Here in the Arizona area there are many motorcycle rides.
But there’s quite a difference between a motorcycle ride and an exclusive Chopper ride. Sure, Choppers have their admirers and their detractors, but one thing’s for sure when a group of Choppers get together for a ride they attract a lot more attention and admiration from the General Public then a bunch of stock motorcycles.
A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs radically modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified (“chopped”) or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames (frames without rear suspension), very tall “ape hanger” or very short “drag” handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheels. The “sissy bar”, a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.
Two famous examples of the chopper are customized Harley-Davidsons, the “Captain America” and “Billy Bike”, seen in the 1969 film Easy Rider.
The millennium began with the cable TV network The Discovery Channel creating a number of television shows around several custom bike builders who built choppers. The first, the 2000 special Motorcycle Mania, followed builder Jesse James of Long Beach, California, and is credited with creating “a new genre of reality TV” around choppers.
The celebrity builders featured on the cable shows enjoyed a large following. Companies like Jesse James’ West Coast Choppers have been successful in producing expensive choppers, and a wide range of chopper-themed brands of merchandise such as clothing, automobile accessories and stickers.
The American Chopper reality television series featuring Paul Teutul Sr, and his sons Paul Jr. and Mike, ran six years starting in 2003, and featured bike building at Orange County Choppers (OCC).
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