The Rise and Fall of Choppers

Comments · 2.1K

• SE

  @seanmakesthings · 2 years ago

  Orange County Choppers was such a low point in Chopper history

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• JO

  @johncartwright8154 · 2 years ago

  Old English geezer here. I was a Mod, riding a Lambretta LT175 with loads of lights and mirrors, and a tank aerial (with de riguer foxtail) that caused police to ask me to remove it as it was so long it was a hazard to other rode users. I saw &apos;Easy Rider&apos; when first released and bought an ex-GPO (Post Office) BSA Bantam 125cc and put Ape-hangers on it. Unfortunately I didn&apos;t think to install a &nbsp;longer throttle cable, so on first ride of this &apos;customised&apos; sled, turning the bars to the left opened the throttle wide and I fell off.<br>I was such a twat in my youth.

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• MA

  @matthewmarquisee238 · 2 years ago

  One of the best things about this video is the narrator. It&apos;s a real human instead of a robot voice.

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• WI

  @WitchcraftCycleWorks · 2 years ago

  Some of us are still building choppers just like it all began. We take a perfectly good, stock bike, and cut, chop and rake it. No huge budgets, no professional garage setups, no sponsorships. Just old school do it yourself choppers.

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• NI

  @nickchapman8474 · 2 years ago

  It&apos;s insane that no one else is saying that 97% of having a motorcycle is because it looked cool. That&apos;s why choppers exist. They look cool, and people like looking at cool things.

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• JU

  @judih.8754 · 2 years ago

  Indian Larry has been gone for 20 years now. &nbsp;He was a great builder and quite the character.

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• BR

  @browngreen933 · 2 years ago

  You never mentioned the biggest influence on the radical choppers of the 1960s- 1970s -- LSD

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• US

  @user-KrackerJack · 2 years ago

  Indian Larry&apos;s bikes were more ridable then the other &quot;choppers&quot;

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• BR

  @briandauphinais7894 · 2 years ago

  In 1969 when I was 10 years old, I saw a guy in my neighborhood on a chopper wearing a bandana and an army jacket. As he stopped at the stop sign in front of me, I took a mental snap-shot and knew... I would someday be a &nbsp;rider. &nbsp;Excellent video, thank you!

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• PI

  @pirateatfourty · 1 year ago

  hell i have owned my pan head choppers for over 50 yearrs, &nbsp;they still look brand new i built them in the &nbsp;early 70&apos;s &nbsp; &nbsp; but i used to be able to buy a panhead for 600 dollars back then, i have a old 57 pan i bought &nbsp;that is a flh full dresser with sidecar for 750.00 sits in my shop i do not think it even turns over anymore, but my leg is is not as strong as it used to be, harmon frames back then were the frame of choice and of course a sugarbear &nbsp; front end, &nbsp;i used to do a lot and i mean a lot of airbrush work &nbsp;on them built for a lot of guys in the central valley of calif, my back wont handle a hardtail anylonger

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• NI

  @Nicoya · 2 years ago

  I think you missed the main seed of the chopper movement: the high bars, upright seating position and raked forks were all originally modifications aimed at improving highway / long ride comfort. Of course they quickly wrapped around to being incredibly impractical for those very same highway miles as people took things to absurd extremes, but it does nonetheless root the choppers in a practical adaptation of the motorcycle&apos;s fundamental form, the same as the cafe racers, scramblers, and so on that you mentioned.

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• TA

  @taurbaby · 2 years ago

  Always loved the look of the skinny choppers of the 1970s...with the weber carb sticking out the side!

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