Just got into Hot Bike Bagger!

[dipshit]

and the look ugly/silly to boot.. they just look wrong

Surely you jest..??

No, Americans must have the most tackiest poor taste of anybody in the world. It is truly mind-boggling the crap they can come out with! Yet they think they are sooo cooool.

[peasea]

Surely you jest..??

No, Americans must have the most tackiest poor taste of anybody in the world. It is truly mind-boggling the crap they can come out with! Yet they think they are sooo cooool.

"Most tackiest"? Cringe, terrible English, however; you have to hand it to them for sticking their collective necks out, even if a few do get shot to shit from time to time.

I know the shuttle has gone bang once or twice but it's still an awesome concept and they get that right more than they get it wrong.

I'll agree with you though; they do tend think a lot of themselves and generally speaking they're aren't the brightest buttons on the cardigan are they? Not very resourceful or ingenious in the main and when it comes to custom motorcycles their bikes often look like the bike down the road because all the parts came from the same store. Making shit is where it's at.

[dipshit]

I know the shuttle has gone bang once or twice but it's still an awesome concept and they get that right more than they get it wrong.

I remember watching a biker build-off on sky once... an American, an Englishman and an Australian. The Aussie and English guy were real talented craftsmen hand beating stainless steel to a flawless finish etc. The American used heaps of bog filler on his bike. :slap:

The other two builders looked closely as his bike at the show and muttered "how on earth did Americans ever manage to land on the moon?"

[cowpatz]

Big, loud and in your face...America 101.

[peasea]

I remember watching a biker build-off on sky once... an American, an Englishman and an Australian. The Aussie and English guy were real talented craftsmen hand beating stainless steel to a flawless finish etc. The American used heaps of bog filler on his bike. :slap:

The other two builders looked closely as his bike at the show and muttered "how on earth did Americans ever manage to land on the moon?"

I remember that. The tank was aluminium (or aluminum if you're American) and you're so right about the finish. The Yank bike was a bunch of parts off the shelf etc. That Ozzie bike shoulda won hands down and I could see great merit in the Pommy machine.

It was all about bling, not talent, on that show!

[dipshit]

It was all about bling, not talent, on that show!

That's American wank culture for you. So long as it looks "cool" cruising up and down sunset strip. Function and practicality and been made to last means absolutely nothing. Just bullshit.

[dipshit]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-Mot...spagenameZWDVW


And here's one of the latest trends for the land of the tasteless posers.

[peasea]

Now now, not all of them are tasteless. Haven't you seen the movie Mississippi Burning?

[Tricky Air]

Thinly veiled blatant advertising is what I read into this

I can understand the appeal of lowering the back end for looks, but to me most custom bikes have extended raked out front ends rather than short stubby forks - I still have and read all my chopper mags form the 70's

The original rationale behind longer front ends (2"-4") was increased clearance for corners and increased trail for high speed stability

However lowering a front end will reduce cornering clearance and make a bike more unstable at speed

We're doing our fronts with a 5 degree rake, that way we can run with a 23 inch wheel up front, it's not "chopper", but it ain't grampa's ol' bagger either. The one in the mag has ape hangers too, it's pretty wicked.

And yeah, you could call it thinly veiled advertisement, but I don't mind blastin' our own horn, we work hard to get our bikes in those mags, we don't pay cash to get in like everybody else!

[Tricky Air]

Not so keen on those extended swing-arm 'sports' bikes - kinda ruins the cornering ability I bet,the chops look ok though, very cool.

So where is the blown bagger pics?

Well, the extended swing arm bikes are for drag racing, not a daily rider thing. Are rear kits are pretty popular with Busa Draggers, they help dampen some of the torque off the mark, helps keep the front from lifting...

[Tricky Air]

ait suspension? Where do you buy that? Or more importantly, where do you put it?

Man it's weird answering everyone at once, but I'm half a world away, wadaya want!

Anyway, to answer you, air suspension is just shocks that work on air pressure that replace conventional shocks. They can give you a softer ride than conventionals if used properly and if you choose they can be used to ride your bike low. Here in the states a lot of custom chopper builders use them. They're popular with sport bike riders too, since they often ride a little high for some tastes.

In New Zealand there are currently no dealers who sell our product, although I am working out the logistics right now with Colemans Suzuki in Auckland. You can call Dan, he's the Parts Manager there, tell him you're interested, he can do something for you. Other than that you can buy direct from us or the next closest dealer which is Anderson Custom Cycles in Australia.

[Tricky Air]

Ouch! You guys are punching below the belt! I'll admit, we have more than our fair share of Douche Bags in the states, but we're not ALL egotistical posers over here. Whenever we get orders in for our product here, we cut the raw material and machine the product ourselves. And right now I've got two great project i'm working on... I'm building a little "Bobber" out of an old Kawasaki, and I'm putting together a Ratrod on a 64 Chevy truck frame and I'm not doing it with parts off of a shelf!

[peasea]

Man it's weird answering everyone at once, but I'm half a world away, wadaya want!

Anyway, to answer you, air suspension is just shocks that work on air pressure that replace conventional shocks. They can give you a softer ride than conventionals if used properly and if you choose they can be used to ride your bike low. Here in the states a lot of custom chopper builders use them. They're popular with sport bike riders too, since they often ride a little high for some tastes.

In New Zealand there are currently no dealers who sell our product, although I am working out the logistics right now with Colemans Suzuki in Auckland. You can call Dan, he's the Parts Manager there, tell him you're interested, he can do something for you. Other than that you can buy direct from us or the next closest dealer which is Anderson Custom Cycles in Australia.

Thanks for the post but I know all about air suspension, I was taking the piss out of the incorrect spelling of the word 'air'. The people who are most likely to give you a hard time around here are sports bike riders who just don't understand..........anything at all. If their right hand isn't on the throttle it's usually on something else.

[gatch]

FUCK ! It seems like noone knows what chopper actually means..

"Chopper" refers originally to post world war army indians that have been "chopped" and welded back together to individualise them, and can also mean "chopped back" as in stripped back to nothing but the bare essentials..

My honda spada is more of a chopper than these shit box OCC clones.

Edit - Sorry for hijacking your thread, just so many douche bags cash in on the chopper theme without a clue as to what they are advertising..

[Tricky Air]

FUCK ! It seems like noone knows what chopper actually means..

"Chopper" refers originally to post world war army indians that have been "chopped" and welded back together to individualise them, and can also mean "chopped back" as in stripped back to nothing but the bare essentials..

My honda spada is more of a chopper than these shit box OCC clones.

Edit - Sorry for hijacking your thread, just so many douche bags cash in on the chopper theme without a clue as to what they are advertising..

Well, you're right that is how they STARTED. However, like most things they have evolved over time. Whether or not you agree with it "chopper" is going to be the term used to describe a custom american or metric cruiser with some kind of front rake. We now describe the vintage 40's/50's style custom with a mild to no rake at all as "Bobbers", which was another word thrown around back then to describe the original choppers. Things change my friend, cars no longer run on the steam engines they were designed with more than a hundred years ago, but we call them cars none the less. Thanks for your angry history lesson though!