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Want
a chopper? Build your own
by
Michael Holmes
Motorcycle
chopper kits are a growth industry. But what does that
mean to you and me? Well one thing that we know is that
we will have more choppers to ogle at. There is not a
single day that goes by without more and more pictures
of chopper bikes that have just been finished showing
up in all the motorcycle magazines. Then at the weekends,
when we are on our "hot" rides, we will see
four or five show finish level bikes. There are more choppers
around now than there have been in the last twenty five
years.
Most
of these choppers have been built from motorcycle chopper
kits, the "bike in a box" approach. But hey,
don't knock it! Building your own chopper has never been
easier. There are rolling chassis kits, complete bike
kits, and frame manufacturers give you a multitude of
choice when it comes to take the plunge and buy a motorcycle
chopper kit.
Thirty
years ago, the old school chopper builders had to start
with a stock bike off-the-shelf and literally chop it
to pieces. With the modern chopper kits, there is a viable
alternative to taking the cutting torch to your favorite
soft tail!
Nowadays,
you have a cheap and easier way to build the bike from
the ground up. When you take the cost of buying a new
bike and the expense of chopping it, it works out much
cheaper to start from step one, and your chopper kit.
Instead of tossing away the parts that you'll never use
again, you can start building your own bike with the parts
that you really need. All the parts are included in the
motorcycle chopper kit, along with comprehensive instructions.
One
of the first questions that people ask when considering
buying a kit is how will my bike stand outs from all the
other chopper kits? Well think of it this way, you are
going to buy a chopper kit. A pile of unassembled raw
metal. No paint, no real finish, just a blank canvas.
Is your taste in paint jobs likely to be the same as the
next guy, who buys the very same kit? I don't think so.
What about your taste in bolt-ons, seats, exhausts? Just
because you buy the kit doesnít mean every little
thing has to be just so. That is the whole point isn't
it? It's very easy in this way to build your own custom
chopper from a chopper kit.
Another
big question is, "How long"? The answer to that is as
long as it takes. Even on the kit bikes, which are supposed
to be designed to fit together like a glove, you are going
to run into some snags. It canít be avoided!
If
you want a more concrete guide, try this. An experienced
kit builder (though not a professional) I spoke to reckons
it took 10 full days to build his last chopper from a
kit. For someone less experienced it could take a couple
of days longer. Twelve 9 hour days works out at 108 hours.
Over evenings and weekends, this could drag out to three
or four weeks of living in a pile of motorcycle parts!
So be prepared to literally live the experience if you
are going to take the plunge.
What
about the practical side? Well, there is no substitute
for experience. The place to start building up your experience
with the mechanical side of building to kit bike is with
your current ride. Make sure all you can do the basic
maintenance on your motorcycle, and then start to do some
simple disassembling. Take off the tires, take off the
exhaust, real basic stuff; all of this will help to build
a new confidence in the shop side of things. You can also
get some great videos on maintenance, and even on building
the custom bike of your dreams. Read the books, watch
the videos, and buy the t-shirt! Believe me, all the preparation
you make will stand you in good stead.
If
you really are hopeless at the mechanical side of things,
why not pay someone else to help you build it, or even
get them to build the whole thing for you? The cost of
the kit plus labor could well work out cheaper than buying
a chopper "off the shelf."
And
of course, when that beautiful chopper is standing on
your driveway, and your friends are asking you "Was it
worth it?" you can turn to the chopper, drag your hand
across the flames on the tank and the polished chrome,
turn back to them and say, "What do you think?"
Michael
Holmes is a enthusiast for all thing motorcycle. His website,
http://www.motorcycleparts-accessories-andmore.com,
is a great resource of articles aimed at motorcyclists
of all levels.
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