What exactly is a Chopper?
The definition is fairly flexible, varying from one region to another, but in general, a Chopper is a customized minimalistic design of a motorcycle with essential parts to make it roll on the road. Within the motorcyclist community, there's a group of enthusiasts who like to get back to the basics. They want to ride bikes that are powerful, fast and stripped down to the bare essentials. They might take an existing bike and tear it apart, or they might start from scratch to build a bike to their own specifications relieved of excess weight by removing parts, particularly the fenders, with the intent of making it lighter and thus faster, or at least making it look better in the eyes of a rider seeking a more minimalist ride giving birth to the ‘Chopper’.
A quick look at the past...
The history of the chopper begins shortly after World War II. Many of veterans removed the front fender from the bikes. The rear fender often came in two pieces the soldiers removed the rearmost section. They called the new, shorter fenders "bobbed" fenders, and so people who rode bikes with these sorts of modifications were called bobbers. Movies like "Easy Rider" and "The Wild One" brought choppers to the public's attention. In the 1980s, motorcycle companies like Harley-Davidson began to offer what they called custom bikes, mass-manufactured motorcycles based off the most popular chopper designs. Coupled with an economic recession, this move nearly made chopper culture go extinct. It was only in the mid-'90s that custom bike shops began to flourish again, and today the culture is as strong as it ever was.
Formed in 1999 Orange County Choppers (OCC) has distinguished itself as one of the world’s top builders of custom bikes. The machines being build at OCC are custom motorcycles that are hand crafted by the trio - Mikey, Paul Junior and Paul Senior, or best known as the Teutuls family from American Chopper. Chipzilla, the bike from OCC as contracted by Intel to build a state of the art motorcycle using the baby blue Intel theme logo is the highest tech bike in the world with a 250-horsepower workstation on wheels, unveiled simultaneously in meat space and Second Life in honor of the Xeon 5300 series release, probably sports more digital kit than Sturgis or Laconia have ever seen, including either a quad or octo core chipset, removable UMPC that doubles as a virtual dashboard, rear-facing cameras to replace the mirrors, full audio and video capabilities, GPS ofcourse, and what sounds like a 3G data connection.
1. Chopper Frames: To get its monster look, a chopper has to have the right frame. There are two main kinds of frames used in choppers: hard-tail frames and soft-tail frames. A hard-tail frame is a solid frame with no rear wheel suspension system. Hard-tails have the classic lines that chopper enthusiasts love, but they tend to give very bumpy rides. Soft-tail frames have rear-wheel suspension, meaning the frame comes in two major pieces. The front part of the frame is where the engine, transmission, fork and handlebars is mounted. The rear section is where the rear wheel is mounted. The two sections are connected together using bolts, brackets, spacers and other equipment, depending on the frame's manufacturer. At the front end of the frame, whether it's a soft-tail or hard-tail is where the fork assembly is mounted. The fork assembly is the part of the bike that connects the front tire and handlebars to the frame. The fork assembly also includes the front wheel suspension system, which usually either uses springs or hydraulics.
2. Chopper Rake and Trail: The rake is the angle formed between the neck on the frame of a bike and a vertical line. The bigger the angle, the further out the front wheel will be from the frame. The distance between the points where the tire makes contact with the ground and a vertical line from the center of the front wheel's steering axis to the ground is the bike's trail. Trail is measured in inches, and in motorcycles should always be a positive number, a negative trail means an unstable ride. Trail is important, too little or too much trail and the bike will be sluggish or even impossible to control. The ideal trail length tends to range between 3.5 and 6 inches.
3. Chopper Engines: Bike builders have a lot of choices when it comes to engines and how to mount them. Engines come with names like Evo, Twin Cam, Shovelhead, Panhead and Knucklehead. Some engines work better with certain frames, in fact, some frames are designed specifically to hold a particular engine. Builders have to be aware of an engine's dimensions to make sure they have the right amount of clearance in their frame once they've installed all their components.
4. Chopper Transmissions: Transmissions sit behind the engine and come in four-, five- and six-speed varieties. Most modern choppers use either five- or six-speed transmissions, only older choppers or bikes designed to look like vintage models use a four-speed transmission. The transmission powers the drive system for the chopper, which is either a chain system or a belt system. Chains and belts connect one side of the drive system, the transmission, to the other side, the rear tire. Transmissions only provide power to the rear tire; the front wheels aren't powered. A small sprocket in the drive system turns the chain or belt at the transmission end, which then turns a larger sprocket at the tire end, making the tire move. Most choppers use an open primary system, meaning the belt or chain isn't covered by housing or casing, it's left out in the open for all to admire.
Syed Tauqueer Eqbal Husain
[III Year]
