A chopper is a special type of motorcycle that appeared in California in the late 1950s. This helicopter is probably the most extreme of all special styles, often using radically modified steering angles and extended forks for stretching performances. They can be built from a modified original motorcycle ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some characteristics of choppers are long front ends with extended fork often combined with increased rake angle, hardtail frame (rear without rear suspension), very high "ape hanger" or very short "drag" drag, extended frame or stretched, and larger than the front wheel of the stock. The "pansy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which is often extended several meters, is a signature feature on many helicopters.
Perhaps the most famous helicopters are two tailored Harley-Davidson, "Captain America" ​​and "Billy Bike", seen in the 1969 Easy Rider movie.
Video Chopper (motorcycle)
Histori
Era Pekerjaan-Bob, 1946-1959
Before there was a helicopter, there was a bobber, which meant a "bobo" motorcycle, or free from overweight by removing parts, especially fenders, to make it lighter and faster, or at least make it look better in the eyes of the rider looking for a ride more minimalist.
An early example of the bobber is the 1940 Indian Sport Scout "Bob-Job" who toured in the 1998 The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition . The Scouts and Chiefs of the Indians at the time came with huge huge fenders, almost reaching the steering wheel in the luxurious 4441 Series India while the racing bikes have little fenders or none at all. Large and well-ordered motorcycles show the aesthetics of a "dresser" motorbike and give matches to the minimalist bobber, and cafà © à © racers.
In the postwar World War II, soldiers returning from the war began to move all sections considered too big, heavy, ugly, or unimportant for basic motorcycle functions, such as fenders, turning indicators, and even front brakes.. Large sacks of loose spring are also removed to sit as low as possible on the frame of a motorcycle. These machines are alleviated to improve performance for dirt-track racing and mud racing. In California, dry lake beds are used for high speed runs. Motorcycles and cars run at the same meeting, and bobbers are an important part of the hotrod culture that developed in this era.
The first helicopter was built in America, and was the result of a mild adjustment trend that came from WW2 when the army returned and the others began modifying cars and motorcycles, often to improve performance in a top-speed race on a dry lake bed in Southern California and a quiet room similar to the airstrip that is not used in other parts of the country, or on the road to street racing. These early modified motorcycles are known as "bobbers", and there are many common features between bobbers and choppers, with distinguished choppers being more radically modified, and especially by having a modified frame tube and geometry ("chopped" by welding) to make bicycles longer.
The earliest helicopters tend to be based on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, initially using Flathead, Knucklehead and Panhead engines - many of which can be found in the excess of military and police motorcycles bought cheaply at auction. When new machines are available, they are soon used in helicopters. British bicycles, especially Triumph, are also popular for helicopters from the start. When the Japanese manufacturer started offering larger engines in the late 1960s, this bike was also quickly used by chopper assemblers. The Honda 750-4 is Japan's most widely used motor for early chopper builders. Choppers have been created using almost any machine available, but builders always show a preference for older air conditioning designs. It is rare to see a helicopter with a radiator.
Over time, the helicopter becomes more and more reaching a certain look, rather than being a performance-oriented modification. Modifications derived from hotrodding evolved into artistic and aesthetic directions. In the mid-1970s Japanese and European motorcycle stock performance would outperform most bobbers and choppers. The only exception to this is the drag racing arena, which puts premium on pure engine power, rather than tackle a curved course. The chopper style continued to be influenced by drag-bike modifications throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Although all bikes are highly customized, sometimes even built from scratch using all the special parts, not all customized bikes are helicopters. In Europe around the same era that helicopters were created and popularized in the United States, motorcyclists modified their bikes (especially British brands such as Triumph, BSA, Norton, and Matchless) in different ways, to achieve different looks, performance goals and driving position. The resulting bike is known as the cafà © rà © c, and looks very different from the helicopter.
Some of the earliest custom helicopters were built in the late 1950s by members of the Road Regents MC (motorcycle club) in the Los Angeles area.
As the popularity of choppers grows, partly through exposure in films like the classic 1969 Easy Rider, some motorcycle brands have noted and started incorporating chopper-influenced styles in their factory offerings. None of the factories want to go all out and do things like leave the rear suspension to get a classic helicopter look. As a result, these bikes are named "factory customs" and are not considered helicopters.
For decades since the first helicopter was invented, many different trends and modes have been holding and holding back wobbles, so it is often possible for someone to see a helicopter and say it is a "1970s" style or fit a particular era. or sub-type. Some contemporary builders specialize in building a helicopter that fits perfectly with this style, which is often referred to as an "old style" helicopter style.
The late 1950s to the 1960s - the earliest helicopters
In the early 1960s there were quite a lot of contingents of people who modified motorcycles, still mostly Harley-Davidsons, that certain styles began to emerge. A set of modifications became common: the fat tires and 16 "motorcycle wheels were replaced with narrower tires often on larger 19" or 21 "wheels.Front mounted forward replaced the standard 'floorboard' footrests. fuel tanks replaced with smaller ones.Often chrome-upgraded parts (one of the manufac- tured fabrication alternatives or chromed manual parts) are added.In this era we regard today as helicopters emerge and began to be called chopper.
During the 1960s, candy colored paint, often colorful and stoned with different patterns, became a trend that allowed builders to express their individuality and art more. Soon parts offered by small companies are expressly for use in building helicopters, not necessarily as part of the performance as is common in the Bobber Era.
The first famous chopper builders became famous in this era, including Arlen Ness who was a leader in the "Frisco" or "Bay Area Chopper" style. Ness bikes are characterized by having long low frames and very raked front ends, typically 45 degrees or more, and often use the front end of the springer. Many use the newer Harley-Davidson Sportster motor, a simpler, more compact "motor unit" that includes the same in-house transmission as the motor itself, which is well lent to the stripped Ness style. Many of Ness's bikes in this era retain the rear shocks of the Sportster donors to provide a more forgiving journey than a typical hardtail helicopter.
In 1967 Denver Mullins and Mondo Porras opened Choppers Denver in San Bernardino, California, and soon became famous for building "long bikes", often referred to as "Denver helicopters". It displays the front end is longer than Bay Area style, and has a much higher frame (stretches "up and out"). Denver is well known for their springer forks, as well as the overall style of their bikes.
By helicopter still not the concept of mass market variation and formulation developed in this period. Many of the innovations that were tried in this period, found to be inoperative, and then abandoned. A lot of knowledge about how to build long bikes that handle well-tailored rakes and trail was developed, but the less sophisticated builders also created many bikes that deal with problems in this period because the skills are still scarce and held tightly.
1970s: Japanese iconic helicopters, excavators, and motorcycles
The great success of the 1969 Easy Rider film instantly popularized helicopters around the world, and drastically increased the demand for them. What has become a subculture known to a small group of fans in some parts of the United States has become a global phenomenon. During the late 1960s, the first wave of European helicopter builders appeared, such as the "Swedish Chopper" style, but the Easy Rider brought attention everywhere to the helicopter.
The number of custom chopper-building stores doubled, as did the number of chopper parts suppliers. According to the owners' tastes and wallets, the chop shops will build a high bar handle, or then Ed Roth's Wild Child designs an outstretched, narrow, and scratched front fork. The shops also built exhaust pipes and many aftermarket equipment that followed in the late 1960s to the 1970s. The law required (and in many places still done) the retention equipment for passengers, so the vertical backdrops called the sissy blades became popular installations, often sticking higher than the riders' heads.
While weight loss and lower seat positions improve handling and performance, the main reason for making a helicopter is to show off and provoke others by riding a stripped and almost naked machine compared to Harley-Davidson and car stocks in that period. Practical style of trump, especially since fork becomes longer and longer handling suffer. As a biker says, "You can not turn very well but you look good doing it."
The Digger became another popular style. Similar to Frisco choppers Diggers are often longer than previous bikes, but still low. The casket and prism-shaped tanks on these bikes are often mated with very long front ends (12 "more than stock and more), with ancient girder forks often used to achieve this rather than the more common type of springer or telescopic, also formed to flow smooth, using a large number of color bondo and new paint patterns including paisleys, day-glo and fluorescent, along with continuous use of metal flakes and pearls.
Honda's 750 cc four-cylinder engine, first introduced to America in 1969 CB-750, became widely available from rescue and demolition operations and became a popular alternative to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The big Harley twin bikes that were then large, Shovelhead was very popular with helicopter builders in this era, and the use of older motors, especially Knucklehead and Flathead declined as parts became harder to get and the new motor performance proved superior.
The 1980s and 1990s: improved engineering and aftermarket suppliers
In 1984 Harley-Davidson, who has been using chopper-inspired style for several years, released the 'Softail', a design that hides rear shocks under a machine that creates a profile very similar to a hard-tail. The frame was originally offered on the Custom Softail, a bike that takes a lot of stylish cues from the helicopter, including a 21-inch front wheel. Buyers looking for a helicopter view have a reasonable factory alternative, and interest in helicopters is declining.
With some time out of the center helicopter builders seem to be working on more craft than wild innovations in this period. While individual builders are still building long bikes, the trend is toward more moderate geometry, and the basics of how to build good handling but still look great into more general knowledge. In this period it became possible to collect complete helicopters using all the aftermarket parts, companies like S & amp; S Cycle builds a complete replacement engine based on a Harley-Davidson engine, framework makers like Paughco offer a variety of hardtail skeletons and many bicycles are built using this new repo section. Super girder and springer forked bike are less popular in this era, while the use of telescopic forks grows, and builders are upgraded to larger diameter tubes in both forks and frames for more stiffness.
The Japanese bicycle builders offer a dizzying array of bikes, including full-caliber racing-style engines and lots of 'customs' plucked in random style and rarely achieve a strongly integrated style that more and more specialized chopper designers have in this respect. The era seems to be consistently achievable. As materials, fabrication and knowledge improve the performance of the helicopter is better enhanced. Stronger engines drive the need for stronger frames, bigger brakes and tires with more grips. This trend worked together so that when the 1990s closed the modern helicopter was a larger and more powerful engine. The widespread use of CNC makes it possible for small stores to make aluminum blocks, and billet components into signature items that often replace steel and chrome components in earlier eras.
The 21st Century: Television reality
Millennium begins with cable TV network Discovery Channel creates a number of television shows around some custom bike builders that make helicopters. The first, a special year 2000 Motor Mania, was followed by builder Jesse James of Long Beach, California, and is credited with creating a "new genre of reality TV" around the helicopter.
Celebrity builders featured on the cable show enjoyed many followers. Companies like Jesse James' West Coast Choppers have managed to produce expensive helicopters, and various chopper-themed goods brands such as clothing, car accessories, and stickers.
The reality television series of American Chopper featuring Paul Teutul Sr., and his son Paul Jr. and Mike, ran six years starting in 2003, and featured the construction of bicycles in Orange County Choppers (OCC).
2010: Backlash, Bobbers and Awakening Old School
This leads to a reaction, and a renewed interest in home-made garage repair shops is built on a budget with available materials. Many builders shunned Harley's "bike" and "start" patterns and started making helicopters from abandoned bikes like the Yamaha XS-650 twins, the old Harley Sportsters and various UJM bikes in the 1980s (Japanese Automobile four-cylinder bikes - Universal Japanese Motorcycle).
Another aspect of the counter-attack is to return to a more traditional style. Bobbers again in style. A stock-stripping machine with a stripped look, often with a flat or primer paint with charcoal gray, black, dull or brownish olives.
Indian Larry and Paul Cox along with other New York City builders from Psycho Cycles are often credited with leading the movement back toward old school helicopters in this period. Indian Larry is an early feature builder in the "Biker Build-Off" series on the Discovery network, and won all three competitions, highlighting the popularity of his school's old style.
The three-inch wide hard disk and 120 cubic-inch motor is still appreciated by many people, but the increase in the movement behind those who built the bike with Shovelhead motor and the landing of the drive chain has taken place. Springer and girder forks have made the others back. Magazines like Iron Horse, Street Robbers and Event Classes serve retro, old-school and backyard builders and feature more DIY technology than TV builders with their millions of dollars garage from the previous decade.
Maps Chopper (motorcycle)
Choppers in the United Kingdom
In the UK, due to the cost and lack of availability of v-twin engines, many choose to use British engines from bikes like Triumph or BSA; following an increase in imports, Japanese machinery has seen more usage. Some riders and collectors feel that the variety of engines and other components used lately (especially on bikes made outside the US) attenuates the typical appearance of helicopter style.
Choppers in Australia
Australian Design Rules (ADRs) limit frame modifications and fork extensions up to 6 inches (150 mm). The most restrictive rules allow a maximum distance of 550 mm from the front axle horizontally back to the steering wheel. The noise limitation and handlebar dimensions are also set. However, in some states ADR does not apply to pre-1977 motors, so some older and more radical helicopters are still visible on the streets of Australia.
See also
- Outline of motorcycle and motorcycle
References
External links
- Media related to Chopper (motorcycle) on Wikimedia Commons
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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