A custom motorcycle is a motorcycle that is highly stylized or which treats aspects such as frame geometry or engine design in an unusual way compared to standard manufacturing. Custom motorcycles are unique or individually produced in a very limited quantity, as opposed to “stock” bikes or “stockers,” which are mass produced. In the 1990s and early 2000s, very expensive customs such as those built by Orange County Choppers, Jesse James’s West Coast Choppers, Roger Goldammer or Ian Barry’s Falcon Motorcycles became fashionable status symbols. There are also companies that are bringing back pin striping, such as Kenny Howard (also known as Von Dutch) and Dean Jeffries from the 1950s, with a continued effort to keep pin striping alive. Some motorcycle enthusiasts feel that the only true customs are those built in a home garage by the person who will ride his or her own creation. The choppers of the 1960s and 1970s fit into this category. Jan Bachleda (originally from Slovakia) of JBIKEZ builds highly customized Triumph choppers from the 1970s era.
The principal difference between bobbers and choppers is that bobbers are typically built around unmodified frames while chopper frames are often cut and welded into shape. They also often lack most of the chopper’s aesthetic characteristics such as chromed parts and elongated forks. Thus, bobbers are fairly easy to create from stock motorcycles and are generally hand built.
It wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that the term chopper arrived on the scene. Motorcycle enthusiasts were looking for a way to change their motorcycle again and they did. After the movie “Easy Rider” they had found what they where looking for. Builders started removing parts they deemed unnecessary like the windshield, fenders, crash bars, and even the headlights. If it was for show and it didn’t make the motorcycle run or if it wasn’t holding the bike together, it was discarded. It was after this that the original bobber made its way to be known as a bobber chopper.
A bobber is a motorcycle that usually has had the front fender removed and the rear fender “bobbed” or made smaller. This style of custom motorcycle took shape in the 1950s and continues to be built today. Bobbers are related to choppers in that they both represent a minimalistic approach where everything is stripped from a bike that is not readily needed. This includes the characteristic rigid frame and shortened rear fender.
The bobber motorcycle came before any other type of custom motorcycle that we see today. When servicemen started returning to the United States from overseas after World War II, they wanted bikes more like the European bikes they had seen. Also, the men had learned many mechanical skills that they wanted to start putting to use. The men started forming biker clubs and eventually started tearing into their bikes and removing the fenders to make them seem lighter like the European bikes. Before there were any such thing as a chopper or even a chopper bobber there was a simple bike, the bobber.
A chopper is a radically customized motorcycle, archetypal examples of which are the customized Harley-Davidsons seen in the 1969 film Easy Rider.
In the post-World War II United States, servicemen returning home from the war started removing all parts deemed too big, heavy, ugly or not absolutely essential to the basic function of the motorcycle, such as fenders, turn indicators, and even front brakes. The large, spring-suspended saddles were also removed in order to sit as low as possible on the motorcycle’s frame. These machines were lightened to improve performance for dirt-track racing and mud racing.
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