The Horse

[oddmystic]

For all you guys that like modified bikes, you should check out the new Horse mag.
Its got a couple really neat knucks in it plus another great bike by Chopper Dave.
Pretty cool ****,

dave.


http://www.ironcross.net/preview.htm

[Paquette]

Dave--the Horse has an annual " Smokeout" here in NC every June. You get to see a lot of really neat choppers and bobbers along with the why did they even build that BS type made for TV bikes, but a fun day altogether!!!! Check their website for the dates this year.

[HarleyCreation]

I was a young man in the early 70s and looking back upon that time period my theory is that choppers were greatly inspired by overuse of LSD and that we are now experiencing a prolonged middle-aged crisis "flashback" (i.e. Teutels, etc.).

I'm talking about the crazy lunatic fringe unrideable chopper style and not the tasteful bobber in the tradition of the 1930s TT bike or 1920s hillclimber gem.

But who am I to talk. The chopper crowd is making the big bucks, not guys interested in authentic Harley history....

[INLINE4NUT]

Harley-Creation,
I too being a youngman back then (way old as my youngest would say ) I remember those days vividly! And I too had a few HD- choppers to some degree or another! Soon I realized how beautifull a stock MC of the 30- late sixties was !!! (then the adiction-the need for more than one old MC!!) My first real street machine a brand new 68 XLCH,Hi-Fi Blue after one season torn down and customized1 only a sporty but in retro what a shame! Im afraid I was hooked !!! But those choppers still to this day hold a special spot in my heart! Back then it was a statement,today Im not sure its about anything but money! I look at them and 1.wonder how many really do ride them for any length,and 2. If they are really about anything more than a real huge EGO! But I guess it gives some people work building them, so not alls bad and just maybe one or two may end up being bikers !!


PS:Overuse of LSD was that possible??? Dr Leary where are you !

[Paquette]

Like I said, the Smokeout in NC offers the best of the best old style chopper and bobbers you will ever find in one place. It is also the place where "Indian Larry" crashed and died doing stunts without a helmet. But aside from the morbid BS I try to go every year cause I appreciate the " period Modified" stuff----

[Lonnie]

Just for the record - from "Wikepedia":

"Indian Larry was performing a motorcycle stunt at the Liquid Steel Classic and Custom Bike Series in Concord, North Carolina on August 28, 2004. In the stunt, Larry was standing on the moving motorcycle. The bike began to wobble out of control and he was thrown from the motorcycle sustaining serious head injuries. Indian Larry was taken to the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. He died there on August 30, 2004 from injuries sustained in the accident."

It is worth noting that Larry's style of bike, though categorized as a chopper, is epitomized by a very rideable design. From what I've read, he ran his bikes with 30.5-degree neck angles - truly very rideable in every sense of the word. The accident was not attributable to any design flaw since this was one stunt he had done many times, but was due to a speed too slow for stability.

Lonnie

[Paps]

I wore that ego trip too once. Wouldn't mind owning another over stretched hard tail with no front brake again though. A weekend short putt ride of cource. Real fond memories for me also.

Don't know if the LSD had that much to do with it then but rebellion and hot chicks played a bigger roll for me. LOL !!

Took me years to aquire the stock admiration of a scooter. Will probably stand fast on this ego trip for the rest of my life now. Paps

[INLINE4NUT]

PAPS,
AMEN to HOT CHICKS and Rebellion ! (I think it was the wild women also! ) Of course plenty of partying went with it hand& hand ! Point wellltaken it hasbeen so long and Im so old.....I forgot! Wouldnt I give a few bucks to have that Durfee Gorder back!! It ****ed but sure would bring sweet menories back!!!

[bobdo]

Hey all,
I have to throw my 2 cents in...
I always have to remind myself that nothing is black & white that there are always unlimited values of gray in between. In other words I have to take every person & bike at face value. I have a degree in fine art as well as design. I love the creative aspect of custom bike building & also the factory correct restorations.
I think I prefer the modified bikes best. Anyway, for me seeing a bike modified or taken to the extreme by its owner is just a reflection of that person's personal creativity. Some bikes just plain **** in my opinion, but I'm sure the owner thinks its great & thats what matters. He's the one riding it & taking responsibility for its design safety or lack thereof. Just because I think they ****, doesn't mean that I don't enjoy seeing them go down the road, its actually one of my favorite things to do. In contrast, I have little respect for the purchased, high price tag, buy it & your an instant biker bikes. My favorite bikes are the unrestored bikes with all the years of patina, repairs, & add on personal touches. Those bikes are telling me stories. Enough rambling, time to ride. Bob

[Lonnie]

When I look through old photos of those days (My Lord, it's been over 30 years!), I am reminded of the words from a Rod Stewart song, "Every picture tells a story, don't it?"
Lonnie

[Paps]

How about "James Gang" "Rides Again" Lonnie. Paps

[exeric]

My first bike was a '57 pan chopper with a horse saddle for a seat. I had wanted a chopper for quite awhile and like most people I was influenced by the biker movies like "Bury Me An Angel", and Hell's Angels 67". The movie that really cinched it was "Easy Rider". As you have noticed, it was the media that really had the greatest influence on me, and possibly many others. "Easy Rider" without a doubt, ushered in the custom bike revolution that we see today. There have always been custom bikes going back to the earliest days of motorcycling, but the archetypal chopper that spread from coast to coast can be attributed to that movie. I know that there were raked frames and long front-end bikes prior to "Easy Rider" but that movie made them an icon that many a 1970's era hippster had to have. When "Easyriders" magazine hit the stands I could see blueprint for a lifestyle that had so much more vitality than the the dying hippie movement and I wanted to be part of it.

Ironically, In the midst of all those chopper pictures, "Easyriders" magazine would put in a few pictures of antique motorcycles. Those pictures had a profound effect on me from which I have never recovered. Those pictures gave me an itch that only an antique motorcycle could scratch. I got rid of the pan and found a 1941 EL which started a lifelong love affair with old motorcycles.

Even though I have no intrest in choppers today, I am always mindful of the fact that the chopper movement of the late 60's and early 70's probably saved many of the old bikes around today.

[LouieMCman]

I sold my chopper about 10 years ago. Then of course they became popular again. I built it in the early 80's from swap meet parts from the frame up. It was a '53 with '63 heads, 80" flathead flywheels, 12" over chrome springer, late pan frame with short shocks and struts welded inside rear fender. I got a picture I'll scan and post. I've been looking for the bike to show up at the Smokeout or some such event. And of course I would buy it back for what I sold it for!

Louie

[HarleyCreation]

Interesting comments. Many old bike freaks have a chopper background and were greatly influenced by them and today stand in varying degrees of sober rehabilitation, lingering infatuation, drooling addiction.....

I might be alone in this, but I had better times with girls riding with me after I went back to stock in 1974 and put on a Buddy Seat. My rigid chopper had a tiny (expletive deleted) or "pillion" that was exceedingly hard riding for the passenger. At least I could sit on a Bates solo seat on 6" springs. But then I really wasn't into short bar hops but liked to go way out into the countryside and put on miles and see new vistas and find romantic moonlit hilltops.

Dat was fun!

On the Buddy Seat girls had comfort and thus enjoyed riding more. Not only that, but her body was right tight up against mine with her thighs hugging me. Every stop you'd put your hand down, and well, I won't say any more about that on this family Forum than they didn't call it a Buddy Seat for nothing!

Chopper didn't have that close personal contact but the passenger leaned back more on the sissy bar with the footpegs up high on the top frame rail too.

I'd call one the Milwaukee style of riding and the other the California style. Way different!

That said, I wish now I'd kept my chopper "Hypnos" intact and not dismantled it when I went back to stock in the 1974 riding season.

Hypnos => Cool P.O.S. => R.I.P.

[INLINE4NUT]

HC,
Back in the day the girls that got on the back of my MC couldve cared less about the SEAT it was a RIDE they were looking for !!! In more than one way Long before Cindy Lauper & girls just wanta have fun