The chopper motorcycle is the expression of individuality. Some people like to build an awesome ride and take it to all the shows but I can't help thinking they're missing the point somehow. Of course, it's good for business and a lot of people buy their rides at shows but the real reason for having a chopper motorcycle is riding on the open road and enjoying the sunsets, the views of the mountains and whatever else you want to see.
There are different ways of building choppers and they really fall into two categories. The all custom made choppers that are completely put together with one-off parts that are hand made which produces a very individual ride but a potential nightmare when it comes to servicing or replacing parts. The other way of building choppers, and this is perhaps the more traditional way of doing it, is to take a standard factory motorcycle and convert this into a chopper using custom chopper parts and a chopper kit that rakes out the front end and provides extended fork tubes that fit over the original stock tubes. The second option is a lot more reliable as you can still use those standard factory parts for servicing and maintenance.
Choppers have progressed a lot over the last 50 years from the basic home made bikes with attitude, with the heavy parts removed or 'chopped' to get a raw, sleek look that was at the start of the revolution but now those style of choppers would probably not pass any government enforced inspection or vehicle safety test. These days choppers can cost quite a few thousands of whatever currency you are buying in! No more home made adjustments and attitude with a hack saw or welding equipment. Choppers of the 21st century are highly advanced and often very expensive as the custom builder does not seem to know where to stop in the competition to become ever more radical.
Wide tires are the current fashion and it is not uncommon to see upwards of 300 series tire kits being fitted or fashioned in a custom shop. However, I tend to take a slightly more conservative approach and only recommend that riders choose up to about a 240 to 250 wide tire as this provides a safer ride all the way up to the top speed of the motorcycle. It is no good pretending that you are going to ride slow when you get your chopper out on the open road. Safety and handling have to be considered to be important factors when building custom choppers. Especially if the style of choppers you go for are the ones you want to ride and not just park up at the next show.
For further reading see our site for Chopper Kits here for Harley Chopper and here for Honda Chopper
Source: www.articlesbase.com
