Old school chopper: does this ring a bell with anyone?

[jellywrestler]

I'm in the middle of a full restoration of this GS1000 based chopper and keen to find old photos info etc on the bike since it was built in 1981 both to assist with the resto and to add to it's history.
Anyone remember it?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Very cool!

[White trash]

No idea but the dude on it looks like you would have 30 years ago Spyda.......

Funky fucken bike though.

I had a CB550/4 Chopper some years back. Not quite as tidy as your GS1000 but different in its own right. Fucken dangerous to ride.

[jellywrestler]

No idea but the dude on it looks like you would have 30 years ago Spyda.......

Funky fucken bike though.


yeah and we've both deteriorated at the same rate, I can restore the bike but having trouble with getting my own self back to the same condition I was 30 years ago.
Have fitted 25 watt bulbs anywhere in the house there's a mirror, a minor compensation for ageing!
bike was built by steve roberts

[slowpoke]

[QUOTE=jellywrestler;bike was built by steve roberts[/QUOTE]

Hmmmmm, I'm detecting a bit of trend here mate.......

And how cool is that square tube exhaust system?! Amazing job to bend it without it distorting and ending up like something I'd do.

[Ronin]

Tell you what... Those keys you can see in the first image could do some damage.

[Katman]

No idea but the dude on it looks like you would have 30 years ago Spyda.......



Nah, too many clothes on.

[sidecar bob]

Nah, too many clothes on.

And his pubic hair isint on fire. Anyone that has been to Cold Duck knows what i mean.

[AllanB]

Very cool - love the exhaust, lots of work there.

Can you post some more 'as is' photos.

look like Kawasaki wheels and brakes to me.

[Rcktfsh]

Whats the monocouge constructed from?

[caferacer2]

the guy on the bike is Earl Garr

[jellywrestler]

Very cool - love the exhaust, lots of work there.

Can you post some more 'as is' photos.

look like Kawasaki wheels and brakes to me.
yamaha brakes yamaha wheels will do some more piccies at some stage

[jellywrestler]

Whats the monocouge constructed from?

monocoque is sheet metal

[munster]

How dd you get hold of it? Looks like it's been sitting a few years givent he rusty chain & sprocket.

Would love to see it fully restored.

Will be a fun project I'm sure.

[The Pastor]

That is a cool project, i reckon it'd look awesome all blacked out.

[jellywrestler]

How dd you get hold of it? Looks like it's been sitting a few years givent he rusty chain & sprocket.

Would love to see it fully restored.

Will be a fun project I'm sure.
It took me 16 years quietly tracking it down yep it's been left to nature for a while but restoration is coming along nicely. A lot of work but after just restoring another bike to factory specs it's quite good to have a bit of a freehand on this one

[bistard]

Hows that special branded paint going???
The restore back to factory specs,mmm,a bit like my standard black piper


It took me 16 years quietly tracking it down yep it's been left to nature for a while but restoration is coming along nicely. A lot of work but after just restoring another bike to factory specs it's quite good to have a bit of a freehand on this one

[BIG DOUG]

And now you no why people build custom bikes it's the "freehand " aspect of it being creative thinking outside the square.

[twinbruva]

And now you no why people build custom bikes it's the "freehand " aspect of it being creative thinking outside the square.

Or if you live in Christchurch and really want to shake them up, think INSIDE the square.

[twinbruva]

I'm in the middle of a full restoration of this GS1000 based chopper and keen to find old photos info etc on the bike since it was built in 1981 both to assist with the resto and to add to it's history.
Anyone remember it?

It looks very much like a chop I encountered on Auckland's North Shore in the early 90's. Where did you find it? It went like a cut cat and I think he hung out with the Anglo's for a while. Not that they liked it being there mind you...........

[Winston001]

Nah. Nah. Nope. Can't be done. :weird:

A chopper is a twin. Built around a Harley or Triumph frame and motor. Or on rare occasions a Guzzi.














But ok.........nice project :niceone:

[twinbruva]

Nah. Nah. Nope. Can't be done. :weird:

A chopper is a twin. Built around a Harley or Triumph frame and motor. Or on rare occasions a Guzzi.


But ok.........nice project :niceone:



You sound like a good bastard (South Island talk for 'an ok guy'). I prefer the HD idea but looking around this site it's hard to see where people are really coming from. I'm a dyed in the wool, American V-Twin fan from way back. I can tolerate British vertical twins but real motorcycles don't have a heart without a carb, pushrods and that V-Twin configuration. Period.

[White trash]

You sound like a good bastard (South Island talk for 'an ok guy'). I prefer the HD idea but looking around this site it's hard to see where people are really coming from. I'm a dyed in the wool, American V-Twin fan from way back. I can tolerate British vertical twins but real motorcycles don't have a heart without a carb, pushrods and that V-Twin configuration. Period.

Actually, real motorbikes have two wheels and a motor. That's the criteria by definition. Period. Best you get back to the midwest USA in the 70's me thinks.

[ital916]

Bah Humbug, anything can be a chop...singles, twins, fours, rotaries, v8's. The motor doesn't matter.

Look at the photos of the dudes from the 60's and 70's, they chopped everything and anything as long as (white trash put it well) it had two wheels and a motor.:yes:

[Subike]

Bah Humbug, anything can be a chop...singles, twins, fours, rotaries, v8's. The motor doesn't matter.

Look at the photos of the dudes from the 60's and 70's, they chopped everything and anything as long as (white trash put it well) it had two wheels and a motor.:yes:

all good till some stupid fools decided their factory could produce them better.
lazy bikers bought them their thousands, I think they called soft tails, not bad for a tractor designed to carry a fat ass over flat ground at no More than a walking pace...

but i digress, a chopper is that, chopped changed made as cheaply or as expensive as the builder decides, always a one of, and alway cool, no mater how rough or refined.
its all the expression of the builder.

[MeHigh]

Subbike u know squat!
Hardtail or softail a chopper is somthin' else. And the softail was made to look like a hardtail not like a chopper (wtf???)... gizzzz....

[Subike]

yup know fuck all

:yes:

[twinbruva]

Actually, real motorbikes have two wheels and a motor. That's the criteria by definition. Period. Best you get back to the midwest USA in the 70's me thinks.

I'm on my way....................brrrrmmmmm

[twinbruva]

Bah Humbug, anything can be a chop...singles, twins, fours, rotaries, v8's. The motor doesn't matter.

Look at the photos of the dudes from the 60's and 70's, they chopped everything and anything as long as (white trash put it well) it had two wheels and a motor.:yes:

Some were cool, some weren't.

[sidecar bob]

You sound like a good bastard (South Island talk for 'an ok guy'). I prefer the HD idea but looking around this site it's hard to see where people are really coming from. I'm a dyed in the wool, American V-Twin fan from way back. I can tolerate British vertical twins but real motorcycles don't have a heart without a carb, pushrods and that V-Twin configuration. Period.
I had the extreme misfortune of having to do a WOF on a '76 Harley 1000, sportster last week.
What a tragic pile of scrap, no brakes, dragging clutch, Bedford truck gearbox, Mack clutch pull & a pile of reciepts for more than it was worth.
How the hell did they sell that garbage against the likes of a CB750 Honda at the time?
"Tradition" & "hard men" i guess.

[Subike]

How the hell did they sell that garbage against the likes of a CB750 Honda at the time?
"Tradition" & "hard men" i guess.

more like the fact the bikes came from the "little yellow fuckers" who killed so many of their men in the war,
American men had a strong hatred for anything jappa
a badly manufactured Harley was better to turn up at the local bar on than a perfectly tuned jappa,
social stigma against jappas was the hardest thing the jap bikes had to get past.
so a oil dropping trumpy, or a "fall apart" Harley was preferred by patriotic yanks

thus choppers were sometimes just built to be different from the norm, or just because all the "spare" un necessary parts had simply fallen off!

[MeHigh]

Subike u didn't get my drift: softail is a reply for a hardtail not for a chopper! A chopper is a reply for a full dresser. That doesn't have anything to do with american or jappa.
Sidecar Bob, if u had that kind of "misfortunes" u definitely are not in the right place! Just give up! Change u'r job! An 76 Ironhead is a thing o beauty even for the most purist of the mechanics... obviously not for u so just give up! Is a mystery how the fricking hell they hire u guys!
Anyway u just have 2 see if we have lights and shit! Was that Ironhead that slow on blinking? Jizzzsssss... Where r u based?

[Bonez]

thus choppers were sometimes just built to be different from the norm, or just because all the "spare" un necessary parts had simply fallen off!Or just been removed to reduce weight. A lot of ex-military stuff was put into use. You could get them for next to nothing, rip all crap off, pull a bit more off,a repaint, a few additions here n' there and pesto!! Of course some removed what meager rear suspention there was, removing the swing arm and welding or bolting a triangulted portion tubing or box section to the existing frame and attaching the rear wheel to it-aka hardtail. Some manufracturered a new frame for the purpose or chopped (hence the term chopper) and changed the existing one so much is nothing like the original, just like the one in Subikes pics(fuck that's hideous;). Hell you can buy complete frames and bolt whatever donk in it you like. Softtail is just a term to refer to a rear swinging arm setup that looks like a hard tail where the shocks are usually in a horizonal arrangement under the frame.


Good project there Spyder. Well done.

[koba]

Was it built before or after the monocoque racebikes?