Buying a Chopper

For getting attention, a padded clown-suit might be cheaper than owning a chopper.

concours said:

Look closely... no wiring, no control cables... that lump has not, nor will not ever go down the road as a functioning motorcycle. The hipsters have done the easy part... then lose interest

Click to expand...

and no exhaust wrap … oops ! Sorry, wrong era …

concours said:

Look closely... no wiring, no control cables... that lump has not, nor will not ever go down the road as a functioning motorcycle. The hipsters have done the easy part... then lose interest

Click to expand...

The hipster got offered more than I had in it by several hundred dollars including $25/hr for "time served", SO I SOLD IT.

At the time I had 3 personal projects going, and 3 client projects in-work. I was NEVER going to keep the chopper.

The "before" chopper had a badly blown engine, which I had already rebuilt. Plus powdercoated frame, chromed springer, and other work on wheels.

I GUARANTEED that the engine would "go down the road", and the rear brake would work if connected to a pedal. The springer forks actually worked just fine.

This project was one of two badly blown engined choppers. My middle son and I started overhauling the engines at the same time, but he joined the army just after we buttoned up the bottom ends...



The other one was not raked and had a bolt-on rear end, so I acquired a proper rear end and built up another rolling project...



Back then I kept 5 or 6 projects going for about 8 years straight out of 14 that I had my shop. People would follow my work and I'd be made offers at various points before finishing, and I'D TAKE THE OFFERS EVERY TIME, as long as it meant $1 profit or more.

One of the main things about building a motorcycle is to avoid building something which might suddenly kill you. Changing the trail on the steering must be done very carefully. If the trail is wrong, the bike might still handle OK, until an unusual circumstance arrives - the bike can deck the rider in an instant.