Topic: choppers, when were they first made ?

[scunny]

when did the "chopper" first appear ?
been looking around and thought I'd throw this one to the wise minds of the forum.

[333]

Depends on your definition.  The first "choppers" were just motorcycles with cut down fenders, or "chopped" fenders.

[754]

 Some of the parts got "chopped" for a look that is now known as a Bobber, full choppers came out in the 60s, where nearly every aspect of the bike got seriously modded.... JMO..

[scunny]

yep early 60's was my guess but have been proven very wrong. by chopper I mean with extended forks etc not bobbed.
earliest photo I have is october 1910, and another going by the clothes the rider is wearing 1930's. sadly my scanner doesnt work at the moment, the later one appears to be outside a chopper builders Acme Choppers and is complete with the jolly roger in the logo. the bike has very long springer forks and  purpose built frame.

[scunny]

here we go.

[CycleRanger]

Bahahahahah!

/shopped, pixels, etc. 

[Hasenkopf]

what is that armband on the helmet-less dude in the last pic??

[Ichiban 4]

here we go.

Those are great pics.  Other than the first one though..the others look like they may have been photoshopped???

Agree with 754..seems what we knew as "choppers" came out mainly in the late 40's 50"s (when I started riding)..we called "bobbers" @ the time.  A lot of the old WW ll surplus bikes were "bobbed"..to get lighter..more maneuverable around city streets..etc. 

A very common "bob job" was to take the back half of hinged rear fenders off of Harley's..add a bobbing ornament to the fender end..strip the front fender off to bare springer fork..take all the guts (speedo..gauges) out of tank center..add simple toggle switches in place..add riser bars (maybe)..respoke front wheel to smaller tire size..put on a cool set of chrome pipes..etc.  That was though the late 50's.

Then in 60's seemed like folks had more disposable income..folks like Big Daddy Roth..et al.. started getting very creative..and what we recognize as true choppers today..were more or less born.

Today..still think the V-Twins look very cool chopped..but my heart's been with Honda/the in-line 4's pretty much since they came out in the late 60's chopped or stock (also have soft spot for Ariel Square Fours chopped..which I had BTW...but are/were not comparable to the Honda's in terms of reliability..etc.).  Much refer to ride stock looking bikes nowadays BTW.

Ichi

[jamesb]

from what i have been told and learned in life. a very famous motorcycle club was the "inventors of the chopper"they where originated in California in Frisco which will come to the meaning of a certain part on the chopper.the bikes where cut and rake for handling on the San Fransisco terrain. the gas tank was modified for milage the petcocks where relocated to the back of the tank the tunnel was filled in to set higher on the bike to show off all the chrome and to allow more gas. the filler tube was moved up further for more gas also, hence the name Frisco style tank. this gave you almost a gallon extra fuel.the frame was copped and lengthend to show the engine off. my dad was a part of this group back in the day he was what they called a nomad member he still has his jacket colors patch what ever you want to call it. i have learned from him about choppers he has had a lot of them. the hells angles wanted to be noticed and show their pride with the bike they was riding, the chopper was just that. it was different and still to this day cool as hell.

[dave500]

they started in germany during world war one.

[754]

 That is not a chopper, its mostly PHOTOchop.. forks came out in 1930, no 16 inch wheels like that then, or tanks..

[Duke McDukiedook]

Naw man, those idiots on that one show invented choppers, duh. 

[6pkrunner]

I had heard that returning WWII pilots and air crew couldn't adjust back into society with the dull lifestyle. They lightened up available bikes by cutting any part that didn't hold any function to driving off of them. So is that the "first" chopper? I'd doubt it. But the extreme raked and too- extended front ends really took of in the mid 60s. And the sky high sissy bars and exhaust pipes offset the front ends.

Angels mid-late 60s



Tom McMullen's Mindbender - second rebuild and the bike that led him to found AEE Choppers.



Early 70's when front ends were still nuts, but pipes receded



And just for fun......

[Magilla]

Choppers first came about after world war II. GIs returning from the war were looking for thrills.  Naturally they turned to motorcycles.  In order to make them faster they "chopped" parts off them.  What was once known as a chopper would now be considered a bobber or if it was chopped in Europe it was a Cafe.

Late in the 60s people started to customize bike and they wrongly became known as choppers.  The peak for this style bike was in the early to mid 70s. Back then if we're to truly be considered a chopper you had to chop the frame to make it a hard tail and chop the neck to rake it.  I bike with an extended front end was not a chopper.

There was an entire culture of people that were into these bike.  Magazines sprouted up and there were even hot rod style stores that sold chopper only items.  My dads favorite was Chopper Parts City.  I spent a lot of time there as a kid.  Just as fast as this movement started it was phased out.  Many of these same people started customizing vans.  In the late 70s it was all about the custom van.

Back in the 90s people started to make custom bikes again. First it was the pro street bikes.  Then choppers came back in.  Then the discovery channel filmed a new show called American Chopper and BAM the chopper revolution started again.  This time it wasn't about what you could do to make your bike stand out.  It became about what you could spend on your bike.  No more we're the guys with hacksaws and welders in their garages.  Instead they were replaced by corporations like OCC, American Iron Works and Titan pumping out mass produced "custom" choppers.

Guys that had never been on a bike but had home equity were spending tens of thousands of dollars to have a chopper that they could tow to Daytona and stand next to for a week.  Then they could go back and tell the guys in accounting all about their exploits.  White collared bikers. And that is the story of the chopper . . . . As I remember it. 

[Really?]

Your all wrong. It was 700 BC.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentures#section_4

[Duke McDukiedook]

Naw man, those idiots on that one show invented choppers, duh. 

Toootalll, or whutever their names are, they invented choppas, yeah.

[Magilla]

In the mid 70s we even had Saturday morning cartoons that had Choppers in them.  Anyone remember Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4KuxEcW2vM

[Don R]

al gore's dad invented them.