While all choppers are highly customized bikes, sometimes even being built from scratch using all custom parts, not all customized bikes are choppers. In Europe at roughly the same era that choppers were invented and popularized in the USA, bikers modified their bikes (primarily English brands like Triumph, BSA, Norton and Matchless) in a different way, to achieve different looks, performance goals and riding position. The resulting bikes are known as café racers, and look very different from a chopper.
Max Schaaf – Chopper Ride Oakland CA
American Ironhorse Texas Chopper motorcycle
Some of the earliest custom choppers were built in the late 1950s by members of the Road Regents MC (motorcycle club) in the Los Angeles area.
As the popularity of choppers grew, in part through exposure in movies such as the 1969 classic Easy Rider, several motorcycle brands took note and began to include chopper influenced styling in their factory offerings. None of the factories were willing to go all out and do things like abandon rear-suspension to achieve the classic chopper look, however. As a result, these bikes were given the name “factory customs” and are not considered choppers.
Big Dog k9 motorcycle
Over the decades since the first choppers were created many different trends and fads have taken hold and held sway, so that it is often possible for someone to look at a chopper and say that it’s a “1970s” style or fits into a specific era or sub-type. Some contemporary builders specialize in building choppers that very exactly fit into these styles, they are frequently referred to as “old school” style choppers.
Nothing wrong with liking old bikes. I like the old bikes. But all of the Choppertown video stars are a bunch of hipsters. Anti-mainstream is now mainstream. I thought Max was a cool guy until I read his blog. Typical hipster. Anti mainstream but still shops at the Apple store. Once you reach a certain level of celebrity you need to keep your mouth shut. Liberal political views make you sound like an idiot. The definition of a hipster: someone trying to be different by being like everybody else.
Nothing wrong with liking old bikes. I like the old bikes. But all of the Choppertown video stars are a bunch of hipsters. Anti-mainstream is now mainstream. I thought Max was a cool guy until I read his blog. Typical hipster. Anti mainstream but still shops at the Apple store. Once you reach a certain level of celebrity you need to keep your mouth shut. Liberal political views make you sound like an idiot. The definition of a hipster: someone trying to be different by being like everybody else.
i can’t tell if this is a parody or serious?