Anyone noticed these new FAT tyred choppers around

[MD]

Seem to be some sort of 'real' choppers turning up around Wellytown. Not that I'm into choppers but these things seem to be the real McCoy. Not a Harley hacked up job. They've got a really FAT rear tyre like way bigger than the Rocket. Closest things I've seem to the original Easy Rider look.
Seen two this week when driving around. One must live out North of Johnsonville maybe- he's always heading up the m/w towards Porirua when I see him. They've got a V twin but not a Harley engine by the looks. These seem professionally made.
I can't believe I didn't pay any attention to the guys riding with us at the 2Hot2Handle event who had similar machines. I think theirs were made/sold by some shop out in the Hutt?
Whatever, they look cool and seem to ride along OK- well as good as you can with 2 metres of skinny chromed forks.
Kids will no doubt drool and admire them. No harm in some diversity in our ranks

[Motu]

Big Dog's?

[Falconer]

are interesting in that they have no tyre walls, just the tread that goes all the way to the beads. Interesting if maybe useless.

[Shadows]

Seem to be some sort of 'real' choppers turning up around Wellytown. Not that I'm into choppers but these things seem to be the real McCoy. Not a Harley hacked up job. They've got a really FAT rear tyre like way bigger than the Rocket. Closest things I've seem to the original Easy Rider look.
Seen two this week when driving around. One must live out North of Johnsonville maybe- he's always heading up the m/w towards Porirua when I see him. They've got a V twin but not a Harley engine by the looks. These seem professionally made.
I can't believe I didn't pay any attention to the guys riding with us at the 2Hot2Handle event who had similar machines. I think theirs were made/sold by some shop out in the Hutt?
Whatever, they look cool and seem to ride along OK- well as good as you can with 2 metres of skinny chromed forks.
Kids will no doubt drool and admire them. No harm in some diversity in our ranks

Most of the choppers you have seen around will be running S&S motors, basically HD motors made by somebody else. They aren't the real McCoy though, a real McCoy chopper IS a "Harley hacked up job". That's where the term "chopper" came from. They chopped them down to make them lighter and hence faster and easier to handle. More like buckets than the designer choppers seen around the place today. Choppers aren't by definition supposed to be built from scratch.
The big rake on the designer choppers didn't come until later. I reckon they look really cool, they are works of art, and maybe worth taking for the odd putt down Oriental Pde but I wouldn't want to try to ride one up the 'takas, and they're far too "look at me!" for my liking.

Having said all that, whenever I see one I think "cool!" and then look at my bike and I feel decidedly second class.

Our business deals with the guys on the two choppers at 2 Hot, as far as I know their bikes were imported from the states.
There is also a guy cruising around on a matt black one, he lives up the coast somewhere, his bike was displayed at the same show.
I don't know of any outfit making designer choppers locally but I know of a nice rigid rolling frame with a fat rear end for sale if anybody's interested.

[MD]

Most of the choppers you have seen around will be running S&S motors, .....
I reckon they look really cool, they are works of art, and maybe worth taking for the odd putt down Oriental Pde but I wouldn't want to try to ride one up the 'takas, and they're far too "look at me!" for my liking.

Having said all that, whenever I see one I think "cool!" and then look at my bike and I feel decidedly second class.

.
Thanks. 'S&S, yeah that sounds familiar. I agree, they look cool and it would be fun to have one for special occasions But not sure I would want everyone staring at me all the time and causing a crowd everytime I parked up. (what am I saying, Kawasakis draw crowds now). So sounds like these were one- off private imports rather than someone starting to sell them.

[Waylander]

The original choppers were made from whatever the owners could get thier hands on. Japs, euros, american, whatever. It wasn't till later on that they wanted to become brand slaves. Also back then , they made thier own parts rather than ordering them from a bike shop or catalog.

And doubt they would be private imports unless the owners were imigrants. I know half a dozen shops around NZ that order chopper kits from shops in the states and assemble them here for sale. Or just order the parts and stuff. AMPS being the biggest one.

[Wired1]

What show was this? and where are our bike shows held?

[Motu]

No,the original choppers were ''American'' bikes,some could of even been Indians.After the 2nd WW British bikes were very popular in the US,they were light,fast and handled well,there was no way the big fat local bikes could get near one.So HD brought out the Sportster,a stripped down lightweight,Indian even made a vertical twin.
But there were guys like you and me who couldn't afford a new bike every year....if ever.So they got their old Knuckles and Pans and took the guards off,and anything else they could find - actually they put the front guard on the rear,hence why a DA is trad on a rear guard.The big fat dual tanks were removed and a Sportster tank fitted,or anything they had lying around.The bikes were chopped down dressers.A motorcycle hot rod.By the late '60's it had become an artform,some being built just for looks,not for riding.Harley made their own stripped down dresser then with the Superglide....if you can't beat em,join em.

AMPS sell the Roadrage,a bike they make themselves,using an S&S engine.Check out the Big Dog,you can buy them here,a custom motorcycle with the S&S engine.

[Bonez]

,Indian even made a vertical twin.Wasn't it just a rebadged brit jobby?

[Motu]

Nah,they must of farmed the job out to the Japs - it was mirror imaged,with the timing cover on the left and primary drive on the right,it just looked wrong.I'll see if I can find a pic.

[hunt]

i've seen a harley chopper in the naenae area a few times, isnt there Hutt city choppers or something like that, who are building bikes?

[Bonez]

Nah,they must of farmed the job out to the Japs - it was mirror imaged,with the timing cover on the left and primary drive on the right,it just looked wrong.I'll see if I can find a pic.Bit here about them- http://www.indianchiefmotorcycles.com/1970bike.htm
Parrallel twin Indians, that is.

[Motu]

There is an Indian Enfeild on trade me at the moment http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Motorbikes/Motorbikes/Classic-vintage/auction-58721581.htm

dunno how genuine it is.But the 1949 to 1851 440cc Scout and Warrior parallel twin Indians were there own work.Check out those pictures in my earlier post - they are mirror image....I wonder if they had the Indian left hand throttle to complete the effect?

[hunt]

got a book with a 1959 indian chief built by AMC, with a royal enfield 700cc
engine, apparently AMC were trying to sell it to the police force, the book refers to it as the barstard indian chief, got the indian head on the front guard, lots of tassles, and indian badges on the timing cover, this one primary on the left

[Colapop]

What's the angle of rake like on the ones you guys have seen? I understand that with some of the rake angles on these bikes, you need a three lane highway to dop a three point turn. They'd apparently be crap on the most of NZ's roads...?

[hunt]

What's the angle of rake like on the ones you guys have seen? I understand that with some of the rake angles on these bikes, you need a three lane highway to dop a three point turn. They'd apparently be crap on the most of NZ's roads...?

i've only seen a couple around, nice to look at, but i wonder about the handling as well , not that i can comment to much, i've never ridden one, but for the amount of money they cost there must be some enjoyment for the rider

[Lou Girardin]

There's quite a few Phatail conversions that we've done on Harleys. They use a 240 section rear tyre, same as the Rocket but 18" diameter.
A snip at around $15,000.

[Motu]

You gotta run a right drive box though Lou?

[Lou Girardin]

You gotta run a right drive box though Lou?

Nope, an extended output shaft.
There's two for sale here now.

[ezinnz]

The 300s, 330s and 360s are running right side drives. I think you can stick with offsets on the left up to about 280.

They make for nice show bikes but I've read nothing but bad reviews of the handling on anything above 250.

[madboy]

i've seen a harley chopper in the naenae area a few times, I saw a bloody big chopper at BP naenae when I was filling up weekend before last. Saw it again coming down the feathers side of the takas as I was going back up a little later on. He looked cool, but then he hadn't quite made it to the hairpin by then... I'm not sure if he made it around in one go or not.

[ezinnz]

The Rimutakas are no big deal on a long bike. I've made plenty of trips over there in the last few years. Yes, it's no speed trip but that doesn't bother me.

You'd be surprised how quickly you get used to riding a long bike. Sure feels funny sitting on a regular length bike after a while and especially one that has rear suspension!

[Shotgun]

Ditto Ezi....been on many a long run on mine and thru plenty of twisties as well, if I aint out in front of a group of bikes I'm right up there second or third and the guys I ride with dont muck around.....kinda like driving a big US tank compared to a Jap sports car, aint no way you can compare choppers and stock bikes...always amazes me why some people think a chopper should or can be ridden like a stock bike....weird

The Avon 250x18 is a very sticky tire once its hot, I've had mine right over till the rim was almost touching the road and it never gave way once, pulling off road onto gravel after a good ride will coat the tire in stones...didnt notice the first time, but when I pulled back out onto the road I got showered with all these stones and wondered wtf was goin on...

Hopefully I should have me new scoot back into the 'Number 1' postion in my w/shop within the next few weeks, my 300x18 Avon is going on a 10" wide billet Boyd Coddington 'Junkyarddog' rim. Might go singlesided rear suspension this time to match the frontend.......pics soon