Jalopnik: choppers

How To Sell A Chopper A Little Too Hard

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EDT

With the well of disposable income drying up, the "custom" chopper fad is waning hard. So, pitching a "Super Chopper" to "make every second of your life absolutely wonderful and truly extraordinary" smacks of desperation.

From where we're sitting the "Custom Super Chopper" doesn't look particularly custom, or super for that matter. You can get bikes off the showroom floor these days which are pretty close to this level of design, granted they won't have the wedgie generating seat the custom silver cruiser will, but close nonetheless. Also considering these are being pitched for the European market, slathering your advertising in Old Glory maybe isn't the best bet. Grammar also helps.

Make The Pain Stop, Lamborghini Chopper

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Ow ow ow ow. Even though Cadillac is planning a motorcycle for the LA Auto Show, we thought the themed chopper craze was starting to die off. Apparently if you own a Tweety yellow Lamborghini Gallardo, it's alive and well. It speaks volumes of this custom chopper that it is trailered on a wonderfully classy diamond cut steel trailer behind its Gallardo inspiration. Don't feel bad, gagging is a completely natural reaction to seeing these images.

[Carzi]

Newstalgia Wheels' Steampunk Chopper

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:00:00 EDT

David Coker is an easy talking fellow from Tennessee with a passion for blending the old and the new. His company, Newstalgia Wheel, deals in all those classic style wheels you just gotta have for your hot rod. As a means of showing off those new old stock wheels, he's brought a just finished custom chopper up to the Autorama and it has a delicious steampunk style to it.

Matching old and new is sometimes a delicate art. You don't want to be too retro, and you don't want to be too modern, go one way or the other and a thing just gets kitschy. This bike feels like it hit the mark just right. Based on a 1964 Harley Davidson, the bike has a custom frame with a single sided swing arm, an exposed primary, and what we're assuming are very loud wrapped pipes. This is no ordinary bike though as it has some very clever elements to it. The rear brake is a giant drum from an old Mercury wedged inside of a drag slick. The bike rides on an air suspension and the front Radir spindle mount wheel and vintage tire are suspended by way of an airbag bellows hooked up to a push-pull cable from the flap of a 747. All of that is hooked up to a standard springer suspension lever - very cool. The bike has a faux gas light hooked up to the side of the tank with a regular incandescent bulb inside to light the way. A split tank and wicker foot rests round things out. Even though we're sure this is a deathtrap in the wet, it's a really cool bike, and we may be swiping some of these ideas for our next build up.

SEMA Show: Damn Those Yankees And Their OC Chopper

Ray Wert — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:34:40 EST

Well, I know that choppers are totally not my bag, but when I saw this little OC Chopper-created cycle for purposes of auctioning off to charity at the General's Silverado silliness last night, I knew I had to show it off — if only because my beloved Detroit Tigers gave them an impressive smack-down during the American League Divisional Series. Full gallery below. – Ray Wert

[OC Chopper Yankees Edition Gallery]