Why??? I wanted something I could afford. It had to be simple, narrow profile and light but still with enough power to go on our chopper runs and be used comfortably on medium trips one or two up...
Front brake doesn't work, no mufflers and seat had it and rear guard and taillight assembly just about fallen off... but who cares!.. we don't want those things anyway!
My five foot four can't reach the groun except on tippy toes... typical road bike.
What is the purpose of this project?
I often hear it said... "I can't afford a chopper." "I don't have the tools or knowledge to build one."
Well that ain't true and here I'm going to show the unconvinced how to go about it early 1970's style...
This bike is not currently rideable... but a day would probably have it on the road as is.
Often young lads in the 70's would buy a bike to get to work or trade school, and chop it progressively in between using it as their only transport. An apprentice hardly got enough to live on, so his first chopper was a budget job, moslty done by himself, with the help of mates and the occasional shop.
So we will treat this project initially as though weekends are the only time we can work on it.
I'll also be a bit critical of some of the modern approaches to chopper building and chopper accessories as a way of emphasising what we were about... no offence intended as you should build what you like... BUT this is about an early seventies budget approach...
So what did we 70's boys try to do?
Well as the poem goes... "A stocker just ain't cool..."
So we turned our stocker into a chopper as quick as we could.
What in essence is a chopper?
1. Seating position is lowered with a thin seat, by lowering the seat rails and struts or shortened shockers and when we can afford it, a 5"x16" back wheel (couple of inches smaller diameter than the standard 4x1),
2. Bike is lightened, trimmed, narrowed and 'cleaned up' by removing anything that doesn't make it go better.. indicators, side panels, centre stand, big seats, mudguards, large head and tail lights, instrument clusters, panniers carrieres etc
3. Front end get jacked up by 21" front wheel (not so common in Oz in early 70's cos they were not common on trial bikes) or 4" or 6" slugs to extend the fork tubes. We couldn't usually afford to rake the neck initially. That often came on our next chopper or once we had everything worked out.
4. Hand grips are raised with ape hangers, T bars or Z bars so we can sit up straight and look at everyone envying us... and check out the chicks with out hurting our neck! Bars are also a quick way to make our bike stand out as NON stock. Seventies bars were all narrow so we could slip between cars, ride over foot bridges and down walking lanes if need be... not these wide 90's monstrosities!
5. Choppers are all about the motor, so the stock tank gets trashed and replaced with a smaller one or gets raised,
6. Rear guard gets bobbed and a small tail light goes on... the cut off look is another essential chopper part. [Just as an aside, the Harley bobtail fender was made by the HD factory aAFTER the chopper craze was mature as a copy of Ness's Digger's... straight line solo rocket sleds and isn't old school or 70's classic chopper at all!]
7. Because it's our only transport, we attach a sissy bar to tie our lunch, spare parts we collect, sleeping bag, box of beer etc... and so the girls don't fall off the back... and also they want to come again and again!
Well that's CHOPPING seventies style mate! Didn't use an axe like in the next pic and 4" and 5"angle grinders didn't exist so it was the humble hackwaw and cold chisel
So what did the average lad do when he got his bike home or the bug hit him?
He wheeled the bike out onto the drive (Dad's car was in the shed!) snipped the indicator wires and unbolted the indicators and ripped off the side covers. He pulled off the shockers and stuck a block of wood between wheel and guard, pulled off the thick seat. He then sat on the now lowered bike and held up a pair of high bars. Well by the great Purple People Eater! My feet now touch the ground!
That's enough for tonight. This post will be done in fits and starts as I have stacks to do at the moment.
So to restate, my aim is to show you how you can, with few dollars and not a lot of skills, chop a bike a bit at a time...
Hope you get some encouragement, learn a few things or at least get some amusement from this Suzuki chopping exercise.
... and what will I do with it when it is done?
Aim is to have a nice neat light little chopper that interstaters can ride when they come over and the occasional enthusiastic non rider can learn to ride on and hopefully become a chopper fanatic too!!!!!
... go Prof's can't wait to see it finished .
