Choppers - Motorcyclepedia Museum

[ihrescue]

Hi Folks:

Here is the latest YouTube from the Motorcyclepedia Museum. This edition is dedicated to the chopper.

https://youtu.be/SLnSpgx_biQ

Mike Love

[ChiefTwoKicks]

Pretty cool examples from the Ted Doering collection. He says that the chopper craze started in the mid-sixties, with wild paint jobs,long front ends, and king/queen tall back seats. All True. There was also a heavy influence from the Frisco HA club guys. There is several photos that made LIFE Magazine, which offered a glimpse of the newly created phenomena. I had a '36 knucklehead, back in the mid-sixties.
Here's a pic . No one else around was riding choppers with rear suspension back then, rigid frame Harleys were the order of the day. I had never seen a knucklehead in a swing-arm frame. So I put a spacer under the front motor mount and this is what I came up with. I'm sure others have done this, but I've still never seen another. If anyone has a pic as an example, I'd like to see it.

my knucklehead,1968.jpg

C2K

[Rubone]

Here is a 47EL I put in a '64 frame in the winter of '73 for my then wife. It was built up as a so called 68" engine. EL flywheels with shortened 74 cylinders bored .060 over for a 3.5 X 3.5 bore and stroke. Picture is the top of the Beartooth on the way to Canada. My '56 Shovel topped 88 stroker behind it.

[RichO]

I've wrote several articles on early modified motorcycles for an English magazine titled Greasy Kulture. I've found several early customs built in the very early fifties in the letters section in early Cycle magazine. Even up until the mid to late sixties many (and I'm not talking about Bob Jobs, no rear flap, front fender, but still 3 1/2 gal. tanks) had short glides or springers up front, small British tanks and rear fenders with short low bars. The HA's in the sixties from Frisco rode a lot of mostly stock XLCH Sporties beside the friso'd tank longer forked big twins. Real long bikes on the west coast were mainly a SoCal item with several different styles. The Long Beach boys liked the long girder forks and the South Bay boys likes the long springer like Dick Allen's. The boy's back east had their style too. Then the slugged forks and bolt on fads started. Honda's, British twins, etc. with no rake and long forks. Show bikes went nuts and over the top. Crazy times. 1970 and I had a '57 straight leg with the spacer up front, '47EL motor, I" neck rake and a Wayne 18" over girder fork, jockey shift, suicide clutch pedal, spool in front, mechanical rear. Narrow, long, low, fast, and handled like it was on rails. oh, to be dumb and young again.

[Rubone]

My '39 Knuckle chopper in '71


Then I got a bit fancier


But by a couple years later I was done with choppers....

[ChiefTwoKicks]

Thanks for sharing the photo, Rubone. I've been waiting a very long time to see another one. I knew somebody had done the frame swap. very nice.
During my chopper days, I never had a front brake or fender. Even today, I rarely use the front brake... they couldn't stop you anyway. That shovel has some pretty beefy front brakes you got there...did you use 'em much ?

Rubone... what caused you to get involved with antiques, back in the day ? That shovel is a pretty cool, and I bet it was a hot rod too, eh ? and a long way from anything like a restoration.Your knuck looks pretty well ready for the dance, too.

pics... '46 Chief, first Indian, 1970.; fast forward,28yrs...my '47 Chief, along side my friends airplane, I didn't know the colors were so closely matched. Taft,CA airport,1999.Visalia M:C swap meet.jpgHPIM1436.jpg

I'm not good about taking pictures, I should have paid more attention to preserving evidence. I only have around 50 pics, in my collection. Way more fishin' pics... bikes, not so much.

C2K

[craig (DE)]

Pretty cool pictures Rubone! Thanks for sharing!

[ryan]

Rubone,
Thanks for the pictures! Do you still have any of those bikes?

Thank you for the pictures as well, Chief Two Kicks! By the way, Great name! Lol

[jamesgraulty]

Speaking of choppers, this is my '69 XLCH I acquired in 2004 from the family that originally did the build in the 70's. I'm preserving it exactly as it was when finished, which is documented by the painter's logo on the tank dated 9-26-77. I run it periodically for bike nights, shows, etc. and it was on loan to National Motorcycle Museum a few years ago for their Chopper Story exhibit.

IMG_0618.jpgIMG_0617.jpgIMG_0740.jpg