Do you consider your Honda a Chopper...

[Rheopipo]

Well... This is my humble opinion and feel free to discuss it...

I consider my ss750 to have a "chopped" look. I dont consider any of the tv builders chopper builders.... they are Custom builders... The term "Chopper" started when people started choppin parts of the motorcycle in order to make them faster they may have started choppin but they are Custom Motorcycle Builders... i guess that is the only excuse for the prices and even worst there are some "builders"that in reality are just assemble a bike! . If we go with this definition of chopper.... well my fenders are made of fiberglas... but all I have done to the thing is take crap out of it, drop it, and will be getting to the motor soon enough...is it a chopper??? People that see my bike are always like "Hey you chopped it" Did you chopped the fender??

If it aint steel it aint real?? Fuck that! I laugh my ass off when I see a Custom motorcycle and the owner staring at my bike and can't beleive that it Is a Honda and I did not had to sell my ass on the street to pay for it... anyway what do you think?

[croach1]

I have always considers a chopper to be a bike that was altered from it original configuration to a large degree and normally not just bolt on items. I agree with you completely that what we see on the discovery channel is a custom and not a chopper. I think a lot of what is being done by members on this board could be considered choppers. I think there are also people like me that have not changed the bike to much, just small bolt on changes and I would not consider that a chopper.

[RAZOR]

yeah i guess would consider my ss750 a chopper,cuz when i first bought it
it was a cruiser and after i took off some parts and now its lower then it was
it is chopped in height..and for sure now with rigid sturts on it is not a cruiser.

[Mr.Sinister]

I think chopper refers to cutting the neck to increase the rake . That does not happen much these days when you can buy raked trees . I think of a chopper as a hotrod . Hotrods and customs are different . The bobber style is more hotrod and the streach the tank and smooth out the seams and hide the wires is custom .

[calicruiser]

hmmmmmmmmmm, tough one to answer! My opinion is that the SS750 could be considered somewhat of a chopper with some modifications. I am sure most old skool guys will say the front end needs to be raked out and the assend sitting low.

[Rheopipo]

man I see your bike and I see a chopper.

[Galager]

chop·per Audio pronunciation of "chopper" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (chpr)
n.

1. One that chops: a vegetable chopper.
2. Archaeology. A crudely flaked core tool, especially one of the early Paleolithic Period.
3. A device that interrupts an electric current or a beam of radiation.
4. Informal. A helicopter.
5. choppers Slang. Teeth, especially a set of false teeth.
6. Informal. A motorcycle, especially one that is customized.

[croach1]

I guess I don't think it needs a raked front with long forks because there were choppers before that was done. Until that guy, I think his name was Denver Mullins, did the long forks choppers did not have them.

I don't know when it goes from one to another, I just tend to belive if it was originally built with the low ride and long front, it's not a chopper. At that point it hasn't been chopped.

[NoizeBoy]

Hmmmm... yeah, I think it's a tough one, and one that I've wondered about before also. I think I prefer the definition involving lots of mods. In that sense, I would call most of our bikes choppers. I'd say certain mods (rear end, forks) are definitely instant qualifiers, but cosmetics are just that.

On the other hand, I think it depends on who you're talking to. To say that you ride "a chopper" is a pretty bold statement. A true "biker" (i.e. old skool nasty tooth-less dirty road warrior from "Raising Arizona") would kick my ass and pop my figs for such a thing. But if you're talking to someone who isn't very bike savvy, "chopper" is the closest thing that they would likely relate it to.

Damn - good question. Here's another - if a chopper scoots in the woods... ah shit. Nevermind.

[Romparoo]

Good question.

I say if you have taken a hack saw to your bike then you could call it a chopper! Of course you might get some really screwed up cut lines, better have a steady hand :laugh4:

If it is cosmetic, like my chrome shaft drive cover, and that is all you have done, then no you don't have a chopper.

My very limit bike knowledge recalls that the origins of "choppers" was one who started pulling off all that cosmetic "crap" to make the bikes lighter and striped down.

[oblivion_twister]

if you've made it yours, what you want, how you want it, then, it's a chopper d/t the fact that you've removed, reshaped and replaced. Mine is almost where I want it. When people ask me I say it's a near chopper.

The best is when someone pulls up next to you in traffic and asks "what is it?". They never believe it's a honda until I point out on the engine case that it is.

[Belac]

but the cafe racers of europe did the same things to their bikes to make them go faster. . . to go 'ton up'. Not choppers though.
The biggest modification to the bike would be the frame. It has to be raked out and the tank stretched to be a chopper in my book.

How the hell should I know, though.

[apache driver]

I don't get too wrapped up in what other folks call my bike, it's a chopper, before I did the springer it was a bobber.
Just doesn't matter to me what we call em, as long as we ride em.
Bikes that are built to look at, are nothing more than art, regardless of the build style.
We've had this conversation a million times in Street Rodding as well, and there is just no wa to come up with a criteria that everyone will agree with, call it whatever you like and to hell with everyone else's opinion.

[TI 3VOM]

I think the general population would see a chopper as a bike with a long stretched out front and a wide back tire. Hell, do a google image search for "chopper" and see what the results are. You even get a couple raked out bicycles. LOL Not sure what page you would need to ge too to see a "chopper" that is a bike with stuff removed.

So, the better question would be, what is the deffinition of "chopper" to a purist. Because to the majority of people, unless it's raked out, it is not a chopper.

[desperado]

I don't get too wrapped up in what other folks call my bike, it's a chopper, before I did the springer it was a bobber.
Just doesn't matter to me what we call em, as long as we ride em.
Bikes that are built to look at, are nothing more than art, regardless of the build style.
We've had this conversation a million times in Street Rodding as well, and there is just no wa to come up with a criteria that everyone will agree with, call it whatever you like and to hell with everyone else's opinion.


HERE HERE, I agree with you Bro. I don't know what anyone calls my bike now that I got more mods done now, and I don't care. I know what I call my bike and that is ...."DARLENE" and thats what I will always call her.

[RescueXJ]

I think the general population would see a chopper as a bike with a long stretched out front and a wide back tire. Hell, do a google image search for "chopper" and see what the results are. You even get a couple raked out bicycles. LOL Not sure what page you would need to ge too to see a "chopper" that is a bike with stuff removed.

So, the better question would be, what is the deffinition of "chopper" to a purist. Because to the majority of people, unless it's raked out, it is not a chopper.

I agree. Chopper to us is customized to the way you want it. A chopper to the general public is a raked out occ bike.

[desperado]

I agree. Chopper to us is customized to the way you want it. A chopper to the general public is a raked out occ bike.


So what are you ridding? NO PHOTOS = NO BIKE

[Romparoo]

:laugh4: :laugh4: So what are you ridding? NO PHOTOS = NO BIKE

Ya, show us some tits!! I mean pics??

[RescueXJ]

I don't have any pictures small enough to upload. Even from my cell phone the file size is too big.

[usbpphillips]

I don't have any pictures small enough to upload. Even from my cell phone the file size is too big.

Click on this link and follow the directions:

http://www.shadowriders.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7020&highlight=resize+pictures

Now, no more excuses Noob. Let's see that ride of yours!!

Oh, and FUCKOFFYOUNOBIKEPICSPOSTINGNOOB!!!,

and welcome to the nut house!!!

[extricator]

Hmmm...I have always considered a chopper as a hardtail, slammed, raked, forkstretched, hotrodded motor, all nonessential crap removed, road running machine............

[Romparoo]

I don't have any pictures small enough to upload. Even from my cell phone the file size is too big.

I had the same problem. I had tp resize mine to 50% tp get them tp upload.

[RescueXJ]

I had the same problem. I had tp resize mine to 50% tp get them tp upload.

Even when I resize the pictures they are still too big. I can't even crop them. The pictures came off like a 10 mp camera. When I say they are huge, I mean HUGE. If I set a picture of my bike to my desktop background, all I get is a small portion of the seat.

I'll figer something out, I'll be at work for another 8 hours.

[wissco750]

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/
This is what I use, you can customize any size you want. You don't want to crop, just resize.

[oblivion_twister]

I crop and resize from my digital camera, usually 90% for an avatar and about 80% for the gallery

[Romparoo]

:break bed You can do it!

[apache driver]

I think the general population would see a chopper as a bike with a long stretched out front and a wide back tire. Hell, do a google image search for "chopper" and see what the results are. You even get a couple raked out bicycles. LOL Not sure what page you would need to ge too to see a "chopper" that is a bike with stuff removed.

So, the better question would be, what is the deffinition of "chopper" to a purist. Because to the majority of people, unless it's raked out, it is not a chopper.

I would only disagree with the rear tire size, until a few years ago there was no such thing as fat rears for cruisers, and choppers have been around since the 60s

[Beaker]

Do you consider your Honda a Chopper...

Yes. I've cut, drilled, tapped, rewired, built parts, used parts not designed for it, had others build parts and I RIDE IT EVERY CHANCE I GET!

[red twizzler]

Dont forget pro street bikes which are the same as customs and choppers. Only difference being shorter front ends. They still have wide back tires and streched tanks and candy paint.:stunned:

[mcvierh]

I'm riding it and it's as close to being a chopper as I can get without doing the hardtail, when and if I do the hardtail then I'll give a qualified "yes" to "Is it a chopper", till then, call it what you will, and I'll still be ride it and be just as proud of what I've done with it thus far.

[oblivion_twister]

my uncle, rode with the scorpions out of Dallas until he could no longer ride a bike. At any one time in his garage were enough parts to build three bikes. Through the 70s and most of the 80s his "choppers" were all raked with very long forks but never lowered the suspension. To him that was just wrong. Course most of his bikes were hard tails and lowering meant more cutting and welding. I'll never forget the day he rode down to our house in San Antonio, fresh custom paint, was walking his bike through the gate to put it on our patio and scraped the tank. This big, hairy tattooed chain and leather wearing hard core biker sat down and cried. That was the last chopper he had. The next bike I saw him on was an evo. Next time I saw him riding it was on pall bearers. The Scorpions do an interesting funeral. If he saw my bike he'd say not even close cause the forks are too short but in the purist's eyes I've chopped off stuff so it must be a chopper.

[apache driver]

Believe it or not, the term "chopper" actually comes from what we now call a T-Bucket! in the late 50s and early 60s when the "Bucket" was created by Norm Grabowski (the Kookie T from "77 Sunset Strip") and quickly became the hottest fad on the street , it was dubbed a Chopper because of the chopped down pickup bed and chopped up frame; the term was applied to bikes by a guy named Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (The Rat Fink) when he saw Denver's extended springer front end at a car show for the first time (late 60s) and the name stuck.
Incidently T-Buckets became T-Buckets and stopped being choppers in the mid 60s when they were first mass produced in fiberglass; then in the 70s they became Fad Ts and then somehow they became T-Buckets again; go figure!

[oblivion_twister]

In the post-World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II) United States, servicemen returning home from the war started removing all parts deemed too big, heavy, ugly or not absolutely essential to the basic function of the motorcycle, such as fenders, turn indicators, and even front brakes. The large, spring-suspended saddles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle) were also removed in order to sit as low as possible on the motorcycle's frame (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chassis). These machines were lightened to improve performance for dirt-track racing and mud racing.
Forward-mounted foot pegs replaced the standard large 'floorboard' foot rests. Also, the standard larger front tire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire), headlight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight) and fuel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel) tank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank) were replaced with much smaller ones.Many choppers were painted preferably all in either flat black or in shiny metallic “metal flake” colors. Also common were many chromed parts (either one-off fabricated replacements or manually chromed stock parts). According to the taste and purse of the owner, “chop shops” would build high handle bars, or later “Big Daddy” Roth Wild Child’s designed stretched, narrowed, and raked (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raked) front forks. Shops also custom built exhaust pipes and many of the “after market kits“ followed in the late 1960s into the 1970s. Laws required (and in many locales still do) a retention fixture for the passenger, so vertical backrests called sissy bars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sissy_bar) were a popular installation, often sticking up higher than the rider's head.
While the decreased weight and lower seat position improved handling and performance, the main reason to build such a chopper was to show off and provoke others by riding a machine that was stripped and almost nude compared to the softer-styled stock Harley-Davidsons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson), let alone the oversized automobiles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobiles) of that time.

[apache driver]

Amen brother...not much cooler than a 6 foot tall sissy bar with a demonic skull on top of it; VIVA ROTH!!!! (RIP) king of the chopper trikes forever!