all the attention.
I like looking at the OCC and Jesse James choppers. I think they'd be miserable to ride, and I'm happy on my 750 Shadow Ace. Aside from upgraded seats and saddlebags it's dead stock.
I have seen a guy’s drawings of his fantasy chopper drawn while he was doing a jail term. It was quite a picture, and it helped him keep his head while he was away from his family and friends. Choppers are pretty fantastically designed. I prefer more practical bikes but I miss out on style!
i made my rat chopper practical.... looks like a rat, but everything is newly made and fully functional. Starts every time and low maintenance, I even have a driveshaft instead of chaindrive.... I got electric heat, phone charger, 12v power in my ammobox sidestorage, a small windshield I can tie to the apehangers for long rides on the highway. bluetooth phone/music/intercom in my helmet, a cupholder for a steel mug besides the motor to keep my coffee warm, I got forward controls but also small center footpegs so I can move my legs around and I stack my luggage as a backrest and mechanical cruise control... I have had it for years and never dropped it once.... -What other luxury or practicallity do you need? :D -Compared to sitting on a streetbike, racer or adventure bike I feel like going on vacation lying down on a loud sofa! :D :D
2:32. That's a girder front end, not a springer. 10:45. Teutel, pronounced "Tuttle". I'm a chopper guy down to the bone. "Captain America" from "Easy Rider" is close to my idea of perfection, although the Swedish look is very cool too. I have a '94 S&S Sportster currently being rebuilt for me in a generally Swedish style, but not as extreme as Fonda's panhead.
Mine was a 1950 Panhead, hardtail, raked and extended 10” over forks. Mini apes. Gloss black peanut tank. Built by me in 1972. Loved it. Sold it for $1900 in 1974.
I loved it so much I couldn't wait to get rid of it two years after I "built" it. I then built a house in 1984 without a roof and the front door as the gate of my fence, but no windows because that's too new school. Loved this house. Sold it for $10 in 1985.
I like stock cruisers with small things like exhaust and lighting changes because I put alot of miles on my bike everyday and the further from stock you get the closer to the house it is
I own a dental office and ride a sport bike. Even when our parking lot is full, patients will walk in and say they know the bike belongs to me. I have no idea how they know, but they do.
@@kelinryan8222 nah... I ride an rc390 and drive a hyundai sante fe. I live in the most expensive housing market in Canada. I can barely afford to rent a crapy one bedroom condo.
If it started with your great grandpa and never stopped, that’s not a trend. I swear… people who don’t like and don’t respect chopper culture have no business pretending to educate others on it.
I own a Yamaha Stryker, and that's as chopper as I want to get. I love it, and I love the style, but it has to be rideable, or what's the point ? To me a softail is the perfect amount of chopper-ness, and the Stryker, and Honda Fury look great to me.
I am a cruiser/bobber guy. Choppers don't really interest me except for the fabrication details. I don't care what the rear tire pressure is, a rigid frame hurts. I grew up around custom motorcycles, built in back yard sheds and garages, not on TV. I love to see nice fabrication of anything, motorcycles, cars, woodworking, but for me, motorcycles should have a suspension in the front and back, as well as brakes. For me, the worst part of the chopper craze is the idea that anyone with a cutoff grinder and a walmart welder can build one. Then they get upset at the local watering hole when nobody appreciates their "heavily customized" 1967 Suzuki 250 Hustler. I am not knocking self expression, I modify my own bike, but some guys shouldn't be allowed to use power tools. At this point, if I see pipes with header wrap, I just assume it is to cover the poor welds on the pipe. I ride quite a bit, usually cross country at least once a year, about the only time I see the "Boss, BigDog, super wambadine choppers is if I happen to be passing through Daytona, Laconia, or Sturgis during a bike week. They are usually on a trailer to get there, they go from the hotel to the bar a half mile from the hotel and back daily. Other than that, they seem to live in the trailer or the garage. I need more versatility than that in a motorcycle.
41yrs old. Grew up watching Easy Rider. Built my own rat chopper. Make my own moonshine, grow my own weed... I see myself as a rare original in a sea of storebought accessories... "Isn't it uncomfortable?" "Can you do long rides without rest?" "Can it even start?" -I can make it do anything out of shere will and skill and I do so daily....
I have loved choppers since i saw easy rider and the local 1% club that was in our town. But really think you need to do more homework, the chopper came from returned service men, usually using ex military bikes. It was the 2 wheel version of the hotrod, remove what you don't need and modify to the owners likes. It made it so the owners bike was uniquely a one of a kind bike..
My buddies and I enjoy riding our choppers quite regularly. Not sure why people who’ve obviously never ridden have to talk smack about them. Am I gonna take my chopper on a 1,000 mile ride?? Hell no!! That’s not what they’re designed for. Throw a couple hundred miles on it in a day or so running a poker run is nothing out of the ordinary. Keep hating haters and we’ll keep riding!!!
Choppers are like lowriders or kustoms…rolling art, but not the most practical. Personally I was a fan of guys like Indian Larry, Billy Lane, and Jesse James as a kid, they’re why I love fabricating and making stuff on my own. Also the front end modification was for the hills in San Francisco, which is where they were originally called ‘Frisco Style’ I still want to build one, but I probably won’t ride it more than to and from a show or two. Riding a raked out pedal trike was one of the most uncontrollable rides I had ever experienced. Also everyone hates OCC.
I literally cobbled together a Honda 250 Rebel off of eBay parts back in the 2000s. It was fun. The guys at worj who road laughed at it with it's sheepskin seat. Then i showed up on my new Sportster after i realized that light slow thing was terrifying on the Verrazzano Bridge in a high wind
IMO Yamaha makes the best “factory” choppers. The Raider(1900cc) and the Stryker(1300cc). They are super comfy, reliable and a blast to ride. I ride a stryker and have been asked “what kinda Harley is that” to which I reply, “the Japanese kind”. Then I giggle till I pee a little. And that’s my cool story l, bro.
ITs funny that you just do this video and I am building a chopper right now in my garage for my wifes first bike. We are using a 1982 KZ440 as our starting point and going with a hardtail and airbags under the seat from tcbros
Kawasaki 440 was a beautiful little air cooled parallel twin! My best friend had a 440 LTD while I had a Honda CM400T when we were teenagers almost 40 years ago.
You're to young to understand....it was a ' 60's early 70's trend that carried into the 80's with yuppies trying to look cool and fit in and had the money to buy. Choppers were what 1% 'ers rode..60's rebellion stuff, the war counter culture...vets returning home looking for a place to call home fell into mc lifestyles, and custom bikes/choppiers bc they couldn't afford to go shop at an HD dealer and frankly AMF HD wasn't a good time for HD and had poor quality. So they built bikes from the frame up. It was more of a statement of who you were back then that's now bc a statement of money currently..once again its a thing younger people can't or won't understand because they didn't grow up during the times. It's like tuner Hondas vs hotrods/ratrods/muscle cars.
Choppers are built not bought… i have had mine for over 25 years now… it is my first bike and will always be my first love. The only good thing about the shows in the early 2000s for both of us on a budget made parts a lot more available and cheaper later on.
Buying an OCC chopper would be pretty good for your channel. I grew up watching the show, and would love to see someone test the bikes like you did with the Boom.
@@slothmarathonpromotions2470 I wouldn't be surprised if they had built a lawnmower themed bike considering all the other stupid themed bikes they built. * OCC fanboys please don't get upset. Not all of their bikes were stupid but enough of them were.
Choppers was what was cool when I was growing up but I’ve always been a Japanese sport bike guy currently riding a Yamaha yzf600r for 4 years and loving life!!!
my dad in the 2000s had his own conpany in arizona and he built bikes and made it in a magazine he a green and black custom bobber with a springer front end
Rolling artwork. Not bikes. The 2000’s stretched fat tire choppers were some of the dumbest and unrideable abominations on 2 wheels. The classic choppers at least came from something genuine. The Orange County type garbage were just made to cash in.
If you’ve ever bottomed out a motorcycles rear shocks just imagine having no rear suspension at all. It’s like riding in a car with the rear axle welded to the frame and the suspension removed. Such a dumb trend.
I built a Panhead chopper in 1971 and rode it for 2 years. It was cool, but it was totally impractical. Since i wanted to ride and not just profile, i went back to stock and hate choppers to this day.
Gotta love choppers. Not built with a credit card, but built by a builder. The originality woven into the build can be mindblowing, plus you won't lose it in a parking lot like a black Road Glide. Hang up your Busa keys for a bit, tear into an old 500cc bike and make it yours, you'll love it!
Throwing shade at a Boss Hoss at the end? That bike is basically a chevy smallblock on 2 wheels, and I take comfort that a company will make a bike powered by a chevy smallblock. probably the most understressed motorcycle engine ever.
Hey bosozoku got a shout out. Most people don’t really talk about them in the west. If you want radical and off the wall designs then that’s the bike niche culture to dive into.
1st hells angels clubhouse was at the corner of my street when I was a kid.. They had old shovel heads with suicide clutches and ape hanger bars.. they 'chopped' the old cop bikes ,, hence , the name chopper.
For my everyday rider I have an almost fully fabricated chopper/scrambler cross built to be ridden hard and still be comfortable over multiple terrain be it blacktop or off road but with a Rat-Rod asthetic (think Mad Max) basically a scrapped together frankenstein of missmatched parts and homemade "rust effect" paint got somewhat raked out front end not too raked meant to be practical out on the trails but still got that look and i just like the jockey shifter built off a Harley Knucklehead bolted in a modified to beyond unrecognisable Indian Chief frame
Front brakes work fine on a raked bike. Not sure where that comes from? The law in a great many countries and their provinces/states....require BOTH brakes.... and yet, there are choppers all over the world. Some places you cannot have them... I'm in NSW Australia, and you cannot really have a chopper here, unless it is a survivor bike from before the mid 80s, because after that, you cannot have a rake of more than 550 mm here.... but there's a lot of bikes in other Aussie states which are straight out of the SoCal 60s class of oldskool.... except they have brakes.... because they have to... and people are not pancaking themselves on those bikes at disproportionally higher rates to other custom, or factory for that matter, bikes. Ditching the front chrome drum, or later, the disc, is a wholly stylistic choice, argued for by those who do it, with the ultra dubious argument that they work poorly on raked ends, and are potentially more of a danger.... but there is not a whole lot of evidence, other than the anecdotal, to back that up, and it has not proven the case in places where you have to have one or the bike wont be road legal. Same with suspension... it is a stylistic choice, and has nothing to do with how the bike works, or it making anything better, some people are just dumb dumb stupid heads who's smooth brains do not understand things like Softtail frames or Plunger suspension exist. A Sprung seat is fine too. Sometimes though, a sub category of the chop, is the Boneshaker... but these are just moronic machines made by moronic builders... there is no rule you have to ditch the rear springs, and deffo no the front, to be a chopper. Speaking of front bounce, you showed a girder... which is not a springer.... but both are popular, and leafs too, though it is common as anything to have standard, if raked, forked and suspension set up.... or have the best of both worlds, with something like a modern system, in a classic design like Harmon front ends. There is not real rules. Again, proven by all the choppers in places where you HAVE to have either a sprung seat or rear suspension +plus front. Some places hard tails, rigids, and outright Boneshakers, are illegal AF... but the chopper persists. Virtually none of the rules, are actually hard rules. Even the frame. You can shoe-horn an engine in to a stock frame, throw on an oversized peanut, dump a well comfy gunfighter on, put a nice Sugar Bear piece on the neck, the only part of the frame you touch to accommodate it, have some wide T bars, throw some classic mirrors on, mid controls, keep your rear springs, give it a slick coat of colours, and stand back.... and you will see it is a chopper, even with front brakes and all. It will ride as well as a chopper that has a chopped frame, hardtail, girder front, no front brake, and no mirrors..... actually, it will ride better. But it will still BE a chopper, and look like NOTHING else, no one will mistake it for a Scrambler or Enduro... or even bikes much closer in DNA, like a Bobber or Digger. You couldnt be a Born Free, Easy Rider, eating up the highway on that Chop you built..... living the life, scening the scene.... if there were anywhere near as many rules as you make out. Rules are anathema to the very spirit of Chopper life, brother.
I liked your video, especially how the choppers influenced the designs of the recent mainstream motorcycles like the Virago and the recent cruisers. (Any bets on how long Honda keeps their Fury in production? Looks so out of place on todays roads now, but Harley has the Breakout which is chopper influenced too but not as extreme and more tasteful than the Fury.)
I know I'll get backlash for this... but with all the custom built choppers out there, it still makes me laugh to think that when honda made the rune not only did they factory build a chopper that actually worked as a motorcycle (unlike most of the custom stuff), it was also cheap and looked better then alot of the custom stuff. They also almost overnight killed the 2000's chopper craze. Lol
A big part of the problem was it being a Honda. A lot of “chopper” people are Harley because that’s what their friends ride and what’s popular. And typical Honda people aren’t generally interested in riding a chopper. And, even though it worked really well compared to a lot of choppers it didn’t work as well as a normal cruiser. So, most people are gonna spend the money on the one that rides and works better. Ultimately I think that’s usability is what really killed the chopper phase. Most of the people buying them weren’t “real” chopper people and were just interested in looking cool and showing off. So, once the novelty wore off they got parked in the corner and left to collect dust.
Those started out as performance upgrades when outlaw bikers were modifying '40s-50s Harleys for their riding style in the '60s. Longer forks gave you more ground clearance for cornering. The one-ups-man-ship started before it even left that sub-group, with longer forks, taller handlebars, wilder custom paint etc. making your bike better than anything anyone else had. Popularity let to more exaggerated builds over the years until they were pure style, form over function, by the late '70s. Most of the builders in the 2000s seemed to have copied all of the bad aspects of the later '70s choppers. People like Indian Larry, Jesse James, and Suckerpunch Sally's got it right.
Love, hate, or simply avoid. That being said, I can appreciate true master craftsmanship even if I fail to understand why it was used on a "motorcycle" that is not intended to be ridden. That is the fun part afterall.
In Hunter Thompson’s book Hells Angles, he claimed they “chopped” their Harleys to get a better power to weight ratio. I’m glad you clarified they in fact do remove the front brakes b/c I was in disbelief lol.
The old Harley front brake they were talking about in that book wasn't worth the effort it took to bolt it back on anyway. Designed in 1929 for bikes that were still expected to see a lot of use on gravel roads, etc. they were not very effective. Then, to some people, "no front brake" became part of "the look" a chopper "had to have."
choppers are art, and art often gets divisive when it pushes the boundaries. Naked bikes and sport bikes do absolutely nothing for me but choppers... rock hard.
Harley Softails never used a monoshock in their rear suspension. Arlen Ness almost never built his choppers out of Sportster engines, even your pictures of him show him on big twins.
@@mjc2ride336 Quote, "Harley Softails never used a monoshock in their rear suspension". There weren't any Softails back in the old days mate, so what are you on about??
@@BrokenBackMountains I know the difference too, but sometimes I still call cruisers chopper, cause in my country (Serbia) most people don't know what a cruiser is, because they know it as a chopper. I know that in Poland people do the same.
@@nducation8039 Lithuania a čioperis is a bike that has been chopped with a long rake and kruizeriai are your virago type cruisers. They also use the term boberis for bobbers.
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Apart from his long winded jokes and the biker elitism these vibes are OK, informative.
I spat on a child today, thought I would watch this as punishment, not a dig at the video or you Yam, just impractical choppers
It is so refreshing to listen to you yammer on reciting a script someone else wrote on a subject matter you know nothing about.
Always !
I'm not a Chopper guy myself, but I have respect for them. Anything homebuilt that someone put their heart into will always have my respect.
I am one of the homebuilt rat- chopper riders... And thanx, means alot. I did pour my heart, soul and countless hrs into making it exactly like i want it.
I do however like other types of bikes also. as a gearhead and craftsman anything mechanical usually has an interesting story... and if you look at a bike considering what it was made to do, most bikes have their own strokes of genius! :)
I disagree. It's like building an airplane that doesn't fly.
@@micclay What if you put some metal flake on it, chrome the prop and extend it way out front? You can still trailer it to Sturgis.
@@micclay no... it is like building a lightweight personal aircraft while everyone else is buying cesna....
*Timothy McVeigh has entered the chat*
Biker build off was a lot better than all the other chopper shows.
I couldn’t agree more.
Facts. I used to love it when they had Indian Larry on there. He made the coolest bikes. RIP.
Long live Indian larry
@@wranglercody8422 I remember when Larry's opponent couldn't get his bike started, and Larry helped him fix it. I wanted to win, but not as a DNS. He seemed like a great guy.
What i love about the chopper scene is the freedom of creative choice, and how one bike can tell such a rich story. Right now i'm building a bobber/ chopper out of a 1986 suzuki intruder that was given to me by a friend of the family. I tore the entire bike down to its bare frame with my dad, and every single part has been changed to fit my vision.
Motorcycle history is so cool. I love ALL style of bikes, and I can never understand people that hate on certain styles or brands. Ride safe!
You even love OCC style choppers?
I personally love those old school choppers from the 60s and 70s like the ones you see in Easy Rider,because most of them were built by their owners,so they show creativity and owner's personal preference (long vs short forks, telescopic forks vs springer vs girder, leather saddlebags or no saddlebags, back rest or no back rest, rear suspension vs hardtail, ape hangers vs Z bars vs T bars vs buckhorns vs six bend pullbacks vs standard handlebars, etc.),not to mention they look really cool. As for those 90s and 2000s choppers,they look cool,but they were made by bike builders for customers who can afford them,so most of them tend to look similar and they don't really tell much about what the owner wanted from his bike other than "I wanted someone to build me a chopper".
Having been around when Choppers were relatively new, I'm happy to hear you explain the various types of bikes people have been drawn to building or buying.
I've heard so many people try to tell me a Chopper is a bobber or a bobber is a Chopper. Having an outlaw bike shop near my house, I often hung out around and asked, why's it called a Chopper. Simple, the head is "chopped" so the rake can be changed to allow a longer fork without raising up the height. A bobber keeps the stock rake but "Bobs" the back fender, or remove completely and use a single "saddle" as they were called back in the day and as the Yam master said, remove everything that's not absolutely necessary to ride it. Thx little buddy, I've been a fan awhile. I've had, starting in late 60's 175, 350 Honda's, a bultaco, Pan head Harley hard tail that I couldn't wait to get rid of to buy a CB750, a 360 Elsinore, 250 Elsinore, 250 Enduro Yamaha 500T Suzuki an XR500 Honda another 500T a 75 Gold Wing hot rodded out a 750 Ninja and others I'll remember later while sitting on the toilet. Also, my CB750 was heavily modded by a Honda tech aka Mechanic who was a sponsored racer and had parts not really available to the public. On that bike, I could easily outran Z 1 Kawasakis
Oh, I had an XS1100 I didn't keep long, it was so so slow compared to what I expected. Thx for the entertainment Mr Noob!
Put down the Crack pipe Ronnie.
I built a chopper as a daily rider in the 1980s. An x-Police bike, Shovelhead Harley, rigid Arlen Ness Digger frame, extended springer front end, no front brake, hand shift, foot clutch, open belt primary...
The first motorcycle wreck I've ever seen was a death wobble on a chopped -- also bright yellow like the thumbnail used for this video -- accelerating to merge onto the interstate neat Atlanta, probably having recently left the Buford, Ga. Harley dealership, whether for its purchase or from spending a little time in the shop.
I’d chop the hayabusa only to see two motorcycle communities (chopper + squids) agree on something like it’s a terrible idea lol
I'll do you one better- vicla it.
I remember as a kid after seeing Easy Rider having a poster of their bikes on my wall. I never liked Capt. America's bike but loved Billy's. In later years, one of the guys I rode with had a chopper and the extended front forks were perfect for strapping a case of beer to, so they do have a purpose. 🙂
Shop near me has a custom chopper for sale. A guy traded it in on another bike. It has a giant piece of paper beside it trying to explain how much money went into making it. It also has an $60,000 price tag. That said it got there 2 years ago and now I think it is more of an ornament for showing off their style when you want in.
I built a shovelhead chopper and it annoys me to death when people with stock modern fuel injected bikes talk shit about choppers because they aren’t as fast. You’re missing the point here, it’s all about the esthetics and the feel, modern stock bikes just don’t look good. A 60’s 70’s chopper is a pinnacle of a good looking bike.
I like Bobbers better than Choppers but I'd rather have a Chopper than a Big wheel Bagger.
One thing I think helped knock back the chopper craze, the advent of manufacturer choppers. Namely the Fury and Stateline. Both are awesome and safe bikes. Honda put time and energy into engineering those things to be inherently safe (for a motorcycle).
They proved that mainstream manufacturers didn't understand choppers and their ethos, the Fury bombed in the UK.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my Stryker. Unlike the fury it wasn't made out of plastic.
I own 2 big dog prostreet choppers SS 117. Nothing beats a chopper.
True choppers should be self built as intended. When I was young I helped my old man build his 55 Panhead chop, which was so minimalist it didn’t have a key. There was a toggle switch hidden high on the frame center.
Those reality shows made a few nice art pieces, but no old school down and dirty choppers that were for daily use.
Hi. Nice work! Enjoyed the Yammie history of the chopper. Choppers are good. They have their place. Happy Memorial Day weekend!
I finally feel attacked lol currently working on a 77 shovel chopper.
Should make the fenders out of shovels, then its a true shovel chopper, and use the handles as passenger footpegs.
@@jakegarrett8109 the blue collar working mans chopper or should I say shovel(er)?
Shovel head was such a gorgeous looking engine. Was always my favorite looking of ALL the V-twins from Harley.
@@JGreen-le8xx totally agree,
You do you bro! Don't let yourself settle for less! 👍
Chopper were Basically the first real custom motorcycle. They don't ride all that good but park a nice one around any other motorcycles of any Band! The chopper will catch all the attention.
Please do a video on the the trend of giant front wheel clown bikes..The other trend of building useless, good for nothing riding monstrosities.
I like looking at the OCC and Jesse James choppers. I think they'd be miserable to ride, and I'm happy on my 750 Shadow Ace. Aside from upgraded seats and saddlebags it's dead stock.
I have seen a guy’s drawings of his fantasy chopper drawn while he was doing a jail term. It was quite a picture, and it helped him keep his head while he was away from his family and friends. Choppers are pretty fantastically designed. I prefer more practical bikes but I miss out on style!
i made my rat chopper practical.... looks like a rat, but everything is newly made and fully functional. Starts every time and low maintenance, I even have a driveshaft instead of chaindrive.... I got electric heat, phone charger, 12v power in my ammobox sidestorage, a small windshield I can tie to the apehangers for long rides on the highway. bluetooth phone/music/intercom in my helmet, a cupholder for a steel mug besides the motor to keep my coffee warm, I got forward controls but also small center footpegs so I can move my legs around and I stack my luggage as a backrest and mechanical cruise control... I have had it for years and never dropped it once....
-What other luxury or practicallity do you need? :D -Compared to sitting on a streetbike, racer or adventure bike I feel like going on vacation lying down on a loud sofa! :D :D
2:32. That's a girder front end, not a springer.
10:45. Teutel, pronounced "Tuttle".
I'm a chopper guy down to the bone. "Captain America" from "Easy Rider" is close to my idea of perfection, although the Swedish look is very cool too. I have a '94 S&S Sportster currently being rebuilt for me in a generally Swedish style, but not as extreme as Fonda's panhead.
As if he didn't also watch OCC. Yams so pretentious
Although i think choppers are ugly as sin and with no suspension at the back not good comfort respect to you guys still
Springer and girder are synonymous.
@@JosephStanek-jj3uoIn your world, they may be, but for the rest of us they are two different things.
It's a shame that there wasn't even a mention of "Indian Larry". He was a true artist.
Mine was a 1950 Panhead, hardtail, raked and extended 10” over forks. Mini apes. Gloss black peanut tank. Built by me in 1972. Loved it. Sold it for $1900 in 1974.
I loved it so much I couldn't wait to get rid of it two years after I "built" it. I then built a house in 1984 without a roof and the front door as the gate of my fence, but no windows because that's too new school. Loved this house. Sold it for $10 in 1985.
I like stock cruisers with small things like exhaust and lighting changes because I put alot of miles on my bike everyday and the further from stock you get the closer to the house it is
I live in Wichita, KS where Big Dog choppers are made. I respect what they do, but the styling is ridiculous.
They will be speaking of street glides like this in 20 years. Looking at getting a chopper rn
True fact: the only chopper parked at a dentist's office belongs to the dentist.
I own a dental office and ride a sport bike. Even when our parking lot is full, patients will walk in and say they know the bike belongs to me. I have no idea how they know, but they do.
@@diaryofanolddad cause you're the only one that could afford the Ducati Superleggera V4 parked downstairs. 😜
@@kelinryan8222 nah... I ride an rc390 and drive a hyundai sante fe. I live in the most expensive housing market in Canada. I can barely afford to rent a crapy one bedroom condo.
@@diaryofanolddadI’m in love with the rc390
I've been a motorcyclist for most of my life and have never looked at a chopper and thought "that looks dangerous".
Read your comment at the exact moment he said that!
If it started with your great grandpa and never stopped, that’s not a trend.
I swear… people who don’t like and don’t respect chopper culture have no business pretending to educate others on it.
anything without fairings, windshields, and bags/boxes is cool in my book.
OP mentioned Boss Hoss. They really should do a review of Boss Hoss Cycles. It is scientifically proven that motorcycles that have a V8 are awesome.
I own a Yamaha Stryker, and that's as chopper as I want to get. I love it, and I love the style, but it has to be rideable, or what's the point ? To me a softail is the perfect amount of chopper-ness, and the Stryker, and Honda Fury look great to me.
I am a cruiser/bobber guy. Choppers don't really interest me except for the fabrication details. I don't care what the rear tire pressure is, a rigid frame hurts. I grew up around custom motorcycles, built in back yard sheds and garages, not on TV. I love to see nice fabrication of anything, motorcycles, cars, woodworking, but for me, motorcycles should have a suspension in the front and back, as well as brakes. For me, the worst part of the chopper craze is the idea that anyone with a cutoff grinder and a walmart welder can build one. Then they get upset at the local watering hole when nobody appreciates their "heavily customized" 1967 Suzuki 250 Hustler. I am not knocking self expression, I modify my own bike, but some guys shouldn't be allowed to use power tools. At this point, if I see pipes with header wrap, I just assume it is to cover the poor welds on the pipe. I ride quite a bit, usually cross country at least once a year, about the only time I see the "Boss, BigDog, super wambadine choppers is if I happen to be passing through Daytona, Laconia, or Sturgis during a bike week. They are usually on a trailer to get there, they go from the hotel to the bar a half mile from the hotel and back daily. Other than that, they seem to live in the trailer or the garage. I need more versatility than that in a motorcycle.
Interesting. And note that Ariel uses an Öhlins equipped springer front end on their Ace to good effect.
Surely an asset when you track that chopper and make your 25 mile radius turns.
41yrs old. Grew up watching Easy Rider. Built my own rat chopper. Make my own moonshine, grow my own weed...
I see myself as a rare original in a sea of storebought accessories...
"Isn't it uncomfortable?" "Can you do long rides without rest?" "Can it even start?"
-I can make it do anything out of shere will and skill and I do so daily....
Could you cover BRAT motorcycles next? (Bobber/Rat Rod motorcycle)
OCC bike cost $100,000 dollars now it's worth 5,000 dollars if you can find someone Dumb enough to buy it.
I have loved choppers since i saw easy rider and the local 1% club that was in our town. But really think you need to do more homework, the chopper came from returned service men, usually using ex military bikes. It was the 2 wheel version of the hotrod, remove what you don't need and modify to the owners likes. It made it so the owners bike was uniquely a one of a kind bike..
Fortunately, over time, these awkward motorcycles are slowly finding their way back to where they belong, to the steelworks
My buddies and I enjoy riding our choppers quite regularly. Not sure why people who’ve obviously never ridden have to talk smack about them.
Am I gonna take my chopper on a 1,000 mile ride?? Hell no!! That’s not what they’re designed for. Throw a couple hundred miles on it in a day or so running a poker run is nothing out of the ordinary.
Keep hating haters and we’ll keep riding!!!
I remember a cool show called “Cafe Racer” that was part of Cafe Racer Magazine.
Choppers are like lowriders or kustoms…rolling art, but not the most practical. Personally I was a fan of guys like Indian Larry, Billy Lane, and Jesse James as a kid, they’re why I love fabricating and making stuff on my own.
Also the front end modification was for the hills in San Francisco, which is where they were originally called ‘Frisco Style’
I still want to build one, but I probably won’t ride it more than to and from a show or two. Riding a raked out pedal trike was one of the most uncontrollable rides I had ever experienced.
Also everyone hates OCC.
If motorcycles started out looking like choppers they would have been dead as a Dodo long ago....
I literally cobbled together a Honda 250 Rebel off of eBay parts back in the 2000s. It was fun. The guys at worj who road laughed at it with it's sheepskin seat. Then i showed up on my new Sportster after i realized that light slow thing was terrifying on the Verrazzano Bridge in a high wind
IMO Yamaha makes the best “factory” choppers. The Raider(1900cc) and the Stryker(1300cc). They are super comfy, reliable and a blast to ride. I ride a stryker and have been asked “what kinda Harley is that” to which I reply, “the Japanese kind”. Then I giggle till I pee a little. And that’s my cool story l, bro.
Did you forget about Honda and the Fury?
No such a thing as a factory chopper. You have to “chop” a frame of factory bike yourself in a garage to make it a chopper
ITs funny that you just do this video and I am building a chopper right now in my garage for my wifes first bike. We are using a 1982 KZ440 as our starting point and going with a hardtail and airbags under the seat from tcbros
Kawasaki 440 was a beautiful little air cooled parallel twin! My best friend had a 440 LTD while I had a Honda CM400T when we were teenagers almost 40 years ago.
".....*COOLEST* trend in motorcycle history" fixed it for yall
You're to young to understand....it was a '
60's early 70's trend that carried into the 80's with yuppies trying to look cool and fit in and had the money to buy. Choppers were what 1% 'ers rode..60's rebellion stuff, the war counter culture...vets returning home looking for a place to call home fell into mc lifestyles, and custom bikes/choppiers bc they couldn't afford to go shop at an HD dealer and frankly AMF HD wasn't a good time for HD and had poor quality. So they built bikes from the frame up. It was more of a statement of who you were back then that's now bc a statement of money currently..once again its a thing younger people can't or won't understand because they didn't grow up during the times. It's like tuner Hondas vs hotrods/ratrods/muscle cars.
Road just about every style of bike under the sun and I love them all
Choppers are built not bought… i have had mine for over 25 years now… it is my first bike and will always be my first love. The only good thing about the shows in the early 2000s for both of us on a budget made parts a lot more available and cheaper later on.
100% also you have to be a mechanic to keep one running. Fixing shit on the side of the road is something you have to do all the time.
Saw a chopper with a triumph speed triple motor, also a few "backwards buell" choppers with the spicier 1200 before they got scarce.
Buying an OCC chopper would be pretty good for your channel. I grew up watching the show, and would love to see someone test the bikes like you did with the Boom.
I agree. Rich guy should.
Bikes and Beards bought one, it was crap.
I would rather ride a lawn mower
@@slothmarathonpromotions2470 Me too.
@@slothmarathonpromotions2470
I wouldn't be surprised if they had built a lawnmower themed bike considering all the other stupid themed bikes they built.
* OCC fanboys please don't get upset. Not all of their bikes were stupid but enough of them were.
Bikes & Beards bought a chopper that I think had been built on Orange Country Choppers. Some guys paid $80k for this thing and it suuuuuuucked
Choppers was what was cool when I was growing up but I’ve always been a Japanese sport bike guy currently riding a Yamaha yzf600r for 4 years and loving life!!!
my dad in the 2000s had his own conpany in arizona and he built bikes and made it in a magazine he a green and black custom bobber with a springer front end
Rolling artwork. Not bikes. The 2000’s stretched fat tire choppers were some of the dumbest and unrideable abominations on 2 wheels. The classic choppers at least came from something genuine. The Orange County type garbage were just made to cash in.
Hey...that image at 2.33 looks a-lot like the springer I made on my channel???😁
If you’ve ever bottomed out a motorcycles rear shocks just imagine having no rear suspension at all. It’s like riding in a car with the rear axle welded to the frame and the suspension removed. Such a dumb trend.
I find your lack of the Black Widows from Any Which Way but Loose disturbing.
I'm a big Bobber fan myself. But just the look of the choppers of the 60's & 70's have a great look.
I built a Panhead chopper in 1971 and rode it for 2 years. It was cool, but it was totally impractical. Since i wanted to ride and not just profile, i went back to stock and hate choppers to this day.
Gotta love choppers. Not built with a credit card, but built by a builder. The originality woven into the build can be mindblowing, plus you won't lose it in a parking lot like a black Road Glide.
Hang up your Busa keys for a bit, tear into an old 500cc bike and make it yours, you'll love it!
Better still, chop the Busa.
The advantage of the springer or girder is that your average knuckle dragger can build one in his garage out of scrap in a weekend.
I mean, it doesn't have the best ride but I enjoy my honda fury 😅😅😅 it's got cool factor for sure lol
Throwing shade at a Boss Hoss at the end? That bike is basically a chevy smallblock on 2 wheels, and I take comfort that a company will make a bike powered by a chevy smallblock. probably the most understressed motorcycle engine ever.
Hey bosozoku got a shout out. Most people don’t really talk about them in the west. If you want radical and off the wall designs then that’s the bike niche culture to dive into.
1st hells angels clubhouse was at the corner of my street when I was a kid.. They had old shovel heads with suicide clutches
and ape hanger bars.. they 'chopped' the old cop bikes ,, hence , the name chopper.
For my everyday rider I have an almost fully fabricated chopper/scrambler cross built to be ridden hard and still be comfortable over multiple terrain be it blacktop or off road but with a Rat-Rod asthetic (think Mad Max) basically a scrapped together frankenstein of missmatched parts and homemade "rust effect" paint got somewhat raked out front end not too raked meant to be practical out on the trails but still got that look and i just like the jockey shifter built off a Harley Knucklehead bolted in a modified to beyond unrecognisable Indian Chief frame
"Form over function is merely decoration."
I forget who said that, but it is the definition of almost every vehicle ever.
Front brakes work fine on a raked bike. Not sure where that comes from? The law in a great many countries and their provinces/states....require BOTH brakes.... and yet, there are choppers all over the world. Some places you cannot have them... I'm in NSW Australia, and you cannot really have a chopper here, unless it is a survivor bike from before the mid 80s, because after that, you cannot have a rake of more than 550 mm here.... but there's a lot of bikes in other Aussie states which are straight out of the SoCal 60s class of oldskool.... except they have brakes.... because they have to... and people are not pancaking themselves on those bikes at disproportionally higher rates to other custom, or factory for that matter, bikes.
Ditching the front chrome drum, or later, the disc, is a wholly stylistic choice, argued for by those who do it, with the ultra dubious argument that they work poorly on raked ends, and are potentially more of a danger.... but there is not a whole lot of evidence, other than the anecdotal, to back that up, and it has not proven the case in places where you have to have one or the bike wont be road legal.
Same with suspension... it is a stylistic choice, and has nothing to do with how the bike works, or it making anything better, some people are just dumb dumb stupid heads who's smooth brains do not understand things like Softtail frames or Plunger suspension exist. A Sprung seat is fine too. Sometimes though, a sub category of the chop, is the Boneshaker... but these are just moronic machines made by moronic builders... there is no rule you have to ditch the rear springs, and deffo no the front, to be a chopper.
Speaking of front bounce, you showed a girder... which is not a springer.... but both are popular, and leafs too, though it is common as anything to have standard, if raked, forked and suspension set up.... or have the best of both worlds, with something like a modern system, in a classic design like Harmon front ends. There is not real rules. Again, proven by all the choppers in places where you HAVE to have either a sprung seat or rear suspension +plus front. Some places hard tails, rigids, and outright Boneshakers, are illegal AF... but the chopper persists.
Virtually none of the rules, are actually hard rules. Even the frame. You can shoe-horn an engine in to a stock frame, throw on an oversized peanut, dump a well comfy gunfighter on, put a nice Sugar Bear piece on the neck, the only part of the frame you touch to accommodate it, have some wide T bars, throw some classic mirrors on, mid controls, keep your rear springs, give it a slick coat of colours, and stand back.... and you will see it is a chopper, even with front brakes and all. It will ride as well as a chopper that has a chopped frame, hardtail, girder front, no front brake, and no mirrors..... actually, it will ride better. But it will still BE a chopper, and look like NOTHING else, no one will mistake it for a Scrambler or Enduro... or even bikes much closer in DNA, like a Bobber or Digger.
You couldnt be a Born Free, Easy Rider, eating up the highway on that Chop you built..... living the life, scening the scene.... if there were anywhere near as many rules as you make out. Rules are anathema to the very spirit of Chopper life, brother.
I liked your video, especially how the choppers influenced the designs of the recent mainstream motorcycles like the Virago and the recent cruisers. (Any bets on how long Honda keeps their Fury in production? Looks so out of place on todays roads now, but Harley has the Breakout which is chopper influenced too but not as extreme and more tasteful than the Fury.)
Where would you throw Vicla style at- chopper, or otherwise?
Its the Gorilla Handle Bars thing that gets me I can't stand holding my hands over my head to ride
I've loved the chopper look ever since I saw Ghost Rider as a kid lol
I know I'll get backlash for this... but with all the custom built choppers out there, it still makes me laugh to think that when honda made the rune not only did they factory build a chopper that actually worked as a motorcycle (unlike most of the custom stuff), it was also cheap and looked better then alot of the custom stuff. They also almost overnight killed the 2000's chopper craze. Lol
A big part of the problem was it being a Honda. A lot of “chopper” people are Harley because that’s what their friends ride and what’s popular. And typical Honda people aren’t generally interested in riding a chopper.
And, even though it worked really well compared to a lot of choppers it didn’t work as well as a normal cruiser. So, most people are gonna spend the money on the one that rides and works better.
Ultimately I think that’s usability is what really killed the chopper phase. Most of the people buying them weren’t “real” chopper people and were just interested in looking cool and showing off. So, once the novelty wore off they got parked in the corner and left to collect dust.
I'm just glad that I'm not the only one who thinks of "Pulp Fiction" and "Easy Rider" when I think of choppers lol
They're like the motorcycle version of a ratrod.
Those started out as performance upgrades when outlaw bikers were modifying '40s-50s Harleys for their riding style in the '60s. Longer forks gave you more ground clearance for cornering. The one-ups-man-ship started before it even left that sub-group, with longer forks, taller handlebars, wilder custom paint etc. making your bike better than anything anyone else had. Popularity let to more exaggerated builds over the years until they were pure style, form over function, by the late '70s. Most of the builders in the 2000s seemed to have copied all of the bad aspects of the later '70s choppers. People like Indian Larry, Jesse James, and Suckerpunch Sally's got it right.
The chopper at 6:18 is sexy, love the absolute minimalism of it.
No mention of the Honda Fury - the only factory chopper, most practical, best engineered?
Factory chopper is not a thing
Thanks for the knowledge pal 👏🤜
Love, hate, or simply avoid.
That being said, I can appreciate true master craftsmanship even if I fail to understand why it was used on a "motorcycle" that is not intended to be ridden. That is the fun part afterall.
In Hunter Thompson’s book Hells Angles, he claimed they “chopped” their Harleys to get a better power to weight ratio. I’m glad you clarified they in fact do remove the front brakes b/c I was in disbelief lol.
Once you hardtail the bike it rides worse and becomes less reliable. You hardtail a Harley just to make it more esthetically pleasant.
The old Harley front brake they were talking about in that book wasn't worth the effort it took to bolt it back on anyway. Designed in 1929 for bikes that were still expected to see a lot of use on gravel roads, etc. they were not very effective. Then, to some people, "no front brake" became part of "the look" a chopper "had to have."
@@wilburross9709 interesting, thanks for the info
I’ve never thought of them as practical. they are a piece of mobile artwork. Kind of like a low rider.
I’m surprised no one pointed out that the Harley flathead is called a panhead @1:20 in to the video lol 😂
Can you try and review a benelli leoncino 800 trail?
Yes yam, please buy a craigslist crap chopper! You could Do a comparison shootout with the Boom
I didn't hear a word you said, I was looking at all the cool bikes.
I rode a chopper for ten yever! Cb 500 twin. Put together with bungee cords and a vise grip for a shifter.. Best ten years evar!
choppers are art, and art often gets divisive when it pushes the boundaries. Naked bikes and sport bikes do absolutely nothing for me but choppers... rock hard.
Biker build off was excellent
Get to the choppa!!
Harley Softails never used a monoshock in their rear suspension. Arlen Ness almost never built his choppers out of Sportster engines, even your pictures of him show him on big twins.
You better fact-check yourself on the Softail rear... 2018 onwards certainly DID have monoshock... look it up on YT.
@@grantodaniel7053 The video was about choppers and their history long before 2018
@@mjc2ride336 Quote, "Harley Softails never used a monoshock in their rear suspension". There weren't any Softails back in the old days mate, so what are you on about??
Outside of America and other English speaking countries, all cruisers are called choppers, and people have no idea what the difference is.
Really? Don't thinks so.
@@BrokenBackMountains Where are you from?
@@nducation8039 Scotland but live in Ireland. I lived in Lithuania for 12 years and speak the language fluently. Bikers there know the difference.
@@BrokenBackMountains I know the difference too, but sometimes I still call cruisers chopper, cause in my country (Serbia) most people don't know what a cruiser is, because they know it as a chopper. I know that in Poland people do the same.
@@nducation8039 Lithuania a čioperis is a bike that has been chopped with a long rake and kruizeriai are your virago type cruisers. They also use the term boberis for bobbers.
1:21 a panhead? really?
that was the moment i choose to switch to a more serious channel.
This is a flick and throw it away show, imagine presenting photos to someone like this in person.